For When You're A Man (under reconstruction)

The Woods vs The School Board

Seb's POV

From : biolasbraids

I pretty much knew about you and my brother as soon as you called him Ayo. I'm going to be a family and relationship therapist so you couldn't really fool me. You seem really nice but you had better make him happy. I won't tell anyone. PS : I thought you were sooooo cute! I'm happy that my brother has taste P.P.S : Thanks for sending me the address of the piercing place, gonna get pierced on Tuesday.

Okay, so I like this girl already. That's one family member down I guess.

I honestly just want to call up Jason right now and tell him how happy I am about this but a promise is a promise.

***

"Seb, I'm hungry!" Coley called from the living room. I checked my phone and it was Saturday, my day to make breakfast.

She rubbed Fifi's belly whilst reading a paperback but she didn't wear the little smile that she usually did. It was easy to forget that Coley was only 14. She was small for her age but she had the sad eyes of a jaded 38 year old. 

"I'm making blueberry pancakes!" I said in the sing-song voice that I usually did when she was little. Nothing was really working anymore though. 

When I placed the pancakes in front of her, she nibbled the corners, thanked me and continued to read. 

I gently eased the book away from her and saved the page. Clearly not gently enough though because I earned a snappy response from her.

"I don't want to talk right now!" She screamed, returning to her room and keeping the door shut behind her.

She was like this most days now, clutched her phone extra tightly, rolled her eyes and made snarky comments under her breath when she said anything at all. And every time I saw her, her eyes just got older and sadder. She does almost everything on her own now except Saturday breakfast because I usually force her. 

I rang up Aunt Chevelle to see what time she was coming over tomorrow.

"Hi Aunty Chevelle," I greeted,

"Sebastian, how is everything?" She asked

"Everything is really great. I was just calling to ask what time to expect you tomorrow,"

"I just told Nicoletta, I cancelled the flight last week. Some business came up but I should still come to visit in March, and I'll bring your parents too. You're doing such a good job with her and I trust that everything's in your control." She said quickly before hanging up.

What else should I come to expect from her at this point? I knew better than to expect anything from that woman but money but poor Coley was still optimistic no matter how angsty she pretended to be. I knew that she just wanted to be a normal child with parents who she could tell about her day and have family dinners with more than once a year. 

"Coley!" I said banging on her door, she knew that I had to leave an hour earlier for school than she did but she stayed put.

"I need to go to school! Hurry up, let's go to the tube station!" I said, bursting into her room. 

She was just staring at the wall, it looked like her eyes had no pupils in them.

"Coley, what's going on with you?" I asked, a little louder than I wanted to.

"Please don't make me go to school," She repeated in a little voice, over and over again. She clutched her knees and shut her eyes, as if she was bracing herself for an attack.

I sat beside her, took her hand and waited for her to explain herself. She definitely took her time, but I was willing to wait.

"I hate it there. The girls I used to be friends with ran a hate page about me on Instagram and there are awful, racist comments under every picture. So I tried to go to my form tutor and she made it seem like I was the problem. I really thought they wanted to be my friends and I told them personal things...like how I don't really eat much anymore, and I'm scared that they will tell everyone. I got in a fight with one of them last week and now I have a parental review to see if I'm allowed to stay - I was so happy that my parents would come home, even if it was to scold me, but I know they couldn't care less. I feel so stupid," She said, biting her lip trying desperately not to cry. I knew how she felt, being black at private school was rough, I knew that her bullies weren't ever going to get in trouble and I knew how she felt.

"You stay home today, let me make some phone calls and I'll sort this for you. And you can transfer to my school." I said, I didn't even know how to process what she had just told me. I felt like a fool, I thought she was just going through normal teenage things and I hadn't even thought about how her appetite had changed. I had no idea how to approach a 14 year old girl about self esteem and eating habits and I wanted her to be comfortable.

No school for me today either. I texted Ayo so he wouldn't worry and made my way to Coley's school. I must have looked like a fool, going to a school board dressed up in a blazer and shirt, contacting the family lawyers and sorting out school fees for a mid-year transfer.I felt bad that she didn't have anyone with her to comfort her, but someone had to fix this mess and it wasn't going to be any of our parents.

***

"Hi I'm Nicoletta's older cousin and legal guardian, Sebastian." 

"Nicoletta has some severe behavioural issues, as I'm sure you're aware. She got in an altercation with the founder's great-grand daughter and we are considering expulsion effective immediately due to the ramifications of this on our reputation," An older man said slowly, drawing out his syllables.

"You have failed to mention the cyber bullying that the founder's great grand daughter took part in, the blatant racism and the corruption on the school's part to investigate this further. Nicoletta has sent me voice recordings of the dissmissive matter in which the teachers of this school treated her and I will be taking this up with my family lawyers." At this point, I called our family lawyer and had him speak to the panel.

"All of this information is enough grounds to sue the school. Before we take this to court, you need to fully refund my client's school fees for this academic year and you cannot expel or suspend Miss Woods," 

"Thank you John," I said, ending the call. We then spent the rest of the meeting, sorting out Coley's transfer from this school to mine. 

I still ended up letting John's friend from The Guardian run the story.

***

The fact of the matter was, I could get all of the practical things sorted but I had no idea how to get Coley to open up and be comfortable with me, and it had been such a long day.

The doorbell rang, that was odd, I told John to tell his friend that I'd do the interview on Saturday but perhaps he was just really eager.

I slumped over to the door in my pyjamas and there Ayo was, with his older sister beside him.

"I got your text and I realised that Coley may need a girl to talk to about how she's feeling and I just came over to make sure that you were okay," He said. I'm glad that I'm not the only one who's there for him all of the time. I'm glad he worries about me too.

"I also wanted to teach you Biola's jellof recipe," He said, dragging me into the kitchen.

We ate the rice happily whilst watching the best Disney movie, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame,"

Ayo was tearing up at the part where Esmerelda almost dies and ranted for 10 minutes straight about why Quasimodo was a superior suitor to Phoebus.

Halfway through, I moved closer to him. He's so clueless with these things so I had to take the initiative.

I took his glasses off midway through our kissing session because they kept poking me which gave me a better view of his eyes. They were a little larger than I expected and super black and shiny.

He brought our foreheads and said "You're my Quasimodo,"

Which caused me to splutter out laughing. I know that to him - that was the highest compliment he could muster but it was hilarious.

Somehow, Fifi was between us and he had lost all previous interest in me.

"You're cute but she's much cuter," He said, the thing is - I don't think he was joking.

"Thanks for making my day better," I said smiling like an idiot.

He gave me a last peck and went home with Biola soon after. 

I think I'm going to ask him soon. I'm still terrified though.