TORYN BEGAN WRITING THE HEADING ON HER LOOSE LEAF PAPER. Even though this was English class, one of the most turned up classes on her schedule, it was the first class of the day. So many people came in sluggish and not with the bullshit right away. This is how it usually started. People would come in, sit and not really say anything to anybody but as the minutes ticked by, the kids true nature would start coming out.

After writing the heading in her perfect cursive handwriting, Toryn capped the ball point pen back and rested it on the desk when she finished. Her stomach started to growl so she went into her back pack and pulled out a red apple. That was another thing about her, she wasn't into handbags like most high school girls. Regular two strap back packs did just fine for her.

Toryn bit into her apple, crossing one of her legs over the other. The action made her skirt rise up just a bit, flashing the garter belts attached to her knee length socks. It was a bit more on the sexy side, especially for school. For those who weren't familiar with it, it would look like she had lingerie on under her outfit; but they were just thin black straps attached to her socks and came up under her dress.

Toryn looked up at the door when she saw Takashi enter, holding a black plastic bag. He was always late for first period because he felt the need to stop at the corner store across the street from the school. They didn't live too far from each other but yet and still they never really walked to school together for that same reason. Toryn didn't want her grades slipping due to lateness. That was something she took very seriously. Takashi on the other hand just didn't give a fuck.

"Mr. Maxwell hurry up and get your pencil out." Mrs. Fidel said, bubbling the 'L' by his name on the attendance sheet, marking him late.

"I got you." He said, finding the free desk next to Toryn. In this class the desk were positioned in two's. So they always sat next to each other, especially since no one else really talked to her besides him. Takashi kind of liked that though. She was his little friend alone. He pulled his coat off and placed it over the chair he was sitting on. "What's up Dork."

"Taka why are you never on time?" Toryn complained, biting into the apple. Juice spurted out and dripped down her chin. Each class was forty minutes and he always came when there were only thirty or twenty minutes left.

"I'm late ten minutes Nervy, calm down," He said, her eyes seeming extra large with her thick bifocals. It's the same glasses she's had since she was five. She's never gotten rid of them or wanted to get contact lenses. Toryn was very shy and closed off, trying to get cute was not her style.

"Stop calling me Nervy." She pouted, hating the nickname to describe her personality. She was always nervous about something.

Takashi looped a finger through her garter belt and let it go against her skin. It stung making Toryn jump, and a few others turn around at the sound it produced when it hit her skin. Takashi just glared back at the kids making them turn around. Licking his lips he then turned to Toryn. "And you need to stop wearing these shits. You think you grown."

"I am grown." She joked, turning back to her paper. Takashi watched her as she hummed peacefully, her chin sitting in her hand while the apple was in the other. He smirked knowing what the real her was like. She was all chill here, but at home she was a whole different person.

Takashi pecked her cheek making Toryn look at him curiously, her glasses slipping down her nose. She pulled them back on her face, scrounging her face up as if she couldn't see him right in front of her. "What's wrong?"

Takashi smiled to himself. She was suck a dork, which is why he made it her nickname. She had plenty names from him though, most of them obviously a little mean. But Toryn didn't mind though, she wasn't that soft to where it would hurt her feelings. She knew she looked like the poster child for nerds but she didn't care.

She was often talked about for her choices in clothes. The school was optional on uniform and Toryn was literally one of the only kids who wore it. Some speculated that she was that nerdy that she took it to heart and actually wore uniform; and others said she was poor and because she couldn't afford to wear a different outfit everyday she stuck with the uniform. Despite the rumors none of it was true.

Her grandmother got her social security check from the government every month and they lived off that. It was a good amount of money. Toryn just stuck to uniform because she was the type that would forget the outfits she wore. She would wear a pants and forget it's what she had on the day before and two days prior to that. Her memory was all over the place, so instead of getting made fun of for being dirty she stuck to uniform.

