𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 || 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝗺.

two.

two.

It was the end of the day and I found myself walking towards my locker. For the most part, the rest of my day went well. I met some people in my history class, Rue and Kevin, who were familiar with my music and were asking me to join a performing arts group they held at the community center for minority students.

As far as Billy, he was in my last few classes for the day. I sat behind him in Lit, next to him in History, and on the opposite side of the room in Chemistry. I hated it.

"Soleil!" I looked to my right and saw Billy walking in my direction.

I panicked and went to walk away from my locker but he caught up to me and grabbed me.

"Let me go!" I protested.

He ignored my demand and dragged me towards a nearby classroom. He pushed me into the classroom and followed, closing the door and standing in front of it.

"Why have you been ignoring me?" He asked. "You haven't answered my calls and haven't talked to me in any of our classes."

"I haven't ignored you. I've listened to your voicemails." I went to push past him.

"I'm sorry." He apologized and looked at me with a guilty look. "Will you at least talk to me?"

Shaking my head, I gave him a blank stare. "I can't. Not when you lied to me."

"I never lied to you." He stated.

"You didn't tell the full truth either. You let your friend tell me you had a girlfriend and you're lucky I didn't kick your ass then and there." I looked him up and down, swallowing my urge to spit on him.

"Soleil, I'm sorry." He repeated.

"Just because I forgive you doesn't mean we're cool." Finally finding the strength to, I found myself pushing past Billy and walking out the classroom.

—

Tatum had given me a ride home and was kind enough to wait for me outside of my house. While I was getting ready, my mom came to my room to ask me how my day went and I told her everything, even about Billy.

"So that's who's been filling the voicemail." My mom huffed. "I think you got a little secret admirer."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't remind me, Mom."

"And this friend that's waiting on you, she's friends with this boy and his snooty girlfriend?"

"Yeah. She wants me to try out for the cheer team." I reached into the box on my vanity, looking for my black cabbie cap. The sun here was killing me and straining my eyes.

"I wanna meet her. See what she's about." My mom stood up from my bed. "And I think you should try out for that cheerleading team. It'll give you something to do for however long we're here."

Hearing that made me smile and look down at my hands. I hadn't talked with my mom like this in awhile, the whole move was stressful on all of us and had all of our relationships straining.

"I'm ready to head out." I put my hat on and turned around.

"Let's go meet this friend of yours."

We headed towards the door and walked through the large hallway towards the steps. We didn't talk that at all while walking down the stairs; I guess it was because there was nothing else to really say anymore now that I had given her an update on my life.

My mom opened the door for me and followed behind me towards Tatum's red punch-buggy. Upon reaching it, Tatum unlocked the door and watched as I opened it.