Page 2 of Rue

A minute before 7, she turned off her alarm so it wouldn’t wake her mom, then made breakfast before heading to school.

The bus picked her up like it did every day, and she hunched in on herself, still trying to hide her swollen belly from the worst of the bullies and jerks who would give her hell.

Sitting down next to Chad, she didn’t look up. Neither did he. He was always on his phone and barely looked at her twice all year, but no one ever sat with Chad. He stank and always had snot crusted around his nose. She had trouble with smells but learned to breathe through her mouth and face away from him. People usually left her alone if she sat with him.

Not today.

“Say! What’s up, my girl?” Davon asked, sitting in the seatacross from her and leaning in.

“Day,” she mumbled, annoyed that he was still pushing that whole ‘Say’ and ‘Day’ rhyming thing with their names after four years. “You can’t copy Algebra; I haven’t finished it yet.”

“Shiiit. When you gonna finish it?”

“Probably in Bio.”

“Can I sit next to you in Bio and copy?”

“20.”

“Fuck, 20 to copy in the morning. If I gotta sit with you in Bio and copy as you do it, it should be half!”

“It’s 20,” she shrugged.

“Fuck. Fine… you still doin’ my Lit paper?”

“I told you, that’ll be 50.”

“I offered 30!”

“I told you 50 or no. I have a lot to do, Day, and that’s for your final.”

“Pshh, you think I’m made of money?”

“Made of it? No. But you have it to spend on weed and other shit. You wanna pass high school? That’s the price; I have bills.”

“Fuck,” he huffed. “Venmo or Cashapp?”

“No… cash. My phone might give out any time.”

“Shit, for real? I can hook you up, you know? I got some cracked iPhones my cuz is tryna sell?”

“No thanks. Food before phones, I need cash.”

“You that hard up? Baby girl,” he smirked, leaning closer. “How bout you make you an OnlyFans and shoot it over to me? I can get you a big following.”

“I’m not doing that!”

“Girl, you know how much money you could make?” he laughed.

“I’d fucking pay to see your tits,” Chad offered.

Sailor cringed away from him, repulsed.

“Come on, Baby Girl,” Davon grinned, leaning closer, brushing her curls off her cheek, and tucking them behind her ear. “How about me’n you go out, then? It’s Friday; we got athree-day weekend. I’ll take you to dinner, and we can go back to my place.”

“On your bike?” she asked, rolling her eyes.

“I’ll walk to your place and we’ll go to that place up on the corner,” he shrugged. “Anyways, I’m getting another car soon.”

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