Chapter 7

Sasha awoke to the sound of yelling, and at this point she was so accustomed to the loud household that it didn’t even phase her anymore. She laid in the same spot, not moving as her eyes tiredly stared at the ceiling.

Her weekend consisted of nothing but doing housework, and all she could think about was Friday night as she did laundry for everyone in the household, cleaned the dishes, moped almost every room and finished off with the bathrooms.

Usually those chores were split between her and Ty, but after he was her watching eye on Friday she now had to suffer and do twice the amount of work. Now that it was Monday, her body was sore and she was hoping it felt better before practice later. After laying in her same spot for a few more minutes, she finally raised up when her laptop began to go off. She left it open from the night before from watching family guy, and just before the video chat popped up it was still playing.

“Good morning” Chris smiled tiredly into his screen, his head against his pillow.

“Good morning” she smirked, and scratched her head roughly.

She turned from the laptop and started to search into her closet for her uniform.

“How was your weekend? I see my call wasn’t answered yesterday” he said lifting one brow.

“Yeah sorry about that, I was swamped with chores. Oh, and” she turned back to the screen and smirked, “I went to a party”

“A party?” Chris responded to make sure he was hearing her right.

“Yeah, I snuck out” she shrugged as if it was an every day thing.

Chris nodded, and then began to double over in laughter. She frowned her face up, next rolling her eyes and turning to finish picking out her clothes for the day.

“Sorry, I just can’t see you at a party” he admitted, “You, Sash?”

“Why is that so hard for you to believe?”

Sasha knew why, but dug for other reasons for why she didn’t seem like the party type.

Chris shrugged and poked his bottom lip out, letting his brown eyes roll slightly. He didn’t want to admit he was slightly jealous that Sasha went to a party without him, since back in D.C he wanted nothing but for them to be able to do cool shit like that but Sasha was always too scared. She had only been in Philly for no more than three weeks, and the fact that she had already started to branch out caused him to wonder who her new friends were.

“It’s not….so who did you go to the party with?”

“My friend, her name is Lux. And we met these guys on the basketball team ~”

“Guys?” He asked.

“Yeah, guys?” she nodded with a slight giggle,
“And we got pizza after school. They invited us to a party and Lux wanted to go, so I got Ty to cover for me. You know how that went” she gave him a knowing look.

“Double chores?” Chris asked and Sasha nodded.

The two shook their head simultaneously, and Chris couldn’t imagine having such selfish siblings. Sure, siblings were petty, but Sasha’s brothers used whatever they could against her for their own gain, and for that he never liked them.

Sasha continued to tell the story of her weekend as Chris listened. His eyebrows rearranged every few moments at a different part of the story, as Sasha told him about everything only making sure to leave out the kiss between her and Lux. She was still confused about that, and she didn’t know how Chris would react, so she kept it to herself.

“Well…I’m glad you’re getting out” Chris said swallowing his jealously.

He truly was happy for Sasha, even if she wasn’t the one he was getting out with.

“Me too..but I’ll talk to you later? I have to get in the bathroom before idiot one or two…or three” she smirked, referring to her dad as the last idiot.

“Sure thing, have a good day” he smiled, wiping the crust of his eye.

“Have a good day”

The two waved and the call disconnected, leaving Sasha to get ready for her day. She grabbed the towel from her closet and headed into the hallway, only to hear the arguing as it never ceased. It was coming from her parents room, and because her room was the closest she always heard their random spats.

“Where is the money going Joseph? I’m confused”

Myda said to her husband, the account summary from the bank in her hand, “You’ve always been very responsible, now hundreds of dollars are miscounted for”

“I told you I put a few things on layaway for the house” he told her, “And besides, it’s my fucking money. It’s not like you work”

“And that’s exactly why you need to be more careful when spending”

“How about you get a damn job, and then you can read your own bank statement”

They continued to throw words, and Sasha rolled her eyes before going into the bathroom, taking a quick shower. She was sure her brothers would be banging on the door at any moment, so she didn’t waste any time doing her morning hygiene. Making her way back into her room, she finished getting ready for school, trying her best to be prompt.

