The Stage Is Set

9: Guess Who?

Everything is fine and dandy over at the Thompson household. Or at least that's what some people might think. Zara actually was born into a pretty wealthy family, her father is a doctor, and her mother is a lawyer.

Her parents are barely home, so the apartment gets kind of lonely.

They arrive home late and leave early in the morning and when they are fully home, they're too busy working in their home offices.

But Zara's used to being alone and she has God who keeps her company, so she's never truly alone.

Her phone rang as she finished tying her sneakers.

"Hello?" 

'I agreed to go to the skate park with Norah and Westly,' The girl sighed, 'The only reason I agreed to this is because Norah is now my friend.'

"Yeah, I'm getting to leave my apartment. I'll be there around 10 o' clock, okay, bye."

Zara grabbed her purse and puts it over her shoulder and her dance bag since she'll be going to the studio later then she turned the lights off before leaving.

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She arrived at the skate park, and she immediately felt out of place. This is definitely not a place where she would suggest hanging out at. As Zara gaze around she can see people from all ages there, with either a skateboard, bike, or scooter. 

"Zara!" She heard someone call her name, and she turned her head to see Norah and Westly walking toward her.

Norah pulls her in for a hug and surprisingly she hugs back.

Westly stood there smiling at the two.

When they pulled away, their attention went to the boy, "So, Westly, what are we doing today?" Norah asked.

He holds up his skateboard that is in his right hand.

And points to Norah, "I'm going to be showing you how to ride a skateboard." He then looks at Zara, "Do you also want to learn-" Zara shook her head.

"I'll sit on this bench while you both do that." She says and sits down.

Westly nodded and turned back to Norah.

She saw Norah give her a sad look, but it quickly disappeared when Westly starts talking to her.

Zara watched as they walked to obstacles where people at skating.

'Okay, I'm bored.'

Zara opens her purse and takes out her deciding to text Francine. After that she decided to watch funny videos for a while as she glanced up, she sees Norah trying to balance on Westly skateboard.

"Hey, Zara," she scrunched her eyebrows at the person coming toward her. He stopped in front of her and smiled, "I would have never to see you here of all places."

Zara shrugged, "Norah asked me, so I finally accepted."

Jeremy grins, "Where is she by the way, like, why are you sitting by yourself?"

She nods her head over to where Norah and Westly are.

"Oh, I see, well do you want me to teach you how to ride my skateboard? It could be fun."

Zara shakes her head, "No thank you."

A part of Jeremy was disappointed, but he kept smiling and sat beside her.

"That's cool." He said staring straight ahead.

Zara looked at him shocked, "Wait, you're not going to keep pestering me about it?"

"And why would I do that?" He scrunched his nose in confusion.

Zara glance down and shook her head, "Never mind." Memories started to flood her mind, memories she tried to bury and forget about.

'Kids from my past used to pester and bully me when I didn't want to do something- I don't know, I guess I'm used to it. That's why I snapped at Norah yesterday, I'm tired of being pushed around.' Zara's eyes were glossy as she spoke, 'That's why I had anger issues and that's also why I stay to myself most of the time. It's nice to have someone to hang out with, but sometimes people hurt people.'

Jeremy saw the distant look in her eyes and cleared his throat.

"Zara, you said 'no thank you' so I'm gonna respect that and since you're sitting alone, I'm here to keep you company."

The girl wasn't sure what to think, but before she knew it a small smile crept across her lips. 

'I didn't know Jeremy was such a sweet guy.' She smiled.

Jeremy flashed her a kind smile and set his skateboard down near his feet. 

The two were talking when Norah and Westly came up to them.

"Jeremy, hey man." Westly gave him a fist bump.

"Hey."

Norah looked at Zara and grinned, "Westly, taught me how to properly balance on his skateboard!"

Zara lightly smiles at the girl and looked at her phone.

"It's 12:30. We should get to the studio." Zara told them and they nodded.

'Norah has so much energy.' Zara laughed.

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Jeremy was so kind to Zara, and it was nice of him to keep her company :)

 🤎🙄🍙