Chapter 23

“Anybody have the video for the fight at third lunch?”

“yeah, it was like cheerleaders gone crazy”

Sasha was so busy into her work she didn’t happen to hear the chatter up front of her fourth period class, as chemistry wasn’t exactly her favorite and she was trying to focus on the difficult work sheet.

“I got the video, who wanna see?” A boy in the front row asked taking out his phone, and Sasha raised her head to see all the commotion as students gathered around the phone.

She glanced over to the substitute who was too busy into his phone, laughing at the comedy sitcom on his screen rather than the rowdy class. Putting her head back down, she tried to remained focused amongst the chaos.

That was until she heard someone mention’s Lux’s name, and her brows caved in as she seriously hoped it wasn’t what she thought it was.

“See, Jaz got all that mouth and can’t even fight” someone else laughed and at that point Sasha was out of her seat.

She squeezed through the crowd and poked her head in to see it just as the boy hit the replay button. Sasha’s eyes widened following behind the immediate bad feeling coming over her.
She didn’t know what happened, but she was for sure it wasn’t good especially if it had anything to do with Jaz’s mouth. She quickly pulled herself out of the huddle, next making her way over to the teacher’s desk.

“Can I use the bathroom?” She asked, gesturing towards the hallway pass.

The substitute nodded without shifting his vision, and Sasha didn’t hesitate to grab the hallway pass before dashing out of the door. She tried her luck by texting Lux, but with no response had to wing it and try the principal’s office. She knew it wouldn’t be too long before a monitor started to harass her about getting back to class, so she picked up the pace and took the stairs to the first level. She frowned when she spotted Lux and the three other girls sitting in the front office as they waited to be called back by the principal.

“Pssttt” she tried her best to inconspicuously call over to her.

Lux turned her head, and Sasha was grateful for that. However all she did was deliver a mean eye roll and Sasha twisted her mouth.

“Lux” she whispered, “It’s Sasha”

“I know who you are stupid, go away” Lux whispered back.

Sasha flattened her expression but she wouldn’t take no for an answer; And she was happy when Lux finally stood up and asked to go to the bathroom.

“What do you want?” She hissed coming out of the front office.

“What happened? And where are you going?” Sasha asked following behind her.

“To the bathroom, that’s why I have the bathroom key” Lux said although deep down she really just wanted to hear what Sasha had to say.

“Okay, now the first question, what happened?” Sasha repeated.

“Your girlfriend is what happened”
Sasha raised her brow, “You’re what happened?”

“Not me” Lux snarled, “Your other girlfriend”

She pushed open the bathroom door, and Sasha shook her head as she continued to follow her inside. Instead of using the stall Lux began to fix her hair instead, which was still a little messed up from the incident.

“Lux, stop. You know you’re my only ~”

“I don’t know anything Sasha” Lux cut her off, “What I do know, is you’re not going to play me. This whole innocent act ~”

“What act??” Sasha said confused.

“Just stop, I know that you asked her to be your girlfriend Sasha. So why would you even try to make a deal”

“What, who told you that?” Sasha said with an unbelievable laugh.

“Oh so it’s funny?” Lux crossed her arms over her chest, “And she told me”

Sasha gave Lux a blank stare, and Lux threw her hands up.

“What!”

“Lux, listen to what you just said” Sasha said planting her hands on her hips, “Jaz told you. Do you seriously think she has the mental capacity to tell the truth”

Lux twisted her mouth and all she could do was look down to the dirty tiled floor. Sasha slowly walked over, and trying her luck she took Lux’s hands in hers.

“Look at me” she told her, and Lux slowly did as she was told, “I’m not lying, and I’m not acting. We made a deal ~”

“No deal” Lux shook her head.

“Why not, I told you that she’s lying”

“It doesn’t matter” Lux whined, her eyes filled with tears, “Because all she’s going to keep doing is taunting me with the fact that you kissed her. Ciera said you were tonguing her down and now I can’t get it out my head. Why did you have to do that?”

“I didn’t tongue her down, it was like a fucking peck” Sasha said running her hands through her hair, “And that doesn’t make it okay, I’m just..trying to make it better”

“You can’t!” Lux raised her voice, “So just….go”

The two battled looks, and Lux looked away once Sasha’s eyes became watery as well.

