C
"Once the bell rings, you guys can go," the librarian told us. About fifty or so kids were crammed into the library because of schedule fuck-ups, so they just sent us here to get our shit corrected. Apparently by tomorrow, everything should be fixed up.
"We go on with the rest of our schedule after this though, right?" one kid asked, his hair in four big puffs with a little line up.
"Yes, unless you see another class repeated, or something you didn't ask for. Then you'd come back here," the librarian answered.
"Okay," the kid nodded.
"Okay, the bell's about to ring. Y'all can go ahead and go," she announced.
"You heard about the fight that almost happened with them girls?" one girl nudged her boyfriend.
They had been all over each other the whole time, I guess they hadn't been able to see each other over the summer or something. "Nahh, where was it?" he asked. "In one of the business classes or some shit. I heard Linda was a part of it. You know that girl who cousin got killed at school? Turns out- the girl she fought is the girl who did it."
The boy's eyes widened, "No wayyy. They let her back to school? I heard she had gotten expelled in seventh grade. Ian go to y'all's middle school, but everybody in the district was talkin' about it."
"Yeahhh. You know Linda just got back to normal. Niggas would be talkin' bout her poppin' up to school lookin' raggedy ass hell, but I never judged, she was just goin' through it. Her and the girl were always close." I rose a brow, hearing her say the n-word, but I kept walking behind them as we were let out of the library. "The girl was named Charlie or Claria or something, right?" the boyfriend asked. His girlfriend confirmed, twisting a bracelet around her wrist as she walked, after that, they started speaking in Spanish and I went into my own little world in my head.
I didn't like the fact that Ora was getting attention I knew she dreaded, but what could I do? Unless a person was blatantly disrespecting her, it was all just gossip. All out of my control to contain. The only thing me and her could do was wait for something else to happen to steal everybody's attention away from the situation.
Something Cy'Moni had mentioned a few weeks before school started back made me think.
A big, back-to-school party was supposed to be happening this weekend or the next. Surely that could distract everybody from the whole Linda vs. Ora discussion. But the attention on Ora wasn't gonna naturally filter away, I'd have give her a little help pushing the attention away from the drama. And fortunately, I knew somebody who liked to talk a lot. Probably even the person who accidentally floated along the word about Ora being back in the district.
Cy'Moni.
"Hey," I wrapped my arm around her waist as I caught up with her in the hall. "Hey. I heard about the shit that went down between Ora and Linda today," she commented.
"Have you seen Marcel and Elodie at all?" I asked curiously, "'Cause we all need like, a whole besties reunion." Moni eyed me because of the topic change, but answered anyways, "I just saw Elodie. Apparently your little girlfriend started some drama at her table."
I was a bit surprised, "How? Where was she? I mean, Ora's not my girl-
"You know Elodie sit with Xochitl and them when she not with us. So basically everybody was attackin' her, according to Elodie, about some things she said last school year to one of her friends."
"How could Ora attack anybody and she wasn't even here last school year?" I asked, annoyed.
"Elodie said she was agreeing with the others."
"Well if they were getting on El about some shit she said, and Ora happened to agree, then Ora wasn't the one who started shit," I stated. "Elodie just reachin' now."
Moni agreed, "I already know," she shrugged, "El love drama. She the one who went and told Linda about Ora. I told her sneaky ass not to say shit. We all sposed to be friends here. Us three should be able to tell each other shit in confidence."
"Elodie got a big mouth. You know keepin' a secret was't finna be possible," I stated. Moni gently removed my hand from around her waist, "People already think we go together. But what you want? 'Cause I can tell you 'bout to ask me for something."
"Remember the party you was tellin' me about-
"Oh. Marcel just text. He said he's home sick," Moni relayed, typing on her phone and completely cutting me off. "He's comin' to school next week, most likely."
"Damn, he's gonna miss everything," I frowned, "Prolly even the party too," I added, "Which is what I wanna talk to youuu about."
"Now Cee, you know damn well," Moni and I shared a look.
"Chill," I mumbled.
"I don't want you gettin' back wild and shit just 'cause she's gone, Cecia. I'm sposed to take care of you and shit. I swear she came to me the night of her funeral and told me that shit. It was inna dream," Moni said, "I'm not gon let you go off the rails."
"I'm cool," I shrugged, giving her my best happy smile, "Now I gotta favor to ask."
"What is it, Cee?" Moni sighed.
"I need you to get the school hyped up about the party," I said, putting my arm over her shoulder with a pout, "To take the attention off of the drama with Ora and Linda." She shrugged my arm off again.
"This not even my party to be goin' around promotin' and shit. You doin' a lot for this lil girl," Moni said slowly, "And although I'm sure she's a cool person...people change. She might not be the same bitch you used to know. But...I'll do it for you, Cecia. Okay?" she told me softly.
"Ayyy," I smiled, "Lemme get to class. See you later!" I yelled, as I jogged back in the other direction, weaving past everybody heading from from the cafeteria.
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