Deborah Waters

"Miss Deborah Waters, will you come up to the front of the class and introduce yourself?" The teacher repeated.

"Sure ma'am." I managed to say. I strolled to the front of the class, and as usual, I brushed off the stares as I stood infront of them.

I exhaled slowly, "Hi everyone, I'm Deborah Waters. If you have any questions, shoot!"

I looked at each one of them in their eyes expectantly.

"Where are you from?" Said a voice from the back of the class.

"New York City," I replied.

"Why is your hair different?" Said another.

"Because my dad has strawberry blonde hair, I inherited his genes,"

"Is Ella Hathaway your mama?"

"Yes," I said.

"You're pretty," A pretty boy said, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"That's not a question, but thank you," I responded, smacking my lips.

"Do you plan to overthrow Heather?"

What? Those kids were unbelievable. I didn't even know who Heather was, this was probably the third time her name would be mentioned.

She continued, "If yes, I'll stand by you."

"Okay, that's enough!" The teacher said.

Thank God! I exhaled.

"Deborah, you can return to your seat."

"Yes, ma'am," I replied, making my way towards the middle of the first row on the left side of the room.

"We're far behind in literature, hopefully, we'll get it right before the end of the semester," The teacher began,

"Open your books to chapter 41, Deborah, you can borrow mine while you wait for yours," She said. I pushed my chair backward, exiting the hard, iroko wood and I walked to the spot where Mrs Hawkins was standing, our English teacher.

I collected the textbook and returned to my seat.

Soon, everywhere was silent, Mrs. Hawkins went on — talking about folklore and whatnot. Some students were listening attentively, including Seb, and the rest just like me, were in our world.

My mind strolled to the conversation I had earlier with my uncle, I couldn't believe the people in Genesis practiced and followed stupid rules that could lead to a loss of life or lives. It was an unbelievable theory, how could you make people lose their lives because you want to keep them from leaving to me — it was just pure selfishness. Inhumane. Cruel.

There were a thousand things that stood out, some buildings were old while others were up-to-date, like the park. Most of the cars too were fancy and of the latest model, but the school seemed like an abandoned building, yet everyone lived there. The suspicious thing was the town and the other side of the town, the dirt road. The weather condition was something that came to my awareness, it was strange and alluring.

I remembered Grandma Sadie once spoke of their goddess, she had said the goddess had protected and helped them. Now I was sure the said goddess was Genesis.

I'd heard a lot of stories about goddesses growing up, never have I heard that they take souls in exchange for wanting out. They weren't wicked or deceitful. They were what goddesses are supposed to entail, kind. Unless she was on the other side of the other goddesses, evil. If everything I had grown up to weren't myth, then, Genesis was no saint. Far from it.

My grandma was an ardent worshipper of Genesis, she had lost her husband to her and even she couldn't see the bigger picture. I bet mom didn't see anything wrong in it too — but maybe she did. Uncle Jonah said she didn't want me to be aware and accustomed to the town, but why did we come back?

There were a lot of questions that needed answers in my head, a lot of mysteries that needed to be solved. Genesis was like a puzzle and I needed her pieces to win the game, which I would get. Now, I was more than sure there was more than met the eye about the town, a whole lot more. And just because I was Deborah Waters, I was willing to bet my butt to get to the very bottom and the beginning of Genesis. I was going to find out what ticked her off and what soothed her.

"Hey!" I snapped out of my trance when Seb shoved me on my shoulder.

"That was a hard push, man! What's with you guys in this godforsaken dump yard you guys call school? First off, I had to fight off two bitches, and now, a leech? You're a total freak and we're not friends. Stop trying to get close to me, stop it! It's not cute boy!" I shouted in anger. He disrupted a peaceful conversation I was having in my head.

"Oh! I'm sorry, you were out of it and the class ended a minute ago." He apologized in a somber voice, retracting his hand from my shoulder. His shoulder slumped in despair, his thick glasses couldn't hide the hurt in his eyes, and I could swear tears almost escaped his eyes.

"No, I'm sorry," I said, I couldn't bear the sadness in his eyes. He was the total opposite of me, but still — I knew we were going to be great friends.

"You don't need to say sorry, it was my fault," He mumbled under his breath. His eyes couldn't meet my gaze and I cussed myself for trying to ruin the beginning of a great friendship. I realized he was different from the other students, he was nicer and cool. His eyes were a mirror to his soul, you could see everything. He wasn't even trying to hide or maybe he didn't know how, but I saw pain and empathy in them — the latter which was very rare in us humans, and the former, which I brought.

"No, it's not. You were being a friend, Seb, I'm sorry I acted like a bitch to you, you didn't deserve it, I'm just a terrible person. And I'm wrong, you're my friend — I have a problem with making friends but you make it seem so easy, I do envy you. Forgive me for my outburst, I'm truly sorry. Here, let's bear-hug it out,"

I stretched out my arms.

His eyes lightened like a bulb, the hurt was long forgotten as his arms intertwined mine.

"You're a nice person, you know, and I like your name. It reminds me of the crab from Little Mermaid." I said after the hug we both shared.

"You're a nice person too," He replied.

"Oh! Puh-lease, I know you're possibly trying to be polite but don't try to kiss my butt, Seb. I've been called a hell lot of names but nice was never part of it."

"It's not what we do on the surface, it's who we are within," He retorted.

"Okay, I don't understand what you just said but I'll agree with you, to keep my sanity in check," I teased him.

It will forever go down in history that I, Deborah Waters made a friend on the first day of school, and I could see a long-lasting friendship added to the list because Seb was my ticket to staying sane in Genesis.