“Cool” Sasha flicked her nose with a nod, “I’ll just see you around”

Sasha went to turn away, only for Lux to pull her back moments later. The two met lips, and while Sasha was confused she didn’t back away. She held Lux close, savoring the moment as they wrestled tongues, saying everything they both wanted to say in only a kiss.

“I thought you wanted me to go” Sasha whispered once their lips broke away for a moment.

“I just…need space. But I won’t be mad at you forever” Lux assured her.

“Do you promise me? You can’t listen to what people say Lux~”

“I know, I know” Lux said putting her hair behind her ears.

“But you really hurt me Sasha and you don’t get to just, have me back like that. It doesn’t work like that”

“Okay, I understand” Sasha nodded.

The two stood in silence, holding hands as they stared back at each other. Before they could finish their conversation, a group of students entered the bathroom putting it to a halt.

“I’ll see you later…okay?”

Sasha nodded once more, and hated to see Lux go as she rushed out of the bathroom and back to the principal’s office. She splashed some water on her face, and patted it dry with a paper towel.

While she felt horrible about basically ruining her first relationship, she knew she had to win Lux back. She had been the first thing good in her life, and with her life at home back to hell, she needed the one person who made it all better. Just hopefully it wasn’t too late.

“Hey, Valencia wait up!”

Zay picked up his pace once he spotted Valencia walking along the school pathway. He was on his way to the parking lot to leave for the day when he couldn’t help but notice the familiar fringe jean jacket moving swiftly through the crowd of students.

After hearing about what happened he was very curious due to the fact that Vee wasn’t that type of girl and began to wonder was it Lux putting her in drama. That he could see, however he hoped not because Vee was a sweet girl and that was his favorite thing about her as it set her aside from most high school girls.

“Damn girl, you should run track” he joked, finally catching up to her.

She didn’t respond, instead kept her head forward and causing Zay to frown.

“Need a ride? I know the bus be packed sometimes” he shrugged.

“I’m okay” Valencia finally answered.

“You sure, it’s no ~”

“Yup, I’m sure” she stated with a hint of agitation.
Zay could sense the tension, and he figured maybe she was still cooling down from the fight.

“Cool. I’ll call you when I get in the house then, and you better answer”

He flirtatiously smirked, and draped his arm around her shoulder only for her dodge it.

“Zay, listen” she said putting her hands up, “I don’t think we should talk anymore”

For the first time ever Zay didn’t have a response to the statement handed to him, one that he didn’t particularly like. He wasn’t sure how to feel about her rejection, mainly because he was never rejected, he did the rejecting. However here he was, his face puzzled as Valencia looked completely unfazed by her decision to cut him off.

“Fine, don’t hit my line then” Zay scoffed, stopping in his tracks.

Valencia rolled her eyes, and almost wanted to respond but didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of thinking she was bothered. Just as she expected, he stood dumbfounded by her nonchalance as she continued to walk to the bus stop, and Zay clinched his jaw while fighting with his inner self.

“You can at least tell me what I did” He panted, catching back up to her.

“You didn’t do anything you didn’t want to” Valencia shrugged, “So it shouldn’t bother you”

“What did I do or didn’t do” Zay threw his hands into the air, “Just tell me”

Valencia looked down at her boots that kept up their pace, and her silence remained once more.

“You’re going to make me say it” Zay said throwing his head back.

“Say what?” Valencia asked, her eyebrow raised.

“That I really like you..a lot“

“Oouuu so revealing” Valencia replied sarcastically.
“Okay smart ass” Zay chuckled, bumping shoulders with her, “I’m serious. You’re the first girl I met that I can really talk to and I don’t want to lose that. Can you pleassseee tell me what I did wrong”

Valencia let out a small breath, and finally connected her eyes with his, “You invited Ciera over to your place, you know when Sasha cheated on Lux. And then you had the nerve to ask her to the winter dance, like she isn’t going to show up with a dress on from Got the Look”

“So you’re jealous?” Zay smirked, “That’s all you had to say”

Valencia scoffed, “You know what, just ~”
“I’m kidding, Vee” Zay laughed, slyly putting his hand around her, “You’re right, I did invite her over. I was stupid, and I promise I didn’t know anything about Sasha and Jaz. And, if it makes you feel any better we didn’t do anything ~”

“But you wanted to do something” Valencia gave him a knowing look.

