Belonging to Lust

Zaiyia braced herself much like a child would to its nagging mother, expecting to hear an earful from Chasity about not mentioning the attack that happen to her in the school’s hallway by Camille, Betty and Madelaine. She looked away and sighed as Chasity turned on her and began to scold her for keeping that information from her. “And when were you going to tell me about THIS fight, Zaiyia?!”

Monique, Assata, and Aishah looked awkwardly between Zaiyia and Chasity as if they were a married couple beginning to fight in public, unfortunately before the drama could start, the group was soon bombarded by a group of football players that were probably associated with Alan asking them if they wanted some drinks. Aishah wasn’t one to pass on a drink. “Sure, why not?”

“Yeah, we’ll take a beer and a…juice box for this one.” Assata teasingly placed an arm around Monique’s shoulder and laughed. Her little sister rolled her eyes in response and ignores the laughs from the footballers too.

“No, thanks. I’m fine.” Chasity assured the young men politely, clutching her small bag at her side where she kept her own water bottles from home. There was no way she was going to accept drinks from anyone at a high school party. Her father made sure she was aware of all the different drugs and ways people could spike her drink. Hell, she wouldn’t so much as steal a sip from the faucet much less a punch bowl in this place.

“You guys heard the ladies! Go and fetch them their drinks.” Alan ordered from behind Zaiyia before he draped an arm around her shoulder in a possessive manner. He completely missed Zaiyia’s eye roll and focused on her group of friends. “So, what are you beautiful ladies chatting about over here?”

Chasity was beyond pissed at the sight of him, her hands tightening into fists at her sides. She couldn’t believe Zaiyia was involved with this young man, especially with all the trouble he unintentionally put her in in the first place. That smug smile on his face as if he was just sitting on top of the world now caused her to open her mouth before she could think. “Oh, we’re just talking about the fight Zaiyia apparently got in with some girls in one of the hallways at school not too long ago.”

“What!?” Alan exclaimed, his smile dropping and his body tensing up. Clearly by the look on his face he hadn’t know his ‘woman’ got into a fight. His eyes snap down to peer down at Zaiyia. “Is this true? Did you really get in a fight?”

“Oh don’t play dumb, Alan!” Chasity called him out, not believing for a second that he hadn’t known about it. Whether he was aware before or after it happen didn’t matter to her. What did was the fact that he knew and continued to do nothing to defend the woman he clearly had an interest in. “You know exactly what’s been going on with Zaiyia since the moment you dumped Alice White for her!”

Entertained, Monique and her sisters were now looking between Alan and Chasity with excited smiles on their faces. They were loving the drama going on between those particular two much better. Zaiyia on the other hand was so impressed by Chasity’s bravery she was literally struck speechless as she stared at her in awe. Remaining silent, she allowed Chasity to get whatever the hell she needed off of her chest seeing that she needed to. Her eyes lifted to steal at glance at Alan as he began to defend himself. “What are you talking about? I don’t know anything about this, I swear!”

“Oh, so you’re just full of shit all of sudden now, are you?” Chasity snapped, dismissing his response with a wave of her hand before pointing at him with a stern finger. “If you’re so man enough to drape your arm around her shoulder so comfortably like that, you’d be man enough to protect your so called ‘woman’ as you’ve so comfortably been calling her behind her back despite all the bullshit you’ve caused her since day one!”

Everyone around them that had been overhearing the argument were also struck speechless by what Chasity said, and stole several long glances at the two. Alan’s friends that had been away fetching the girls their drinks soon joined them, unaware of the row at had been going on as they handed out the drinks to the ladies.

Chasity was mad, beyond mad, and it was over something that technically didn’t have anything to do with her but in her minds’s eyes had everything to do with her. She couldn’t stand by and let what was continuing to happen to Zaiyia continue to happen. There was a way to stop this bullying before it gets out of hand…but unfortunately Chasity couldn’t do this on her own. So why was she at this party? It wasn’t to have a good time and dance with friends. No, she came here to look out for Zaiyia like a hawk, or an overprotective mother. Zaiyia wasn’t her responsibility so she shouldn’t even be here trying to have her back. Plus, it was clear during their last talk that Zaiyia didn’t care about the bullying, in fact she welcomed it. “You know what? I’m out of here.”

“Aw, damn.” Assata and her sister’s whined as the confrontation came to an uneventful end.

