Latasha Thompson

The Shadow

I could see her hair before I could see her face. It was the darkest shade of red that I had ever seen on any natural redhead. That is if it was natural. Her hair was in a half up half down style. The ends were curled and bounced as she walked down the hallway.

She was walking next to our Senior Class President Megan Brown who I had assumed was the person she was shadowing for today and looked to be content. Well, as content as anyone would be on their first day at a new school. As I walk by Megan I look past her to stare directly at the new girl's red hair. As I stare I try to figure out if she had dyed it or if it was naturally that dark.

No doubt that it was beautiful; it fell over her shoulders and touched her arms. Looking from her hair to her face I see she was looking directly at me. Looking straight into her eyes I am amazed at how gray they are. Her eyelashes are long and curl at the end and her nose has a pattern of little freckles on it. I notice that her lips are plump and full and glossy as they part into a smirk. Her teeth are extremely white and I wonder what type of toothpaste she uses. As I'm looking at her features I start to compare them to mine.

Her skin is about 10 shades lighter than mine. She's like a pasty white whereas I'm dark chocolate. Her eyes are doe shaped whereas mine are just big and round. My brown eyes are just as piercing as her gray ones and her lips are a light pink and mine are brown. Her body has a nice shape. Her body is unique. She's slightly curvy but slim. Her bottom half is kinda thick but her chest is small. She's also tall. I'd say about 5'7. My body is, I guess , average. Whatever that means.

Looking back at her eyes I see the corners are crinkled. I shake my head and avert my eyes to look straight forward. It was just in time before I crashed into someone who was bringing a cart full of computers down the hallway.

"Sorry!" I manage to whisper through gritted teeth. Resting against the wall to gather myself, I looked in the direction of the red-haired girl and saw her back was facing me. I watch her red curls bounce up and down as she walks into one of the classrooms. I quickly look away and make my way to my locker.

As I struggle to put my stuff in my locker I hear Joseph coming up behind me. He seemed to be deep in conversation with a guy named Max. As I grab both my Humanities notebooks and my

pencil holder out of my locker, I put my head against its door and close my eyes. So many things were running through my mind and I just needed a break.

"Hey? Did you hear me?"

Shooting my eyes open I snap out of my thoughts and shake my head.

"What? Sorry I was distracted. What did you say?"

"Jesus Macy" Joe shrugs while pulling on one of my locs.

"You've been out of it lately. Did someone give you drugs or something? Have you not been taking your meds?"

Stuttering as usual I managed to say, "No ...sorry just thinking".

Joseph looks at me with sad eyes and puts his hand on my shoulder.

"Macy...I know that it's been rough but you know you can talk to me right?" I look at Joseph and manage a smile.

"Yeah Joe, I know."

Leaning against my locker I cross my arms, suddenly feeling cold. Dismissing the moment we just shared, Joseph continues with what he had been saying to me earlier when I was in my head.

"Ok. So I was thinking that for the Slam we could have the Center announce our website so people can check it out."

As if on cue the second bell rings. Shutting my locker I glanced at Joe who was already walking away.

"Let me know later what you think!" He yells while walking backward.

Smiling, I make my way to Mrs. Kennan's room. I love when I have her class because it's the last period of the day. It's a good way for me to end my day I guess you could say. I love her room. Every period it smells different. Sometimes it smells like lavender and other times it smells like what I imagine Rome would smell like, Olives and Pears.

Today it smelt like Jasmine and Rosewater. Perfect. As I slide into my seat, my nerves already start to go away and my head starts to clear up. Mrs. Kennan's room has the perfect setting for anyone who loves the aesthetic of a mid-twenties apartment owner who has traveled abroad to

various places. The walls have pictures of Paris, London, Argentina, Spain, etc. In the corner, she has a little round table with a stack of books for us to enjoy. She has faux candles in the

windowsills and they glow in sync with the lights she has set up around the room. It gives the classroom a calming feel. The lighting isn't too bright but just enough.

Mrs. Kennan is a thirty-four-year-old Hispanic woman who I would assume to be about 5'5. Her hair, a very deep shade of brown, matched her eyes. She's sweet but bitter in all the right ways. Some would say stern, others would say she's a straight-up bitch. I say strong and independent and I have a great amount of respect for her. I was surprised to learn, when I met her, that she

was married. She had struck me as the type of woman who would be satisfied with being by herself.

