It Ain't Black And White

48

"olive" "yeah anele?" "Your parents are here" fuck. Walking out of my room, junior and Emmanuel both looked at me but I gave them nothing.
"hi" "hey, we thought we'd come see you" "good to have you here. Would you like to sit?" "Sure. How was school today?" Taking a seat holding in my pain I spoke "I didn't go. I woke up feeling unwell" "coming down with something?" "Probably but if I'm not feeling better tomorrow, I will ask anele if she can go get my work".
"I want you to be honest with us cora. We heard you spoke with jake today" fucking junior I'm going to kick his ass. "I spoke with Corey but yes Jake was there. They were speaking with me about Saturday" "you caught up with them Saturday?" "Yes we went to the club. All being eighteen and all" "did anything happen while you were out?" "Nah. Danced, showed the boys some moves. Quite funny to see actually" mom and dad both laughed. "Now why is it that you can't be laughing?" "It was a dare. I dared the girls that they can't say 'girl' for two hours because that's just what we call each other and they dared me not to laugh. I can't help myself and I was forced to break it anyway, but I got them to break theirs first" mom and dad both sat back a little "Jake seemed quite concerned, is there anything else to it?" "No nothing at all" "argh cora, we can never read you" "there's nothing to read. You wanted me to be honest and I told you. It was a simple dare but Corey made me laugh. Damn girls heard me and I lost" "how did they hear you?" "I had them on face time, on the laptop. Momma anele has been making sure I stay inside" "this girl can not be going in that cold air, if she coming down with something" I grinned "I have been told" "alright. Do you need anything?" "No I think I have everything. I'm just resting" "good" "would you two like to stay for dinner?" "We'd like that. Thanks anele".
"Ay mom...oh hi Emily and James" "hi Shania. I heard you dared this one not to laugh today. I bet that would've been fun to watch" fuck "yeah she dared us not to say girl first, that was hard. Really hard but we all lost" I chuckled. Damn that hurt. "Cora are you alright?" Grabbing my nose, I spoke "yeah I think I need to go blow my nose out, excuse me".
For fuck sake. Walking to the bathroom, junior and Emmanuel were standing in the hall way, not saying a word I walked past. Fuck this shit. Walking to the bathroom, I closed the door. Raising my shirt, I shook my head. Damn fucking bitch. Washing my hands, making it look like I had done what I needed to do, I walked out.

"Momma anele do you.." "no you don't. You two girls can sit" "okay".
"Have you gone shopping yet?" "No I haven't. My girl and I will go soon" " I be helping you choose some sick clothes" "nothing .." "nah nah you need clothes for summer too" "argh" Shania laughed "ya can't be living in trackies and hoodies all the time" "yeah I can. They be comfy" "shanias right. Something different will be good for summer. You always cover yourself" "fine I will remove my hood" Shania smirked "and those trackies" "basket ball shorts and t-shirts" "argh" I chuckled. For fuck sake. "Momma anele. Have we got any ibuprofen? I can feel a headache coming on. I want to beat it before it gets me" "sure do. I had a feeling you'd need some, if you are unwell" "don't be spreading ya shit" I smirked "I will try not too".
Standing up, I walked to the kitchen grabbing a glass "here olive" "thanks anele". Having my ibuprofen the boys come out. "Hey Emily and James" "Emmanuel and junior how are you both?" "Good thanks" "good and you?" "We are well but that girl isn't" "yeah we heard. She will be alright" rolling my eyes as I kept my face away from everyone, I then turned around.
"Thanks anele. You sure you don't want a hand?" "No. Rest girl. We know you are feeling unwell" "okay".
Walking back to the table, I kept my eyes away from the boys.
"What are you symptoms cora?" "Stuffy nose, dry throat and feeling a headache but that will hopefully pass" "sounds like a cold to me but you need to be careful it's not something worse" "yeah I know."
"Where's Amelia?" Mom and dad both smirked "at home, dont know what you said to her but the manners have started, shes helping out Marybeth and concentrating on her schooling" "good".
"What did you say to her?" "Basically Told her she ain't a damn princess, her friends wouldn't be her friends if she had no money, the world doesn't owe her anything and she has nothing. She needs to prove herself to get somewhere in life, she needs to get her head out of her ass and start acting her age before she not only has nothing, she has no one" dad nodded "well what ever you said has worked" I nodded.
Seeing junior and Emmanuel come sit down, I kept my eyes away from them.
Seeing a message come through I was internally cursing. Letting mom and dad speak with those three, I read it.

Jake - your mom and dad were worried about you. Be honest with them cora.
- damn white boys and their shit
Jake - oh we starting this now. There's more to you not being able to laugh and supposedly sick. What happened?
- nothing. It was a damn dare and I'm coming down with a cold. Mom and dad are here, thanks....
Jake - argh cora I am looking out for you. You are lying out of your ass. They ain't taking you home but honesty is good. Even Corey knows you are lying.
- I'm done with this conversation. Bye now.

"Girl I need to show you something" "sure" "you two be staying seated. I'm serving up dinner" "alright momma".

Emmanuel.

Argh fucking hell, cora is pissed at junior. We all know why her parents are here. We heard their conversations and junior shook his head "she is pissed off" "yep" "I'm just waiting for her to be on her own so I can apologize" "oh you are playing with fire junior" "don't need to be telling me. Damn olive and her anger. Not something I wanted to be on the end of" I chuckled "it's fun huh" "no".
Walking out and sitting down, cora didn't even look our way. Oh yeah shes fuming.
"Here you go everyone" "thanks momma" hearing everyone else say thanks. I waited for momma to sit. "junior do you live here as well?" "No, around the corner" "that boy may as well live here. He knows when food is on the table" all of us laughing, it fucking worried me that cora was doing the same. I can't look at her with worry though, her parents will pick up on it. "momma g, ya boy don't be coming here just for food" "boy you lying" "nah food and to see everyone" I chuckled "seems about right" "your family doesn't mind?" "One less mouth to feed. As long as I spend time with them as well, they don't mind at all" "that's good. Seems you are all very close?" "Both families. Actually a lot of families around here. We look out for each other. The neighborhood has some troubles but its cleaning up" "some troubles?" "Typical gangs. Knives, guns, attitudes, drugs, but this lot don't be mixing up in it. They go to the courts.." "has anything happened to any of you?" "No" "nah we safe" "no" "not at all. Attitude yeah but thats just people trying to act better than others" "good to hear" fucking drugged and cora was stabbed and shot but she isn't saying anything. Eating our meals, the conversations just flowed. "thank you for having us anele. We should really get back to make sure Amelia is not playing up" "you are more than welcome. I know you wanted to check on cora too" "yes we did" I could see the way they looked at cora. "anele has something happened to cora?" "No not that I know of. Got a punch to the mouth the other day but she didn't hold back" Emily and James laughed "yep that's cora".
"Alright everyone. Have a good night" "you too" "thanks for joining us" "that's alright cora, take care alright" "I will. You too".
As soon as Emily and James walked out, Shania smirked "come on girl" "yeah I be coming" watching them walk out, momma spoke "boy you caused some damn shit. Ya lucky that girl knows how to fucking lie to save her ass" "yeah momma I know" "now you be dealing with her. Emmanuel keep ya boy on a damn leash" I chuckled "yeah momma".