Black Is The New Great

Episode 1

I slowly form a fist and knock on the  door.I wait for sometime before getting a response and just when I'm about to knock again.

"Come in"a voice says from inside.

I slowly twist the knob and the door opens.

I enter the office followed by an angry Miss Karmitchel. Principal Trelford's face was quick to form a scowl when he saw me.

He sighed "What did she do this time?"

"She..."Miss Karmitchel starts but I cut her off.

"I did nothing wrong" I groan.

"You stabbed Jake with a pencil"Miss Fayde says.

Principal Loans gasps.

"Zanele is that true ?"

I shrug "Somehow the pencil got into his thigh, I don't really remember"

" She's lying"Miss Fayde snaps.

" Why would I hurt Jake, he is the sweetest and most friendly person I know?"I feign innocence.

I almost gag noticing what I just said about Jake.

" Stop playing innocent" Miss Fayde rolls her eyes "it doesn't suit you"

"But...but" I pout my lips and fake tears " I didn't do it, Jake's like a brother to me, I'd never hurt him, please believe me Principal Loans"

I sob and Principal Loans hands me a box of tissues.

"Thank_you" I say in between sobs.

Miss Fayde looks at me in disbelief.

Suddenly there's a knock on the door.

"Come in" Principal Loans says.

Jake walks in limping.

Oh boy!

I forget I'm supposed to be sobbing.

Miss Fayde turns to me with a wicked smile.

This just got interesting.

"Jake!" Principal Loans breaks the silence " so nice of you to join us, sit down"

He sits in the chair opposite mine.

"Let's cut to the chase" Principal Loans says pushing his glasses up his nose "who did this to you?"

He looks around the room until his eyes land on me. He smirks at me.

Miss Fayde and Principal Loans follow his gaze and their eyes land on me.

I batter my eyelashes innocently before wiping away a fake tear.

"It was an accident" he finally speaks up .

"What!" Miss Fayde exclaims .

Yeah! Say what now?

"What do you mean it was an accident?"Principal Loans asks.

Jake shoots me a weird look before proceeding with his lie.

"We were out of paint so I offered to go get us some more but when I stood up I didn't watch where I was going and...well you know the rest"

" Are you sure Zanele did not do it on purpose?" Principal Loans asks.

" What? No! Zanele would never do that to me, she loooves me"

He drags the word love.

Principal Loans and Miss Fayde look at him awkwardly.

"Like a brother, of course" he quickly adds " and I looove her"

Principal Loans and Miss Fayde look at him awkwardly again .

"Like a sister" he quickly adds.

"So she didn't do it?"Principal Loans asks.

"She did not"Jake says placing one hand over his heart and the other raised up "we're besties, why would she do that to me"

" Right Zanele" he winks at me.

Besties my a*s.

"Alright" Principal Loans sighs "you're free to go"

"Thank you" I cry wiping away a fake tear.

I stand up to leave not missing Miss Fayde's 'this isn't over' glare.

"Wow you are quite the actress" Jake says when we are outside " you know you owe me one for saving your a*s"

"And I also hope you didn't forget that you are the reason as to why I got into trouble in the first place"

" No need to thank me"he shrugs.

" Thank you?"

" If you insist"he sighs "you're welcome.

I send him a burning glare.He doesn't look intimidated by it so he just smirks.

The nerve of him.

I make my glare even more intense.I notice a little fear in his eyes but he covers it up with an even more annoying smirk.

So that's how its going to be eh? Glare_Smirk Contest.

Bring it on.I can do this all day. Lie, I'd need to stop for a snack every after ten minutes.

Don't judge me, glaring takes a lot of energy.

A strand of hair falls into my face obstracting my death glare.I blow it away several times but it keeps falling back onto my face.Go back you stupid strand of hair,I'm trying to win a contest here.

I knew I should have tied my hair in a ponytail today but noooo Ivy thought I look better with it down.I still don't know why we even had that conversation.

Jake stretches his hand out to my face and before he can do what I assume he is going to do, I grab his hand and twist it behind his back and push him onto the wall.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" he cries " you're hurting me"

That's kinda the point.

"How many freaking times do I have to tell you not to touch me"I tell into his ear.

"I didn't want to touch you but you looked like you really needed help putting that strand of hair back" he cries.

"Did I ask for your help?"I press his face into the wall.

"Uhm...well..."he trails off.

"Did I ?"I yell at him.

"You're starting to scare me"

Really? Yipee!

I was about to scream at him once more for my personal amusement until the office door swang open.I totally forgot we were near the principal's office.

"What's going on here?" Principal Loans asks and as usual big mouth beats me to the answer.

"She was just teaching me a karate move "Jake says forcing a smile.

"Khumalo, this is not a dojo, if you want to train him do it after school, at your house" he snaps "now let go of his hand"

I roll my eyes but let go of his hand.

