Obsessed

Chapter 34

Genesis

~ September, 2028 ~

"Miss A, can I talk to you about somebody that's been bothering me? I tried to take it to guidance but they did nothing to help." One of my students says. I look up and stop eating. "Of course, Brianna. Who's messing with you?" I said. Brianna was quiet and shy, but very strong and opinionated when it came to answering questions in class. She was one of my best students.
It was Friday, and I was at work, eating lunch at my desk. All of my students were at lunch. Brianna sat in front of my desk. "It's Ayden. He's been calling me names, at lunch he's always touching my hair even though I tell him to stop. And yesterday, he made me trip and scrap my knee in gym class." She explained. "Ayden who?" I asked. "Ayden Thomas." Brianna tells me.
Ayden Thomas. Last name sound familiar? Yeah, that's because Carter Thomas was his older brother. Carter finally passed the 7th grade and just when I thought I had gotten rid of that family for good, boom here comes Carter 2.0. Ayden was in the 7th grade as well and he was just as bad as his brother, if not worse.
I let out a long sigh and tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. I honestly didn't even know what to say. I wanted to do everything I could to help Brianna because nobody deserved to be bullied. Especially somebody as sweet as Brianna.
"How long has Ayden been messing with you?" I asked. "Well, Ayden and I used to be friends. We've known each other since 2nd grade. But when we got to middle school, he started acting different and hanging out with other people." Brianna tells me. I folded my arms, completely shocked. The Thomas boys actually had friends? "I'm sorry, Brianna." I said.
"Principal Morris, we need to do something about Ayden Thomas." I said, later on in the day. She looked at me. "Really? I haven't even thought about that, Mrs. Acevedo!" She said, sarcastically. I ignored her snarky response. She was not about to try me today.
The lovely Ms. Angela Morris, AKA Principal Morris. This woman has been the principal at this school for only 2 years. I could not stand her. She was mean, and catty for no reason. This lady has had it out for me since day one and couldn't nobody tell me different. The principal before her was amazing. Angela was just a bitch!
I smiled sweetly. I knew how to get under her skin without even trying. Angela was a bitter woman for whatever reason. Not to toot my own horn or anything but, I got this feeling that she was jealous of me. See, I was this beautiful, thick woman with a heart of gold and a love for everybody. And Angela was... well, she was built like a pickle jar. I'd be mad, too.
"Anyway, Principal Morris. Ayden Thomas? What're we doing about him? Because another one of my students came to me today, complaining about him." I said, standing my ground. All of the other teachers and staff were afraid of Angela. But not I. She sighs and closes her laptop. "Who's the student?" She asked, removing her glasses. "Brianna Ortiz. She's one of the sweetest kids and she's quiet. She's a straight A student, perfect attendance." I said. "What does her being a straight A student have to do with the fact that she's being bullied, Mrs. Acevedo?" Angela sassed. I took a deep breath.

