Life at the High

It's Party Time

The day of Joey's party, Charity couldn't think of anything but Toni. She needed to see him again and contact with him was usually strained when she was in school. It's not that she didn't understand that the Assistant Principal would be in serious trouble for dating a student. The problem was that a small part of her wished he were a student, so they didn't have to hide. Whenever those irritating thoughts crept in, she reminded herself of how jealous everyone else would be if they knew. Plus, it always helped to spend time with him. She could never regret the relationship when she was around him.

Toni, I think we should have a date night tonight. Joey is having one of his party's so after he goes there I can sneak away. XO

Sounds good to me beautiful. I have something I want to talk to you about so this will be perfect.

K. See you tonight. Pick me up outside of Joey's.

"When Ms. Mills is done playing Candy Crush on her phone you can break off into groups and complete the assignment." Mr. Williams said as he tied up his waist-length dreadlocks.

"Sorry, Sir. It won't happen again." She bit her lip and gave Mr. Williams her most innocent gaze.

"Don't make it worse by lying Ms. Mills just pick a partner and get to work." Mr. Williams glanced at her briefly.

"Charity, you want to work with me on this? I've kind of been wanting to talk to you." Sarone looked at her with pleading eyes.

"Sure." Charity slowly sat down next to him.

It had been a while since the two of them spoke. Before he transitioned Sarone dated Janelle. Back then, Charity would always be found with Sarone, Janelle and Miko. They were inseparable. Things changed as sophomore year started. Charity got darker skin and wider hips so she became super popular. Miko spent more time at home with her neighbor that they were oddly never able to meet. Janelle had Sarone they were supposed to be together forever, until the end of high school.

"It's been a while." It was nice but odd to see him. She realized she avoided looking at him much just to avoid awkward moments like this.

"Well, it happens. Some of us change and some of us just become who we've always been."

"Okay." She was sure that was supposed to be mean in some way but didn't care. "What did you need?" 

"I need you to get Janelle to talk to me. It's important."

"Honey, there's Insta and Twitter. Pick one and DM her."

"She's in trouble and I need your help."

Charity stood up and grabbed her purse. "Janelle and I don't speak much anymore. Her drama will not become my baggage. " She felt like she should've shown she cared more. They were all friends once. "Go to the counselor if it's that serious. There's nothing I can really do." 

The rest of the class continued talking in low murmurs, but their gazes showed that Charity's words were heard loud and clear.

Later that night the only thing anyone could talk about was the DJ Joey hired for the party. As usual, he didn't disappoint with anything else for his guests. The 6-bedroom home was cleaned by the maids immaculately, just in time for a bunch of high school students to scuff the floors and drop red solo cups everywhere. He had a room with an X-Box ready to be played and another room with Oculus VR headsets. This was nothing most Wilkerson High students didn't have at home but there was still something exciting about having it during a party too.