“Cheerleading huh?” Quan snickered once she entered the kitchen to grab breakfast.

Instead of responding, she blatantly ignored him. He scrunched his brows, disappointed that he didn’t get a rise out of her.

“See you at school” he winked, next grabbing his book bag off the floor.

He took a swig of his gatorade and walked out, and she rolled her eyes into her head. Next, she heard the heavy footsteps of her father and definitely didn’t feel like dealing with him. Instead of sitting for a bowel of cereal, she opted for a granola bar instead and a kaprisun. Her father entered the kitchen, and the headache he possessed wore on his face.

“Here” he said, handing her the cellphone he took on Friday night.

Sasha took it into her hand, and was glad to have it back.

“Thanks”

She went to walk away, but as always he had to have the last word.

“After practice, be home. And if you work on your project, you do it here” he repeated her conditions for being on the ‘cheerleading’ team.

She nodded, and was happy when he went about his business. She turned her phone on immediately and smiled at the few messages from Lux from Friday night. She was sure she was wondering why she hadn’t texted her back, so she responded as she started her walk to school. Looking at the time, she picked up her pace, anticipation in her heels as she was anxious about starting her day.

🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀

After a short walk, Sasha arrived to school with time to spare before having to go to class. She decided to run to the coach’s office for a new permission slip, so she headed straight to the gym.

“I’m not doing this with you Shamira, I told you that I’m going to have early morning practices so I can’t pick you up anymore” Zay said looking down to the girl in front of him.

Sasha heard only parts of their conversation as she searched for coach, however he was nowhere to be found in his office.

“Hey…did you see coach?” She asked, clasping both her bookbag straps as she looked up to Zay’s tall stance. His female company gave her an annoyed once over, and Sasha recognized her from one of the girls at the party.

“He went to the cafeteria for breakfast, why what do you need?”

“A new permission slip” she told him.

He nodded, and made his way into the coach’s office. He was happy to be doing anything to get away from the annoying girl. The two had been messing around since the summer time, and after a few rides on the first week to school she expected him to do it everyday, but he was too busy for that.

“Slips..slips..here we go” he thought out loud as he found the pack of papers and pulled out one for Sasha. She thanked him, next folding it and putting it in her book bag.

“Might as well walk with you to class” he insisted, grabbing his bag as well. Sasha didn’t reject, just followed behind him as they left the office.

Zay was relieved to see Shamira gone, and was glad he could walk to class in peace.

“So, you guys start the project yet?” He asked as the two walked towards Mr. Reyes class.

“No, I didn’t have my phone all weekend” Sasha shrugged.

“Damn, why not? I’m gonna take a wild guess and say parents”

“Your guess is right” Sasha chuckled, and Zay noted her singular dimple in one cheek.

“Yeah, parents can be like that. Was it cause of the party?”

“Nah, something else” Sasha responded, not wanting to get into detail about what.

The two turned the corner, and were now only a few seconds from reaching their Af.Am lit class.

“Didn’t exactly take you for the trouble type” Zay laughed, and Sasha shrugged bashfully. She laughed too and again he caught her smile as he opened the door for them both.

“Okay class, I will pass around a sheet and you will write down you and your partners name, and the chapter you will be covering” Mr. Reyes announced as he began to write a few lesson plans on the board.

This was the second week of school, and after mild discussions the first few days, he was now ready to take things up a notch.

Sasha looked towards the back, and twisted her mouth when she didn’t see Lux. Granted, she could just be late however the two never got a chance to discuss what chapter to choose.

“Wheres your best friend at?” Zay asked, taking his seat behind Josh and noticing that Lux wasn’t there as well.

