Solitude

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Remo Marsi

Hearing my bedroom door open and sniffling I opened my eyes watching Tiana make her way into my bed.

"Remo? Hold me please"

Turning onto my side I pulled her into me, rubbing circles into her exposed hip.

"I'm sorry I blew up on you earlier, it wasn't right. I should've controlled myself better. I'm sensitive I know but I trying to get out of it, it's just really hard. I haven't been honest about some things either" she mumbles the last part lowly

Reaching over her I pressed to button on the bed to turn the lights on.

Sitting beside her I wiped her tears away with my thumb.

'You don't have to tell me if you aren't ready' I sign shaking my head, if she kept it from me then I know there's a good reason

"I do, you should know. Tiana isn't my given name, it's what I named myself when I moved here" bringing her knees to her chest she laid her head on them. "when I came here it was on the same week school started, my first day I had introduced myself to the class. I was teased the whole year and bullied by a guy named Nathan, he called me every 'H' name that sounds like boy names every time he saw me. He even got everybody in our grade to call me Henry because my name is different and isn't common. I had a Kenya necklace back then, he broke it by trying to strangle me with it. I begged my parents to let me get an American name, it took four months before they agreed. The movie princess and the frog came out around that time, I named myself Tiana because she was royalty and that's what I wanted to think of myself"

Nodding I glanced at the door seeing her kitten come into the room and towards the bed, Tiana picked her up petting her.

"My Kenyan name is Hanuni, it means happy and cheery. My Bibi always said it fits me well"

I agree

"My dad's side of the family calls me that, my mom's side calls me by my middle name Asami. I go by Tiana when I'm introducing myself to new people and in school. It wouldn't be right if kept that to myself seeing that you were nice enough to let me into your home. You call me by my given name if you want, it doesn't matter"

'How do you pronounce it?"

"Hah no nee, Hanuni. It's spelled H-A-N-U-N-I, there's something else I should tell you but I haven't come to terms with it myself. It's been weighing on me for a while but I'm not ready to talk about it yet"

'Tell me whenever you're ready' nodding I looked for my phone trying not to show that I'm kind of irritated.

Her name is beautiful and it has meaning I'm not understanding what's the problem.

"What's wrong? Are you upset with me?" she questions grabbing my arm

'No, you're fine'

Finding it I sent a message to Lauren.

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Remo: How long would it take you to find someone from Tiana's fifth-grade class?
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Lauren: Depends is it good or bad?
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Remo: Bad for them
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Lauren: NAME?! It'll take a cool five to ten minutes, I want to watch whatever happens :)
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Remo: All I have is his first name, Nathan
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"Remo?"

Putting my phone away I laid beside Tiana looking up at her.

"Can I share Geovani with you?"

Squinting I have her a weird look, what does she mean to share him?

"I didn't mean for it to come out weird, I always wanted to have a sibling. You were lucky enough to have a twin and the both of you get along well from what I can see. I kind of want that for myself too"