Book One | The Book Of Stephanie

Next morning - school

I was walking down the hall off to my next class when I was suddenly stopped by Stephanie. (Remember her? She's the nosy girl that's always in everyone's business)

"Hey Dre hold up.... I need to talk to you" and I gotta admit are first I was hesitant to stop but then I remembered who I was dealing with which made me realize that she wouldn't let me be even if I wanted to.

"What do you want Stephanie?"

"Oh wow so it's like that now? - Aight"

"Nah Steph chill I'm jus' playing - speak" I really hadn't slept a wink all night so I was a bit cranky all morning but I tried to not let that affect how I spoke to people.

"Well a little birdie told me that there were two detectives here yesterday and they had a few questions for you but then you freaked out before they could get anything out of you. So now I wanted to know what that was all about."

Oh my gosh really?! Like foreal!? Stay calm Dre just say calm.

"Well yes if you must know they asked me a few questions about whatever I knew about the school and I told them everything"

"Everything like?"

"E V E R Y T H I N G !"

"Nigga like I'm being foreal though so stop playing!"

"Why you so interested in this anyway cause I mean I know you always up in everyone's business and all but this seems like a whole new low even for you"

"Okay first of all ouch! I'm hurt and secondly believe it or not but I actually like Clay so I'm as interested as you are in finding out who hurt him"

"Wait what! What makes you think I like about Clay or even care about him?"

"Well correct me if I'm wrong but weren't y'all like close friends or something two years ago when you first got here?"

"Well we hung out a bit but not really..."

"Well seemed like there was more to it than that but hey guess I was wrong... but besides that I've seen how you look at him occasionally when you think no one is looking and I also heard about how you snapped at Ms Swart after she started talking trash about him but anywho let me mind my own God Damn business before you snap at me too" she said smirking at me and taking a step back, leaving me to stand there speechless. "You know where to find me when you're ready to talk" she then walked away and my dump ass didn't even have the guys to try and stop her.

How the fuck could she have known all that!

Did I really make shit all that obvious...

I wonder what else she knows...

...And if she knows all that then I wonder who else knows and how many people she's told.

FUCK!

"Steph holdup!" I yelled rushing to catch up to her. She slowed down a bit so I managed to catch up and then interrogated her about what else she knew but she really wasn't letting up.

"Look Dre follow me. I really don't wanna talk out in the open like this" she instructed then I followed her down the hallway as she browsed through the windows for an empty classroom we could use. "We can talk in here" she said after finding a suitable classroom where we could be alone.

We both set down and she started telling me everything she knows and God I was shocked.

"I know most of the people in this school think I'm really shallow and shit, and that I don't give a fuck about anyone but myself but that's really not true. I care...I really care and I'm able to tell when others are in pain. Just like I can see how much you've been struggling to deal with what happened to Clay and I really wanna help you deal with all that" she explained. "I'm sure you know that two years ago I lost my mom right?"

"Uhm- yea..." I said trying to be as sympathetic as possible because I know topics like this cut really deep for people and honestly I didn't know what else to say to her.

"And I'm sure you heard how she died right?"

"Yea- it's was a car accident right?"

"Well yea...at least that was the official story but the truth is that she overdosed and crashed whilst she was on her way to get more drugs from her dealer" my heart dropped and I just stared that her in disbelief, I had absolutely no idea what to even say to her after what she had just told me. I mean what would the appropriate thing even be... "yea tragic I know right, but trust me it gets worse..."

How could it possibly get any worse...

"...you see what most people also don't know is that she'd been addicted to drug since the year she gave birth to me. She dating my dad back in high school and they were in love or at least that's what she thought I'm guessing, until one day when they were at a party and he got really drunk and forced himself onto her. After that she fell pregnant with me and he left her, denying that he was the father and accused her of being a slut...The whole experience was so traumatic for her and she was never the same ever since. My grandparents made her keep me, you see they were/are very religious so they made her believe that abortion was a sin and that she'd burn in hell forever if she murdered me and so she listened thinking that she'd be fine but I guess it was all too much for her. Right after she gave birth to me there were some complications with her health so the doctors put her on some very strong drugs and she became dependent on those to survive even after she didn't need them anymore....she said they made her feel happy and that if she was happy then she could be a good mother to me..."

That's deep...

I was in so much shock after what she told me. I tried to open my mouth thinking I could say something comforting but nothing I wanted to say felt right so my words wouldn't come out.

"...lmao...well don't just sit there dummy, say something or else imma have to feel like a jerk because I just made shit super awkward by telling you all that"

"I'm s-sorry, I really didn't know. If I'd know I wouldn't have been such a jerk to you..."

"No-no dude please stop" she asked giggling. "I didn't tell you all that for you to feel sorry for me. I told you so that you would understand where I'm coming from with all this because I genuinely wanna help you get justice for Clay. My mom suffered all her life because no one helped her after she was raped...I don't want Clay to go through the same trauma if he's rapist isn't brought to justice"

Damn she makes so much sense.

As I continued to sit there I couldn't help but sympathize with her. All the shit she went through as a kid and she still turned out to be a good person even after all the shit she also went through here at school. - DAMN!

***

- Author's Note -

I appreciate all the support y'all have been giving me lately guys. I also noticed that this book has developed some frequent readers who are really deep into the story which is something that I really appreciate as it keeps me going strong and motivates me to write more and more.

The story is coming to an end soon so hang in there and remember to tune in daily for more updates!!

Yeah that's right!! I'm gonna be pushing updates at least every single day if not every two days. 🔥

Also don't forget to vote and please please tell me what you think about Stephanie's story.

Multimedia: Dear Mama - 2Pac