“But I didn’t” Zay corrected her, “I want you. And I realized that”

Zay gave her an innocent expression although he wasn’t entirely telling the truth and he believed his puppy dog eyes and saying the right things would get her to just let the entire thing go. The truth was that he wanted to hook up with Ciera, however for some reason he just couldn’t get in the mood per say and it was actually quite embarrassing.

That never happened to him before, but he shrugged it off and decided maybe his body was just drained. Still, a part of him was telling the truth; He did want to date Valencia and only Valencia. After hanging with Ciera he also realized that, because the whole time all he could think about was her.

“So why ask her to the dance?” Valencia asked.
“To be honest, I probably won’t even go to the dance.
I just told her what she wanted to hear” he shrugged.

“Kind of like how you’re doing to me right now?”

“No, I’m telling you the truth. Do you believe me or not?” Zay screwed his lips.

“Not” Valencia said stopping in her tracks, “Because if you really liked me, you would’ve never invited her over. And I don’t need girls going around, bragging about being with you. I’m…just not that kind of girl. I’m sorry”

She picked up her feet once more, and continued her way to the bus stop without looking back. Zay hung his head low, and it was a shock to him that his usual plan didn’t work on her. That just proved his point even more that she was different, and he knew he had just taken a major loss.

Deciding to deal with his love dilemma later, Zay headed back to the parking lot to locate his car. Before he knew it he was pulling up to the brick-stone home, and he immediately spotted his aunt’s Maxima out front as well as his dad’s truck.

The house was quiet from the moment he entered causing him to wonder where they were as his aunt’s voice wasn’t exactly hard to miss.

“Was it really necessary to fire him Will?” Kelly hissed at her brother, and Zay could tell from the tone of her voice she wasn’t having a friendly conversation leaving him to keep his distance.

“It was. I told you, it is against company policies to be dating a coworker. You didn’t listen, and you’re lucky you still have a job” William said before taking a slurp of what Zay knew was most likely a swig of rum.

“Yeah fucking right, we both you know you slept with Susan and Elanore. Two employees, and your subordinates ~”

“They weren’t fucking married, Kelly. At least give me that. I don’t need any fucking scandals in my company, and Swedenburg is fucking obsessed with you”

Zay scratched his chin, and began to ponder on where he heard that name before.

“Swedenburg?” He said out loud, to soon realize his cover was blown.

“Zay, when did your sneaky butt get here?” Kelly asked, poking her head out of the kitchen arch and into the dining room.

“Just now, what you doin here Aunt Kelly?” He chuckled nervously.

“Oh nothing, me and your father just having a sibling rivalry, what else is new. You’re lucky you have no siblings” she tittered, not realizing he actually did have one.

A little sister across the country that he never even had the pleasure of meeting, and after years of not hearing from his mother he figured he probably would never get the chance.

An awkward silence emerged in the large kitchen, and William cleared his throat.

“How was school, son?”

“It was school” Zay shrugged, “I’ma go get started on this homework”

“Don’t stay up too late, you have drills at five. Set your alarm”

“Already set” Zay shouted back as he was already headed near the stairs.

He knew even though school break was coming up for thanksgiving and he would have a break from basketball practice at school, it only meant his dad would work him twice as hard.

It was always the same when holidays came around, it was like his dad tried to avoid the fact that it was just the two of them in the big house, and insisted they used that time to perfect his craft rather than participate in silly holidays.

This year would be no different, and as he laid back onto his bed he began to imagine having his own family one day. Taking him out of his thoughts, his phone began to ring and he didn’t bother looking at the caller id.

“What?” He answered.

“Is that how you answer your phone?” Ciera scoffed, “Ugh whatever. What colors do you think we should wear at the dance?”

“I’m not going to the dance with you” Zay laughed dismissively as he sat up on his bed.

“What? You can’t be serio~”

“I am serious. Who told you blab your big mouth to everyone about you coming over?”

