To Skin A Lamb

19

CHARITY

I didn't think it was possible to be overstimulated, overwhelmed, and a little confused at the same time. That was until I was stuck in the middle of frantic, pleading SVs and interns who all thought I had the ability to get them what they wanted. What we all wanted.

In the beginning of the summer, Pheebs came up with the idea of having a banquet at the end of the summer to celebrate the work we have done and somewhere our families and friends could hear about the work we did.

We all immediately loved the idea and when it was mentioned I thought Phoebe would be the one pitching the idea since she is the one who came up with it. But apparently, the group believes that I can persuade Dr. Samford into letting us do it.

So now I find myself in the middle of the chaos trying to determine whether I should do it (95) or if I should force Phoebe into doing it since this was her idea.

I frowned and held both sides of my head, trying to weigh my options. But there were too many voices speaking at the same time and I was literally stuck in a crowd of pleas. If it wasn't so loud, I would find it flattering.

I took a deep breath, widened my eyes, and shouted, "Enough!"

At the very back of the huddle, I saw Terrance standing there with folded arms and a small smirk. I wanted to wipe it right off his face (96).

"Everyone, take two steps back." I instructed them and obediently they did so, watching me intently. "Give me a second to think."

"Think about what?" Cash questioned, not understanding what there was to think about. "You can definitely get him to do it."

"I agree. I think you are our best shot." Brett (97) even chimed in, making me feel guilty for my next statement.

I bit my bottom lip and looked at him with a sorry expression. "Just let me think, alright."

Alex rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Look, everyone wants you to do it. Might as well just agree so we can stop begging you." He said, making me glare at him.

"Alex, I don't believe in peer pressure. If you haven't noticed I'm a person of color and if I had a dollar for the times my mother asked me if I would jump off a cliff because my friends were doing it, I'd be a fucking a millionaire. Don't piss me off."

"She just wants someone to chase after her." I heard Henry whisper to Sheila and I wanted to hit him really fucking hard.

Vini snapped at him, "Shut the hell up."

Gracie smiled really hard and asked, "Charity can you please do it? It would mean so much to all of us."

That guilt started to simmer in me again. "Give me like 10 mins, okay?" I turned on my heels and dug myself out of the circle that was formed around me.

I took a long walk while not trying to feel frustrated and like always, I ended up running into the one person who had my back, front, and both sides.

Terrance was standing on the beach like he knew I would wander there. He smiled at me and stared at me with those beautiful eyes. Eyes that held something that I couldn't quite identify yet.

I approached him and sighed. I immediately wrapped my arms around his waist and rested the side of my face on his chest. He held me like he always does. Like I'd disappear if he let go.

He didn't say anything at first, but eventually he read my exact thoughts. "You don't want to do it because you are scared that Troy is somehow going to get involved."