Principal Loans smiles proudly and continues in the opposite direction with Miss Fayde hot on his heels.

I turn to Jake and he has a stupid smirk on his face.

I glare at him "why did you do it?"

"Do what?"he asks innocently.

"Lie about the pencil incident"

"Because"he grins sheepishly "if I told Principal Trelford the truth you'd probably get expelled and then I wouldn't get to see my chocholate cube ever again"he pouts.

"Eew"I scruch up my face in disgust.I actually want to throw up.

Chocolate cube?

Sure Jake,just call me anything that tags me black, I don't mind *note sarcasm *

"You'd miss me too"he pauses "right coco pops?"he batters his eyelashes.

Ok that's just creepy.Wait a minute...

Coco pops?

This guy sure knows how to get on my nerves.

I fake a smile before kneeing him in the same place I stabbed him.

"Ouch!"he yelps.

"I think my world without you is much more peaceful"I whispered to him "so no, I wouldn't miss you"I turn on my heels and walk away.

"Hey wait up"he runs and catches up with me.

Wait a minute, did he just run? I thought I hurt him good.

Don't tell me I'm getting soft.

"Did_did you just run?"I ask "I thought your leg hurt"

"Come on"he roll his eyes "you didn't really think you could hurt a greek god like me"

He wiggles his eyebrows. If only he knew how creepy that was.

I shake my head and roll my eyes "What do you want?"

"I wanted to..."he slid his hand into the right pocket of his blazer "give you this"

He pulled out a brown rubber wrist band with his name on it.

"Sorry Jake, but you're really annoying, I don't think we are yet on the stage of friendship bracelets, we're not even friends to begin with"

Jake looks at me in confusion and blinks twice before bursting into laughter.

"This ain't a friendship bracelet cocoa, I know you're not that type of person "he shakes his head "it's for you to tie your hair"

"Ew! why are you being sweet?"

I snatch the band from his hand.

"How do you know I'm sweet if you haven't tasted me yet"he closes his eyes and puckers his lips while leaning in.

I reached in my blazer pocket and pulled out a pack of breath mints.I pulled out one and pushed it into his mouth.He opened his eyes and scrunched up his face in disgust.

"There's a strict no kissing in the hallways policy"I point at the sign.

I tie my hair into a pony tail.

"So... janitor's closet then ?" he eyes me hopefully.

"There's a no making out on school grounds rule, it's rule number 1"

I can't believe I actually read the rules.

He scoffs " Since when do you follow rules"

I ignore him and keep working on my pony tail.

" So... my house ?" he asks hopefully again .

I look at him in disbelief. He just doesn't know when to quit.

"Your house?" he raises an eyebrow.

"You really need to get friends"I said.

"Can't you see I'm trying"he throws his hands up exasperatedly.

" Cross me off that list"

"So I put you on the girlfriend list?"he scratches the back of his head fighting a grin.

I roll my eyes.

"I'm just going to walk away from here before I drill a pencil through your lips"

️️️

"IVY, I'M HOME!" I yelled as I opened the front door.

Ivy's standing at the counter reading a book and when she sees me she quickly drops it in the bin.

Too late Ivy , I already saw the cover;

HOW TO HANDLE TEENAGE DELINQUENTS.

"Hey Zanele"she smiles "how was school"

"The usual"I shrug "class, people ,teachers ,gross cafeteria food"

"Your Art teacher called"she says while chopping the carrots "she says you stabbed someone with a pencil"

Oh boy!

That psychopath of a woman just couldn't let it slide . Once such news reaches Ivy, she uses that 'we need to talk tone' and gives me the 'I'm trying everything I can but you are just too difficult ' look.

"It wasn't my fault"I whine.

"I'm not accusing you of anything"she says worriedly "I want to hear your side of the story"

I sigh "OK"

I was seated in Art class minding my own business as always when...

Poke!

I felt something hard poke my side. I decided to ignore it hoping it would go away.

2 minutes later...

Poke

Poke

Poke

Poke

"WHAT?"I yelled at Jake earning stares from the whole class and extra special death glare from Miss Fayde.

Jake smiles sheepishly "I like your crocs"

He looks down at my feet.

He poked me all that time just so he can tell me he loves my crocs.

Unbelievable!

I mean, I know they are to die for,that's why I bought them.

I rolled my eyes and went back to my drawing.

1 minute later...

Poke

Poke

Poke

Poke

Poke

I face palmed and slowly turned to glare at him.

"Are you drawing a panda?"he asks.

"No,I'm drawing your butt"I smile politely.

" Aw !, I'm glad you thought of me"he places a hand over his heart and wipes away a fake tear.

I go back to my drawing.

5 minutes later...

Poke

Poke

Poke

Poke

This is the part where you raise your hand and say...

"Miss Karmitchel, there is a moron who is bugging me"

But since she doesn't like my guts she'll just say...

