Separate But Not Equal

Chapter VIII

"Did you really not know" her mouth drops slightly, as she awkwardly steps closer to Jessica looking at every other thing in the halls except from my face.

"No, I didn't."

"But that doesn't exactly make Christopher a bad person. I mean, it's his dad not him, right?"

I stand still feeling slightly more sick and slightly more dazed by the concerned looks on the twins faces.

"Is Christopher like his father?" I turn to Morgan, my voice a lot more shaky than I thought.

"Honestly, I've never seen Christopher do anything to anyone that seems.. erm, like his father. I don't think ever really been that type of person."

Somehow that doesn't settle my nerves, or make me feel any better.

"But, despite that, I-I'm pretty sure he expects Christopher to carry on the family business, if you know what I mean" she nods her head, timidly, also avoiding eye contact.

My throat tightens, restricting my short breaths. My train of thought, wandering loosely.

"What?" I ask, dumbly.

"Christopher's dad, I think he wants Christopher to carry on the whole, erm, situation. I don't think he actually expects him to be as involved with 'The Klan' as he is, but he probably does want Christopher to carry on the influence."

Heat travels through my body which instantly feels sweaty, as the feeling of disappointment sets in.

Yet, a large part of me expected that there was something wrong about Christopher.

"Influence?" I murmur, almost silently.

"Racism. The influence of racism. A-are you okay?"

The influence of racism.

The disappointment disappears.

It's Birmingham.

Things like this are normal.

"Yeah, erm, no I'm fine, It just kind of caught me offguard," I mumble, walking away while stumbling on my own feet. "Thanks for telling me, at least now I know to avoid him."

I carry on, walking away, leaving two confused twins, in the middle of the hallway, giving me wary, unsure looks.

In my pathetic state of confusion, I decide that attempting to find my classroom is a useless thing to do right now.

I aimlessly, walk around the halls for away reaching the exit of school before realising that no matter how much I may want to miss class right now, I don't really have anywhere to go except school. My dad would just scold me and make me come back immediately if I went home, and it isn't exactly safe for me to be walking around by myself in broad daylight, being the way that I am.

So I decide to start searching for my class again.

I take unnecessarily long measures to make sure that I don't bump into any unwanted party of agitated, violent classmates. Occasionally sneaking around certain halls, and pillars just to avoid any other people walking around during class, keeping my heavy hood up, trying to hide my hair and wrapping my arms, tightly around myself to hide myself from anyone who could potentially recognise me.