Shades of Gray, Part II

[Megami*]

((Continued from: Shades of Gray, Part I))

Tanesha Lexx had always hated physical education with a passion.  P.E. just wasn't her forté, per say.  Then again, how could it be?  The African-American girl tipped the scales weighing in at a horrific two hundred and eighty-seven pounds.  Her size in and of itself often caused her pain.  Her breasts were a nightmare on her back, and her ankles often ached from having to support the sheer size of the girl.  It was really no wonder that things like running and jumping didn't come naturally to her.

Tanesha's mother had never understood it.  The rest of their family was, for the most part, slim and very athletic.  Her younger brother was one of the best in his grade at basketball.  Even her mother and step-father played.  The whole family could often be seen outside shooting hoops while Tanesha was inside plastered to the television screen or creeping about in an internet chatroom.  She'd turned out so different from everyone else in her family... so odd.

Tanesha couldn't help but reflect upon these thoughts as she sat in the girls' locker room, having managed to once again talk her way out of gym class by stating that she didn't feel well and busting out the plethora of placebos she often carried around with her to "cure" her so-called problems.  In reality, Tanesha was just a hypochondriac.  She didn't like the physicality that exercize involved and therefore went out of her way to avoid any sort of participation in sports.

As she sat in the lonely and abandoned locker room thinking absent-mindedly to herself, another figure entered.  Tanesha didn't notice as the svelte and slender figure of Sera Wingfield entered the locker room, a mischevious smirk plastered to the blonde's features.  Tanesha didn't notice as Sera sidled up beside the locker in front of which she was sitting, nor did she notice when Sera leaned up against it, never losing the smug expression affixated on her features.  What she did notice was when the blonde's nasal voice rang out, decimating the tranquility of the locker room.

"I know," she stated flatly, her smile turning into a condescending frown.

At the words, Tanesha whirled around, a confused look overtaking her expression as she eyed the vivacious looking blonde girl up and down with a hint of disgust.  Tanesha had never liked Sera, mostly because Sera had never liked Tanesha.  She always looked at Tanesha like she was a big, disgusting blob of... something... and Tanesha had never appreciated the blonde-headed girl's judgmental behavior.  For the most part, Tanesha simply tried to avoid Sera Wingfield, but here, in the empty locker room, that wasn't an option.

"You know what?" the black girl inquired tentatively.

Sera sighed exasperatedly and shook her head in disgust before responding, "I know... that you're the one who started that rumor."

"... What rumor?" Tanesha once again inquired, although suddenly a sinking feeling began to develop in the pit of her stomach.  Sera couldn't possibly be talking about that rumor.  She couldn't know.  There was no way she knew.  Tanesha'd only told a handful of people and they most certainly wouldn't tell Sera Wingfield of all people... would they?

"Don't play dumb," Sera snapped, "You're the one who spread that rumor about Ali fucking the football players for her homecoming nomination.  It was you.  I know it was."

Oh, shit.

The thought ran through Tanesha's mind as Sera confronted her.  How could she have possibly found out?  Really, it shouldn't have been that surprising.  Tanesha of all people should know that if you want a secret kept, you don't tell anybody, ever.  When you do, they feel like they have to get it off their chest and go tell somebody else.  Then it spreads like wildfire, and the next thing you know, the entire school has heard because everybody "just told one other person".  It had happened to her before, and she should have known it would happen again.

"I didn't--" Tanesha began, attempting to lie her way out of the situation.

"Oh bullshit," Sera once again snapped, a glare forming across her normally delicate features, "What's your problem?  Is your measly life just so pathetic that you have to talk shit about other people to make yourself feel good?  Is it some sick fetish of yours or something?  You want to fuck the football team, so you make up some messed up rumor about Ali doing it because you can't?  Is that it?"

"Of course not!" Tanesha pleaded.

"Then what is it?  Are you jealous of her or what?  It was over that loser guy that liked her, wasn't it?  You spread that rumor around the entire school because some freakshow little nerd wouldn't unzip his pants for you.  That's it, right?  You don't have to admit it, I already know."

"You don't know anything!" Tanesha snapped back, tears forming in her eyes.

It was true.  She had done it.  She was the one who started that rumor about Ali having slept with several members of the football team for her homecoming nomination.  What was worse was that Sera had somehow managed to hit the nail on the head.  She'd done it out of jealousy and spite over the fact that the guy she had been crushing on at the time had liked Ali instead of her.  Never once had she stopped to think that Ali had never shown the slightest interest in that boy... and never would she.

"Oh, I know everything," Sera mouthed back, "You got mad because you got rejected by some nasty little freak that Ali wouldn't have touched with a ten foot poll anyway.  So you thought you'd get even with her, right?  Spread a rumor around the school, kick some dirt on her just because he wanted her over you.  Can you blame him?  You really should look in a mirror, "hun", you look like you should be the man in the relationship anyway."

Tanesha's mouth fell agape as though she were going to speak, but the words didn't come out.  Sera was right on every count, and the sheer fact that she'd finally been caught redhanded for spreading that rumor had taken its toll on Tanesha.  She should have known that she would inevitably be confronted over her actions, but she'd never planned on being found out, nor in her wildest dreams did she think that Sera Wingfield would hunt her down to confront her about it.  Sera's condescending glare suddenly vanished and a mischevious smile once again replaced it.  Tanesha couldn't help but think that that smile was ten times worse than the hate-filled stare she'd been receiving only moments before.

"You're disgusting," Sera spat at her, "And when Ali finds out, she's going to kick your ass, you fat bitch.  And she will find out, because I'm going to be the one to tell her."

With that, Sera turned on her heel and headed toward the door to the women's locker room, leaving Tanesha staring dumbfoundedly at her as she did.  As she approached the door however, she once again swung on her heel and shook her head.  She had one more thing to say before she exited the locker room to let Tanesha ponder over the words she'd just uttered and her inevitable fate.

"We're going to make your life a living hell for this."

With that, Sera Wingfield exited the locker room, slamming the door behind her.  Tanesha rose from her seated position on the locker room bench and leaned up against the cold metal of the lockers lining the walls.  How could they have found out?  This wasn't supposed to happen.  Ali was supposed to look like the whore that she was and Tanesha was supposed to get off scottfree, because any retaliation by Ali would just be the pot calling the kettle black, right?  Right?

Sera wasn't supposed to know.  Sera wasn't supposed to confront her about it.  Tanesha couldn't really argue with the words Sera had spat at her, because for the most part, they were true.  Still, Tanesha felt no sympathy toward the Grayston girl or the fact that she'd started the vicious rumor in the first place.  In Tanesha's eyes, Ali got what was coming to her, even if she hadn't intentionally been trying to take her man away.

It was girls like Ali that made Tanesha sick.  She was gorgeous, she was popular, and it seemed like everybody either wanted her or wanted to be her.  Tanesha hated her.  All she wanted to do was slug her in her pretty, overdone face.  Maybe Tanesha was jealous.  Very jealous.  So what?  Tanesha was always on the losing end of the draw.  People always chose girls like Ali over Tanesha, and it just wasn't fair.  Ali had deserved that dirty rumor being spread about her, Tanesha was confident of that.

Somewhere within the confides of her mind, it all made sense to her.  But now, because of her actions, she found herself in quite the predicament, and things had the potential to get very ugly, very fast.  Of course, she could always just deny it and say that it was a vicious rumor concocted by the Sisterhood girls to get at Tanesha.  That's it!  That's what she'd do.  She'd simply deny it and say that Sera had it out for her.  Everyone would believe that, or so she hoped.  Unfortunately for the scheming black girl, she was very unaware of the trump card currently in Sera's possession...