C
Orabella cut her eyes away from mine, staring down at her lap like it had done something to her. Like it had said the words that had came out of my mouth.
"I am not a killer, Cecia," she said quietly, her hands balling up. "I'm not what everybody thinks I am-
"I don't think you're a killer, Ora," I told her softly, holding my head down so I could see underneath the curtain of hair shielding her eyes from my view. "I don't think you're one even if you are."
She pressed her lips together, her throat moving as she swallowed, "That means a lot to me...nobody's even came close to accepting the me after that incident. Only the person I seem to be."
"Who are you then, Ora? And where have you been?" I asked, staring at what little of her face I could see.
The bus stopped, a loud hissing noise escaping as the bus driver announced we were at school. And just like that, that intimate moment had ended. She quickly gathered up her stuff faster than I could process, and with a soft "excuse me", moved in front of me out into the bus aisle.
I didn't have much of a chance catching up with her as everyone on the bus slouched their way slowly down the aisle. Ora...my only friend in the most loneliest part of my life, even if she might not have seen me as that- now she was out of my grasp again.
And I had been so close to having her back in my life.
My feet hit the concrete as I looked left and right at the other students pouring off of their buses, out of cars, off the cracked sidewalk, heading into the building or to stand around out front.
"Ora!" I cupped my hand over my mouth, after sliding my phone into my back pocket. "Ora!" I called out again. I looked around, but all the faces were too familiar, it wasn't her's.
"Nigga shut up. It's too damn early in da mornin' fa allat," somebody snapped nearby.
My head turned to some light skin with a ratty purple durag on, ashy yellow teeth and a boring ass Nike tech fit, leaned up on some girl with inch wide edges and a permanent scowl- still too beautiful to be hugged up all on him.
"Wassup mama," I smiled, one hand holding onto my backpack strap as I winked at her. The girl turned her head away, not quick enough to hide the slight blush on her brown skin. The nigga scowled, his whole demeanor changing, but he didn't try shit.
Now he ain't have shit to say.
I kept walking, figuring I'd at least see her in the halls or some shit instead of looking for her out here. Ora was new around here...but at the same time she wasn't. She wouldn't wanna stand outside with people she basically didn't know. It wouldn't make sense.
Basically, to gather up the gist of things: Lazuli Heights High School served all of the Lazuli Heights area. The school was hella overcrowded, a bit underfunded, and big as hell. Kids from all the middle schools sprinkled around were mixed up here, so you saw niggas you had never seen before in your life and people you had been around since they was pissing themselves on they sleeping mats.
If I was going to come across Ora today, it'd either be by fate or on the school bus this evening.
I entered the building, hot heat meeting me instead of the usual brisk air. It was the first day, and they forgot to cut the A/C on. Lockers was slamming, freshmen were fumbling with their combinations, and everybody had this sense of regret about them.
I already knew where my first period was, so now I was on the prowl for one of my closest friends, Cy'Moni in the halls. If I was right...the class room number she had given me should be right...