Toryn stood 5'8 and one hundred fifteen pounds. Being hella skinny didn't help her image either. Her white uniform shirt was always tucked into her skirt. Her glasses thicker than a Winter break homework packet and always falling down her face. She never did anything special with her hair except leave it in a bun or ponytail. If Takashi wasn't around to protect her she would be getting stuffed in lockers constantly.

Takashi dug into his bag, placing his bottle of Turkey Hill Fruit Punch on the table and pulling out his foil wrapped bacon, egg and cheese sandwich on a roll. The smell lit up the entire class, making everyone hungry. Takashi only got a bite out of the sandwich when Mrs. Fidel noticed it.

"Mr. Maxwell put the food away! And you too as well Ms. Knight! This isn't the cafeteria. I don't understand why you kids always do this."

Takashi damn near broke his neck when he tossed his head back, mad as fuck. He angrily folded his sandwich wrapper and placed it back in his bag. "You teachers fucking annoying yo'," he grumbled under his breath.

"Taka..." Toryn mumbled.

Mrs. Fidel swung around, her eyebrow arched as she eyed Takashi who now had both of his hands in his pockets, his hoodie on his head and tilting his body back in his seat making it balance on the two back chair legs.

"Excuse me?"

"I said you teachers are fucking annoying," he repeated louder. Takashi had a bit of a temper, but he wasn't the type to jack that he had anger issues because he didn't. Or at least he didn't think so.

He just hated how teachers in this school always wanted to show their ass with the kids who at least had manners. It's like teachers only respected the kids who disrespected them. There were plenty of kids who ate in her class all the time and she never said shit, but because he wasn't as loud and belligerent she wanted to get crazy with him. She was the type that would be joking with a student but get cursed out by them every two days and never lose respect for them.

"Keep going, I'll get you a week's suspension, again." Mrs. Fidel said.

Takashi sucked his teeth, "Aight? That's scaring me? Da fuck?"

Toryn clapped a hand over his mouth but he quickly pulled his head back. Toryn instead put her finger up to her mouth making Takashi cut his eyes at her. "Yeah aight,"

"Okay class..." Mrs. Fidel started, "Today you are going to be reading an article by a Black woman named Lisa Guard. The article is called: 'Black versus African-American: Racist or Honorable?' I want you guys to read it silently then we will discuss it as a class. Here, pass these back..." she said handing out several copies to the kids in the front to pass back to everyone else.

"Lemme see your fingers Toryn." Takashi said putting his hand out. He hadn't checked them out in a while. He was with her all the time so the condition of her hands were regular for him. But with a girl as nervous as her, there was no telling if her dermatophagia was getting better or worse.

Toryn placed her two hands in Takashi's own, looking down at them herself. Around the cuticles were a little darker than the actual light brown tone of her complexion. A few of her fingers had some skin peeling around it indicating her teeth had been working around those areas recently, but it wasn't horrible looking.

"You gotta cut that out Nervy," Takashi said, licking his lips when his eyes met her's.

She pouted. "I am. Don't you see how better they've gotten?"

"Whatever, you coming to my house today?"

"Yeah." She said.

"You have your medication tho'?"

Toryn roughly nudged him in his side making him wince. He knew she hated talking about that. Especially out loud. No one knew she suffered from schizophrenia and she wanted to keep it that way. It was embarrassing.

"Sorry, damn." Takashi said, he just always made sure wherever she was she had it. The last episode she had was a couple months ago. Most times it just came without warning, but the medication reduced it.

"Yes I have it, now stop talking about it." Toryn pouted.

The two went on to silently read their assignment in silence. It took all of ten minutes, until Mrs. Fidel finally clapped her hands together. It was only three pages so they didn't need much time. "Okay, so now that we've read Lisa Guard's article. How do you guys feel about it? Who feels that African-American and Black are the same thing?"

The entire class raised their hands except for Takashi and Toryn and another student named Janelle. Whispers circulated throughout the room. Mrs. Fidel arched her eyebrows in surprise, looking at the three students.