“Funny” Sasha snickered, “You know, you’d probably get farther with Lux if you didn’t act so jealous”

“Me? Jealous?” Zay said taken back, “Never. And why would I be so jealous of two girls being friends?”

“Ask yourself that” Sasha challenged him.

She could tell that Zay was a little salty that for the first few days Luz decided to hang with her and was completely blowing him off, but she couldn’t help that.

Zay didn’t respond, just pursed his lips together and turned towards the front. Mr. Reyes began to start the class, and as he promised he passed the book report sheet around. Sasha retrieved the chapter book out of her bag and flipped through the pages, quickly trying to get an overview of each one before choosing. She came across one chapter that seemed interesting, the slave narrative based on Harriet Jacobs. By the time the paper got to her, she quickly signed their names and the chapter name, and passed it along.

Class went by, and she couldn’t help but continue to stare at the door. She didn’t know what was up with her, because she never had that feeling of ‘looking’ for someone.

However her eyes kept drifting to the wooden door with the window that peeked out into the hallway, her ears tuning out to what Mr. Reyes was saying. She could see that he was watching her, so she managed to jot down a few notes to pretend that she actually heard what he was saying.

“Alright class, remember to read your chapters. Those worksheets are due to tomorrow” he announced once class was over.

Sasha gathered her things, and grabbed two sheets from his desk. Lux hadn’t made it to class, however she didn’t want her to miss out on the work. Her next class was anatomy, but she took a detour on the way there. She made a right instead of a left, only for a smile to spread onto her face at the sight of Lux at her locker.

“Hey” She said awkwardly as she strolled up.
Lux looked over her shoulder, and to Sasha’s surprise she didn’t return the smile.

“Hey” she replied nonchalantly.

Sasha scrunched her brows, but shook off the dry greeting and retrieved the homework sheet from her bag.

“I got your homework for you…since you didn’t make it to class”

“Thanks” Lux said taking it from her.

She threw it into her messy locker, and then continued to look for her second period book. Sasha awkwardly stood there, playing with her nails as she tried to find the words to say. Usually Lux did all the talking, but this time she barely had anything to say.

“Are you okay?” She finally asked, leaning against the locker on the side of Lux’s.

Lux resisted to smile at Sasha, who looked so cute leaning boyishly against the lockers. Her right foot was posted up, and as always her curly hair was all over the place. Some was in her way, so she blew upwards and it flew out her face.

“Yeah…I just” Lux trailed off, and then decided the heck with it, “Why didn’t you text me back all weekend?”

Sasha was surprised by her question, mainly because no one was ever upset to not hear from her except Chris.

“I got my phone taken” Sasha told her, “I kinda signed my permission slip for the team and my parents found out”

“Oh” Lux said, feeling salty.

She didn’t want to be mad at Sasha, because technically the two did just meet. But she couldn’t help but to feel a way after thinking she was being ignored all weekend.

“Sorry” Sasha apologized sweetly, and Lux smirked.
“No, I’m sorry” Lux shook her head.

She closed her locker, and the two began to walk towards Lux’s french class.

“So, now that your parents found out are you not allowed to play?” Lux asked.

Sasha chuckled and ran her hand over the back of her neck, “Not exactly, I told them it was for cheerleading”

“Smooth save” Lux laughed, nudging her shoulder against Sasha’s, “Look at you, you learn fast young grasshopper”

Sasha bowed her head with prayer hands and the two doubled over in laughter.

“Oh, and my dad said you can come over after school today to start our project”

“Really now?” Lux asked, a little excited if she had to be honest, “Well, I’ll be there”

“Great. I’ll text you, but I’m heading this way” Sasha said ready to turn back around. She was already cutting it close to being late.

The two stopped in the middle of the hallway, and shared an equally shy glance.

“Okay, see you later” Lux smiled.

Sasha waved, and Lux laughed to herself as Sasha began to jolt down the hallway, her hair flying on its own as she dodged through the sea of people. Lux knew one thing, she was excited about starting that project.