Reason To Stay

Chapter Twelve

"Daddy, am I a bad person?" She asked her father, tears welled up in her eyes as they walked back from the park. She had pushed a girl about the same age as her  on the floor earlier. Everyone in the park scolded her, calling her names. Some kids even threw pebbles at her before her father intervened. They were quick to judge her, failing to see the pit a group of boys had covered with banana leafs, setting it as a trap for the girl Zoe pushed. If Zoe hadn't pushed her, she'd have fallen right into it, definitely breaking few bones. What's a small scratch on the knee compared to a broken leg. 

"No you are not a bad person Lil B." Patrick Brown replied her as they walked down the road. "You love as much as they do even more than, but you show it differently." He said, patting her head. "You are different."

"I am different." She replied, testing the word on her tongue, staring ahead as they walked home, hand in hand.

She had watched Pierce from the kitchen, sitting in the dinning room as he tapped repeatedly, his foot on the floor, rubbing his palms together in what Zoe deduced to be fear as he waited for their guest. She couldn't help but dread that just maybe she was too quick to judge him, although she would never admit it out loud.

Forgive me Zoe, for a second I thought you were different.

She continued to stare at the door to Halima's room, his words ringing in her ear.  She branched the Abubakar's residence on her way back from the Smith's, desperately seeking solace in her best friend. For reasons she could not decipher, she has been feeling guilty since her fight with Pierce and needed someone to tell her that she was right and he, wrong. She just needed someone to be on her side regardless. If there's anyone for the job, she knows it's her best friend. "I am different." She said, trying to convince herself. "Their opinion doesn't matter, his opinion does not count." She chanted mentally and twisted the doorknob to open the door.

"You said all that to him?" Halima exclaimed, her eyes wide open. She stood up from the bed, looking at Zoe in disbelief.

Zoe had  narrated everything that transpired on her first day to Halima. She even manipulated the conversation she had with Pierce to make him look like the bad guy, with the hope that her best friend would hate him.

Zoe shrugged her shoulders and sat up on the bed. "Why are you looking at me like I did something wrong?" She asked, acting nonchalant. She looked up at Halima and saw her glaring at her, and in that moment she knew the reverse was the case, her best friend wasn't on her side, and she was just about to get scolded. But she wasn't going down without a fight, so she decided to play the victim's card.

"You must be kidding me Lima, I tell you all what he said to me, calling me all sort of names and you are taking his side?" She asked feigning offended.

"Well, you left him with no choice." Halima countered, placing her hands on her hips. She began pacing round the room but stopped after receiving no response from Zoe. "Believe me, I would have said the same thing to you, if not worst!" She spat.

If Zoe was feigning offended before, she definitely wasn't faking it now. All the words her best friend was throwing at her was beginning to rile her up. But, what she couldn't pin point was why Halima was this angry.  Unknowingly to Zoe, Halima wasn't only scolding her because of what she said to Pierce, but from the pent up frustration of having to watch her best friend treat people with no regard.

Halima, for a long time couldn't stand Zoe's attitude towards others, but she didn't call her out to it, because she felt she was only grieving as she has gone through a lot. But this was more than just grieving and Halima knew, Zoe was beginning to get bitter, and if care is not taken, she'd turn into the person she swore never to be- a bad person.