Tommy

Chapter Twenty two

Three years later

Ziva gazed at the blossoming cherry blossoms.
Some of them had started to fall already.
They fell in her afro, decorating her hair beautifully.
Ziva closed her eyes.
It had been years since she last saw Tommy.
He hadn't been allowed to have visitors. It made her heart yearn for him.

Ziva wanted to be there for him on that day. She knew he needed the support he could get. She bet he felt lonely then and those three years he had to spent alone.
But, she wasn't allowed in the courtroom. She couldn't do anything about it.
Ziva was a senior. It was going to be her last day of high school.
She never knew how she survived in an high school that was filled with racists. Not all of them, though. Some were low key with it, others high key. Some didn't even care and were just trying to pass their years silently in the background.

That was what Ziva tried to do. Pass her senior year hiding in the background. Though, it didn't help.
She had started fake dating Alexx who had come up with the solution she would be no longer harassed by male students.
Also, he just wanted his parents to get over their prejudice from different backgrounds. It was killing two stones with one bird.

"There is my gorgeous girlfriend!"

Ziva turned around, hearing the voice of Alexx. Over the last years, the boy had gotten a growth spurt. His brown tousled hair danced along with the wind as he walked towards Ziva who sat on the grass. She leaned her back on the tree, watching him come closer before he sat himself down next to her.

Alexx's hand reached out to Ziva's hair, making the black girl lean away from her. She raised her eyebrow at him.

In defense Alexx threw his hands up in surrender.
"You've got cherry blossoms in your hair. I was just going to get them out for you," the boy explained himself.

"Really?"  Ziva asked. "Does it look pretty on me?"
She looked at her friend, her brown eyes huge in wonder. She leaned in on Alexx, making the boy unconsciously back up.

"Y-yeah.. or I wouldn't have said anything duhh. And besides you could even make a garbage look good with your exotic looks."
Alexx turned his face away, trying to hide the blush that was currently sporting his pale cheeks.

Ziva landed a punch on Alexx's shoulder. It made the boy express his pain.
His eyes became big. His mouth agape open as a "Ouch! That hurts! Why did you hit me?" Left his mouth. Alexx pouted, stroking his shoulder.

"Because you called me exotic," Ziva huffed. She rolled her eyes at Alexx who knitted his eyebrows together in confusion.

"It was just a compliment," Alexx tried to explain before Ziva cut him off with just one look.

"People are not exotic, and not to be sexualised or fetishized because of their skin color, bodies shape, features or race," Ziva explained to Alexx who nodded through it.