Sacrifices of the Soul, Chapter 27
 

Kay, Simone and Miguel are all at cooking class.

" Ladies and gentlemen, this….is an egg. We are going to cook eggs every way imaginable, and at the end, you will learn how to make a wonderful breakfast of ommelets and crepes.",  said the Cooking Professor.

" First lesson- a boiled egg. Would anyone like to tell me how to boil and egg?"

Kay raises her hand. " Take and egg out of the refridgerator, and put it into the water, and boil. "

" Miss Bennett, is it?"

" Yes."

" Wrong."

" Can anyone tell me what’s wrong with Miss Bennett’s instructions?"

Simone raises her hand.

" Miss Russell, is it?"

" Yes."

" Taking the egg out of the fridge. If you’re going to boil eggs, the egg should already be room temperature."

" And, WHY is this?"

" The reaction between the temperature of the egg, and the water could cause the egg to crack?"

The Professor smiled. " Exactly, Miss Russell. There is a fallacy that eggs have to be refridgerated. If you go to other parts of the world, eggs are on the grocery shelves, like any other item. Cooking the egg rids you of the possible poisonings that can happen. But, an egg being room temperature is not a threat."

Kay leans over to Simone.." How did you know that?"

" B. Smith…on the Food Network."

" Oh."

" So. For the next hour, we are going to boil eggs. And, we’ll see who has the best at the end. You may begin."

The next hour goes by, and everyone does their eggs.

" Time is up.", the Teacher announces. " Everyone is to put their eggs in the cartons provided.

The teacher went from student to student. He would look at their eggs, and then write a  grade in their notebook. When he came to Simone, " Class. I’d like for you to see this."

They all gathered around. In Simone’s carton were a dozen perfect looking eggs. The teacher then began to peel the egg, and did so with ease. He cut into Simone’s egg, and found it perfectly done. He did it with 4  more with the same results.

" THIS is how your eggs should look. Excellent work, Miss Russell."

Simone beamed.

He then went to Kay. Kay looked down at her carton. Nearly every egg was cracked. They looked a mess.

The professor narrowed his eyes, and picked up an egg, and tried to peel it, but, it was a mess. Once he had finally gotten the shell off, he cut into it, and yolk oozed from it. He tried it with 4 more with the same results.

" THIS…is NOT what you want to happen. I expect better, Miss Bennett.", and he wrote a grade in Kay’s book.

The teacher finished with the rest of the class, and he comes back over to Kay. " Miss Bennett, I will not allow anyone to pass onto the next level, without passing this one. No need to teach you anything more advanced. I hope that you understand me."

" Yes, Sir."

" Well, Class is dismissed."

Kay is sitting, looking at her grade book. It has an ‘F’ in it. Simone and Miguel come over.

" An ‘F’. ‘F’! How am I going to qualify for France, if I can’t even boil eggs?! This is terrible."

" Kay, come on. It’s boiling eggs. You were just nervous today. But, I bet when we practice, you’ll get better."

Kay looks up at Miguel. " When, ‘we’ practice?"

" Sure. Simone, you and me. We can practice at your house."

Kay’s heart fell, but, of course, Miguel didn’t notice it. Simone spoke up. " Sorry, guys. If anyone’s going to practice, it’s the two of you."

" You aren’t meeting that Hakim, are you?", Kay asks.

" No..I’m not. And, I told you..he’s not ‘that Hakim.’ He’s my boyfriend now, Kay. And, you better treat him with respect, or.."

" Sorry, Simone. I know. So, who’re you meeting?"

" Chad. He said he had something to ask me."

" Ok, well then since Simone can’t, it’s just you and me, Kay."

" Really Miguel?"

" Sure. I’ll help you. You’ll get an ‘A’ tomorrow for sure. After all, we’re all going to France, right?"

Kay perks up. " Yes. We’re all going to France."

Kay was definitely in a better mood. Even if Charity was in the house, Miguel would have to spend the time with HER to help HER. Oh, and would she need help. She knew she liked this cooking idea.
 

  " So, did anything interesting happen to you, today?", Theresa asks as she takes her cup of coffee from Chad.

" As a matter of fact, you gotta sit down for this."

He and Theresa sit down at the nearest table. " I’m doing my shift at the site, and guess who comes to visit me?"

" Mr. Crane?", Theresa asks hopefully.

" No. Ethan and Gwen."

" Ethan and Gwen? Why?"

" Get this…they asked me to be their baby’s Godfather."

Theresa sat stunned. She knew that Gwen was pregnant. She had even seen them shopping for baby things. But, this was just another  piece of reality that kicked her, but good. " The Godfather?"

" Yeah. ….look Theresa, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t get into this with you."

" Why, Chad? Because of my feelings for Ethan? Chad, you’re my friend. Ethan is your brother. Unless I want you never to have a relationship with your family, this is going to come up. It’s life. We live in the same town. Ethan has his life, and I have mine. I definitely want you in it.", Theresa says, reaching out and touching Chad’s hand with hers.

