Enemies or Frenemies

Chapter 9

Booker's POV
The rest of the day went by slowly. After what went down in the hallway, things just became strange. Everytime I saw Nia, she was acting weird around me. I didn't even see Tess for the rest of the day, and I had classes with her today which means she skipped all her classes. Well it's a good thing. I didn't have to see her face for the rest of the day. No one wants to see her anyways. I'm now walking hone from school. This is the first time in a while that I've actually walked home alone. Nia decided to go hone early and Tess is no longer in the picture so I'm all alone. I can't believe how I acted towards Tess. I've never been that mean to anybody before. A small part of me feels terrible, but that's a very small part of me. I really don't feel bad for protecting my sister. Nia will no longer get hurt or feel the need to hide things like that from me. Family comes first no matter what. I finally get inside the house and in the apartment. I see mom and Nia talking.

"Hey mom!" I say greeting her and kissing her cheek.
"Hi sweetie. How was school today?" She asks cheesing.
"It was..... good but also a little crazy." I say thinking about it.
"Why crazy?" She says bow looking at me.
"Well I practically told Tess that I never want to speak to her again and also told her to stay away from Nia. Then I...."
"Wait, Tess? The girl you introduced me to yesterday, our across the hall neighbor Tess? I thought you guys were cool. Haven't you been hanging out all week?"
"Well yea we have and I thought we were genuinely cool...until I found out she's been bullying Nia and just using me." I say becoming angry again.
Mom turns around surprised. She then looks at Nia.
"Honey is that true? Why didn't you tell me?" She says softly.
Nia turns around anxiously. "I didn't want to bother you. I had it taken care of."

"You mean you thought you had it under control. You needed my help to finish it." I say confidently.

"Well thank you Booker but the situation is done now and it's time to move on and forget about it." Nia says trying to drop the topic.

"Um no. No sweetie it's not over actually." Mom says no longer smiling.

Nia turns and looks anxiously at mom again. "What do you mean mom?"
"I mean that bullying is something serious. Especially since she's been doing this for so long and you're just now speaking up about it. We have to get her parents and the principal involved to make sure she gets the right consequence and to make sure it never happens again.

Nia looks up frightened. "Ummm, mom I really don't think that's necessary. I'm pretty sure she's embarrassed enough from what Booker did at school today."

"No Nia. This isn't just a simple issue. This is something that seriously needs to be taken care of by adults and as your mother, I have to get involved so this doesn't happen to you again. After this, people are going to know not to mess with Nia Baxter-Carter or her momma!"

I laugh a little at mom being a little dramatic.
"Cmon Nia. Just let it go. Mom will take care of this. Besides you won't be the one to get in trouble because you did nothing wrong. It was all that good for nothing liar's fault." I say thinking about Tess.
"NO. Mom can't do that." Nia says really fast.
I look at her confused. "And why not?"

"BECAUSE TESS DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!!!" Nia screams out.
I freeze in place. What did she just say?

"I'm sorry sis, I must not have heard you right. Could you say that again?" I say slowly.
She stares at me before cautiously repeating.
"I said that Tess didn't do anything."

"How could you know that. You said she bullied you." I say raising my voice

"I know this because I made it up. I lied about the whole thing." She says quietly.

What! I don't believe this!
"You mean to tell me my OWN sister lied to me. You really mean to tell me that you made the whole thing up and I yelled at Tess for NO REASON!!! NIA WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?"
Nia is close to crying but no words come out her mouth.

"Booker,I'm sure your sister has a good reason for doing what she did..." Mom says trying to calm me down.

"Well she's not saying anything. And thanks to her I not only just embarrassed Tess at school, but lost my chances of ever becoming friends with her. Now I have to go apologize to her when this should have never happened in the first place if NIA STAYED OUT OF IT!!!" I say as I shake my head in disappointment at Nia before walking out the apartment.

I go across to Tess's apartment. I'm nervous. I thought I was doing the right thing and protecting my sister, but all I did was treat Tess horribly. I have no idea what to even say to her.
I knock on the door and wait patiently before I hear the door open.
There stands Tess red and puffy eyed. My stomach drops from seeing her like that. I instantly feel like a complete jerk.
She stares up at me. "What do you want?" She says quietly but dry.
Her throat must be dry from all the crying she did. Just by the face she gave me, I could tell this conversation was not going to go smoothly at all.