Zaiyia instantly felt bad when Chasity turned on her feet and began pushing her way through the crowd to the front door. She knew the young girl meant well, hell after that speech Zaiyia was convinced that her bullying situation meant more to her than she thought. Frowning, she watched Chasity disappear out the front door before pulling out of Alan’s hold. “Be right back.” She waded through the sea of moving bodies until it spat her out the front door and onto the porch. From there she spotted Chasity walking down the sidewalk and away from the mansion. “Chasity, wait!”

Chasity spun around to see Zaiyia making her way to her. Letting out a sigh, she placed her hands on her hips and braced herself for another argument. When Zaiyia was in earshot, Chasity called to her. “What is it, Zaiyia?”

“Are you okay?” Zaiyia asked her sincerely, a frown still on her face. She could tell by Chasity’s red cheeks that she was flustered and still upset about her argument with Alan.

“No, I’m not.” Chasity answered her honestly as she tried to keep herself calm. Zaiyia wasn’t coming at her out of anger or aggression so she didn’t want to give her a reason to by having an attitude either. “Zaiyia, you really shouldn’t be hanging around Alan after everything that’s happened to you.”

“Yeah, I know about all that, Chasity. You don’t need to remind me.” Zaiyia assured her with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Look, you should know by now that I can take care of myself. I don’t need you or anybody to be out here taking up for me and my bullshit.”

“But I have to!” Chasity exclaimed, stomping one foot in frustration as her hands closed into fists at her sides.

“Why!?” Zaiyia demanded to know, not understanding why Chasity was so hell bent on being involved in all this drama when she can live a safe carefree life away from all the fighting. “Why do you have to be a part of this shit so damn badly?”

“I don’t know! I don’t know why, okay?!” Chasity cried, waving her arm around dramatically before listing random reasons as to why she could be so overprotective of Zaiyia. “Maybe I feel responsible for your safety because I witnessed a part of that locker room fight you were involved in and saw what they really did to you. Maybe it’s because MY baton was used as weapon against you! I don’t know the real reason why!” Then she began to get too personal. “All I know is you’re walking around here making these dumbass decisions when you’re in desperate need of some kind of guidance when dealing with this kind of serious situation!”

“Help from fucking who?” Zaiyia demanded to know, not liking Chasity’s perception of her though it was true. “A spoiled pampered white girl that lives in the safer side of town with her white ass daddy who just so happens to be some cop?!” Immediately after saying that, Zaiyia felt guilty. She hadn’t meant to lash out at her. Of all the people she should be fighting Chasity was the last person in the world right now. The girl had defended her against security guards, six psychotic girls and the principal at one time. Zaiyia could tell she hurt Chasity’s feelings but before the red-head could defend herself, Zaiyia held up a hand to silence her. “Don’t! I know…that was a low blow. I’m sorry about that. I shouldn’t have said that, seriously.” Zaiyia let out a sigh and brushed her long braids to her right. “Look, something is definitely going on with me right now, Chasity. But…I’m sorry, I just don’t feel comfortable sharing any details about it other than that. I agree that I haven’t been feeling…particularly nice as of late, but I swear I don’t mean to be such a major fucking bitch all of the time. Least of all to you what with all that you’ve done for me thus far, but it can’t be helped.” Chasity remained silent, so Zaiyia continued. “Chasity, the best you can do for yourself right now is to get out of this mess while you can. I promise you if you don’t, you’re going to end up getting hurt by those crazy psycho bitches. It’s only a matter of time.”

“I can’t!” Chasity argued. “Trust me, I’ve tried ignoring all this, Zaiyia! I’ve tried so hard to mind my own damn business, but I just can’t, not with this.”

Zaiyia sighed in defeat. “Well then, if you’re not gonna back away from this then your ass needs to be ready, because this shit is clearly not going to go away overnight. You’re gonna get kicked, hit, spat on, and in worst case scenario nearly bludgeoned to death by whatever other weapons they plan on packing for this fucking charade.”

“We can call my daddy!” Chasity suggested desperately. “He’ll protect us, I know he will!”

“No, I can handle myself.” Zaiyia reminded her before a smirk curved her lips. “Besides, I’m not ready for the party to end while it’s still getting good.”

Chasity rolled her eyes at that, not being able to respond kindly to that.

Zaiyia giggled at the look on Chasity’s face. “Goodnight, Chasity. See you at school Monday.” And with that, Zaiyia turned around and walked back towards the party in Cameron’s mansion.