"Takashi? Toryn? Janelle? You guys feel differently?"

"Nah, that's why I raised my fuckin' hand like everybody else." Takashi mumbled. "Who hired this bitch?"

Toryn gave him a look, her large eyes taking over the entire lenses. "Taka stop..."

Janelle was too busy on her phone texting to look up right away.

"Okay, so from the title I can see we have some people who feel the name is Honorable and some who feel it's Racist."

"How is it racist? It's the same thing." A girl named Shawna said. Shawna was a heavyset girl that stayed with her box braids. She loved them and she loved to fight. Shawna may have been a heavy girl, but her hand game was too. Shawna was what some called a part time bully; she did it only when she felt like it, but other days she could be really sweet. Her annoyed attitude however, showed she felt like getting in somebody's ass today.

"How is it the same thing Shawna?" The teacher questioned.

"Okay like...for example. If you an author or whatever and you writing a story about an annoying character, when you describing this character you not gonna keep saying annoying. It gets repetitive. So like...you gonna switch it up. So you might say irritating or aggravating sometimes...it's different words but they all have the same meaning."

The whole class erupted into chatter as everyone began to agree.

"Okay and why do you three feel different?" Mrs. Fidel asked, looking at the three kids. "Janelle, phone."

Without even looking at each other, Takashi and Toryn were already on the same page. They thought alike with almost everything. It's what made them best friends. Takashi's nerves were irked however so he didn't give a fuck about what was going on right now. Instead he toyed with the heart shaped pendent around his neck. So

Toryn spoke instead. "Well I feel it's racist because I'm not African-American. Africa and America are two different places. One is a continent and one is a country first of all."

Shawna rolled her eyes and lifted her hand up, slamming it back down on the desk for dramaticness. "Here we go."

"Here we go with what?" Toryn questioned, confused.

"With this bullshit you about to say," Shawna said. "With your whole I'm not Black speech. Like I'm tired of people like that. Always claiming a thousand different things except they damn race."

"First of all I never said I'm not Black, I said I'm not African-American."

"It's the same thing," Shawna whispered making several people giggle.

"Okay okay," Mrs. Fidel said, "Shawna you had your chance, let her speak. Toryn go ahead."

Toryn pushed her glasses up that slid down her nose. She scrounged her face up a little. "I'm not African-American, because I'm not African. African-Americans are people who migrated from Africa to America. But if I was not born in Africa, not raised in Africa or don't know anything about Africa, how can I be African American? It's a racist term that's used to say all Black people came from Africa. I feel like people don't know their history. Real African-Americans are like the women you see in the hair braiding shops. Those are literally Africans who were born there and migrated to America and became U.S. citizens. But I was born right here, so I'm a Black American, not an African-American."

Some kids in the class had their mouth open, others not giving a damn what she was talking about. But everyone listened anyway.

Toryn put one hand on her chest and outstretched the other. "I'm not trying to offend anybody. Because there is nothing wrong with being African-American. If you feel that's what you are, then be that, that's your business. But personally I don't like that term and I don't like people calling me that because I'm not. I'm American, so..." She shrugged.

"You said all that for no reason though, it's still the same thing." Shawna mumbled making people close near her laugh.

"Shawna girl you stupid!" Her friend Maria said busting out laughing.

Toryn didn't even bother to say anything, she said everything she had to say and she was done with it.

"I don't know who she think she's talking too..."

Toryn looked around when she heard a voice, but she couldn't see anybody. The voice sounded familiar though. She hoped it wasn't who she thought it was.

"You guys have to look at the bigger picture," A girl name Janelle said, eating cheese sun flower seeds. She was tall and skinny like a stick. She was a girl who loved wearing crop tops no matter what the season was. She had a nice flat stomach and loved showing off her belly piercing. Right now she had on a gray crop top decorated with yellow ducks all over it, and a pair of white acid wash high waisted jeans. "It's like—"

"It's like nothing girl hush." Shawna said.

