The Snitch

(ix)

The screams turned to sobs and finally ended up in whimpers when I quietened down. "Okay," Ray finally said while giving my hair a tug and continuing stroking it, "We need to do something about this." "Do what?" I asked, my voice muffled on his denim shirt. Who even wears denim shirts?! "It's not your issue, anyway. You don't know what's going on.  You don't even like me." I didn't even open eyes. I was too tired being a teenager. He barked out a laugh, well, well! Guess who was capable of showing emotion! "Like you? Did crying make you lose one of your two brain cells? How does me liking you even factor in?" He said as if he made sense. "Look, I had seen you strut around school with the rest of your Powerpuff Girls. And then I saw you in the library. Trying to talk to me, had you even seen me before? Not that I care." I whimpered again and he paused for a second before continuing "It's just that, you've been getting better the last few days. You were stopping feeling sorry for yourself. You were actually reading when you're in the library, you were laughing while reading Percy Jackson the other day. Remind me to judge you for that later. Why does a high school library even have Percy Jackson? Did you know you talk aloud when you read? You say "That's just stupid' or 'Damn, son!' while reading Victorian classics." He let out a small laugh again and stopped like he was suddenly aware he was still talking. "I just... I hated the look you had when you came in just now." "What look?" I asked looking up at him with a tear streaked face. He looked at me and whispered, "That look. Like you have given up on everything. Like you have accepted defeat." He closed his eyes and pulled my head to his shoulder, "It makes me want to hit something." Ha!

He suddenly sat up straight and spoke from somewhere above me, "My free period's about to be up. You gonna be okay?" I nodded and sat down my previous seat. He was halfway down to the door when I called out, "Shen?" He turned his head and jerked his chin in question, "Why'd you hug me?" He completely turned around with a confused look on his face. "I.." He trailed off. "I don't know." He said and walked out of the library.

Holy meatballs, did I just have a moment with him?! Damn, son.

                                                                                                  ***

I decided that screaming into a virtual stranger's chest for half an hour probably meant that I wasn't fit to attend any more classes. I wiped my face clean and headed home, the air should do me good. Say what you will but, bicycles are the best form of transport. They give you time to think, you get the cardio done, there's only space for one so you don't have to pretend to give a fuck if somebody's car is broken down, they're good for the environment and make you feel like you're in an Ariana Grande music video.

I texted Ramona to let her know I was going home, I didn't want people to wor..- yeah, no that's not gonna be a problem.

                                                                                         ***

Mama didn't have work today, (Perk of being a social worker; you only work when you want to. Disadvantage of being a social worker's kid; they only worked when they fucking wanted to.) so, she was pretty ready to march to the Principal Selbourne's office in her sweatpants. I had to remind her that they didn't use my name so, there was no proof against them. You can't blame kids for being creative. Damn, child protection laws. What happened the good ol' days where children went outside early in the morning, breathed fresh air, worked in firecracker industries and died at the age of 14 from Scarlet Fever?

Mama called Papa and I had to recount the entire story to him while he rubbed his eyes and started looking really worried. Waking up my already freaked out father in the middle of the African night was a horrible idea but, Mama was the ultimate Mama Bear and God forbid if I ever try to stop her while she was mad. After repeatedly telling them that I didn't need to see my therapist and that I wanted to be left alone, they let me go.

I changed into shorts and one of Papa's t-shirts and settled in for a night of feeling sorry for myself. First step; think about every horrible thing I've done since 2005. I was halfway through 2008 when, Mama came in. She was raised in India so knocking was just another weird thing Americans did. What did children need privacy for, anyway? "You have a visitor." She announced and smiled. "Hey," Habib came in with his hands full of his ipad and an assortment of ice-creams and Cheetos. "You look trash." He announced and dumped all the stuff on my bed. I bared my teeth at him while Mama laughed. I literally came out of your boom boom, can you not laugh at me?! "Okay," she sighed, "You're in good hands, I'll leave." Habib gasped in mock astonishment and clutched at his heart "Awh no,Mrs M! Don't leave!" He screamed "How am I supposed to survive without you?! You know, I don't care if Tyra had a shit day! It was only an excuse to come see you!!" Man, this was getting old but Mama still laughed and walked away with Habib screaming his undying love for her.

The moment she was out of earshot Habib jumped on the bed, next to me, and got down to business, "Are we finally killing them? Do you need body bags? Sedatives? Maybe some light third degree?" The funny thing was he wasn't even kidding. Wait, that's not funny, that is in fact, alarming. "Right now," I said opening up a tub of Ben and Jerry's, "I just need some ice-cream and my best friend."

                                                                                                      ***

He didn't seem to think anything about it as he proceeded to listen to everything that happened, volunteering to kill them in a variety of ways, eat ungodly amounts of food and watch all the High School Musical movies with me for the rest of the night, but, calling him my best friend was a big deal for me. I had Beatrice since I found out the phrase 'best friend', it was always her, nobody even came close.

But, with this idiot who was convincing me that pizza was technically a salad, the meaning of the phrase was undergoing some changes.

                                                                                           ***

Habib would have stayed over but, the idea of going to school in yesterday's clothes actually terrified him. He left at around midnight with Mama dropping him off, repeatedly grossing me out by saying that the car ride was long and a lot could happen. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep before Mama got home.

When you cry a lot, you get blank, dreamless, beautiful sleep. I woke up feeling real good, threw on a t-shirt with some smartass legend on it and black yoga pants. Style was not really a top priority when 'Wrecking Ball' is being shot inside your head. Crying that much had resulted in a lack of fluids in my body and my head felt like Miley Cyrus was taking a sledgehammer to it. I was scared about school but, mostly confused. Now that the anger and fear had gone away, I started focusing on the logical aspects of yesterday's events. The Girls were never vengeful, so them making an entire skit to spite me indicating that I'll never be one of them, again. The finality of it hurt but, at least I knew now. The second thing that jumped out at me was Ray. Why was he being so nice to me? Did he feel sorry for me? He had said that me crying made him 'want to punch something'. The last person I would expect to throw punches was Ray Shen. What was his deal? And people said girls are complicated.

***

A/N

Okay, fam, we need to get a hold on our wigs 'cause, mine just flew all the way to South Korea! I feel like Ray Shen is about to make me explode! I'm pretty into my zone right now, and I wrote a huge chapter so I divided it into two parts and the next chapters coming up right now!

Hit that vote and comment like it's Loius Tomlinson's booty!

-Love, Tannaz