Dark Like Me

23~New Chances

Tyasia, Kinsey, Andy, Tannya, and I are at the mall walking around. Father gave me some money for food and anything else I want to buy. He and my mom thought it was a great thing that I had made more friends and started going out with them more. It beat being in the house, hiding from what I did.

At the mall, there were people looking at me, but for the first time in my life, I didn't care why they were staring or what they were whispering. I am here with my friends and here to have a good time. I did introduce Andy to Tyasia, Tannya, and Kinsey, they were pleasant with Andy but Andy had a major attitude with them. She almost snubbed them.

Walking in JCPenny's and looking at cute shoes and clothes, Andy excuses herself to the bathroom. Tyasia, Tannya, and Kinsey make their way over to me.

"Yo, what's up with your girl Andy?" Tyasia asks me.

I am looking through some clearance rack shirts. "I don't know. Maybe she just needs time to adjust to the fact that I have more friends now."

"I don't know about that. She seems really cold and off." Kinsey notices as well.

Tannya inputs, "She basically snubbed us when you introduced us. I didn't appreciate that at all."

I too noticed when she did that as well.

"I don't know, Kinsey. I don't know. But, if you guys could give her a chance I am sure she'll turn around."

Tannya, Tyasia, and Kinsey look at each other and then look back at me. "Alright," Tannya says, "we'll do that. But, I am not fond of her stank attitude."

"I understand."

Andy comes back and looks between Tyasia, Kinsey, Tannya, and I. "What's going on here?"

"Just some friendly chit-chat," Tyasia says.

"You know between friends," Tannya adds.

"Psh, if you say so." Andy mocks.

Tyasia, Kinsey, and Tannya look at me and I shrug my shoulders. This day is supposed to be a relaxing day with my new friends and Andy. But, Andy is being a bitch to them. I have no clue where this behavior is coming from, but I don't know what to do about it. Except to give Andy a pep talk.

Around the time lunch starts, we pick what we want to eat and sit down. Tyasia, Kinsey, and Tannya are sitting in a booth while Andy and I are standing in the Chinese food line. Now is my chance to have that talk with Andy.

"Why are you being mean to them, Andy?" I outright ask her.

"What are you talking about? I am not being mean to them." Andy denies.

"Yeah, you kinda are. Not everyone is out to get me, Andy. They really do want to be my friends," I sound like an elementary school kid with the friend thing.

"I don't think they are really here for you, Sirrah. I mean who honestly just up and says, "'want to be friends' out of the blue? It sounds really fishy to me."

The line moves up and we move up. "There are a lot of people that do that, Andy. I mean that's how friendships start." I eye the fried chicken that's calling me, "It doesn't always start like you and me started. A little conversation can go a long way."

Andy sighs I can tell she is annoyed by my pep talk. She looks at Tyasia, Tannya, and Kinsey sitting at the table chatting away. "I just don't trust them at all." She looks back at me. "But, I can try and be nicer to them."

If she calls what she has been doing nice, I would love to see what her 'nicer' is. "Thank you. Give them a chance, they aren't bad at all."

"Fine. Excuse me; I have to go to the bathroom again."

I nod and watch her walk past the bathroom when she thought I wasn't looking and go some other way. I shrug it off, order my food, and sit with Tyasia, Tannya, and Kinsey.

"Where did Andy run off to?" Kinsey asks popping a fry into her mouth.

"Yeah, we saw her run off to the Best Buy," Tyasia notices.

I shrug my shoulders, "I don't know." I begin to eat the fried chicken. "She said she had to go to the bathroom. But, I guess she wanted to go to another bathroom." I find myself making excuses for Andy.

"Excuse me." Tyasia slides out of the booth and disappears into the crowd of people.

"Sirrah, what do you think about everything that is going on with you right now?" Tannya blurts.

"What do you mean?" I put down the chicken.

"I think she means with Alchemy and everything. I mean, I heard that you chose to go to court with this thing." Kinsey explains a little more.

"I feel really bad sometimes about it." I begin. "I know there was a better way to deal with the situation but I felt like I wasn't given a choice. I mean...what else was I supposed to do? She'd already slapped me and I couldn't let her do it again." I spill everything. I don't think anyone has ever asked me how I felt about what is going on with me. Except for my father, but that is a different topic. It was nice to be listened to.

"Yeah, but . . . sometimes that is the only thing that people will understand." Kinsey eats a waffle fry she got from chic-fil-a.

"I guess so. But, I didn't want to be one of those people that resorted to violence, because as an introvert, that is not in my nature. I read books and stay away from drama, but it always seems to find me."

"I know what you mean. Maybe this is a way to face that drama head on." Tannya smiles.

I never thought of it that way. Having Tyasia, Tannya, and Kinsey as friends is definitely becoming a plus in my life.

"Can't always hide forever, Sirrah," Tannya adds.

"No one will ever adopt something like you," An 8-year-old light skin boy teases Sirrah.

Sirrah is backed into a corner with her knees drawn to her chest, her gray eyes look up at her teasers. She was minding her own business trying to read a book, still upset that her best friend had been adopted. These kids came up to her, smacked the book out of her hands, and started pointing at Sirrah.

"Yeah, she's too dark. They won't be able to see her," A 7-year-old pecan brown skin girl spits. They walk off laughing.

Sirrah shivers and picks the book back up and tries to read it again. But, they come back and slap it out of her hands. "Thought we were leaving, didn't cha?" The same 7-year-old girl howls.

Sirrah tries to get up and the girl pushed her back down, "I didn't tell you to get up, did I?"

Sirrah shook her head as tears burn the rims of her eyes.

"Hey!" A squeaky voice called out from Sirrah's left. There are two girls standing there. The one that called out has short brown hair and is the same pecan brown color as the 7-year-old girl. The second girl has long black hair and is an oak brown.

The 7-year-old turns to them, "what do you want?"

"Leave her alone. You are older than she is, you shouldn't be picking on her." The squeaky voiced one tells her.

"I can do what I want. Why don't you beat it?" the 7-year-old turns back to Sirrah and the silent girl shoves the girl away.

"Didn't you hear what she said?" She speaks up. "Stop picking on her."

The 7-year-old turns bold and steps to the girl, "Or what?"

The squeaky voiced girl helped Sirrah up and brushed her clothes off.

"I will make you stop," they have a stare down and the 7-year-old scoffs and walks away.

"It's alright, Sirrah. I am Tyasia." The squeaky voiced girl says.

"I am Kinsey. They won't be bothering you anymore."

Sirrah smiled and wiped her eyes, "Thank you."

Tyasia comes back and slides in the booth. "Sorry about that. What are we talking about?"

I raise my eyebrows. "How I feel about my decision."