Viper

The Only Way Out

The following morning David was still at the hospital having been looked over the night before. He had a concussion, a broken hand and bruised ribs. Grams and Cheeto had stayed the night in the hospital waiting room since they could not spend it in his room.

He had asked them to go home but they stayed none the less. A report was taken but he still could not provide much information about his attackers. He did know it was not T.J. and his goons. He had suspicions about who it could have been but had no way to prove it. He did not mention Clyde or his activities and whereabouts.

He admired Clyde for doing something in a place where most people seemed to have given up or considered it too difficult to fight back. He just hoped that for Clyde's sake he would quit while he was ahead. For now, David would rest since leaving the hospital had been forbidden by everyone. Liz was also on his mind. Her indifference and defense of T.J. and his group bothered him to no end. Her words that he deserved what he got did not face him as much as the thought of her joining people like them. Her state of mind and choices were what concerned him the most. He tried to shake it off and resolved not to think about her since she brought up such frustration but he could not help it.

That same morning Liz awoke before her alarm went off. She had stayed home and was now getting ready to head to school. She woke up to an empty house. It was quiet and still dark out with the early light of a verging sun cracking through the darkness. The house was completely different than the chaotic scene that had played out hours earlier. It almost mocked her how silent it was, as if the world had forgotten about her.

She made breakfast for herself and gathered all the things she would need for the day. Her books which had not been opened once all weekend. Her clothes which confessed to the world how limited her selection was, and the most basic make up kit handed down to her.

She left around six-thirty in the morning to walk the three miles trek to school. She did not want to make this march to school this morning in particular. It was not because she had an exam she had not prepared for, or because there was a presentation she had to give. Those scenarios were easy for her to resolve. She just didn't care about their outcome. Their penalties did not concern her. What she was worried about were the social demands and consequences she had to face now.

Things were hard enough as a freshman without your estranged, strange brother going at it with a world that was already against you. By now the weekend's events had no doubt been broadcasted through every social fiber of the community. T.J.'s ongoing search and betrayal to the police would be at the top of the news. Who did it, how it happened and what the tribal reaction to this would be decided by end of the day and the consequences would be felt soon after.

This particular part would not go over so well since T.J. was a very prominent figure on campus and any "issues" were always dealt with within the community and not told on to police. Liz wanted to stay home but she also knew Grams and David would be back home and skipping school would just compound things. She thought the sooner she cleared things up at school and gave her account of things the better off she'd be.

It was still dark out when she set out. It would take her about half an hour to get to school. If she were a good student, she would at least have that going for herself but she was failing multiple classes. She was not the only one though so she didn't feel too bad about it. School was just not a priority. It did not seem like an opportunity to better one's self. It was looked upon as punishment. It felt like being in prison. Going to school was a sentence everyone had to carry out until it was legal to stop going. The freshmen class usually around twelve hundred students, graduated less than half at around five hundred.

The school was old and crowded. All of her classes were thirty students or more. The teachers were overwhelmed as were the students. The majority were not trying to join gangs or get into trouble though.

Everyone was just trying to get through school as best as they could and then start working full time. There were just not a lot of opportunities for more than that. Most students could not read up to their level and this affected the rest of their lessons. More than half we not born in the United States and at home there were not many examples of the benefits of higher education in the real world.

The only educated professionals the students saw on a daily basis were their teachers and the fact they were also stuck in that crummy situation didn't inspire much confidence. The majority of the students understood physical labor as legitimate work and in some cases the only reliable form of work. Hustling the only way to really get ahead if you had the guts for it.

Liz used to be a good student up to middle school. Her father would read to her as a child and always insisted she be a good student, especially in reading and writing. He was a mechanic and as a young girl she looked up to him and did her best to make him proud of her. She also enjoyed school and believed it could take her somewhere.

As she got older, the taunting and the attention she got from the other kids shun her away. She also saw how her dad struggled with her and the family and as her image of him faded, so did her belief that an education would provide for her future. She became more interested in her appearance because that's what the rest of the girls and boys were into and she became more self-conscious.

This dichotomy conflicted her because she truly loved her father and it pained her to see him struggle and she depended completely on him. She felt guilty she could not live up to the expectations she thought he had for her, so she stopped trying.

Once he passed away she felt alone. She wanted to go out on her own but did not know how to make it on her own. Her only option as she saw it was to align herself with the popular or stronger group. If the most popular guy in the hood was interested in her then things would be better right? They had to be, is what she convinced herself to believe.

That's why it was so important to clear things up. That's why she was so mad at David for screwing up her plans and stirring things up. That's why she told herself that he deserved what he got and T.J. and his crew were misunderstood. She needed it to be so. She needed to have chosen right. She needed to have chosen the wining team. It was her only way to protect herself and make it out. She didn't feel completely at ease with this plan but it was the best she could come up with.

She had heard around that women could do more. She heard the messages that life could be hers and that she didn't have to depend on anyone. That she could be anything she wanted to be. But she was just a child. She was scared and insecure. She didn't feel empowered. She lived in a world that was not made for her. She felt surrounded by a world that constantly put her down reminding her this was all she could hope for. Nobody believed in her, least of all herself. All those messages, all those ideals perhaps applied to other girls. Not her.

/user