Celeste

"Baby, are you sure you wanna do this again?" Kaleb asked me. I nervously look around the packed restaurant. Then, I take a long deep breath. "Yeah, I'm sure." I tell my husband. "Okay. But the minute you feel uncomfortable, you better tell me, aight?" He says.
Here we are again. At this nice restaurant, waiting for my father to show up for dinner. Michael gave me a call and we were able to set up a dinner date. Kaleb came with me for support. The kids were with my sister. She insisted on watching them.
I felt like I looked pretty cute. My hair was in a slick bun, this dress was brand new. My face was beat to the Gods. I had on some comfortable shoes. They were cute, but comfy. So if anything went wrong tonight, at least I looked decent.
About 10 minutes later, Michael, the twin devils, and his lovely wife Chanise appeared. "Hi, I'm so sorry we're late. The traffic was horrendous." Michael says. I smiled. "It's okay! We haven't been here that long." I said. I hugged Michael, and then I hugged Chanise. "You look beautiful!" She tells me. "Thank you, I love the hair!" I say to her.
Chanise gave me more of a motherly vibe than my own mother has in years. She and Michael were high school sweethearts and ended up getting married after graduation. Chanise was such a beautiful person inside and out. My fake father and Michael were best friends. Michael, Kenneth, my mother and Chanise actually all went to high school together. Unfortunately, Michael cheated on Chanise with my mother, and that's how I was conceived. My mother had been lying to me about who my father was my entire life. That was such an evil, disgusting thing to do. Then to throw it at me in a heated argument? Despicable.
Dinner was going surprisingly well. It was still very awkward, don't get me wrong. The twins have been a little shady. But I was being the bigger person and ignoring them. Instead, I was texting Camilla, giving her a play by play.
"Celeste, I love your nails! Where do you go to get them done?" Chanise says, breaking the silence. I sipped my drink. "Oh, thank you! I do my own nails." I tell her, proudly. "Really?? That's amazing! Girl, are you taking clients? Cause I been waiting to get my nails done." We all laughed. "Of course! Girl, come on over. I do work from home so..." "Wait, you do nails at your house?" Elle questions. "Yeah." I said. Aria laughed. "You don't even have a salon?" Elle asked.
I laughed. "Let me tell y'all something." I said. "Baby." Kaleb says, trying to calm me down. "No, babe. This needs to be said." I say. I clear my throat before I continue. "Y'all have been rude as hell to me the entire night and I'm sick of it. I haven't done shit to y'all. I understand if you're upset but don't take it out on me. It's not my fault. I didn't ask to be here. So if you wanna be mad at somebody, you need to be mad at your father." I said.
Ever since my mother decided to drop the bomb on me, I've been looking for a therapist. I had to find one located in LA because of obvious reasons. And now, I was 2 months into it. She was a nice African American women and her name was Kendra. Kendra would be proud.
Aria gave me the stink eye. "You really think it's our fathers fault that your mom is a slut? She knowingly slept with, and took advantage of a married man." She says. "Took advantage? I don't know what happened between the two of them but I'm almost 100% sure that my mother didn't take advantage of your father." I said. "Oh, please. That's exactly what happened. Our father told us." Elle butted in. My blood started to boil. I look over at Michael for confirmation. "You told them that my mother took advantage of you?!" I said.
I couldn't believe my ears. I didn't know what to say, do, or think. My mother and I never had the best relationship, and we never saw eye to eye. But, at the end of the day she was still my mother. I loved her no matter what. Hearing this broke my heart.
"Yes. I did. But only because I didn't know what else to say." Michael says. I scoffed as the tears rolled down my face. "Bullshit!" I said. "Wait, so you lied? Sherri didn't take advantage of you?" Chanise says. Michael sighed. "No. She didn't." He tells her. There was silence and at that moment I was ready to go.
"Well, that could've went way worse." Kaleb tells me. I sighed deeply. We were on our way to pick up the kids from my sisters. "True. I'm so glad I'm in therapy now because if I wasn't I definitely would've beat both of them bitches up." I said. Kaleb laughed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh, baby." He says. I smiled. "You laugh at everything!" I said.
After finally putting the kids to bed, I made my way into the bedroom. My phone rang as soon as I got into bed. Surprisingly, my mom was calling me. I was debating on whether or not I should answer because of our shitty relationship. I haven't talked to her in almost a year.
"Umm, hello?" I said. "Celeste, listen before you hang up. I just wanted to let you know how sorry I am." My mother tells me. "Sorry for what?" I asked. "For everything! I'm sorry for everything. I hate the way I've treated you. Everything I put you through, you didn't deserve any of it. I'm so sorry." She says.
I didn't know how to feel. Part of me wanted to know if any of this was genuine. Another part of me just wanted to forgive my mother and leave everything in the past. I wanted to start over.
"Celeste, did you hang up?" My mother questioned. "No, mama. I'm still here." I said. "Now, I know you may not think I'm being genuine. But I mean everything I say. I miss my youngest daughter. I just want us to start over." She says to me. It's like she was reading my mind.
"I accept your apology, mama. But don't get too excited. Just because I forgive you doesn't mean things can just go back to normal over night. It's gonna take time." I said. I hear my mother sigh over the phone. "Right, of course! Umm, look. I moved out to California to be closer to you, your sister, and my grandchildren." My mother said. I made a face. "Really? When?" I asked. "About a month ago, actually. I would've reached out sooner but I wasn't sure you would even answer the phone." She explained. "Understandable." I said. "So, listen. Would you be able to meet me for lunch tomorrow? You can bring Kaleb and the kids. I miss all of y'all so much." My mother says. "I don't know mama. This is kinda sudden. And you know Kaia's only a few weeks old so I don't like bringing her out like that." I said. "Aww, when did you have the baby?" My mother asked. "May 2nd." I say. "Oh, she's new! Well, I guess another time then. Maybe when Kaia's a little older. I don't know what came over me but I had an idea and I wasn't sure if I was going to regret it. "How about you come over for brunch?" I suggested.