**Don't forget to read the author's note at the end of each chapter**
"Never let the odds keep you from doing what you know in your heart you were meant to do." – H.Jackson Brown Jr.
Tata,the Reverend was meant to give you this when you turn 17.
We asked him to.
So Tata...you have to find us.
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White Mountain High
School
Senior U.S History Class
Room 224.
"...and the declaration of the Independence was signed on July 4th 1776. There were also different opinions on the signing which....."
I sighed for the billionth time in this class as I drummed my left fingers silently on the desk,and bit my right finger nails.
Could you believe that it was just third period?
I was sure that I had been in school for almost twenty hours but how could it be just third period!?
I mean,I knew that the world was slipping into hopeless oblivion,and time was slowing down every day,being eaten up by a dark void alien monster,but come on, can't it just move a little faster?
JUST FOR TODAY!!
This was torture!
I felt my self slipping into darkness of the sleep I could not catch due to my little adventure yesterday.
I need your love
I need your smile
Everything's wrong
Make it right....
My phone rang.
Oh no...
I fondled noisily with my bag trying to get the phone.
But you know that moment when you really need to turn off your phone but the universe just decides to work against you,and seems like the phone just decides to disappear and make your life miserable?
Well...this was that time of my life.
The whole class turned towards me.
Unfortunately, Ms Hardy also turned.
I seriously don't know if it was because of the name but...this woman was the complete model of a depressed narcissist and brutally sadistic middle age human who derived joy from the suffering,pain and sorrow of students.
In other simpler and more mundane terms, 'I.was.screwed.'
The she devil glared at me beneath the rims of her witchy looking glasses.
"You dare leave your phone on in my class?"
I gulped hard and turned around to check for any allies but thanks to my extreme 'amazingness',I didn't have much friends, and none of my siblings were in the class with me.
The teacher of doom stood directly in front of me, frowning so hard.
She'd definitely grow abs on her face...but wait, how'd she get here so fast?
"I... I'm...I'm sorry ma'am."
If her face could harden more,it did.
"You know what to do."
Of course... detention,my favorite activity.
As I collected the red detention slip from her,I heard Caleb the stupid egotistical self proclaimed 'bad boy' of the school,snicker.
Idiot!
"Mr Garrison, anything funny?"
She asked in her straight monotonous voice.
"Well Ms Hard,I find you really hot right now."
Oh no!
Aside from the fact that it was the dumbest,driest, stupidest and most uncreative joke in forever, it was also a very deadly thing to do, especially to Ms Hardy.
I hated Caleb Garrison,but at this point,I prayed for him,from the bottom of my heart.
The class went silent.
No one...NO ONE answered Ms Hardy back.
It was suicide!
At that point,I was grateful for my life that it was just my phone that rung.
Thank you Jesus.
Then something happened.
Ms Hardy smiled.
Yes she did!
"Come here Caleb."
Her voice was calm and smooth.
I looked behind me and notice him gulp and grit his teeth before taking shaky steps towards the teacher.
"Yes ma'am."
He sounded like a six year old.
"You're being a bad boy huh?!"
He shook his head vigorously.
"Tsk tsk tsk...I'll teach you how bad boys are treated."
Then in slow motion.
Seriously,it happened in slow motion.
Her knee connected to his baby enhancing machine.
That,was the beautiful and glorious end of third period, U.S history.
*
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White Mountain High
School
Principal's Office
"Why am I even here?"
I asked for the hundredth time.
I was currently sitting next to idiot, Caleb Garrison and devil lady,Ms Hardy at Principal Pepple's office.
"It's your fault this happened!"
Caleb screamed.
I rolled my eyes into the back of my head.
"You're delusional, Garrison.
How can you blame me for your extreme 'idiotness'."
He sneered at me.
"Well I..."
He started but was cut short.
"Oh please...Ms AnderFaith wasn't the one who told a certain tin can brain to open his mouth!"
Ms Hardy instigated, which was weird because she was takingmy side.
"Ex... Exactly!"
"Oh shut up Ms AnderFaith,if your phone didn't ring,then I would not have been angry and I would not have spoken to you, causing this moron here with zero talent,to open his toilet pipe mouth."
What? How's that my fault?
"Ok...so my offense is that my phone rang?"
"Yes, Ms AnderFaith, yes!"
I furrowed my brows in confusion.
Uh...ok?
Oh Lord knows that when I get through with this,I will so beat the life out of whoever had called me.
"Ms AnderFaith,I hope you know that it is really disrespectful to use your phone during class. Especially a class as important as history!"
Of course knowing the life of a bunch of dead people sure is important.
I rolled my eyes in annoyance.
"Don't give me that attitude,do you want me calling Reverend AnderFaith?"
"I wasn't using the ph..."
"No excuses young lady!"
He slammed his palms on the table, causing me to flinch.
Why was he even taking her side?
Was it normal to ram your male student's hot stuff in class?
I sighed but then a stupid idea came up in my head.
People used it a lot in movies so I thought...why not I try.
Add that to my long list of bad ideas.
I got up abruptly.
"Are you looking down on me because I am Black?!"
"What are you talking about?"
Ms Hardy looked super confused.
Great! It's working.
"I am an independent Black woman,and I will not stand for the infringement of my rights!"