"Oh so you think just because, you're black you can insult people, DETENTION!"

I love art but there are two people who make me hate it ;

1)Jake

2)Miss Faye

So I choose to ignore . After endless series of pokes he decides to give up . At least that's what I thought.

2 seconds later...

"Cocoa"

"Chocolate cube"

"Oreo"

"Brownie"

"Coffee"

Ignore him Zanele, Ignore him.

"Poop emoji"he whispers in my ear.

That's the worst of them all.

I break my pencil out of frustration. I bend down to get one from my bag.

When I turn back up...wrong idea .Jake's face is only a few inches away from mine . His stupid face is even more annoying up close.

"You look prettier up close " he wiggles his brows.

"You know..."he trails off "I've always had a thing for black girls"

"Too bad"I shrug "I hate boys, especially the white ones"

"Why? because they have cooties?"he laughs and I see his finger moving closer to my face.

That's right, come closer, I see you have a death wish.

When his finger slightly brushes my cheek, I stab him in his thigh with my pencil.

"Ow"he cries looking at his thigh "why did you do that?"

"I don't like it when people touch me"I snap and pull out the pencil.

"Ow"he winces.

"Khumalo , Simmond what is going on back there?"Miss Fayde yells from behind her desk.

" Nothing"I smile innocently.

"You're smiling sweetly and innocently so there's definitely something wrong"Miss Fayde says before standing up from her seat.

" Oh my God, Khumalo what did you do?" Miss Fayde asks looking horrified at the sight of Jake's b****y leg.

"Nothing" I say innocently.

"You two" she points at two random kids "take him to the nurse, Khumalo,you're coming with me to the principal's office"

"But I didn't do anything wrong" I kept whining all the way to the principal's office.

"Shut up" Miss Fayde kept saying in response.

"And that's what happened"I say taking a sip of the mango juice I got out of the fridge five seconds ago.

"But in my defense"I say "it was all Jake's fault, he knows I don't like being touched "

She stares at me with the same horrified look she had through out my whole flashback.

"So why did you throw your book in the bin?" I change the subject.

She still looks horrified, I don't think she heard me. It's like she's in some sort of trance.

"Hullo, earth to Ivy"I snap my fingers in her face.

"Huh?" she snaps out of her trance "I'm sorry did you say something ?"

"I wanted to know why you threw your book in the bin?"I repeat.

"Oh that" she says nervously "it just slipped"

Bad liar.

"What was it about?"I ask.

Her face turns pale like she just saw a ghost. I'm enjoying messing with her.

"It was...it was nothing interesting, just some old boring book"

"It looked pretty new to me"I move closer to the bin "maybe I could have a look, it maybe interesting to me, I read all kinds of books"I reach out for the book but a cold orange liquid beats me to it.

I look up to see the glass that had my mango juice now empty.

"Oops, sorry, I'm so clumsy "Ivy says "let me clean that up"

She wraps up the gabbage bag , pulls it out of the bin and takes it outside.

That was fun to watch.

I wipe my hand with the rag that was on the counter.

"So speaking of books"she says when she comes back "I bought you this novel I thought you might like, Lisa told me you love novels"

She hands me a green book.

She just made my day. Don't judge me, even delinquents read novels.What do you think we do in juvi?

THE LIE TREE By FRANCES HARDINGE.

Oh My God!...FRANCES HARDINGE?

I love her novels they are amazing I've read FLY BY NIGHT, A FACE LIKE GLASS , VERDIGRIS DEEP, GULLSTRUCK ISLAND,TWILIGHT ROBBERY. I'm now left with CUCKOO SONG to complete my collection.

They're four things I love more than anything in this world;

1.Food

2.Crocs

3.Novels

4.Gossip

Now you know who you are dealing with.

"It was enough. All knowledge-any knowledge-called to Faith,and there was a delicious, poisonous pleasure in stealing it unseen" I begin reading the sypnosis.

Faith has a thirst for science and secrets that the rigid confines of her class cannot suppress.And so it is that she discovers her disgraced father's journals,filled with the scribbled notes and theories of a man driven close to madness. Tales of a strange tree which when told a lie, will uncover a truth,the greater the lie,the greater the truth revealed to the liar.Faith's search for the tree leads her into great danger-for where lies seduce,truths shatter...

"This looks really interesting "I turn the book to the front cover"thanks Ivy"

She sighs in relief"I'm glad you like it" she smiles.

When I reach my room,I strip out of my school uniform.I wear a peach tang top, faded blue denim blue shorts and peach ankle socks.

I throw my self onto my bed and start to read my novel.

CHAPTER 1:

EXILES

The boat moved with a nauseous, relentless rhythm like someone chewing on a rotten tooth. The islands just visible through...

I read the whole chapter one which had like ten pages before drifting off to sleep since I was really exhausted.