Messiah GXG : BOOK ONE (Completed) The Other Side Of The Game Series

FORTY-FOUR

G R A C E

I laid on my bed while my body slowly continued to be suffocated by heavy exhaustion after my long day. I was in desperate need of sleep, so much so, that my eyes weighed a bit more with each blink. From classes to planning, back to paperwork and marking work, I was no—

RING!

RING!

Shit

My act of giving my body what it desired was interjected by the noisy sound, and it had a sigh pushing past my lips as I rolled over with a grab of my device, intending to silence it.

M

The name on the illuminated screen in my hand had some of my frustration rolling away, as I instead decided to answer the call despite all my weariness.

"Hello," I greeted after placing the phone to my ear.

"Did I wake you?" Her equally tired voice sounded over the line, making me smile not only because in spite her own exhaustion she still made an effort to call before she slept, but also because of the mere sound of her tired voice that I enjoyed.

"No, I was heading to sleep,"

"Aitte, Imma not gonna keep you long, it's just that I just saw your text saying you uhm, doing the whole care package thing this week, and I wanted to know the time since you only sent the date," She explained as I rolled onto my back, searching through my tired mind for an answer.

"Around seven,"

"Alright Imma let you sleep," She stated and my smile widened a bit at that as a small surge of energy coursed into me, but I made no move to use it to continue the conversation since I knew my body would regret it tomorrow.

"Okay, thanks for the help again," I affirmed, feeling completely grateful for it...for her.

"No problem baby, Imma call you tomorrow if I can,"

"Okay goodnight,"

"Goodnight," She replied and with that, I ended the call, placing my phone away in preparation to finally get the sleep I needed.

-

"Thank you," I affirmed as they placed the last box down in the space of the classroom, and the man who had been directing the others nodded respectfully as he turned to face me.

"Have a good day,"

"You too," I told him as they walked out, leaving me to move over to my phone on the desk picking it up and finding Messiah's number. I quickly called her with a place of the device to my ear as it rang, leaving me to wait for the sound of her voice.

"Grace?"

"Yeah, uhm, they just left,"

"Everything good, it went smooth?" She asked as I moved to sit in my chair.

"Yeah it did," I told her and she hummed as the door opened, allowing my colleagues to enter the room.

"Alright good, call me later and let me know how today goes,"

"I will, thank you again," I told her as the door closed and Leann walked towards me.

"You don't gotta keep thanking me, I like making shit easier for you,"

"I know you do," I uttered and she released a small breath of glee.

"Call me later,"

"I will," I promised as a feeling of warmth roamed throughout me, and with that I ended the call, looking at Leann who looked at the stacked boxes with a questioning expression.

"You got them here by yourself?"

"Yeah,"

"Why you ain't call me to help?" She asked, directing her gaze to me with a frown.

"I didn't make trips, they were delivered," I revealed and she nodded with a slight raise of her eyebrows.

"You finally did that?"

"It just seemed like an unnecessary expense when I could get you guys to do it," I told her and she playfully rolled her eyes, placing her bag on my desk while Jeff laughed as the door opened once again.

I watched as the students entered the classroom along with the echoes of their different conversations as I continued to sit around my desk.

"Alright settle down," Leann instructed and they did, that is with few displays of attitude, but this was seen as growth since when they first came the act of guiding them to do anything would be totally disregarded.

"Ms Conley who all them boxes for?" Tanisha asked, looking at the ones to the right of my desk.

"They for you guys," I told them and with that Leann called for Jeff to begin handing them out.

"For us?" Antawn asked with a frown as Jeff began scanning the boxes for names to see which belonged to who. "It's probably books or sumn,"

"It's not only books,"

"Then whatchu got inside?" Tanisha asked as she stood to look at the box placed before Antawn, hoping to get a clue.

"Clothes, food, everything you may need,"

"Ooh so it's like a present, I never got me one of them before," Tanisha pointed out excitedly as she walked over to Antawn's desk. "Let me see whatchu get,"

"Back up and wait for yours, why you gotta be so impatient," He responded and she rolled her eyes.

"You got sumn and acting brand new, I don't need to be up on you Tawn," Tanisha told him as she began to return to her seat in the same instant Jeff began to place her first box down. "See I got mine, I don't need to see in your little box,"

Other conversations fell between them all as some awaited their boxes while others opened theirs. We had all decided to give them the most exciting gift first, which was the clothing and go from there.

"This the one with the clothes," Tanisha pointed out happily, and that led to them all exchanging details on what their own box contained. The excitement and glee that drowned their faces had me seeing them in the most child-like manner I had ever seen.

"I got some money," Keneta, one of the students who needed the extra said.

"You got money?" Deshane asked her with a frown as he leaned forward to look past Antawn and Tanisha to see her since they were all in one line.

"Y'all ain't get nun?" Keneta questioned, confusedly.

"No, you must be Ms Conley and thems favorite," Tanisha pointed out as she folded the shirt she had been looking at recently.

"No that be Keylen cause he don't talk much, they just know she broke and need a few extra dollars," Deshane joked, earning a few laughs and I caught the subtle image of Leann writing something down on her tablet to the left of me.

"I don't need no handout," Keneta defended harshly.

"You know damn well you do Ke, if I find some change in my box Imma send it your way too," Deshane fired back laughing.

"Deshane stop," I scolded.

"Ms Conley I'm just saying we all know she need it, I don't know why she acting like she don't," He explained while reaching in his box to remove another shirt.

"I don't need no fucking handout, as a matter fact Ms Conley can keep her fucking box and the damn money," Keneta told the entire room as she stood before her chair and stormed out.

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