"Nah forreal, the word in front of the American is to emphasis where you came from first before you got to America. But if a lot of Black people never came from Africa, why do they call us African-Americans? It is kinda racist. Just think about it. Like those Chinese people that be making the fry chicken wings and fry rice—"

"Ya'll wild racist, da fuck." A student named AJ spat, earning some laughs. "Why ya'll bringing lil' Ling-Ling that make the good ass chicken and broccoli into this?"

"Nigga fuck Ling-Ling! That bitch be mad stingy with the duck sauce every time I go in there!" Another kid shouted out.

"You talking bout' that joint on forty-fifth? The bitch with the big ass mole on her face?" AJ asked.

"You guys, stop." Mrs. Fidel said.

Janelle chuckled, flicking the shells to her seeds on the desk. "Nah dead ass, just think about it. Those people are Chinese people who came from China to America. They're only called Chinese-Americans because they came from somewhere else first. But if you never came from somewhere else why people say that? It's like applying and getting a cashier job at Forever 21, but everyone keeps referring to you as the sales associate. Like I'm not saying one is better than the other, but it's two different jobs. So look at it like that..."

Steven, a short but well built boy narrowed his eyes. "Yeah but ya'll have to remember our ancestors are African."

"Every Black person's ancestors didn't come from Africa. This world is huge, there are billions of people on this planet. All Black people did not come straight from one section of the world. And even if that was true, that does not say why all of us should be labeled as African-Americans. A lot of White people's ancestors came from Europe, but you never hear White people calling themselves Europeans or European-Americans, they just say White or American." Toryn said.

"I guess." Shawna sighed, not giving a fuck what the nerd bitch was talking about.

Janelle threw a sunflower seed at her, seeing her friend was tight. "Girl shut up 'cause ya'll dead the same people that get mad when people call ya'll African. Ya'll be mad quick to swerve it. Like the time in middle school whenever you did something dumb niggas would be like 'Oh you Haitian for that, oh you African for that.' Ya'll use to make being African something bad but yet ya'll African-American?"

"Yoooo' that's dead true!" Lawrence said as everyone began to talk, reminiscing on the time the ignorant phrase use to be a popular slang thing to say.

"When you see an Asian person, first place people gonna think they from is China. No one think of Japan, Tokyo, Mongolia or anything. When you see a Spanish person, first place that pop into your head is Mexico. No one thinks of Spain, Portugal, Puru or none of them places. It's the same ignorant concept most people have about Black people. That we all from Africa, and because ya'll the main ones promotions that dumb shit like it's accurate."

Shawna smacked the table, low key tired of hearing Janelle's voice. Janelle was the type that would make her point but keep going and give a thousand and three examples. "A'right bitch damn! It been done!" She laughed.

For the rest of the class everyone did their own thing, talking through Mrs. Fidel still trying to carry on the argument with her article. The bell rang soon after and Toryn quickly began packing her stuff, as she slung her bag over her shoulder.

"She's so annoying isn't she?"

Toryn's head popped up at the sudden sound of her own voice. She glanced and saw her own self standing about a foot away, cooly leaning against the wall, staring at Shawna.

"Go away Trouble." Toryn mumbled.

"Go away? Is that anyway to treat me? I take care of you."

Toryn stared at her twin who was dressed in the same uniform and everything, just without the glasses. Only looking like a slight less nerdier version than her. Toryn quickly looked away, becoming hot as needles pricked at her skin.

The sound of a finger snapping in her face made her jump and look up as she found herself looking directly at herself. "I said she's so annoying, isn't she?"

"Yeah, I guess," Toryn breathed out, quickly packing her things into her back pack.

I think we should stab her ass girl. You wit' it or nah?"

Toryn's head snapped up toward herself who was filing her nails with a pretty glittery nail filer she had pulled out of nowhere. "No, are you crazy?" She whispered.

"Toryn." Takashi called.