"Usually, people think that I'm a strong, happy person...but behind my smiles - they just don't know how much I'm in pain and almost broken."
-----
"We all know that this city is in a crisis. But under the leadership of Principal Jefferson Pierce, Garfield High is an oasis of hope. This Olympic gold-medal winner came back to his old neighborhood of Freeland to turn it around. And with graduation rates now in the nineties, Jefferson does it all with the help of an outstanding faculty and his family."
I sighed heavily, leaning back in my chair while rubbing a free hand on my empty stomach. Why couldn't the woman just talk faster so we could get to the food?
"His oldest daughter, Anissa, is a medical school student and teaches three days a week at the school as a health educator. His younger daughter, Jennifer, is a stand-out scholar athlete just like her father."
She says that and yet that so-called 'scholar' is nowhere to be found. She and her little friends are probably planning on sneaking out of here and going to some kind of provocative party as usual.
"Ladies and gentlemen, join me and welcome to the stage, Principal Jefferson Pierce."
Everyone began to applaud for the old guy happily going up to the stage. A headache coursed its way to my eyes from the noise. Remind me why I couldn't just stay at home like a normal kid?
"Thank you, Senator Turner."
He cleared his throat and looked around the large banquet hall. Glancing at everyone, he spotted me sitting in an un-lady-like position and shot one of his stern looks. I continued to sit in this position just to annoy him.
"Where's the future?"
As if on cue (which it basically is), students all around the room stood up and yelled out the same quote in which he had ingrained into our minds since we started our high school lives. That is, everyone except me, of course.
"Right here!"
"And whose life is this?"
"Mine!"
"And what are you gonna do with it?"
"Live it by any means necessary!"
-----
When all the old people were finally done with their speeches for the night, everyone just started to mingle in with each other. I decided against socializing and instead stationed myself at the buffet table.
"Hello, Esme." Sighing around a mouthful of a biscuit, I spared a glance over my shoulder an glared heavily on the person who interrupted my feast. "Having fun tonight, I see."
"Oh, yeah. Staying after school for any longer than any normal student would, almost starving myself, and then getting a lecture from the principal always sets me in a good mood." For an extra boost of sarcasm, I held up a fist and smiled excitedly. Principal Jefferson, like always, looked right through my words and continued to torture me.
"First thing first, Esme." Looking around quickly, he seemed to make up his mind before speaking once again. "It seems to me like you're here all alone."
"Wow. You really do have eyes like a hawk. Here I thought those rumors were just pulling my tail. What's next, a nose like a hound? Oooohhhh, how about ears like a fox?"
I turned around with a fake gasp and tried to finish my plate of food while filling another. Knowing my uncle, there would be nothing to eat once I got back home. He'll probably leave a pot of burnt noodle packets just sitting on the stove and ready for me to clean out if I'm lucky.
YOU ARE READING
And I Darken
Fanfiction"At least we have memes to dull the pain of existence." or In which a teengaer gets caught up in the fight for her neighborhood while dealing with her own shape-shifting problems. *Black Lightning FF* *Updates Every Saturday*