𝐅𝐈𝐗𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 {nettspend}

𝐎𝐧𝐞

Cleona Hadley

"But why would you give me an F though? I'm going to turn it in today just not right now" Cleona said trying to reason with her teacher Mrs. Barlowe, clear annoyance dripping from her tone. She didn't have the mental capacity to deal with something else to stress over right now.

"The deadline was today at the end of class, not the end of the day. I have already extended the deadline far enough. I'm sorry but yes your mom will get a phone call"

"But I will turn it in though-"

"I will not keep going back and forth with you Cleona. Your grade on that assignment will remain an F until you turn it in and depending on when you do that, I will grade accordingly. The syllabus both you and your mother signed clearly stated 'I will not give full points on late work' ".

Cleona wouldn't consider herself a scholar but she always made sure she had a C or above in all of her classes. This failed assignment would drop her grade to and D for the 5-week grades. Her mom would not be happy about that, especially since she was a senior.

"I swear to god I fucking hate her bro" She stormed out of the classroom with a sigh pulling out her phone to call Aubree and find out where they were going to chill for lunch.

Today wasn't a good day for her anyway. She woke up and got to school late, had nothing to eat all day, and had to take a test for her government class at 9 in the morning that she hadn't even studied for. Mrs. Barlowe calling her mom was topping the cake.

"Girl where you at? This teacher just gave me a D on a 100-point assignment"

"I'm at the outside basketball court watching Josiah play, but you could come over"

Cleona disliked being at school with a passion; she knew it was never for her, but her mom would never settle down with the idea of homeschooling. It was a big argument between them every time it was brought up but Cleona knew it would solve pretty much all her problems if she was.

She wouldn't have to deal with the constant stress of prioritizing herself or her assignments. It's either she's putting all her time and effort into assignments or in herself. It was never a healthy balance.

"Okay, I'm on my way" She stuffed her phone in her hoodie pocket and began to make her way over

When she found Aubree she sat next to her on the short bleachers plopping her bag on the ground. Since it was lunch, everyone was out being loud and chaotic.

"What was you saying? That teacher gave you a D?"

"Yeah over a 10-slide PowerPoint assignment she assigned only a week ago, like girl you're not the only class I got," Cleona replied pulling out her lip gloss and reapplying some.

"And not even that, she said she was gonna call my mom since now I have lower than a C. Like that's doing too much"

"What teacher is this? You always getting the worst teachers"

"Mrs. Barlowe with AP English"

"I heard about her but never met her, I'm happy I never did" Cleona chuckled before pulling out her laptop to put in the finishing touches on the assignment so she could just turn it in and get it out the way.

She could see Aubree's eyes glued to her man on the court. She was so in love with him, especially since he was her first love.

But Cleona didn't like the fact he wasn't about Aubree the way Aubree was with him. He wasn't as attentive to her as she deserved to be.

He never showed up to her cheer practices like she would his or be there for the times that were important to her and every time Cleona would point these things out Aubree dismissed what she would say, so she stopped. All Cleona could do was be there for her when he wasn't.

Before either one of them could say anything else, these extremely loud group of boys walked by sitting on the bleachers across the court.

They were all talking to each other but one boy stood out and obviously, he was the popular one amongst the group the way the other boys were surrounding him. Cleona had never seen him before because she knew she would remember him with his very light blonde hair that was pretty much almost as white as him.

He looked like any other white boy, Cleona didn't see the hype.

"I hate loud ass unruly teenage boys like calm it the fuck down. And they're not even here to play, just be loud and ghetto" Aubree implied with a sigh,  her eyes going back to her man.

"Right," Cleona stopped staring at the group and looked back down at her laptop.

"Oh shit watch out" Suddenly the basketball Josiah and his friends were playing with came right towards her and Aubree almost hitting them in the head.

The group of loud teenage boys across the court started laughing obnoxiously.

"Babe be careful, you almost hit us"

"I'm sorry bae, It won't happen again," He said laughing retrieving the ball from behind them.

"We're gonna go somewhere else 'cause it's getting too crowded over here. Text me later babe"

"Aight"

While the girls were leaving Cleona took one last look over at the white boy. He was on his phone while his friends were laughing and talking about something around him.

She just rolled her eyes and looked away.

___

"So we're gonna act like I didn't get a call from your teacher today saying you got a D in her class" Was the first thing Cleonas's mom said the minute she sat down in the passenger seat.

"It was just a late assignment. I had a B before she put the grade in"

"Well get that situated Cleona, I don't ask for much from you besides getting at least a C in all your classes. I just want you to graduate" That annoyed her when her mom would say that because she didn't understand why her mom would think she'd let herself fail.

"Mom I will graduate stop saying that like I'm not even putting effort in"

"I know you're putting effort in, I just don't want you to end up not graduating like me. Nothing comes easy"

Cleo shook her off ready to eat and go home. If she kept responding it would turn into an argument.

Her mom was finally about to pull off but couldn't because the same group of boys from earlier started jaywalking very slowly across the street.

"Jesus do these boys not want to get home, walking so damn slow. When I was their age I was practically running home after school" Cleo didn't say anything once again, looking down at her phone responding to a text Aubree sent about advice for something Josiah did.

When she looked up from her phone, her eyes locked with the boy she was looking at from earlier.

He looked away fast enough though, leaving Cleona to just watch him walk away.