Shades of Gray, Part I

[Megami†]

Mondays.  Tanesha Lexx hated Mondays.  Mondays were the bane of mankind.  Think about it, Mondays are the worst day of the week.  They're the farthest day from the weekend, they're the start of a new week, and they assure you that the next five days are going to be eaten alive by schoolwork.  Nothing was good about Mondays.

Tanesha had woken up late and nearly missed the bus.  As such, her hair was a mess that she hadn't bothered to fix, she was wearing the same jeans she'd left in the floor of her bedroom the night prior, she'd managed to put some deodorant on and pulled the size 2XL "Vote for Pedro" shirt over her head before dashing out the door.  She'd neglected to grab her Science book and would have to attend class without her homework now... and the best part was, she forgot to brush her teeth.

Now, Tanesha once again sat in the courtyard of Bathurst High School, filling the little black book she almost constantly carried with her with a brand new article.  This time, Tanesha Lexx had a new obsession.  His name was Jackie Kovacs, and he was one of the few boys who had ever shown her any sort of attention at all.  She'd met him the night before, and in Tanesha's own words, it had been "the best day of her life".  

It all seemed so perfect.  He was her type.  WAY her type.  He was good looking, sort of femme -- and she was pretty into that -- and best of all, he genuinely seemed to like her.  At least, as a friend.  Whether or not someone like Jackie who was actually a pretty good looking guy could develop feelings for a big blob of person like Tanesha was unknown to her.

As such, that was the topic of conversation with her journal on this day.  Today's journal entry was filled with phrases like "could someone like that ever love someone like me?" and "he's so perfect, he's like an angel.  It's like God sent me my own personal angel from heaven".  Perhaps she was getting her hopes up far too much, but Tanesha couldn't help but hope that something would come of this newfound friendship with Jackie Kovacs.

The fact was that Tanesha hadn't had anybody since Marvin Angell.  Even then, Marvin had just used her.  It really was a terrible time for poor Tanesha.  The things he'd told her... she thought he actually cared about her.  Really, though, he just wanted head.  She'd never imagined he'd use her for that, but he had... and when she turned to her friends, all they could do was dub her a whore for giving it to him.  What was she supposed to have done?  She thought he wanted to be with her...

The echoing of Bathurst's bells signifying that the short break in between second and third period was over blared in Tanesha's ears and reluctantly she closed the cover of her journal and slowly tottered back into the corridors of the school toward her locker.  Almost reluctantly, she dropped the little black book inside and picked up her Humanities book and inwardly kicked herself as it dawned on her that Science was coming up and she was bookless... and homeworkless.

Dammit.

She'd worked hard on that science homework, too.  Tanesha couldn't believe she'd overslept again and had just completely disreguarded the still open science book sitting on her computer desk.  Considering that the heavy-set girl hadn't even had time to brush her teeth, though, it really wasn't that surprising.  Maybe her science teacher would understand.  It's not like Tanesha not turning in homework happened every day... well... maybe it did, but still.

Realizing that the tardy bell had just rang and that she was now officially late for her next period, Tanesha slammed the door to her locker shut and took off in a jiggly and grotesque jog to her next class.  Today was just turning out to be a ridiculously bad day.  Man, she hated Mondays.

Meanwhile, a lone figure had been standing out in the courtyard, watching Tanesha with slight interest as she scribbled furiously in the confides of her journal.  Sera Wingfield had never thought much of the obese black girl that she stood watching with some curiosity.  In fact, she had never really thought the girl was anything more than disgusting.  If for that fact alone, Sera had never particularly liked her.

Sera was one of those people who either loved you or hated you, and you didn't want to be on the latter list.  A bit of a troublemaker by nature, Sera was quite mischevious and enjoyed planting the seeds of mayhem and watching them unfold.  As she watched the fat girl scribbling away her angsty thoughts in her journal, the gears of her mind were slowly formulating a plan.

When Tanesha had entered the building, Sera had lingered outside, watching with keen interest as the black girl had disguarded her prized possession within her locker and eventually taken off for her next class.  When she was positive that the nuisance had vanished, Sera entered the corridor of the building.  Checking down both directions of the vast hallway, she quickly confirmed that the coast was clear.  That was when Sera slowly approached Tanesha's locker.

It was too perfect.  Her locker was rigged.  RIGGED!  Of all the stupid things she could have possibly done, why would Tanesha Lexx keep something that probably contained most of her angsty, horrific secrets in a locker that just anybody could reach into and grab.  Sera could only assume that she figured it probably wasn't worth anybody's time.  To Sera, though, it was the harshest form of blackmail.  Reaching toward the locker, she pulled up on the broken lock and the locker flew open with each, revealing the contents of Tanesha's locker.

There, laying on top of her backpack, was Tanesha's journal.

Carefully, Sera reached inside and pulled the little black book out, a devilish smile forming on her features as she extracted the book and shut the locker behind her.  Clinging it up against her chest, Sera retreated back to the now desolate courtyard before flipping the journal open and skimming through several of the pages.

That was when she saw it.  Sera's eyes widened and her jaw fell agape as she re-read the words on the page.  This was unbelievable!  Sera had planned to torment Tanesha with the blackmail she'd extracted from the journal, but never had she expected to find this in its confides.  Closing the cover to the journal herself, a sly smile formed on Sera's features.  Perhaps she'd hang on to this journal for a while after all...

((Continued in: Shades of Gray, Part II))