Sage

Chapter Thirteen

The six girls were seated on a flight of stairs near their homeroom class during lunchtime on Monday. They basked under the sun, ridding the cold from sitting still during the first half of the school day.

"Moms almost whipped her," Letoya said before she broke into a fit of laughter. The other girls except for Ashley were having a field day laughing at Sage's misfortune.

"She must've pissed her pants because she ain't never been disciplined," Vanessa said, wiping a tear away.

Sage glared at her before looking away. She and Ashley occupied the second last step at the bottom with Letoya and Trisha two steps above them. Vanessa and Candice were right behind the pair in the middle.

Vanessa didn't like the manner in which Sage looked at her, "She should've whooped your ass," she said as she pointed at Sage.

Ashley rolled her eyes, "Y'all need to find hobbies cause this ain't it."

Candice was about to retaliate when a light-skinned boy who looked to be in grade nine approached them. He was dressed in all black from the beanie on his head, the Bomba jacket to the pants and the sneakers.

"Can we help you?" Candice asked him with the energy that was meant for Sage.

The boy peered at Candice before he chuckled, revealing dimples. He then focused on Sage.

"'Sup Sage. This is for you." He smiled at her and offered her a black paper bag.

Sage's arms stretched out and grabbed the bag but her eyes stayed on the person before her. She wondered who he was and what was in the bag.

The boy left as she opened her mouth to bombard him with questions. She shut it and placed the bag on the step in front of her.

A stunned silence fell among the friends and they all stared at Sage.

"You dating youngins now?" Trisha questioned.

"No, I don't know that boy," Sage said, as she watched the last of him disappear behind a block of classes.

"Well, let's see what's in the bag," Letoya said peeking over her stepsister's shoulder.

"She doesn't have to show y'all anything," Ashley said as she leaned back on the railing.

"Shut it, spokesperson." Vanessa flipped an open hand up towards Ashley.

Sage put the bag on her lap and her nose picked up a heavenly smell. "It smells like fried chicken," she said as she took out a brown paper bag. She opened it and was met by a small note. The one sentence on it made her smile. She immediately knew who this was from and her heart was doing somersaults.

Letoya snatched the note away from Sage. "People buying you lunch and you haven't been here for a month?" She sneered.

"What does it say?" Candice asked as Trisha removed the piece of paper from Letoya's hold.

"You need to eat Ma." Trisha read it out loud.

"Why she smile so hard?" Vanessa asked as she regarded Sage with envy.

Sage had already opened one transparent container that had hake nuggets, calamari strips, and fried potato chips. She was squeezing sauce onto the seafood while Ashley grabbed a potato chip.

"These bitches." Letoya said shooting her arm towards the food.

Ashley pulled the container away. "Get your nasty hand away," she said with a strip in her mouth.

Sage giggled and wiped her moist fingers with a serviette. Paying no attention to the girls fighting over food, she looked into the black carrier bag and pulled out another brown paper bag. She opened it and grinned like a Cheshire cat at the second note.

She took out another container that had chicken pops and wings with fried ring onions.

She wondered how Junior knew she didn't eat at school. Not by choice. She had to accustom herself to Letoya's lifestyle, where lunch was not provided and Morris was forbidden to give them pocket money.

"Oh shit!" Trisha said as she looked at the food in Sage's hands.

"Who is this from?" Ashley asked after reading the second note, lifting her head towards Sage.

Sage shrugged her shoulders and threw a chicken pop in her mouth. She decided against telling any of the girls about her new friend yet. She wasn't sure there was much to share anyway.

"She has a boyfriend, that's for sure," Trisha said as she grabbed chicken wings from the container in Sage's hand. The other one was on Vanessa's lap.

Sage looked up at the girls who sat closer to her, they all chewed on something as Trisha passed a wing to Candice. "No I don't," she said.

"Bitch, stop playing. You just got food delivered," Candice shouted and bit into the wing held up by her fingers, "Is there more in there?"

Sage peeked into the bag, "No."

The bell rang and shortly after the girls left Ashley and Sage. They tidied up and got rid of the empty containers.

"Sage, who sent you food?" Ashley asked lowly, she held the notes up to her friend.

Sage took the papers and put them in the black bag. "Nobody."

Ashley did not believe her answer and was hurt that Sage didn't confide in her. She chose not to push it.

"Why don't you throw the bag away?" she asked as they climbed the steps.

"Because it has chocolate mousse in it." Sage beamed. She had to give it to Junior, he nailed it when it came to her favourite dessert.

"But you said..."

"I was not going to give them my mousse," Sage said and the girls laughed in agreement.

Before they entered their rowdy class, Ashley looked at Sage, "I hope you know what you're doing."