TEACHER TEACHER! [re-uploaded due technical issues with first upload]

Chapter 12- My Choice (Part 2)

"Hey, Zee, wait up!", exclaimed Eloise.

She spotted Zee walking towards the school building, so ran towards her. Realising Zee wasn't slowing down, Eloise stepped in front of her.

"Hey!
Uh, hey, sorry... just wanted to get your attention."

"Why?"

"Um... I heard about what happened to Zaira."

"How do you know Zaira?"

"Oh, uh, one of her friends lives on my street.
I talk to her whenever she visits.
What happened to her is awful.
That area always seemed so... safe."

Zee clenched her fists, the numbness she had been feeling all day suddenly morphing into anger.

"Safe?
Nowhere is safe for Muslims."

Eloise frowned.
"I know", she said, placing a hand on Zee's shoulder.

Zee grabbed her wrist and pushed it away, before taking several steps back.

"Don't touch me!
And don't act like you know what it's like!
You don't know sh*t!
So just... mind your own business, Eloise."

"What's going on?", asked Spencer, approaching the pair.

Zee scoffed.
"Oh great, the cavalry is here!"

Spencer furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
He didn't have a problem with Zee, and as far as he knew, she didn't have a problem with him.
So why was she lashing out?

"Sorry, I just wanted to see if El was ok. And... I heard about your friend."

"Oh my-why is everyone so involved in things that don't concern them?"

Rowan and Atlas approached the group.

"Hey, Zee", said Atlas.
"We heard about Zaira-"

Zee groaned loudly, and threw her arms in the air.

"Back off, ok?
None of us are friends, ok, I only tolerate you because I have to.
So you can just drop the acts, alright?"

Zee turned to walk away, but stopped when she saw the hurt expression on Atlas' face.
She could've apologised.
But she didn't want to.

She had too much on her mind to care about anyone else right now.

◆◆◆

Zee found herself roaming the streets near her Mosque.
When she was younger, she never noticed people treating her differently.
She was just a care-free kid.

But after her sister joined the army, Zee spent a lot more time in the company of her own thoughts.
She started to pick up on things she hadn't before.

Like how people would look at her funny when she came out of the Mosque.

Or how some of the kids in the canteen would screw their faces up when she ate her rice and curry.