Body Language. [Discontinued]

CH. 34

hi boo bears! 🦦💙 I literally adore y'all.

Winter break came to an end, and Monday had finally rolled around–the new semester kicking off on Bethune Cookman's campus. Joziah and Keia returned Sunday afternoon, excited to see their best friend after two weeks. Even though they spoke with Soleil throughout their break, Soleil had to fill them in on what had been going on and vice versa.

Not only was a new semester starting for Soleil, but she would also be starting her first day at her mom's daycare officially. Soleil was unsure of how it would turn out, given that she still wasn't on talking terms with Vanessa. For the sake of her job, she would communicate with her but nothing more.

Soleil and Selah both agreed that they would both wash their hands with the situation. They were leaving the line of communication solely up to their parents now, growing tired of having to be the ones to initiate a tete-a-tete.

Soleil simply didn't have the energy to deal with that anymore–especially with the new emerging problem between her and Siraj. The two have barely spoken since Soleil revealed to him that she wanted to move.

Even the night of, she ended up sleeping on the couch, not wanting to be near him. Although she understood where he was coming from and wished she had spoken up sooner about her plans, Selah's advice kept circulating in her mind.

She wasn't going to put her goals on the backburner for the sake of their relationship. It was something that she simply refused to do. She was young and wanted to explore her options–not to be tied down to a city where she was starting to have many unpleasant memories.

No one knew how she felt, having to pass or drive on the street where her brother ultimately lost his life. To deal with her family's toxic ways and then also have an ex that kept harassing her–she found no reason to stick around after she graduated.

Soleil kept all of this to herself, simply because she felt as if she shouldn't have to explain the factors of why she wanted to move.

Soleil had put others before herself plenty of times before–and she wanted to start being more selfish when it came to her life.

"Ms–Ms. B—Ms. Bennett, Shamari keep tryin' to put his booga' on me!" Kimani, lightly tapped Soleil's leg to get her attention, before pointing at the little boy running towards her with a menacing grin as he held his index finger out.

"Stop it, Shamari!" Soleil sternly told him, grabbing a kleenex. "That's nasty, you don't do that. Would you like it if someone tried putting their boogers on you?" she gently grabbed his arm to pull him closer and wipe his finger off.

Shamari lowered his head and shook it, beginning to pout. "I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, but next time just ask one of us for a tissue instead of trying to put it on your peers, okay?" Soleil explained, reaching over to grab the bottle of hand sanitizer.

"Okay," Shamari raspily answered her, Soleil squeezed a little hand sanitizer on his hand, letting him rub his hands together.

"Good, now go line up by the door for recess," She sat the bottle of sanitizer down on the shelf. Shamari and Kimani started to run over to the other kids that were already lined up to go outside. "Don't run guys, walk!"

As the other teachers did a head count like they usually did before taking the kids outside, Soleil walked out of the playroom and headed toward the kitchen to help prepare for snack time. As she walked down the hallway, she saw her mom coming out of her office.