Belonging to Lust

After Elizabeth and Laura had ran out of the girl’s bathroom leaving Zaiyia and Chasity alone, Zaiyia’s brown eyes meant to glance shortly over at Chasity to see how she had fared after the girl fight but was compelled to linger when she caught sight of the pained look on her face. Chasity was staring down at the baton in her hands as if it had literally broken her heart and shattered her will to live anymore. Zaiyia stared between Chasity and the baton that had been used on her before in a state of befuddlement as to why she looked so betrayed by the weapon. It took until she remembered that Chasity was the daughter of an FBI Agent, and that perhaps she was personally familiar with that very police baton she held in her hand that had everything clicking into place in her mind. Deciding to ask after a long moment of silence, Zaiyia pointed to the weapon in her hand and inquired about it. “Chasity.”

Chasity let out a sigh of disappointment. Her eyes continued to trail over the police baton in her hand as she once again began to wonder who else had fallen victim to a violent attack by it. “What, Zaiyia?”

“Are you familiar with that baton in your hand?” Zaiyia asked her, still gesturing towards the weapon that was once used to viciously attack her very self.

Swallowing hard, Chasity nodded with a heavy guilt in her eyes. “Y-Yes…”

Zaiyia couldn’t believe it. She hadn’t expected Chasity to confirm what she thought was the least likely scenario. How did Chasity know this weapon, Zaiyia wondered to herself as she looked away from the one person in this school that didn’t want to harm her, feeling betrayed. In her mind’s eyes there was no way Chasity could be familiar with that baton that ended up in the hands of those many girls that attacked her with it unless… “Okay, first of all, where the FUCK did you get a police baton, Chasity!?” Zaiyia glared at Chasity like she was one of her many haters in the flesh. “And two, why the FUCK would you give it to those dumbass bitches that hate me enough to physically jump my ass in a public school!?”

“Look, I didn’t give them anything, okay!?” Chasity exclaimed, turning to face Zaiyia to defend herself. “My dad gave me this to protect myself at the time. The cops were after some guy that was sneaking into little kid’s room and touching them. He didn’t want the same thing to happen to me, but he was trying to track that sonofabitch down! He gave the baton to me to protect myself with in case he wasn’t home and was out working on the case.”

“That doesn’t explain how these idiots got their hands on it though!” Zaiyia reminded her angrily.

“I WAS GETTING TO THAT!” Chasity yelled at her before her voice lowered now out of guilt. Her eyes dropped to the floor as she ran her hand through her fiery hair. “I…one of friends…asked to borrow it from me.”

Friend? What friend, Zaiyia thought to herself? She couldn’t recall ever seeing Chasity hanging around with some girl, but then again, she never sought her out during school hours. To try and figure it out herself first, she recalled the first time she has seen that baton. In the hallway she got hit from the back by Camille after punching Betty in the face…if Chasity hadn’t given it to Laura and Elizabeth then could one of those other idiots be Chasity’s friend? Feeling like she may have put the pieces together, Zaiyia raised a suspicious eyebrow at Chasity, who once again was staring down at the baton in her hand in pain. “Is Camille Lodge, or Betty Reinhart this so-called friend of yours that borrowed your baton from you?”

Chasity shook her friend with certainty. “No, they’re not…” Her eyes slowly lifted as she began to recall something else, and swiftly those orbs turned to stare at Zaiyia in surprise. “But she is a friend of the person I gave it to, Ma-”

“Madelaine.” Zaiyia finished for her.

Once again nodding with guilt, Chasity lowered her eyes down to the baton. “Yeah…her.”

As remorseful as she was, Zaiyia wasn’t done with her yet. Placing her hands on her hips, she began to poke and prod her for answers. “Okay so if this psycho bitch is your friend, why the fuck would you let someone like that have your baton and go around beating people up with it?!”

“I WOULDN’T!” Chasity cried out, her eyes flashing a mix of anger for being accused of doing such horrible a thing and then guilt for giving these same terrible people the exact weapon to enact such a terrible thing. “I WOULDN’T DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT!”

“WELL THEN TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!” Zaiyia shouted at her, throwing her hands dramatically in desperation. “BECAUSE NONE OF THIS SHIT MAKES SENSE, CHASITY!”

“Goddamnit!” Chasity exclaimed emotionally and dropped the baton on the floor to lift her hands up to her ears to shut Zaiyia out. She began to pace back and forth between the sinks and bathroom stalls, mumbling to herself beneath her breath. “This shit is getting so damn far out of hand!”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Zaiyia shared as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned her back up against a wall.