Looking at her now as I raise my hand to her request for someone to go up to the board, I remember her telling us that she and her wife had just moved into our small town of Reznor, Washington, and they were looking forward to their new life here. As I go up to the board to write down my opinion on the article we had to read for homework I remember thinking to myself

'she just openly said she was gay to her new students. How brave.'

I mean, being gay here isn't a big deal but I guess people still are shocked by the word. But also because of the incident with Lyla Spinard, Junie Clays, and Jakobe Mex a couple of months ago. it's not talked about. So we were all taken aback a little when she had just straight up said she was gay. Maybe she had heard about the incident, maybe she hadn’t. But one thing is for sure that she is not afraid to announce her sexuality.

This whole Lyla, Junie, and Jakobe incident was on the news and also took months to process In court. In Lyla’s defense, Jakobe was blackmailing her to harass and assault Junie. After June’s suicide, Jakobe was sentenced to 20+ years to life without parole and Lyla was sentenced to 5 years.

As soon as I start to write on the board I immediately stop. In the corner of my eye I see a familiar flash of red. I stare out the window to see the red haired girl walk by my classroom door. Once again I find myself staring at her hair.

As I watch her walk away I can't help but look at the rest of her. Her pants are a light blue and are rolled at the ankles, revealing her lightly golden skin. It makes me wonder where she was from previously. The belt around her waist is a deep blue and has golden flecks on it. Her shirt is black with the sleeves stopping at her elbows. I was expecting to see freckles on her pale arms but there were none. Looking at the bottom half of her body again I see that her hair actually reaches the small of her back.

Her body, something I could picture in a white bikini, was nice. Shaking my head at the thought I just had, I look away from her for a moment and look at the ground in Mrs. Kennan's room. Realizing I probably look like an idiot staring out of the classroom door window, I go back to

continue writing my response. But before I looked back at the board I looked once more at her back and watched as she got smaller and smaller.

She wasn't too far away because I could see the skin on her lower back was showing and with every step she took her shirt would part slightly. I noticed in the right corner of her lower back she had a birthmark in the shape of a star. I immediately had the urge to touch it.

"Macy!"

Mrs. Kennan says while walking towards me. Looking back at the board instead of facing her or the rest of my class, I continue to write my response. Everyone else had finished already.

"Well don't ignore us now Macy you've got to tell us what was fascinating you!"

I could hear some of the kids in my class start to snicker and my cheeks start to feel flushed. If my skin color was a lighter shade everyone in my class would have been able to see how embarrassed I was. At this moment I am very grateful for my ebony skin.

"I thought I saw someone." I say.

Mrs. Kennan was now at my right, blocking my view of the red haired girl.

"Well.." she whispers to me quietly while looking out the window, "She must have been a very important someone."

The Guest

The end of the day and my ride home was very different today. One: on my way out of Mrs Kennan's room I ran into the cart earlier today. Somehow the kid driving the cart had managed to knock me over and not the fifty something laptops he was transporting to where I'm assuming was the library.

I was trying to close my pencil holder when the kid ran into me. My notebooks and pencils fell all over the floor and while most of the people walked by me and tried not to step on my stuff, no one bent down to actually help me.

Two: while I was struggling to get to my locker I turned the corner to run smack into Megan Brown who was holding a piping hot cup of coffee. The worst part about that was not the fact

that her coffee might have given me second-degree burns, but the fact that the red-haired girl was standing right next to her.

As I look up from my burning flesh I see her looking at me. Her gray eyes pierced my body.

Megan, rushing around, frantically asking for something to help her clean up, apologizing over and over again,

"I’m so sorry Macy!" and "God I’m so clumsy I should have been watching where I was going".

But while trying to make it better, she made it much worse. While she was doing herself a favor by apologizing, she wasn't doing me any good. It just so happened that every time she would turn her body or move, she would end up spilling more on the floor and my shoes. Looking away from the red-haired girl I turned my attention to Megan to try to coax her into letting it go and said 'No, she didn't have to pay for my shoes or a new blouse.'

I had told her that 'it didn't matter and that I had plenty of white blouses and Keds at home to wear.'

Looking away from Megan I look back at the red-haired girl who hadn't taken her eyes off of me since this whole incident started.

Three: As I was driving Joe home from school he just randomly shouts over the music that he's sleeping with Julia Simmons. Now it was no surprise that he was sleeping around but it was a surprise that it was with Julia Simmons.

