Seventeen year old Safaya Bennett must navigate young adulthood under the stresses of her sins, her crumbling relationship with her twin sister, Rue, and a crippling mental disorder that makes her very dependent on her relationship with Nate Jacobs...
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I didn't see my sister again until lunch when she entered the cafeteria with Nate in tow, following behind her like a sick, freakishly tall, puppy in his football jersey. Safaya was clearly in a better mood now that he was around. Nate had seen Jules and I sitting at a table in the far end of the room, his eyes going dark when he settled on the blonde.
"I'll see you in a second. I gotta go talk to the team." His hand brushed against Safaya's forearm. His gaze stuck on Jules while I looked down in my lap, playing with my hands.
"Isn't that your sister?" Jules asked softly.
I glanced up, seeing her approach the table. "No." I muttered. "She just stole my face."
The slender girl came closer with a small smile on her lips. I could tell she was high before she even spoke. "Hey, Ruey." She said brightly. Turning to Jules with her hand extended in her direction. "Hi, I'm Safaya. You're Jules, right?"
"Yeah." Her eyes flickered between Saf's hand and her smile. She didn't know exactly who she was dealing with but didn't want to judge. Jules knew we were related which caused her to believe there was some form of good wrapped inside. "I recognize you from the party." Jules shook her hand, not really knowing how much this small interaction would impact them both in the long run.
Safaya tucked some hair behind her ear, flashing that award winning smile that made men easily get on their knees. "I actually wanted to talk to you about that night." She glanced at the band-aid Jules had on her forearm from cutting herself. "I'm sorry for what happened and whatever Nate did that made you uncomfortable. He's going through a break-up and he's just really on edge and probably drank too much. I didn't want us to get off on the wrong foot so I wanted to apologize." She said so smoothly as if she had rehearsed it.
Every second that my sister spent with Nate Jacobs, she was becoming more and more like him, and I was disgusted.
"You didn't, like, do anything to me." Jules shook her head.
"Exactly." I chimed in. "So why are you here apologizing for him, Saf?" I leaned forward in my seat. Eyes narrowed at the person in front of me. I didn't know who she was anymore.
She frowned. "Because I felt bad, Ruey. And I wanted Jules to know that nothing like that will ever happen again." Safaya gave me the sternest look. She never used to do that before and especially not to me.
"Because you'll make sure of it?"
"Because I will make sure of it."
Jules watched Saf and I interact, confused as to how we could live under the same roof and have so much distaste for each other. "We're good." Jules gave her a half smile. I don't think she meant it. She just wanted the tension to stop. "I don't have any problems with you."
"Great." Saf settled into her grin once more. "Well, uh, welcome to East Highland, Jules!"
And with that she walked off, going to do whatever the hell she did when she wasn't around me.
I knew Jules would want to talk about what just happened and quite frankly, I wasn't fond of addressing it. I had just met her but it felt like I'd known her my whole life. I didn't want to scare her with my baggage surrounding my strained relationship with my sister. My eyes were glued to her across the cafeteria. Watching as she stood at the end of the steps while the football team came downstairs. Us commoners were in the middle of a pep rally for the season opener this weekend, cheerleaders performing their routines while the boys in school drooled over them.
Maddy was staring daggers at Safaya's head, the latter not paying attention because she was busy looking at Nate, who was distracted by watching Maddy dance. It was the weirdest fucking love triangle I had ever seen and I grew up in the era of Twilight and The Hunger Games.
Nate approached Saf once he was able to tear his eyes away from his ex girlfriend. He pulled her into the hallway, letting his team take care of yelling and banging their chests to assert their dominance over the rest of the school.
"Hey," He said quietly. "I'm taking Maddy home after school. Trying to convince her to go out with me tonight. I won't be able to give you a ride home but I arranged for you to get a ride from TJ."
Safaya's eyes fell, the sadness apparent on her face. "You're back with her?" She questioned.
Nate leaned against the wall. A sigh falling from his lips because he was revisiting that horrific cycle. "She blacked out at the party, Saf. Maddy didn't mean to fuck that guy." He defended, being so gullible to the preys of women. Safaya scoffed and laughed, shaking her head at what she was hearing. "What? What's the matter?" He said inching closer.
"She's so fucking manipulative, Nate! I saw Maddy and she was not blacked out, she did that on purpose to piss you off. And now you're falling right into it again." Safaya was upset and that was the last thing Nate wanted. He knew she could be unpredictable at times and tried to diffuse the situation before things went out of control.
Nate shook his head. "Don't." He said. "You make me happy, Safaya. Maddy makes me happy and I know we have our ups and downs but I love her." He grabbed her hands gently. "And I love you too. Which is why I made sure TJ will get you home safely."
"But I don't know TJ." Saf crinkled her brows, still playing with Nate's hands. The thought of being around a guy she had barely had two conversations with terrified her. The football player was always nice whenever he would get treats from her after their games but he wasn't Nate. He wasn't her person. "I don't like this." She mumbled. Trying not to cry in the middle of the hallway.
Nate pulled her in for a hug, noticing that her hands were beginning to shake. Over the years of friendship he's picked up on the cues for her panic attacks whether its the shaking or the sudden staring off into space or how she get randomly gets cold in seventy degree weather. "T's one of the few good guys at this school. He has my back, which means he has yours. You trust me?" She wrapped her arms around him tighter.
"Yeah." She breathed into his chest.
He pulled away from her, leaning down to her eye level. He wiped a stray tear away from her face and smiled. "Tell you what, I'll leave my sweatshirt in your locker so when TJ takes you home you'll have a little piece of me with you." He saw the glimmer in those brown eyes of hers. "Plus, he always has the A/C on. I think he has asthma or some shit."
She laughed.
And then he knew he had won her over again.
Whenever Safaya even had the inkling of a tantrum he knew how to manipulate the situation. Nate Jacobs knew how to control her and keep her in his corner no matter how many times I, or society, have shown her he was a piece of shit. He just never knew how useful having Safaya on his team would be until he found himself in trouble at the East Highland Carnival.
