Lose You To Love You

4 | Salt In The Wound

8 years ago

Diamond High School

"Move! Scholarship girl," a group of girls mocked her, their laughter echoing through the hallway. Fatima's eyes swelled with tears as she lowered her head in shame. She felt like she did not belong at Diamond High, she was nothing like them—a nobody in their eyes. Unlike them, she was an easy going, shy girl whose intelligence had earned her a scholarship to the prestigious school. Transferring about two months ago, Fatima was set to spend her senior year here. With her seventeenth birthday approaching, she couldn't wait to receive the puppy her father had promised.

Coming from a middle-class family that had gradually became poor due to her mother's critical health conditions, Fatima had always felt out of place among her affluent peers. Her father, Mr. Wilson, was a serial gambler who desperately believed that one day, he would win an amount big enough to bring his family out of debt, and pay for his wife's organ transplant. Mr. Wilson worked for the company owned by Mr. Luther Taylor, the father of Zachary Taylor.

One of the bullies saw a girl approaching them and quickly alerted the others. Knowing it would mean trouble if she caught them there, they scattered in an instant, leaving Fatima alone.

"I told you to stop letting these girls get to you. Imma teach their tiny asses a lesson." Kayla expressed, lifting Fatima's head with a finger under her chin.

"No, please don't. That would only make matters worse for me." Fatima pleaded with her saviour, Kayla. Both of them had gradually became closer by the day. Kayla was the first person to stand up for Fatima when she got bullied and had been her little body guard ever since. One thing Kayla hated was to see anyone being treated unfairly.

"Lala!" Kayla heard, and immediately turned her head to the direction the voice came from.

"Oops, I got to run. The almighty Taylor calls." Kayla began, "You know what, come with me," she reached for Fatima's hand.

"I'd rather not." Fatima rushed out. She feared to go close to the boy who hardly had a smile on his face. She had also seen him fighting a couple of times, and that made her scared of him.

Kayla chuckled, "Don't be scared of him. You're my friend now, plus he doesn't bite." Kayla assured her, pulling her to her side without waiting for a response from her. She dragged her to the almighty Taylor—Zachary. One of, if not the most popular guy in the school.

Zac brushed his chin with his palm, frustrated at the girl that stood beside his Lala. The new student, the scholarship girl who had been a constant in his dreams. There was something interesting about her that he couldn't figure out, but he didn't know how she managed to demand his attention. All the girls he ever dated was because of the attention he received from them, and he only mirrored their feelings, but here he was, deeply interested in a girl who wasn't crazy about him like he was used to.

"Why are you screaming my name down the hall, Taylor?" Kayla asked Zac whose gaze seemed to be fixed on Fatima.

Zac didn't know how to respond in front of the girl he was intrigued by that he was starving, and needed his best friend, Kayla, to have lunch with him. "Uhm...Lala you know what time it is?" Zac said, and Kayla looked at her wrist watch then back to Zac, the line he had on his forehead let her know he was hungry.