It's third period and Caleb and Canu are staring at me from their seats.
Everybody had heard about what when on yesterday and were still trying to find ways to blame me, everybody being the rest of the popular kids.
Every adult finally had their reason to dislike their parents, if they didn't already dislike them. The non-popular crowd didn't care at all.
The bell rings, signifying the start of lunch and I go past Caleb and Canu and leave before them and go to my locker.
The corridors empty as everyone goes outside to eat their lunches or to go to the cafeteria to buy food.
I close my locker and see the popular crowds approaching me, Caleb and Canu looking all puffed up.
Aubrey grabs me from behind, I was so focused on them that I didn't notice him and before I realise what's happening, it's almost too late.
Freja brings out a knife and brings it to my throat. Caleb and Canu try to stop her but it's too late, I've already gotten off Aubrey and punched her face in.
She drops the knife and Caleb swings for me but I kick him in the groin but before I can swing again Aubrey tries to hold me back. I elbow Aubrey in the face as I kick Caleb again in the stomach. Canu tries his luck but all I need to do is kick his weakling knees to make him fall to the floor.
I kick Freja again and drop down to her level.
"Don't ever try that shit with me again. Now I'm gonna have to talk with your brother about this and he's not going to be too happy is he?" Her brother is James Zimmer, also known as fellow fighter Zimmy.
"My brother doesn't know you." Her brother does know me.
"Oh I wouldn't be so sure about that. He's really good." I leave it at that but her face looks tortured.
Me and Zimmy used to fuck so I wasn't even lying.
There was no spark in the end so we decided to cut things off but we were still good friends.
"You fuck?" Aubrey asked me.
"Oh Aubrey. You'd be stupid to think that I grew up in the system and don't, most do so get over yourself." His face was shocked.
"I'm not judging just shocked." He says and I shrug, I don't really care what he thinks.
A teacher comes running and they pick up the knife and Freja. Freja, stupidly, has her name carved into the knife so she gets taken away immediately.
"Everyone else make your way to the office." I make my way to the office and Caleb and Canu throw me daggers the whole time.
We get there and the principal call Aubrey, Caleb, Canu and I.
"Caleb, Canu, I don't know how long I can keep on tolerating your behaviour." He says.
"Our behaviour? She beat us up!" Canu says.
"Oh I saw. I even saw when you guys put your hands on her first. Aubrey I'm disappointed that you were involved in this as well." He clicks through footage, clip after clip.
It's always even provoking me or doing something to me first but only recently did I start using my hands to do the talking.
"I'm tired of you guys playing the victim. It's not fair to Cassidy. You guys will be completing 10 hours of community service a week until you guys learn not to be bullies. If you even dare to try anything again, I may not be so kind." Principal Malhotra truly has a way with words. Being a brown woman in this racist world, she had to be. I understood as a mixed girl who was placed into the system and most of all, my birth father who was a black man understood, a man who should've done everything to protect all of us from the same racial abuse he once faced and he did protect, just not me.
I know that I was still being punished as I run community service to help the police department out but Principal M didn't formally punish me and that was enough for me to know that she cared.
"Aubrey, the 10 hours apply to you as well." Aubrey definitely thought he was getting away with it.
I leave the room and see Freja being hauled into the office and I stick around a little and hear a lot of shouting. The secretary comes in with those ugly blue papers and I know wha has happening, Freja's being suspended. Then the secretary leaves again and runs back with some red papers. Freja was being expelled.
I walk out of school and see James and he runs up to me.
"I heard what happened, I'm so sorry and I'm so disappointed in her. I don't even know how you can forgive me." I look at James and smile at him.
"I forgive you and Freja, I know what you guys have gone through so I know how she's been. Tell the principal to call me and I'll tell her that I think Freja should get a second chance. I do." He thanks me and hugs me.
We make our separate ways as he goes to the building and I go to my car.
I get in and drive home and greet Taylor who's there and she asks me what's up and why both Aubrey and I are home so early.
When I explain the situation she writes it down and takes a photo of it, sending it to someone.
"Thank you for that Cass, you are a little life-saver. Hey come on, let me braid your hair." Taylor braided her for a living, she wasn't tone of those, bring your own hair, do your own blow out kind of braiders, she was licensed, had her own salon, got the best hair and provided it unless her clients said otherwise, she washed and did a blow out, if they wanted a blow out, everything. Sure it was expensive but it was sure as hell worth for what you got.
I was Mauritian and Malagasy and I was brown and black and you could tell, I had thick 4a hair but I was brown facially.
That caused a lot of racism but white people like Taylor, who helped me understand that even though my parents were called Woods and Griffiths instead of typical names from Mauritius and Madagascar, even though they had been erased of their culture, doesn't mean that I still didn't have the skin colour and that I couldn't build my culture from that.
Her being a white person who cared so much about our issues meant a great deal to me.
