The Black Girl

sixty two

Sorry if there are typos, I don't have time to re read it :(

"Do you like your burger?" Alex smiles at me, the moonlight illuminating the side of this face.

"Yes, thank you so much, for bringing me here as well." I said, while taking another bite from it.

We took a drive to Los Angeles and went to In-N-Out and we decided to sit in the parking lot and eat.

"Lola." Alex says.

"Yeah?" I reply, dropping my burger.

I have a bad feeling he's about to talk about something I'm not interested in digging up or even worse take advantage of me.

"You need to talk about it." He looks at me and the In-N-Out neon logo becomes brighter providing a source of light for us in the car.

"Talk about what?" I ask and my voice cracks but I cough to clear it.

"Lola..." He says, turning to face me, his back against the driver's door.

"I don't even remember what happened that night." I say and immediately start crying quietly.

"Don't cry." He says, using his thumb to clean under my eyes when I take off my glasses.

"Can you tell me like, like what happened?" I stammer and he rubs my knee telling me he'll tell me whatever I want to know.

I'll tell you from my point of view okay, he tells me.

I started staying with Gabj and Dani, and well the rest of their siblings, because my parents were moving to Phoenix from where we originally lived in Virginia.

I made a few friends but hung around the house most nights and Abbie and Laura were always around.

They were always talking about a girl named Lola, at this point he smiles at me and I smile back putting my head down.

They said the worst things about you, you probably don't want to know, but everytime I came into the room they'd quiet down a bit, like they were planning something.

Occasionally I'd see Lane and Kim, and they looked like they were being forced to be part of this, whatever this is but they stayed anyways.

One night it was just Dani and Laura in the kitchen, they started telling me about Lane dating you for some big plan they had, I just ignored didn't bother since I had no idea who you were.

I would see them talking to you around school, I felt bad for you, I couldn't say anything cause I didn't know exactly what was going on.

I saw you a few times when I came over and I tried to hint you at the prom, but you really liked him and I just ..

"I knew it was you." I smile at him, and want to laugh a bit.

"Why didn't you say anything?" He asks, taking a drink from the straw.

"There was no point." I reply and he smiles, continuing his 'story'.

On the night of the party, Stiles and Jamie invited a bunch of seniors but they didn't want to stay with the juniors so they just stayed on the top floor where my room is.

I went out to tell Stiles to try and gather everyone away from my house but then I couldn't cause I saw Jackson bugging you, and you seemed irritated so I flicked him off.

You asked to use the bathroom, we went to my room, you seemed really unwell and had a glass of water, and now I'm just adding up the pieces.

You left and everything stayed okay, I used my computer, and like thirty minutes later Stiles burst into my room.

He was like, dude, you have got to see this, so I got up and everyone was crowded on the third floor.

People were squeezing into Gabi's room and I pushed past the crowd and saw you sitting on the edge of the bed with no one else in the room, and you weren't wearing anything.

You were not there, they must have give you something to drink, I covered you with the sheets and sent every single person out and called the police.

A lot of people got put for summer school because of the under aged drinking and they shut the party down.

Then I drove you home, but it was too late. He frowns at me and we are soon interrupted by his phone ringing.

"Hello?" He says into the phone after asking me whether he should take the fall or not.

I can't make out what the other person is saying and I'm not interested so I just eat the rest of my fries and mind my own business.

Something a lot of people find hard to do.

"My cousin?" He says into the phone with a confused look on his face.

"Yeah, Gabi's my cousin." He confirms.

"What?" He asks.

"She what?!" He yells, his voice echoing through the small space in the car.

He drops his phone and stops the call, starting the car and I want to ask what happened but I'm not so sure I should.

"What happened?" I end up asking, fastening my seat belt.

"Gabi jumped off the school's roof." He says and I see his eyes completely red, a tear threatening to fall.