…….. story of my life.

Genesis

Today was the day we were going to present our projects.

Both Caesar and I had finished our projects before the weekend, but as I got ready for school in the evil mirror, I knew I wasn't presenting shit.

My guard let me down. I wasn't gon tell nobody about anything because I didn't feel like I had to.

11:22am

Class.

Half the class had already presented their slides. Mr Wellies followed the class list which was arranged alphabetically.

The room had a movie theatre vibe to it, the lights were off, curtains drawn and all attention was on the big screen.

"Miss McCoy. " Mr Wellies called out, inviting me to present my project.

"I didn't do it. " I lied.

Some fools in my class went on to laugh. I don't know what was funny, I guess I missed the joke.

"You know what that means right miss McCoy? . " Mr Wellies proceeded to say. "Miss Northerns." He called out.

I didn't give a shit that I got an F. I never felt the need to explain my past because most of it was dark and sad.

Mr Wellies added a feature to the presentations. Anyone that had a question for the presenter could ask.

I knew these morons would blow me up with thousands of questions.

I was mostly scared of Benji because he knew most of my life and those little lies I added to make my life seem better would be exposed for sure.

1:09pm

Cafeteria

"Why did you lie? " Caesar asked me after we finished our lunch.

I knew he was curious because we didn't talk about me backing out.

"I just didn't want to. " I told him.

Luckily the siren went off and it was time for class again.

I was apparently more important than education for Caesar at that moment.

He had us locked up in the spares room and we weren't leaving till I said the truth.

"Talk. " he demanded.

"I've told you already. " I responded.

After a sigh we just stood there hearing nothing but each others quiet breathes.

We really weren't going to leave till I talked.

"I said I didn't do it and some people laughed. I'm joke here if you haven't noticed. Everyone wants an insight of the freaks past. Why did she move from DC? Why doesn't she talk to anyone but Caesar? Maybe her stuff are contagious " I said to him, preventing my eyes from meeting his.

"I thought you never cared about what any of these clowns thought. " he said because I always acted like I didn't.

I shrugged and felt a tsunami of tears rush down my face.

Caesar

I hated when she felt like this. I wish I could relieve her of her pain and carry it myself.

I grabbed her, bringing her close to me.

Her head rested right under my chest. I could feel her heart racing on my stomach as she cried.

I gave her a long kiss on her forehead after wiping her tears off her face when the hug was over.

I raised her head up by her chin to look at me and then I kissed her lips.

The second time was always a charm.

2:34pm

Classes were finally done with.

"Hey why didn't you share the story? I swear I was about to share it for you. "Benji told me mockingly when he popped up from nowhere and stood by my desk.

I was packing to go home and so was everyone else. I wasn't going to entertain this fool.

"Who else wants to know the life of Judith McCoy. " Benji addressed the whole class.

Motherfuckers actually got excited to know.

Fools, I thought to my self.

"Let's go babe. " Caesar said to me in the middle of all the stupidity, letting out his hand for me to hold.

Benji had his mouth open, I didn't look at the rest of the class but I felt amazing walking out the class holding Caesar's hand.

When we got to the stop where Caesar and I part ways, he gave me reassurance.

"Whenever people try to get at you at school like Benji did and I'm not there with you, text me. " he told me.

"What if you're home, sick? " I asked.

He went quiet for a moment.

"Walk away and call me. Go to the girls bathroom or something. I don't want people making you feel like shit. I don't know why those assholes are suddenly feeling grown. They need to know that they can't be messing around, not with my girl. " he said.

And then I smiled. Big. Like a goddamn fool.

Caesar

I pulled her in for a kiss and this time I wasn't gon bend for her short ass.

I had her on the tip of her toes.

"Text me. " I said after the kiss was over.

"I will. "she answered.

We smiled at each other and went our ways.

8:00pm

"Brian told me what happened. He told me all of it. My daughter is not going to date a village boy! " my mum told me.

I was on my bed and she was at my door. She was in her worst pajamas ever and she looked tired. She needed to be in her bed sleeping, not at my door screaming in my face.

"What did you think would happen? We are now village people too mum. "I told her.

She clearly just missed arguing with me. I never walked away from my mum because that was playing with fire. I just let her yell at me until she got tired.

It was probably the baby, I concluded.

The next morning.

7:00am.

Genesis

Before class started the principal wanted a word with me.

"Mr Wellies brought something to my attention yesterday. " he told me.

"I just didn't do it. It was a busy weekend with my mum. Sorry. " I quickly answered, trying not to drag the conversation.

"Judith. " he went on.

"Genesis. My mum made an error. Its Genesis Judith McCoy. " I corrected him. My mum calling me by my government name was enough.

Apparently Genesis isn't even on my birth certificate.

My mum "forgot" to have it written down. But at all my schools I was Genesis.

Judith Genesis McCoy.

"Okay, Genesis. "He continued. "We have a team of counseling staff here at the school. If yesterday's decline was driven by emotion. You can talk to someone. " he said, trying to help.

I didn't say anything. He let me go without another word.

I've always wanted to talk to someone but not anyone. I wanted to talk to someone like me.

I never walked to school with Caesar, my mum drove me to school before she left for work.

I was usually one of the earliest to get here.

"Is he dating you for real or? " some girl who happened to be in my class at that time asked me.

She wasn't the only one here. It was me, her, three girls and a boy.

I didn't know them by name but I knew their faces.

"How bout you ask him. " I said when I turned. I was pissed off by the audacity. I don't know what's with everyone, they feel like they can walk all over me all over sudden.

They continued talking. They were purposely loud and it was annoying.

I remembered what Caesar told me the previous day but I didn't want to bother him.

I put my air pods on and took a breathe as I listened to music.

11:50pm

The next day was in less than ten minutes. It was a school day but there was a game tomorrow. Caesar and I were going to ditch.

There was no way I was going to be forced to watch a game the school was going to lose.

Caesar and I were on the roof. His room had an easy outlet to the roof.

His dad wasn't home either so we stayed longer than planned.

We looked at the stars and we talked about everything and anything.

"What was she like? Elaine. "I asked.

Elaine was his twin sister.

"Uhm. Rude. "He answered making us both laugh.

He clearly never liked talking about her but my curiosity was building. I sat up and he did too.

"Do you mind me asking about her? "I asked for clarity.

"It depends. "he answered. "Look, if you ask a question and I don't answer then I don't want to and I'd appreciate if you didn't push me to it. "He told me.

"

Okay....... Why don't you ever visit her grave? " I asked hoping to get an answer.

Before he chose to answer me or not I made sure to let him know that I was there for him as much as he was for me.

Despite my effort he just sat quiet and I didn't press him.

I was really curious as to why he never talked about her.

"Its cold yeah? " he asked after a really long while.

It wasn't cold at all but I guess it was time to go inside anyway. We went in and as usual he fell asleep before I did.

It was a bad idea to sleep out but my mum was crazy.

And Brian could fall over a cliff for all I cared.