" I’m glad. I don’t have nobody else to really talk to, ‘Resa. If I couldn’t tell you what’s going on in my messed up life, I don’t know what I’d do. You ‘bout the only thing keeping me from climbing the walls. Your entire family has been a Godsend for me."

Theresa smiles. " I’m psyched you feel that way. And, I know Mama would be happy to know that you feel welcome with us."

" I do. You want some cookies, I think Beth got in a new batch this morning."

" Sure."
 

Simone was on her way to the Book Café, when someone called out for her.

" Simone!"

She turned around.

" Hakim?"

She went over to him.

" You look like you’re surprised to see me. You left the message on my voicemail."

" I know. But, you’re usually so busy."

" Not too busy for my Baby.", Hakim grabs Simone into a big kiss. He holds her close.

" What the fuck?", Chad says inside of the Book Café. Theresa sees Chad’s face turn sour with a frown, and she gets up to rush over to him.

" Chad, what’s wrong?" Chad just points out the window, and Theresa sees Simone with a guy, and he’s feeling all over her, as they have a very obvious PDA.

" That’s Hakim.", Theresa says.

" Yeah. That’s him. Look at him…feeling her up in public. What the hell is wrong with Simone? I’m going to kick his ass!", Chad says, but, Theresa grabs his arm.

" Don’t. Chad, it’ll be a huge mistake. He wants you to do it. Look at him, Chad. He sees you in here. " Chad looked, and realized that Theresa was right. Hakim was looking dead at Chad, as he felt all over Simone in their hug. If he went out, Hakim would be the good guy and Chad, the villain.

" Baby, you coming by tonight?", Hakim asks, as Simone comes up for breath.

" Um…sure. I’ll be over. It’ll be late though."

" I’ll be waiting."

Simone walks into the Book Café, where she immediately runs into Chad.

" Simone, who’s that hoodlum that you had feeling you up?"

" First of all, he’s not a hoodlum. Second of all, he’s my boyfriend. Third of all, when did this become ANY of your business?"

" The minute that I became your big brother."

" Nobody asked you to be my big brother. I’m not going to sit around and be lectured by you. You have NO idea about my relationship with Hakim."

" Relationship? Don’t make me laugh. Girl, that boy ain’t got no RELAYSHUNSHIP with you. You are his latest piece of ass."

Simone rolled her eyes and her neck at that one. " I do not need this. I am SO gone."

Simone turned to leave, but, Theresa pulled on her. " Simone, please. Don’t leave. Chad doesn’t want you to leave…do you Chad?"

Chad looked at Theresa, and took a deep breath. " No, Simone. I don’t want you to leave. I wanted to talk to you. Check and see how you are. I can see now  that you’re messed up."

" See? He doesn’t want to talk to me. He just wants to lecture me, like Daddy and Whitney. Been there, done that. See ya. " , Simone says as she removes her arm from Theresa’s grasp.

Theresa widens her eyes and stares at Chad.

" Simone, please don’t leave. I wanna talk to you about our mother."

Hearing the words ‘our mother’ make Simone stop dead in her tracks. When she turns around, gone is the hostility that had been present just a moment before. She goes to Chad.

" You’ve heard from Mom?", Simone asked, her voice hopeful.

" Um, no. But, I wanted to talk to you about her. I wanted your opinion on some stuff. I have a new apartment over at the Lopez-Fitzgerald house, and I needed a last wall painted. I wanted to know if you could come over, help me paint, and we could have pizza, and a sleepover kind of thing. We could talk then."

Simone thought about his offer, and then said, " I don’t think Daddy would like it. …but, then again, I could have Kay cover for me. When did you want it? Can’t be tonight, because…well, I have plans."

Chad cringed inside, because he knew ‘plans’ meant Hakim.  " How about tomorrow, then?"

" Sure. I’ll tell Kay and she’ll cover for me. I’ll see you then."

" Good."

" Bye.", Simone said, and left.

Chad let out a huge sigh.

" Well, that was a huge save for you.", Theresa said, as she led Chad back to their table.

" I know. I almost blew it."

" Yes, you did."

" ‘Resa, do you know how crazy I get thinking about that animal with his hands on my sister?"

" Yes. I do. I have Luis as a big brother, remember? But, Chad, you’ve GOT to play this smart. You can’t let your temper get the better of you. If you do, Simone will be at his mercy. You know his type. You know how to fight him. You are all she has. "

" I know. My life is so complicated. I want something to be simple. "

" Isn’t there anything simple in it?"

" Yes. I have the urge to do something, and it scares me because it feels so right."

" Well then, silly, if it feel right, you should do it."

" Ok.", Chad says as he grips Theresa’s face in his hands and kisses her. First softly, and then with more passion. Theresa was shocked. Shocked that Chad was doing this, and then shocked that SHE responded. That it felt so good and natural to be kissing Chad. He felt her hair under his hands, and then the silkiness of her skin. Kissing her seemed like the most natural thing in the world.

When they came up for air, neither one could say anything. They just looked at one another, knowing that they had both crossed a line.