C H I M E R A ; M O N T G O M E R Y D E L A C R U Z

D O S

'I AM NOT WEARING HEELS JESS.'

The most anticipated yet foreboded weekend of Sahar's life could not have come any sooner. It was a typical Friday lunchtime, Sahar wanting to eat her food by the window in peace and alone, and Jess still inviting herself to the seat in front of her despite her pleading. Like the past two days after Sahar had agreed to go the party the topic of conversation had gone to what she would be wearing. Though she didn't mean to, Jess was constantly badgering her friend with the subject and frankly it was tiring. It made Sahar regret her previous decision and she just wanted to go back in time and answer Jess with a resounding no. However, she could not. She simply had to bear the exhausting mental state she was in because she knew after Saturday night she would never have to hear of this again. She was sure of it.

'You know what, you're right. You're tall enough as it is and you don't want to be competing with Zach Dempsey.'

'I am 5'8 Jess, I am not some sort of freakish giant.'

'Yes, I know Sahar. What I'm trying to say is you clearly don't need any help in the height department.'

The somewhat insipid conversation was interrupted by the large group of unwanted guests heading towards the small plastic table. As Sahar had predicted they were unnecessarily loud but like always no one had bothered to tell them to lower their booming shouts to one another. She had always hated most of Jessica's friends. It had never made sense to her to how someone so loving and pure as Jess was even categorically similar to the likes of them. They were arrogant, rude and lacked any awareness of the people around them. It was clear why it was so easy for Sahar to hate them, they couldn't give her reason to like them.

'Jess. Sahara'

'It's Sahar.'

With every word she spoke to Bryce, venom dripped from her lips. Except the venom seemed to only be poisonous to her, as he left unharmed and unaffected but she remained with a bitter taste on her tongue.

'We have the keg ready Jess, when do you want us to bring it tomorrow?'

'6 should be fine, Montgomery. Don't forget to bring the cups and shit too.'

'Cool. See you tomorrow Jess.'

She never understood why Montgomery De La Cruz never acknowledged her presence. Ever. They had spent most of their life together, going through pre-school all the way to high school but he simply refused to even look in her direction. At first she thought it was probably because Montgomery was racist but she immediately dismissed that thought. He is so endearing towards Jessica and his other friends that to Sahar it seemed wrong to label him racist. She then thought perhaps it was because she was Muslim. There weren't many Muslims at Liberty High and Sahar did not anticipate meeting any more. Sure she had gotten a few comments in middle school but after those experiences everyone knew that it was plain ignorant to make their Islamophobia known to Sahar. It was like watching the beginning of a life snatching fire. A small flame growing until everything in the field around was engulfed by the blinding bright oranges and yellows. She did not tolerate ignorance or foolishness. Sahar was never one to jump into altercations but once she was pushed to the point of eruption it would be best for the other party to hide and run. Montgomery was neither foolish nor ignorant, and he was completely fine with the other Muslims in the school. Her final conclusion for why the boy overlooked her entirely was that he was just an asshole. She saw the way he treated Tyler Down. Sure she wasn't the biggest fan of the avid photo taker but he did no harm and not once did she ever feel the need to completely rearrange his features. She saw how Montgomery would just push and shove anybody in his way and how his eyes would follow them as they walked in an attempt to scare them. He was vicious and snide to everybody. She should be glad that instead of being on the receiving end of his violence she was just ignored. She wasn't. She was bothered by it, to her the way he treated her was like an inconvenient itch that she wanted to stop thinking about, to get rid of but she couldn't. Sahar could not find a reasonable enough explanation as to why he acted this way.

'You and Montgomery are pretty similar, you know. You would like him.'

'Probably. If he wasn't an asshole.'

-

i like this but i don't like this sigh
-sam 💗