A S H E S (ÉLITE)

XI.

Nia groaned with her head on her hands as Martin, the teacher, walked into class. She was tired as hell. Last night she spent talking on the phone with Guzman after her father left, due to his work trip. Samuel, next to her, was too immersed on his phone to notice.

As feeling her thoughts, Guzman looked at her over his shoulder and smiled.

"Samuel, the phone please" Martin stood over his desk and extended his hand to retrieve the device.

"Sorry, it was my mom"

At this point everyone in class was watching the scene in front of them.

"No, if it's important, we can share it with the class..." The adult insisted and took the phone from Samuel's hands. "Nadia, please, read"

"Marina doesn't have AIDS, asshole. It's HIV..."

The muslim girl didn't got to end the phrase before Guzman had raised from his seat, his face covered in anger. Nia lowered her eyes.

"Stop reading it! What the hell?" Guzman took the phone and tossed it to Samuel, who was mortified. Then he turned to Martin "How could you allow her to read it?"

"You know the rules. You can't use cell phones. I had the right to do that" Nia scoffed. Way to embarrass a student in front of all her classmates.

"A hell of a right you had" Samuel stated.

"Marina, do you have HIV?" Nadia asked. Nia couldn't believe her eyes. What kind of question was that? She was starting to get irritated.

The class erupted in mumbles and whispering until Marina pounded on her desk and stood up. Nia followed.

"Marina, you don't have to explain yourself. Please, don't" The brunette interfered. Marina turned around and offered a small smile, her eyes red.

"I was infected a little over a year ago, more or less. And, well... I guess people will be talking a lot about this" The girl sighed and continued "In order to be informed about what you'll be talking about, I'll tell you, really, you don't need to worry about me. I take my medication. I do my medical tests every four months, and the virus isn't detectable so what means that I can't infect you"

With that, she sat again, and the class keep quiet until Christian's clapping erupted. That stopped briefly after Guzman glared at him.

"Thanks Marina. It took a lot of courage to share that" Martin said. "Don't you think so, Nadia?"

Nadia arched her brow and sighed "I'd rather not comment. I don't want to hurt anyone".

Nia was biting her tongue but Nadia's disgusted face, which made Marina lower her gaze ashamed, was the last straw.

"You don't want us to judge you for wearing a scarf around your head, but you're allowed to judge another people's problems?" Nia aimed at the muslim girl, who turned around on her seat with her lips parted.

When the latter was going to reply, the teacher interrupted and continued the class, everyone still thinking about what had just happened.

.

The class ended and Nia wanted to set things straight with Nadia. She had nothing against the girl, but her behaviour had been out of order. She waited for the others to leave the class and approached her.

"Hey, I'm sorry about what I said earlier, but don't you think you were a bit harsh over there?" Nia asked Nadia. "You're Marina's friend, aren't you?

"What was I supposed to do?" Nia squinted her eyes at the girl.

"I don't know, maybe show some support to her" Nadia lowered her gaze.