Abi

Day 33 - Study Period (in the Library)

I...

Hate...

Studying for anything other than hair tutorials. Fatima was sleeping on the desk, using her sweater as a blanket. Can't blame her. I went to go put back the history textbook and saw Stephanie at the bookshelf.

SHOOT! I quickly turned around and prayed that she didn't hear me. She hasn't said anything about me and Victor. Maybe she doesn't know? You know what? Who cares if she knows or not!?

I do, because she's been messing with my life.

But Mom and Dad always says to confront the enemy. Besides, this book has to go back on the bookshelf. I cleared my throat and went to put it away. She looked at me and rolled her eyes. I did the same thing. What? Give attitude, get attitude. I slid the book back in the shelf and was about to walk away when--

"So, I saw that Victor put you in his Instagram bio."

Dang.

"Oh, did you?"

"Yup. Congratulations, Abi. You got him...and I didn't."

"Thank...you?"

She took a step towards me. "There are other guys at this school anyway. I'm more into football players."

"Then find you a Manning. Gonna go. Bye."

"Wait! Don't you understand, Abidemi?"

"Understand what?"

"I literally told..." and she kept walking towards me after saying each word. "you...to...back...off. But I guess you don't speak English well enough huh?"

"I swear, Headphanie, say another racist thing and I'll--"

"You'll what?! Tell the principal? Pssh. I'm more popular than you. I have more money than you. Not to mention that I am the mayor's daughter. You could've done what I said and not have to deal with what is coming, but you didn't, so..." she shrugged and then gave me a big smile. I was literally frozen. What could be worse than what she did to me already? "And if you ever try to get back at me, I'll come for your little immigrant friends...especially the fat one. But don't worry; only you can end it." She grabbed another book from the shelf and sashayed away. "Toodles!"

Oh.

Oh no.

No no no.

What do I do? WHAT DO I DO?! She's right about what she said; she's more powerful than me. I'm screwed whether I report it or not. And what did she mean by "only I can end it"?

I jumped when I heard the school bell ring. The librarian shushed me. Fatima walked over to and yawned. "So glad school we only have one class left. Ready for that history test?"

"Am I ever ready?"

The test was a breeze. I expected at least an 80% on it. We noticed lots of people were heading to the East Wing, where our lockers happened to be, but we didn't really keep it no mind.

"I wonder what's going on over there?" she asked.

"No clue. We're heading there anyway. Might as well see it."

I shrugged.

And that's when I saw it.

Behind the crowds of my peers taking pictures was my locker...

Covered in big black letters that spelled, "ESCRAVA" which means "Slave" in Portuguese. "Preta" and "Negra" were spelled all over it with paint. Fatima's eyes were widened and she looked at me but couldn't say anything.

I was trembling in anger. My fists were so clenched. I tried to fight back the tears but it was hard. Instead, I gently pushed her away and ran to the bathroom to cry. "Abi, wait!"

I ran into a stall and locked it. I closed the toilet bowl with the seat, sat on it, grabbed some toilet paper, and let it out. I heard a knock on the stall door.

"Abi? It's me."

Fatima kept knocking on it. "I-I'm fine."

"No you're not. Someone put that on your locker. We need to report this to the principal!"

"No, no, no. Fatima, please."

I opened the stall door and her face fell. She gave me another hug and rubbed my back. "It's okay. We'll get the guy who did this--"

"No, Fatima. I don't want to make it worse. Stephanie will always make it worse and she has the power to do so!"

"Wait, STEPHANIE did that?!"

"Well...she threatened me in the library and--"

"Why didn't you say something--never mind that. Come on. We have to do something because THAT is not okay. Graffitiing someone's locker is violation!"

"It's not the paint. It's the words she wrote! An 'escrava' is 'a slave'! A 'preta' is a mean name for a black girl! And 'negra'...I think that's easy to figure out."

"We're definitely reporting this. Let's go."

"No, seriously, Fatima! If I report it, she'll come after you, Nina, and Victor! Please, please, please, don't!"

She gave me a stern look but then an sympathetic look. She sighed and nodded. "Okay, we won't report it but I still think we should. What about your parents?"

"They can't know either. I don't need anything in my locker anyway. The janitors will clean it and hopefully, nobody else knows what the words on my locker means."

"Are you absolutely sure? I'll be right with you the whole time."

I nodded and sniffed. "I'm sure. I just...I just want to go home."