Julia Simmons for those who don't know (should thank God and the High Heavens) is an impudent, narcissistic, 5'7, blonde,beauty pageant queen,who is loved by everyone in our small town of Regnor (well.. not everyone). Her father, Greg Simmons, is the head of the town council and as many would say is an honest yet dishonest man. It is widely known in the town that he has cheated on his wife Laura at least a dozen times, yet no one brings it up. Ever. He also runs a whore house called Lux on the outside of town.

Her mother is a known alcoholic but hides it during the dinner parties and town meetings which no one ever brings up either. Her older brother has been in and out of rehab and her younger sister of sixteen now has a four month old baby because she got knocked up by some random guy at a bar. All of this caused Julia to want to be perfect. I'm assuming underneath it all she just wants to be loved and maybe that's why she sought refuge with my best friend.

"At Louis's party last summer..." He starts as I pull into his driveway.

"I found her in one of the fire pits. She had been crying and I had gone to comfort her. After that, we started to hang out more and we became friends. Then, one night, I drove her home and

when I walked her to her doorstep I kissed her. And you know what Macy? She kissed me back.! Like grabbed me by the waist and tousled my hair kind of kisses! Ever since then we've been seeing each other."

The entire time Joe had been telling me this I realized something. Him and Julia hooking up might have been the only good thing that happened to either of us at that party last summer. Louis's party for most people had been a fun night. Hell, maybe one of the best nights of their life! Not for me though. That had to be the worst night of my life.

"So?!!!...." Joe says in a pleading tone. Knowing exactly what he meant I leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.

"You have my blessing. Now get out of my car!" Smiling his goofy grin he pats my shoulder and gets out of my car.

Four: When I got home to my house I walked into the main space and smelled actual food which should have been the first red flag. No, the first red flag should have been the Mercedes-Benz that was parked in my spot in our driveway. Five: I walked into the kitchen to see the table had not two but three placemats set and all of our finest kitchen sets had been set up on the table as well.

Six: I peek around the corner into the living room to my horror to witness my aunt Jessie and this random guy making outAnd doing it on MY couch and were covered in nothing but the tiny blankets we keep on it.... for decoration.

I don't really know what's worse, the fact that I stood there and watched because I was absolutely petrified, or the fact that it continued on for about three minutes before someone noticed me. When that something did happen, Jessie, who was on top of this guy, had rolled onto her back so he was on top of her and that's when he saw me. It was either the look of sheer horror on my face, the fact that they were doing it on a couch and I happened to be standing there, or both that sent this man flying off of my aunt.

When I tell you he flew off of her I mean he literally propelled himself off of her. It was quite funny actually and I had to stifle a laugh.

"Oh...my God... You must be Macy... I'm so sorry" the man said while covering himself with one of the tiny blankets.

Jessie's face was not a mixture between horror and pure embarrassment, but absolute amusement.

"Hey, babe! How was school?" She says.

Not even bothering to wrap herself in the blankets, she walks by me towards the stairs and says "Get ready for dinner sweets. We’re having Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo!"

Dinner was delicious. I knew Jessie could cook but that was absolutrealizezing. Our conversation at dinner consisted of how this man knew my aunt. Turns out his name is Christian and he's my aunt’s boss (great right?) He is currently going through a divorce and requires some company.

So Jessie's best friend Ciere had shown her a pic of him one night when they went bar-hopping, saying that they would be really cute together. My aunt fell over laughing realizing that the man in the photo was her boss. She tells Ciere this as she sees Christian walk through the door and make his way over to them, not realizing that his friend had set him up with one of his workers.

I guess later on during the night they were inseparable. But my aunt, feeling guilty, had ended up telling Christian that he was her boss. He then told her that if "she didn't want to see him again" or "felt that what they were doing was inappropriate" that he understood. She ended up staying the night at his house.

That following Monday they had met up after work one day and they hit it off pretty good I guess. This is weird to me because I didn't think that my aunt was into white collar super attractive white men. But today was full of surprises. After helping Jessie and Christian clean the table they retreat to the livingroom and turn on the TV. I head upstairs to get ready for the Slam. God I love my room. It's my favorite place to go when I need time for myself. I grab my towel and washcloth and head down the hall to the bathroom. Turning on the water for a bath, I take off my clothes and open the bathroom closet to grab my bath bombs and my coconut and lavender body wash. As I throw the bath bombs into the water I take a seat in the red and white Eero Aarnio ball chair we have in our humongous bathroom.