A silence broke out on the other end, a few chuckles subsequently being let out after, “Oh so that’s what this is all about? That little bird, Valencia?”

Zay pushed his eyes into his head, and shook his head with a laugh because he sure knew how to pick them.

“I gotta go”

Before she could say anything else he ended the call, and reverted his attention to social media instead. He was trying to occupy his time as this was usually when he called Valencia and the two talked before he finally took a shower and got ready for bed but now that she didn’t want to hear from him he felt out of sync.

There was nothing on his feed except memes about thanksgiving, and people in general making posts about the upcoming holiday. In the same instance he began to remember his mother, and if there was one thing he remembered it was that she loved to cook. Especially on thanksgiving.

He could remember a younger version of himself licking the pan when she made homemade deserts, or even being allowed the first scoop of macaroni because she knew that was his favorite.

Letting the curiosity get the best of him, he searched a specific username and hoped it still worked as he hadn’t typed it in a while. Sure enough it did and he found himself scrolling down the page with a rapidly beating heart.

Post one told him that it was his half sister’s birthday, and he would’ve never known that if he hadn’t chosen to cyber stalk his estranged mother that day. And post two told him that she was still cooking, and it made his stomach twist that she was anticipating the big day with her family. Everything in him wanted to comment, ‘what about me, ma?’.

But instead he closed out the instagram as he had seen enough, and as always his curiosity only made him feel worse. At the moment he could really use someone to talk to, and just the thought of Valencia’s words caused him to sigh out loud.

It looked as if he messed that up too just like most things in his life, and instead of trying his luck to win her back he figured it was best to let her go. If his own mother didn’t want him, he started to seriously ask himself why would anyone else.

“Sasha, dinner will be ready soon. Make sure to take your shower” Myda said through the crack in Sasha’s room door.

Sasha rolled her eyes, and didn’t answer as she hurriedly finished up her homework. She wanted to get time in on the courts after dinner, due to basketball season being right around the corner and for her that meant the pressure was on.

This was her first season she would be playing in, and while her parents still believed she was a cheerleader at school she was known as the girl who played ball and was really good at it. Due to Sasha the team actually won all of their scrimmage games, and coach was depending on her to bring it home and at the moment she was so into her feelings she wasn’t sure if she would be able to.

While Lux accepted her apology, the fact that the two weren’t together really began to make her feel some type of way. The bad thing about falling in love for the first time was that you eventually had to go through your first breakup as well, and Sasha definitely was feeling the puppy love blues.

After finishing up the last few questions, she set aside the homework and gathered her things for the shower.

“Hey, I’m doing laundry tomorrow so throw me your cheer uniform when you get a chance” Myda said walking past Sasha with the laundry basket at her side.

“Umm, sure. Soon as I find it” Sasha smiled uneasily before quickly turning into the bathroom.

“I’m surprised you can find anything in that junky room. I’ll clean it while you’re in the shower”

“No!” Sasha replied louder than she meant to, and Myda gave her daughter a suspicious look, “I mean…I got it. I’m about to be eighteen mom, I don’t need you cleaning my room”

“Mhh I guess you’re right” she shrugged, “Well just make sure you give me the uniform to clean, all those games I know it has to be filthy”

“I will” Sasha assured her before closing the door shut.

She let out a sigh of relief, and wished her mother would go back to ignoring her. Ever since Joseph came back around she was back to being Martha Stewart, and all the kids were to report to the dinner table clean and ready to eat like it was a rewind to the fifties.

Instead of dwelling in the shower Sasha quickly washed up, changed and headed down to dinner to get the whole thing over with.

“What’s for dinner tonight?” Ty asked hopping into his seat, “I really missed you cooking this much, ma”

“Me too” Sasha’s second youngest brother Mikey exclaimed, grabbing the Hawaiian dinner roll and shoving it into his mouth.

“What do you mean, you miss it. Your mother always cooks dinner” Joseph said finally taking a seat at the table.

“Not while you were gone” Quan snickered, strolling into the room next.

His eyes were blood shot red, and Sasha knew that look from anywhere because she had caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror a couple times after secretly smoking with friends. A habit she knew was bad, especially for an athlete but she couldn’t help it because as cliche as it sounded it actually did help with her anxiety.

