CHAPTER EIGHT

Stalker (Olive’s Middle)

The last week had been a pretty rough one for Olive. Shawn hadn’t said a word to her in the house. Even though everyone else tried to talk to her—Ms. B, the little kids who lived there, and her social worker—she didn’t want to talk to anyone there.

What joy she did have came from her swoop list sisters. They texted her, even when she didn’t text back. Their messages made her smile. They walked with her in the hallway, even though she didn’t respond. They didn’t leave her side. She appreciated that. She had thought Octavia would keep her distance. Olive had heard that Shawn ended their relationship because of Octavia’s friendship with her. And although Olive knew Shawn meant a lot to Octavia, she was thankful Octavia didn’t put her completely down. Inwardly, Olive just hated that she had nothing to give in return to these girls who cared. The first spark she’d had in a long time came when she saw Charles sitting in the school office.

“Hey!” she said to him in a real loud tone as she opened up the office door.

The secretary immediately told her to keep quiet. Olive motioned for Charles to come out into the hallway. She could tell by his demeanor he didn’t want to, but he did. She threw her arms around him. He didn’t hug her back. If her heart had any more pieces to be broken, they broke at that moment. His distance was shattering.

“I miss you. You haven’t been in school. Where’ve you been staying?” she asked with deep and transparent concern.

“I don’t want you to worry about me. I always knew you were too good for me, anyway. I wanted to try to finish my education so I could make something of myself and give you the world. But now I need you to go on and graduate and forget about me.”

In a solemn tone, Olive said, “But how can I go on, knowing that you’re suffering and it’s my fault?”

“It’s not your fault. If Tiger wouldn’t have touched you, and you and I were connected before that, I still probably would’ve done something illegal to be able to provide a date for you. You’ve been in my heart for a while. But that’s over, and I need you to go on.”

“Why are you in the office? What do you need? How can I help you?” she questioned, trying to reach for his hand.

Charles stepped back and blurted out, “I’m withdrawing, Olive.”

She froze like a block of ice. Trying to thaw herself out, hoping she didn’t hear what she thought she heard, she squinted and asked him, “What did you say?”

“I’m quitting school. I gotta get a job now.”

Almost pleading, she said, “No, you can’t.”

Charles turned away. “I need to pay my own way.”

Olive walked around to face him again. “I’m sure they found some alternative housing for you.”

“If you wanna call it that. One thing that desiring to take care of you showed me is that I also must have a desire to take care of myself. And I might not be able to do both, but I can do one of them. If giving up a degree right now is what I gotta do because of some bad choices I made, fine. I’ll be okay. And so will you, if you just forget about me.”

“But there’s gotta be another way. We just got a couple months left of school.”

“I don’t have time to play around. If I work for a year, maybe I’ll be able to get my GED and then go on to a two-year school and eventually go where I wanna go in this state. My dreams aren’t over. Just right now, they’re put on hold. Hear me, girl...I need you to forget me. Make me proud, and finish for both of us.”

She could tell in his tone that he was struggling. He fully believed everything he said, but at the same time, there was still a level of care and concern he had for her.

“I can’t just forget about you,” she said.

He cupped her face and forced himself to say, “You’re gonna have to. I’m done with you.”

When Charles walked back into the office, Olive’s yellow face was red. She knew she had to find the strength to be okay. She couldn’t keep worrying about Charles. She couldn’t ditch class and stay there to follow him once he left the building. Now she knew deep inside that she had to do something to help him. But, for right now, she had to keep going on.

As soon as she walked around the corner, Tiger stepped into view and startled her.

“You know, you need to heed his words,” Tiger said. “He’s doing the right thing. Leave him alone. Come back to me. Don’t look like you’ve had any new clothes in a while.”

“Yeah, you bought me nice things, but he didn’t have to buy my love.”

“Don’t piss me off, Olive. I’m tryna give you ahand. You better take it, baby. I can make all his problems go away. If you come back to me, I will. You need to close your curtains at night, too. And quit taking them long baths. Don’t let so much of your cleavage show in gym. I hate other guys staring at my girl. Smile, I watch you everywhere.”

A chill of fear ran down Olive’s spine. Olive looked at him like, Are you always watching me?

Tiger looked dead back at her and said, “What? Don’t get it twisted. I know everything about you. Come back to me, so I can quit being a stalker.”