As I curl up in the chair, I watch the tub fill up with water and change color from the Rose scented bath bombs.

My mind starts to race and I think about last summer. It had been a good summer for the most part. Joe and I went out evernight with Max and every weekend we would go to Seattle, looking for everything and anything. It was perfect up until Louis's party.

The old me didn't heed the warning signs of danger and I liked parties. I had been to plenty of them in the past. Louis's party was different though. It was exotic, like something from a Hollywood TV show or something. I never expected what would happen. Putting my head in my hands I try to wash the memory out of my brain. As I place my feet onto the bathroom floor, I realize my feet were submerged in hot water.

I was so lost in thought that I let the bathtub overflow. Hoping that it hadn't leaked through to the second floor I rushed to turn the faucet off and let some of the water drain out as I grabbed

towels to soak up the water. I throw the wet towels into the hamper and stand in front of the bathtub. After I reach down to put the stopper back into the tub, I grab my body wash and washcloth and sit down in the bathtub.

The Slam

Now that dinner is over and I've already bathed and done with my homework, I am extremely bored. I can hear the giggles of Jessie and Christian through my floor and I press my ear to my black rug so I can try to listen to what they were saying.

I suddenly hear the sounds of feet coming up the stairs and the sound of giggles turns into the sound of muffled speech. Hearing my aunt's bedroom door close I quickly retreat to my bed, not wanting to experience that again.

As I lay on my bed thinking about today my mind goes straight to the red-haired girl. Remembering the thoughts that I had about her today I internally cringe. Sure she has a nice body but I don't know why I felt the urge to touch her.

Telling myself to stop being a creep, I go to my desk and pull out my poem book. I flip to the page of the first poem I’m going to read tonight at the Slam. I want to go through it again just to make sure everything is perfect.

Ever since the party last summer, I have been writing poems and short stories. I had kept them to myself for a while until Joe came over one day and discovered them. He had insisted that I go to one of his (at the time to be stupid) Poetry Slams. He said that he saw "potential" and introduced me to Lester.

He had told Lester that he should read my poems and have me perform weekly. Well, two days later when we went back Lester had read them and told me that after the next performance he wanted me to perform one of my poems. It continued from there.

Seeing that my poems flowed right and were exactly the way I wanted, I went into my underwear drawer and pulled out my Lorazepam and I took one. Already feeling my nerves start to calm down (which was definitely in my head) I light some candles and open my closet to pick out an outfit for tonight. The Slams are held in a small cafe called The Red Rose. It's the cutest little spot and a bunch of high schoolers, a handful of millenials and a pinch of elderly show up to these late night sessions to see the talent that is hidden beneath.

The place is owned by Lester and his fiance Becca. They treat the place as if it was their child. They treat everyone like family and always love newcomers. Especially ones with a raw talent for poetry. I pick out my black velvet off the shoulder crop top and matching pants and throw them on. I put my long sisterlocks into a thick ponytail and apply my lashes, concealer and powder foundation, and some eyeshadow.

I throw on my black cork wedges and grab my poetry book off of my desk and check the time. 9:24. I pick up my phone to text Joe to see if we're still doing our annual Dunkins trip before the show. Two minutes later he replies with a 'yes we and I blow out my candles , grab my keys, toss my phone in my purse as I swipe it off of my door, grab my poem book and head downstairs.

I write a note to Jessie telling her my normal plans for a Friday night:

"I'll be at Dunkins with Joe and around 9;45 we'll head to TRR. I'll be back by 12:00 and if it's any later I'll call.

Love you"

As I walk through the kitchen to the main room, I see that Jessie and Christian had left the tv on. They had put on Silver Linings Playbook and it was the scene where Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper were running down the road and he was explaining to her why he was running in a trash bag. Shutting the front door behind me I unlock my car and hop it. I couldn't wait to read my poems tonight.

As I pull into Dunkins, I see Joe and Julia sitting at a window seat with Max and his girlfriend. I sit in the car for about two min before I actually go into Dunkins. I reach into my bag and pull out my anxiety meds. I take the day-old water from my cup holder and wash the pills down. Feeling refreshed, I text Joe that I am here and get out of the car.

As I walk into the Dunkins I get hit with the smell of coffee and Dough. "Hey bitch" says Joe as I walk up to the table and sit down.