Solo

Chapter 1

"You've got this." Staring at herself in the mirror, Isa attempted taming her natural black hair. "Ahhh! How did this comb even get stuck?!" This was a struggle every morning. Isa knew that the cost of taking out her braids on a weeknight would be dealing with a natural mess in the morning. No matter how much she tried she couldn't help but notice how worn her braids had looked. Having put together hair meant she felt confident enough to go to school. "Isa! It's time to go!" She panicked at the sound of her father's voice. "Coming!" She wasn't ready but finally wiggled the comb out of her hair, grabbed her stuff, and headed out the door. 

"What took you-" Isa nervously smiled at her father knowing that he'd be stunned at the sight of messy hair. Her hair had been a struggle that he had never been able to grasp. He attempted to help her a few times and gave up after the fifth time of not being able to achieve anything decently presentable. Isa from that day forward went to Mrs. Stewart, their neighbor, to help her with her hair. She hadn't known too much about black hair but was excited at the possibility of learning about it. She watched hair tutorials for hours on end and was able to help Isa achieve some simple box braids. Isa was so grateful for Mrs. Stewart. "Isa, what are you going to do about your hair? We have to go right now." Isa tried her best to hide her panic. "Dad, I'm trying to figure it out. Can you drive me, and I just try in the car?" He gave her a slightly worried look and sighed, "I guess. Let's get going."

Isa settled herself in the car and diligently worked on her hair. "Isabelle-"He sighed, "I'm sorry I can't help you much. I know that is so stressful." Isa turned to her dad and gave him a sharp look. "Dad you do not need to apologize for not being able to do hair. It's hard for me and it's on my head. It's fine." He grinned, "Well, thank you for being so kind about it. I just want to do everything I can to help and support you." Isa's deep brown eyes glistened as she lovingly looked at her father, "Thank you, Dad. You already do enough. You don't need to be anything more than you are for me." Her father loved her more than anything. Isa knew everything hadn't been the same since her mother's death. Her father had done everything he could to love Isa well. He had spent the last 5 years working at a company he didn't care for. He only worked the job to be able to afford her dance lessons. Her dreams were everything to her and she would never take that for granted.  "Isa, you have dance practice tonight at six o'clock. I'll pick you up at five-thirty so we can get there on time." She nodded still deeply focused on her hair. She managed to get her hair into two French braids. It wasn't great but it was going to work for today.

The car pulled up to the curb of the school. She hugged her dad and made her way through the crowd of kids entering the building. Isa hated this school. It was so large for the number of students who attended the school. Her brown skin stood out amongst the crowd of white kids in the halls. She was one of five people of color at the school of five hundred students. Going to a private high school in the Midwest wasn't ideal, but she couldn't say no with her scholarship. She had worked so hard to get into their dance program, and a few hardships at school weren't going to make her quit. Dancing was her life. Ever since she was four years old, she had been taking lessons. Her Dad would take her to classes every night because she loved it so much. Going to this school was her best chance at getting into a decent dance program in college.

Thump. "Hey! Watch where you're going!" Lacy growled. She had it out for Isa the day she got there. Isa could never figure out exactly why she didn't like her. She consistently made fun of Isa's clothes, hair, and even on occasion her body. Isa never felt safe with her around and didn't like school because of that. "I'm sorry Lacy." She said scrambling to pick up the books she dropped in their collision. "Just don't do it again. Stay out of the way. Honestly, you shouldn't be here anyway." Lacy's group of friends laughed in sync. Their laughs rang deep in Isa's mind. The thought of being their target for the day caused her to freeze. Not again. Please not today. The bell rang at that moment prompting Lacy and her followers to leave her alone. Isa was relieved to hear the bell and walked quickly to class. Hopefully, her day wouldn't be much worse than that interaction. Lacy had been notorious for causing scenes with Isa in the halls. She would gather kids to bully Isa regularly in the past. Something about Isa made Lacy think she was the best target for all her aggression. This school year hadn't been as bad. Though they were in the same grade, she and Lacy didn't have as many classes as they did the last two years. Isa tried to stay to herself for the most part, but she seemed to find herself stuck in Lacy's firing zone every once in a while.

Isa stumbled into her first class of the day. Evie and Myeong found her in the crowd of entering students and waved for her to sit at the desk in front of them. Isa was relieved to see her two friends. The first year at Greenport was by far the most difficult. When Isa arrived at the school, she was so intimidated by the lack of diversity. Though they were required to wear uniforms, there was something that made her feel like she stood out in the way she presented herself. She would always walk through the halls uncomfortably, knowing that she stood out. It was obvious that these kids lived in a different world than she did. They were brought to school by their family's driver, always had the recently released phones, or even missed school for spontaneous family vacations to their beach homes in Cancun. As if Isa's complexion wasn't enough, her lack of wealth pushed her even further away from the other students.

Evie leaned over her desk, "What took you so long? Did you bring the coffee things?" Evie the daughter of CEO John Lakeland at Tales Publishing, was new to Greenport the year after Isa started. She felt comfortable going to Greenport since Isa's father was Mr. Lakeland's assistant. Evie immediately relied on Isa to be her friend, and Isa didn't mind it. Having a friend made it easier to get through the day and less lonely at lunchtime. Myeong smiled at Isa "Hi! Oh yeah, I'm excited to try those!" Myeong had gone to Greenport Private School since her freshman year. She was Korean American, and her parents owned a local coffee shop that was quite popular. She wasn't to the same level of wealth as the others, but she was well off. She was at Greenport under a scholarship for playing the violin. Greenport not being very diverse made it difficult to find friends for herself as well. Isa met Myeong her second year when they became biology partners. As soon as Myeong pulled out her binder full of K-pop stickers on the cover, Isa knew they would be instant best friends. Myeong was always so kind and never lived a day in her life just for herself. Even her playing the violin wasn't her own choice. She only invested time into to it because her parents wanted her to become a professional after her first recital. 

"I sure did!" Isa slipped out coffee drinks with the faces of their favorite kpop idols. Myeong snatched it out of Isa's hand with excitement. "Eeek! I cannot wait to try this. I can't believe you found them around here. K-Seoul market only had a handful of them?" Isa nodded, "Yeah only a few. You're lucky I found your bias." They opened the coffee drinks and took a small sip. "Hmm, that's interesting." Evie's clear dissatisfaction with the drink made Isa a little sad. "Yeah, well no coffee drink will compare to Myeong's parent's coffee. But it was a fun experience to try it." Myeong smiled at Isa, "Thank you, friend. You're the best!"

The bell rang for class to begin, and the girls faced the homeroom teacher with full attention. "Good morning class. Take your seats. We have a new student today and I need to help him find an open seat. So, get to your places quickly." Isa was so nervous; she had spent all of last semester with the desk to herself and knew that the seat next to her would indeed be the only one available.

A tall handsome teenage boy turned to look toward the class. His hair was a dark brown curly texture and his skin tan from being out in the sun. He didn't look like the typical midwestern boys Isa had seen at her school. He had an athletic build and a very messy yet put-together look to his uniform. He seemed like he didn't want to be there. The teacher pointed to the seat next to Isa. "It seems like your seat is right over there- - oh, remind me of your name." He looked towards Isa's direction making direct eye contact with her. His green eyes met her with such intensity that it sent a chill down her spine. She quickly looked down at her book and awkwardly cleared her throat. "It's Wes. Wes Ducre."