As I run through the downward dog pose, I listen to my new Huey mix. I called it "Love Guerilla". I continue listening to "Perfect Two" by Auburn and start singing along as my yoga session finishes. I'm left smiling, and take a shower so I can head over to Huey's house. The next song comes on as I'm getting on my clothes and of course I have to dance to "All About Him". I skip over to Huey's with my iPod still on me. "Hi Mr. Freeman!" I tell Grandad when I knock on the door and walk right on in.
"Hey lil' baby, the boy is upstairs like usual," He tells me as I take my shoes off, his thumb pointing the way.
"Thank you, Mr. Freeman." I head right on up, a happy bounce in my step, with my song still stuck in my head. My ear buds out of my ears, I knock on Huey's door. I made the mistake once of not doing so, I walked in on Riley and Cindy getting physical and Huey had been in the garage with chemicals instead. Single most awkward thing ever. Huey tells me to come in. "Hey what's good with you?" I had learned over the years to add on the "with you" part or he'd tell me some tragedy happening in the world.
"Well, no homework this weekend, so I guess it's okay, you?" He looks at me and for a moment I get lost in his eyes. God I want to touch his hair! "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm just distracted, um everything's great! Finished yoga this morning, and figured we could hang out." I tell him, ready with a book, because chances are he'll want to just read.
"Okay," Huey says before reopening his book to the page and reading "The Prince" by Niccolo Machiavelli. Ooh I'm so glad I powered through that one last week. I set my iPod on his side table as I sit in front of him on the bed.
"So how are you liking it so far? I thought it was great until the last chapter," I tell him and he raises an eyebrow at me.
"What's wrong with the last chapter?" Huey asks.
"Well he basically is more fearful of the prince's reaction to the point I'm kind of surprised he gave it to him as a birthday present," I tell him. Unlike you. "A man should treat his beliefs like his woman and stand by them." The way I wish you'd be with me.
He looks impressed for a second, before choosing to say "wow, and people say I ruin endings." He smirks rendering me speechless. Wow, you're going to give me cardiac arrest. So much for being smart huh?
"You ruin endings to things that occur in real life, I have only ruined the ending to a book you were going to finish in thirty minutes anyway," I remind him. I open up my book and crisscross my legs to mimic him. A while after he starts reading, I start sneaking glances at him. I have a small smile and I'm resisting the urge to giggle, just from feeling happy about being next to him and watching his expressions slightly change as he reads. He looks up and I quickly act like I've been looking at my book this entire time.
About thirty minutes in, my phone rings, startling me, and just causing him to look up, I take my phone out of the room with me. "Jazmine where are you?" Cindy asks me indignant.
"At Huey's why?" I ask her, trying to figure out if there's something I forgot, wait…
"You were supposed to be here ten minutes ago. We were supposed to go the mall for our first official girl's night," Cindy tells me. Oh shit!
"Shit, shit, shit! I'm so sorry I completely forgot. I'm heading there right now."
"Where are you that you got so distracted you forgot?" She asks. "You're at the "love terrorist's" house ain't ya?"
Huey could hear you! "I'm leaving Huey's now!" I tell her in code as Huey comes out of his room, waving bye as I rush down the stairs. "See you later Huey!" I tell him and run to the door. He nods at me as if he had predicted this happening. Chances are he probably did. "See you soon Cindy!"
I rush into my shoes, "woah girl! Where's the fire?" Riley asks as I nearly body slam him trying to get out the door.
"Sorry Riley! I'm late! I'm late, I'm late!" I repeat tugging on my shoes.
"Oh, yo 'girls night'. If you twos' be goin' ta Victoria Secret, make sure Cindy gets somefin' black."
"Ew! I don't want to know about you guys like that! Gross! Besides, we did that last week," I tell him with a wink, cutting off his thoughts.
"Wait, what?" His brain apparently short-circuiting.
"Bye Riley!" I state racing to my car.
***Huey's POV***
"Yo nigga, yo girl was in a rush outta here, must not a been that good." Riley iterates.
"Shut your ass up Riley," I tell him, getting back to my book.
"Well lookee here," Riley sing-songs, that is cause to be anxious… I think as I look up to see him holding something a little familiar. "Looks like yo girl left her iPod, wonder if she has anythin' interesting on here." I'm about to get up to take it back from him.
"Oh it's locked," Meh, he's not gonna figure out the password, probably, and it locks after 3 tries, might as well let him attempt. "Well that was obvious." What the hell? I think as Riley starts scrolling through her playlists.
"How was it obvious?" I ask, did she tell him her password? No way, more like he got it from Cindy.
"Bruh it's obvious to everyone 'cept you, and I ain't gonna snitch," Riley tells him, "Ooh girl you got it bad…"
"Riley you shouldn't be snooping through her stuff," I tell him as I take it back from him starting to turn it off when I realize the playlist is named Love Guerilla. "Never heard of that song before."