“Oh hush, I always cook for you” Myda flagged one hand while using the other to sit down the tray of stuffed chicken breast, “No need to be dramatic”

“Sure you do” Quan responded sarcastically.

“Boy sit down and stop giving your mother lip. Myda, hurry up and put that food down so we can say grace”

If looks could kill, Joseph would’ve been dead from the glare his son was giving him. However he was too busy into the newspaper as always, and Sasha wondered what exactly could be interesting in the neighborhood summary. She always wondered why her father liked reading it, and if she was honest it wouldn’t be the first thing she wondered about him.

“Bow your heads”

They all did as instructed, and Joseph led them through a short prayer.

“Amen” the family followed up simultaneously.

The familiar sound of silence took over the living room, and for once Sasha didn’t cringe at the sound of only forks and knives hitting against the glass plates. She actually accepted it, too busy in her own head to worry about the sounds around her anyway.

“Soooo Dad, how’s work?” Ty asked, “Mom says you got some big promotion”

“Ty I did not tell you that directly, what did I tell you about listening to my conversations” Myda said, knowing he must’ve heard her while she was bragging on the phone to her church friends.

“Sorry, I just overheard” Ty shrugged.

“Well since the cat’s out of the bag, yes I did” Joseph answered, “It’s a position that allows me to be home a little more. Just for the time being”

“Sounds like a demotion to me” Quan chuckled, and Sasha hid her smile that crept out in between eating her food.

“Quan ~” Myda started.

“It’s okay Myda, he’ll learn” Joseph slit his eyes.

“Oh yeah, whose going to teach me?” Quan challenged.

Sasha’s smile faded once she realized that her brother was serious, and she watched intensely to see what would happen.

Joseph didn’t respond, just clinched his jaw and stabbed at the cheddar broccoli. Myda on the other hand looked worried out of her mind, as she tried her best to predict her husband’s next move.
Surprisingly he didn’t react, and they all went back to silently eating.

Suddenly Quan’s phone began to ring, and after glancing down he quickly wiped his mouth and excused himself.

“I’ll be back before ten” he stated rather than asked.
“Like hell you will” Joseph scoffed, “I let your comment slide because I’ve had a long day. Don’t get ahead of yourself”

“Well too bad I was telling you, not asking you” Quan shrugged, “I paid you for taking care of me, remember?”

“That little bit of change doesn’t even began to put a dent in what you owe me” Joseph laughed dismissively, “And you’re still a minor, so whatever I say goes”

“Not anymore” Quan shot back whilst walking.
Myda raised from her seat, only for Joseph to hold her back. It wasn’t that he wasn’t upset, he’d just rather play the game that Quan wanted to and the right way. He knew his son would need him sooner or later, and only then would he show his hand.

“So I guess this is a bad time to excuse myself too” Sasha said with a twist of her mouth.

“For what exactly?” Joseph asked.

“To practice…outside” she mumbled, “I finished my homework already and I’ll be right in the back”

“Practice what, because if that damn basketball ~”

“It’s not” Sasha lied, not really thinking it through, “I have a few cheers to get down”

“Let her go Joe, she has a game coming up soon. I need my girl to be the best” Myda beamed.

Sasha smiled awkwardly, and Joseph just shook his head as he reverted his attention back to his plate.

“Whatever, just keep it in the garage. No one needs to hear all that yelling this time at night” He gruntled.

Sasha nodded, and hurriedly placed her dish in the sink. She figured she could at least practice her dribbling in the garage until her parents went to bed and then she would be able to really play. While it was clear her brother was done playing by her parents rules, she just wanted to get through the next 90 something days until graduation. If that meant playing goody goody in their eyes then so be it.

Heading into her room to grab her sneakers, she suddenly stopped when she spotted her phone light up on the bed. She frowned at the screen that still displayed the picture of Lux, only to next roll her eyes at the message from the guy’s group chat. If there was anyone she wanted to talk to, it was Lux and for a moment she even considered calling her. However Sasha knew she needed to give her space and time, and she just hoped she would be ready to forgive and forget sooner than later.