People Change by Sara Jafari

Author:Sara Jafari [Jafari, Sara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781529156843
Publisher: Cornerstone

She logged off, discomfort coursing through her. When she logged back in, a few hours later, she saw a string of messages:

Rob_93: hello?

Rob_93: ur such a tease – are you really not gonna send any?

Rob_93: we’ve been talking for months

Rob_93: ur ugly anyway bitch

Rob_93: i was only talking to u cause i felt sorry for you

Rob_93: u probs only suck paki cock

Rob_93: slag

Initially she was stunned, her hands trembling as her eyes scanned the words over and over. Then surprised that she was even surprised by this. She removed him as a friend from MSN. The rest of the Christmas break was spent wondering if she was ugly, looking in the mirror and critiquing the features on her face that she’d once thought were attractive.

She thought that was the end of it. But when she returned to school in January, at lunch Phoebe took her aside and said, ‘There’s some rumours going around about you …’ They were just outside the canteen, down one of the corridors, and no one except for the occasional student passed them to go inside.

‘What do you mean?’

Phoebe’s face was pinched. ‘I heard in Maths you’d given Rob …’

‘A what?’

‘A blowjob,’ Phoebe mock-whispered.

The colour had gone from Shirin’s face. ‘What? That’s obviously not true.’

‘I know, I said that. I mean, you’ve not even kissed a boy before, right?’

‘Okay, you don’t need to shout that, Phoebe. What the hell – who has he said this to?’

‘Everyone was talking about it. He said you’d begun messaging him on MSN and asked if you could come round. Then he said he’d stopped talking to you after.’ Judging from Phoebe’s expression, Shirin knew there was more to the story.

‘What else did he say?’ she asked. Phoebe shook her head, so Shirin pushed again. ‘Phoebe, please.’

‘He said some other gross things, like you’re easy, that it wasn’t good, and that you begged to see him again, so he blocked you.’

They were interrupted by Jordan, Rob and Tom walking out of the canteen, past them. Rob had his head down, like he was a victim in all of this, while Jordan and Tom laughed loudly when they saw Shirin, making gestures with their hands and choking sounds.

As they passed Jordan muttered, ‘Paki slut.’

Now, as an adult, Shirin can see clearly the power that certain white men have. That they can rise through the ranks, no matter their views, that they can stand there and say freedom of speech is more important than treating people fairly and with respect. That what Rob did to Shirin was merely the start of what he would do to her – and to people in general. The rumours Rob made up about her are something she has buried within the recesses of her mind. She had intended to keep them there, but she accidentally told Hana in their second year of university. They were high in the smoking area of a club, and it just came out. Hana was horrified, hugged her tightly, and said, ‘I bet he has a shit-sad little life now.

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