Darn girl... you're good!
"Ms AnderFaith..."
Principal Pepple's calm voice called.
Yes! He's buying it!
"You have been given detention for one month! You'll be assisting Ms Perry in the library every free period.
Wait... what!
My smile was instantly wiped off my face.
"But..."
"See you after school,Ms Independent."
I saw Ms Hardy smirk.
If I wasn't a good person,and if not for the fear of what Mike would do to me,I'd have punched her square in the face and walk proudly to juvy or wherever they send girls who punch their teachers.
"I will be back!"
I yelled out a war cry.
"Zibah Nava AnderFaith will be back!"
Caleb looked at me like I was a moron, while Ms Hardy did not look impressed.
Principal Pepple on the other hand..."Ms AnderFaith stop being dramatic or I could just add one more month to you're detention."
That shut me up as I scampered out of the office,not waiting to hear the punishment the ginger haired idiot would get.
*
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Sixth period was a free period for us today,and I had been in the library helping Ms Perry but she had released me so I decided to spend the remaining time, doing some research about the mafia.
I was reading the popular book Underground, written by a famous writer, Quinn .J. Terry in 1976.
' The Mafia as we know it,is a group of terrorists under different clans, specialising in human and drug trafficking, assassination and threatening a particular government.
However,have we ever stopped to ask ourselves why this happens and...'
"Zib..."
I snapped out of the book trance.
"Oh Hailey."
Hailey was one of the few friends I had in my life that was not one of my siblings.
"You went into that your 'book trance' stuff again huh?"
I smiled shyly.
She knew me too well.
"Hey... isn't that the creepy book at the dark section of the library?"
I raised my brow I confusion,but actually realized what she was talking about.
I shut it close,quicker than the speed of light.
"Oh...well uh...I uh... someone's got to read it. I mean uh...I wanted something new."
She didn't look convinced at all.
"Sooooo... you got a new skirt?"
I quickly changed the subject to lessen the awkwardness.
She squealed in excitement, gaining us some angry glares from other students in the library.
"Come on out first."
I smiled and nodded, putting the book into my bag since I had a library permit to borrow it.
She dragged me out of the library,into the crowded hallway.
"So...my aunt Mimi came back from India just last week and she had this AMAZING box of..."
I need your love
I need your smile
Everything's wrong
You make it right
Arghh!!
I internally groaned.
What was up with this phone today?
Oh jeez!
I remembered that I had not returned the 'trouble call' earlier.
I had even forgotten to check who the caller was.
Annoying Red Head
Oh God!
I quietly excused myself from Hailey.
"Babe...I'll be back. I have to take this."
She nodded in understanding as I walked towards a corner.
Z - "Hey you're not supposed to be calling me in school."
I whispered to avoid drawing attention.
A - "Why didn't you pick the first time?"
I rolled my eyes in annoyance.
Z - "I was in class dummy!!" So.. what is it?"
I heard a sigh at the background.
A- "There has been a change in plans."
Oh my goodness,I wasn't ready for this.
Z - "Wh... what...what d...do you mean?"
All my confidence level dropping.
A - "Bleed wants the job done today."
My heart beat became erratic,and I felt my breath being knocked out of me.
Oh God...no...no...
A - "Hey... Bleed's girl,are you there?"
Z - "Yh...yh...uh...why...why today?"
I couldn't even form my words properly.
A - "Dunno. Listen I know you're not ready,and you can always back out now. If the job's not done today,Bleed said I should tell you to forget about the whole thing and move on."
I let the weight of his words sink in for a moment.
If I backed out,I would lose all my chances of ever knowing who my parents are.
I had to be strong.
I could do this!
Z - "I'm doing it".
I could almost hear him smile.
A - "Good,this is a solo mission girl,so be careful. Good luck."
I nodded and cut the call.
You can do this girl!
But I had to find a way to leave school first.
*
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*
"I'm scared I'll lose him!! He's one of my closest brothers. Please ma'am.!"
The tears rolled out freely.
Darn! I'm good!
You may be wondering,why was Zibah Nava AnderFaith was standing in front of the school's receptionist, crying about her imaginary brother.
Well...long story short,I had to leave school early to get to my first ever mission,and I had to put all my extreme acting skills to the test.
The story...'one of my foster brothers had PTSD and had a massive panic attack and I was coincidentally the only one who could help him.'
Ms Smith our receptionist was really touched,and even had tears rolling out of her eyes.
She quickly signed an exit card for me.
"My best friend had PTSD too. She almost killed herself once.
Please send my love home to him."
She said before handing me the card.
I took a dramatic inhale of air.
"Yes I will...thank you miss. God bless you."
I quickly dashed out of school, putting on my black hoodies which covered more than half of my face.
I needed to get to work.
Today was definitely going to be a long day.
***Author's Note***
Well... y'all know what PTSD is eh?
It's Post Traumatic Stress disorder.
Happens to people who have gone through a really difficult and scary experience and can't get to terms with it.
If you know someone who has/had it, you can comment how he/she coped or is coping.
Sorry for the short chapter.
Please don't forget to vote and comment.
It really boosts up my confidence to keep on writing,and also know what you think about the book.
I hope you're enjoying the book.
I promised you a great book,and I hope you're getting it.