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THE BELL RANG LOUDLY IN MY EAR, waking me from my slumber as my eyes fluttered open. I glanced to Ander, who sat beside me, laughing at the state of me as he shoved his notes towards me, indicating I could copy. I quickly took a picture, sure to copy his notes out later, smiling as I handed them back to him. As I shuffled out the classroom, head down to hide my tired eyes, I bumped into Guzmán.
"Hola." He said, holding my shoulders as if to balance me, as I looked up to him, noticing his face drop slightly as he took in my appearance. "Not sleeping well, huh, Jada?" I laughed falsely (a sort of ha-ha) as he smiled smugly, throwing an arm over my shoulder as we walked down the corridor, with him glancing over at Nadia every so often, further giving me the impression he may have feelings for her, although I knew he'd never admit it. "So, guess what?" He asked, and I turned to him, shrugging as I had no clue 'what.' He stared at me smiling, and I noticed he had been smiling a lot more lately, after seemingly getting Lú out of his life and actually giving us scholarship kids a chance. "Today is my birthday." He smiled wide, and I pulled him into a hug, beginning my parade of questions, like why he didn't tell me before. "Well, it's actually the day my parents chose, we don't exactly know when I was born. I'm actually adopted." He mumbled to me, clear he was telling me a secret, which surprised me a lot. I smiled at him opening up to me, finally feeling like he might trust me.
"I would have invited you but it's sort of a family thing." He comments, just as Lú comes over, smiling smugly as she begins talking about Guzman's birthday. "I can't wait for tonight Guzman! It's going to be so fun. Jade, are you coming? Oh. Wait. You weren't invited." I rolled my eyes as she strutted off, waving to us as she flipped her hair as if trying to sass me. I turned to Guzman, who looked extremely apologetic, probably about to make an excuse for why Lú was coming to his birthday dinner or whatever. "She invited herself, trust me. I didn't want to fight so I just let her assume she was coming. But if you wanted, we could hang out instead. Just the two of us? If you want. I'll leave everyone else." He rushed out, seemingly excited by the idea, but I shake my head. "Guzman, you have to celebrate with family. It'll be lovely. I'm sure we could celebrate another time." I respond and he smirks, "alone?" he asks, and I laugh, walking off as I call over my shoulder "In your dreams, Guzman."
After class, I ran into the school nurse, who took one look at me and told me to go home, get some rest and relax. At first, I almost tried to deny how tired I was, but a massive yawn interrupted me, further proving her point. She asked me, no - more like insisted that I go home, and so off I went, getting a taxi home, which the nurse happily paid for, which was very sweet of her. Within twenty minutes, possibly more, I arrived at the doorstep of my block of flats, walking up the stairs to reach my apartment. As I reached the door, I rummaged through my bag, unsure of where my keys were. At that point, I heard a voice from behind me. I turned to see Omar, smiling at me as he took in my expression. "Jesus, you look like shit." He smiled to me, and I shook my head at his laughter, finally finding my keys at the bottom of my bag, unlocking my door with Omar behind me, asking if he could come in. Of course, I opened the door to allow him to come in, before settling on the sofa, wrapped up in a blanket. Omar sat beside me, looking moodier than usual.
"Something is clearly up, so spill," I say to Omar, who looks up at me, ready to tell me everything, He begins by telling me about him and Samuel, and how they argued about him being a drug dealer, and how Samuel judged him way too much. I felt sorry for the dude. We always knew how Samuel would have reacted, but I guess we always thought there was a chance it would be okay, that he would be worried of course, but maybe understanding or something. Guess not. "He acted like we had the same chances. Like me being Muslim didn't affect people hiring me. But it does. We both applied to the Cabana, he got the job and I didn't. Because employers will never, never pick me. So, of course, I had to take matters into my own hands. It's not bad, of course. I don't hate it, but life would be simpler, and maybe I wouldn't have gone down this path if I wasn't the Muslim boy that every fucking company rejected." I saw his eyes almost well up with tears, but he held them back, and I leaned on his shoulder to comfort him, as he wrapped his arm around me, leaning his head on mine ever so slightly, a small sniffle was heard beside me.
As Omar turns the television on, I feel my eyes begin to close once more, and instead of fighting it, I let myself drift off, comfortable with one of my good friends.
Hours later, I woke up, still on the sofa, blanket over me, and the door closed, Omar nowhere to be seen. I checked my phone, seeing that it was 7:30 am, and I needed to be at school soon. My phone rang as I was getting dressed, and of course, I answered it upon seeing Samuel's name on the caller ID. "Yo. What's up." I said, putting the phone on speaker, as I continued to get dressed, tucking my shirt into my skirt quickly. "Need a lift?" I heard Nano's voice through the phone, making it clear I was on speaker, and I smiled to myself, as I began putting my boots on, ready to head out the door to meet the Garcia brothers. "I'd love a lift," I said, rushing to pack my bag, shoving my keys, my cigarettes, my lighter, laptop, notebooks etc. all in the bag, before rushing out the door to join the pair outside, with Nano and Samuel both in the front, leaving me to sit in the back of the car, alone.
"What are you two talking about?" I said as I got in the car, the boys abruptly shutting up as soon as I spoke. Nano looked to Samuel, who was glancing between me and Nano as if trying to figure out what to do. "Marina wants to do it with me. You know. The thing." I stared wildly at Samuel, who was super excited by his announcement. Nano seemed to say nothing at first, waiting for my response. "But I'm nervous. You know, because it's my first time. And I don't want her to think I'm nervous because of something else. Because of her thing." I stared to him in intrigue, while Nano sighed, turning back to the steering wheel. "What thing? Is Marina okay?" I asked, suddenly worried for my friend, despite the fact we didn't agree on everything, and I still couldn't believe she slept with Nano. I waited for his response, but he seemed almost stuck for words, so Nano spoke up.
"She has HIV."
I slumped back in my chair, kind of surprised they would trust me with this information. I also didn't think Marina would appreciate her business being told, but I guess that would be Samuel's mistake. My mind raced, worried about Marina until Samuel spoke up. "She's okay, don't worry. She'll be fine. It's completely under control. Not transmittable or anything. She's safe and really healthy." He spoke confidently, and I sighed in relief, before staring at Samuel, focus on him entirely. "Listen. You shouldn't be sharing this. With any of us. And you shouldn't be nervous. Everything is fine, and sex is a good thing. I know it's your first time, and I understand where her nerves must be coming from, but I promise you it'll be okay. Just relax." Samuel nodded at my words, before mumbling something about "That's what Omar said." Which I assume means that Omar and Samuel made up after Omar left mine last night. Thank god.
As the car pulled up to school, my gut told me that something would go wrong today, that something was bound to happen to fuck things up, although I couldn't quite guess what it would be. I pushed those thoughts out of my head as I headed up the stairs, trying to focus on the positives, like how I was much more energised today, or how it was the weekend soon. But still, at the back of my mind, I had an intense nagging feeling that things were about to go downhill.