Chasity stopped in her tracks for a second before turning to face Zaiyia. By the look in her eyes she had come up with a solution. “This can’t continue to go on like this. We have to take action! We should go down to the office and talk to the Principal about this and tell him what’s been going on since the locker room incident.”

Zaiyia didn’t hide her disagreement by rolling her eyes and letting out a dramatic sigh. “Sweetie, I’m not gonna waste my time running off to that man. None of this bullying shit stopped after those bitches jumped me in the locker room and it ain’t about to stop now just because we ran off to tattle to the Principal.”

Taken aback by her response, Chasity glared at her. “Well then, what do you suggest we do then if not go to an adult about this?”

“I honestly don’t know.” Zaiyia answers with a shake of her head. “All I know is that going to the Principal is a waste of time.”

“Well, sitting around and allowing this shit to continue isn’t going to hell anything either!” Chasity pointed out before attempting to think of another idea. “Perhaps…perhaps we should strike at the source of this madness then.”

No longer seeing Chasity as an enemy, Zaiyia still frowned at her helpful ideas. “You mean Alice?”

Yeah, Alice.” Chasity nodded in confirmation, coming over to stand in front of her but not close enough for her to get hit if Zaiyia was still mad at her for getting attacked by the baton that was rightfully hers.

Sure, going to the Principal office or confronting Alice again could potentially end this bullying feud Zaiyia’s been stuck in for a while. For once she could have a chance at normal life again…but that would mean all she’d have left in her life to fill her time with was living with a daily heartbreak at the hands of Heath Sullivan. That pain alone was unlike any pain she’s ever been through. A baton to the back of the knees or getting jumped in the locker room honestly felt like a minor scrape on the elbow in comparison to Heath’s constant rejections. She couldn’t live like that in that amount of pain, there was no way in hell! Making her decision, Zaiyia rejected Chasity’s idea with a shake of her head. “Nah, I’m good. I don’t need any help.” Turning away, she walked out of the bathroom without another word.

Chasity was dumbfounded for a split second. She was having trouble letting Zaiyia’s response sink into her head. Did she really just say no to my help, Chasity asked herself before shaking her head in denial. There was no way! Who wouldn’t want help in a situation like this where the entire school body was against you and was bullying you every single day!? No rests, no breaks, no mercy. Shaking her head in stubborn denial, Chasity marched out of the bathroom after her and called out to her in the empty hallway. “AND WHY THE HELL NOT!?”

Zaiyia didn’t know why but when she spun around she spilled the beans on what happened the last time she met Alice face to face. “Because the last time I met with Alice the Elusive Bitch I knocked the hoe in the face and kicked her!”

“WHAT!? WHEN!?” Chasity shouted, her eyes wide with panic and her hands gripping handfuls of her fiery red hair. “W-Why would you do something like that!?”

“Is that a serious question?” Zaiyia rhetorically asked her before reminding her why. “Need I remind you what she’s had done to me since I fucking got here!?”

“Shit!” Chasity cursed as she ran her hands through her hair and made one last attempt to help protect Zaiyia from the wrath of Alice and her friends. “We don’t have any more options now. I’m gonna have to be the one to confront Alice myself then.”

Zaiyia stared at Chasity with a look of confusion. She had so many questions for her going through her mind and right now was as good as any time to ask them. “Why? Why do you want to get involved in all this bullshit so bad when it has absolutely nothing to do with you, Chasity?”

“I’m my father’s daughter, I guess.” Chasity replied with a shrug and a small smile. “I can’t just stand around and let this shit go down knowing I can step in and do something to prevent it from happening.” Letting out a deep burdened sigh, Zaiyia covered her face with her hands, shutting the worse out from her sight. It all seemed to her that since that all the drama that was going on between her and Heath was literally making her crazy and was clearly prompting her to make the wrong decisions with this bullying situation at school. Her home life and school life were both fucked up and they were making her literally lose her mind! Chasity could clearly see that she was becoming overwhelmed and sought to calm her down. “Hey, look, we don’t need to decide what to do right now. We can wait and think it over first.” Reaching into her pocket, she grabbed a pen and with Zaiyia’s permission wrote her phone number down on her hand. “Call me if you want to talk about it, okay?”

Zaiyia gave her a tired nod. “Thanks.” And with that they parted ways.