"Man what is you talkin' about?" Riley asks.
"Nothin' she just usually names her playlists after her favorite song on them… Or at least she used to." I explain, before shrugging and shutting it off.
"And I thought she had it bad," Riley spits under his breath.
"Go back to texting your 'Boo'." I tease to get him to drop the topic while in the back of my mind wondering if she's been hanging out with new guys.
"I think I will," Riley states. "I'll let you get back to bein' Mr. Morality." Riley leaves the room for the TV probably to watch more BET.
Well she'll probably come back for it tonight, I decide and get to my next book. Besides, it's not like her parents are home. What's Love Guerilla?
***Jazmin POV***
"I'm so sorry I'm late! I was completely distracted, and this is new and I'm sooo sorry!" I tell her when I get there.
"It's okay, I guess I can forgive ya since I know you wuz distracted by your Love Guerilla," Cindy teases me.
"Stop calling him that!" I tell her, and huff. "So what store are we going to first?" Hoping I'd get her off this embarrassing subject.
"Well since we mostly focused on me last time, I was thinking this time we could get you some clothes to show off your inner black." Cindy states, following up with, "considering Huey's always saying you should show off your black side anyway, why not? Besides, your ass barely fits in white girl style clothing anyway."
"Well you're right, but-" I never get to finish my sentence.
"Come on girl let's go," Cindy pulls me into the first shop, quickly puts a pair of Apple bottom jeans in my hand, and three off-shoulder shirts. "Try these on first. I'll bring you more stuff."
I decide that when she won't stop insisting so I might as well put on the clothes she handed me. When I try on the green blouse I love it instantly, it comes off the shoulder on both sides, and it matches my eyes. The fabric hugs my body, and had breast padding in. I put on the black jeans with rhinestones on the back pockets. I look like gorgeous. "Come out and let me see!" I hear Cindy whine, and I brace myself before going out. "Girl you be fine! Now turn around for me to see the butt." I obediently turn, soaking up the praise with a little embarrassment. Feeling my face heat up. I drop my phone when I feel her tug at the top of my jeans. I bend over to pick it up, hearing her take a pic. "Hey!"
"Wouldn't you like a guy's opinion? Besides it's good to know if you can actually bend over without showing ass crack," Cindy says. I consider this for a moment. It would be good to get a guy's opinion… Though only one's opinion matters...
"Wait, who are you sending it to?" I pause for a second in panic, wondering if she sent it to someone embarrassing. Please tell me she didn't send that pic to Caesar or Huey!
"I sent it to Riley," Cindy states, "here's the reply." She shows me the reply.
"You tryin' ta knock a brotha out?"
"Cindy! What if he shows Huey that! Or… What if Huey's already seen it? Oh my god!" I panic grabbing at my hair. Eeeek!
"Oh please, he's not gonna show yo man nuthin' he's not a snitch. Besides, he finds it hilarious that Huey hasn't found anythin' out yet." Cindy smirks, texting him again, getting a weird look on her face. "Oh and by the way would you like two pairs of these in blue? They're on sale."
"Yes definitely," I tell her, "They didn't complain about going up my hips like my other jeans do, I also want a pair of these in black with the silver writing on them."
"Did you like the other blouse?" Cindy says still staring at her phone, "you need to try on this one too."
"I haven't tried it on yet…" The other blouse was a v-neck in red, and I hurried back to try it on with a purple shirt she handed me for the next pair of blue jeans. I spend time trying on a few more things. "I need to take you shopping with me more often, I like all of these. Let's check out."
"Okay," Cindy tells me as we check out. "Also, you left your iPod at Huey's place." She offhandedly tells me like it's no big deal.
"What?!" I hurry to pay and get to my car. On the way there I check my phone for the time.
"Girl it's fine. Huey would never snoop through your stuff. Besides, you lock your iPod right?" Cindy reminds me.
"Yeah but he's too smart at times, and Riley would snoop through my stuff, what if he tells him something?" I ask, getting more panicked by the second. Oh my god he's had 3 hours to think about anything Riley might have told him! "Besides we need to head home anyway, we spent way longer than we meant to shopping, we've been here for almost 3 hours, and I have homework to finish, don't you?"
"Just a bit, but come on, no niggas do homework until at least Sunday."
"Well I'm trying to keep somewhat up with a genius, meaning I have to start it so I can work on reading The Art of War tomorrow. I like having a grasp on what he's talking about when he does talk to me about his revolution ideas." I tell her. "I also need to hurry up and get my phone back before Riley does something crazy to get back at his brother that hits me in the process."
"Well see you Monday, and be sure to wear the green shirt and the black jeans with rhinestones okay? I want to be there to see that brutha speechless," Cindy tells me. I giggle a little.
"I hope I give him a heart attack, would serve him right for all the times he's stopped my heart." I tell her slightly under my breath.
"Givin' me a toothache girl," Cindy complains. I get in my car, but before I take off I remember something.
"Oh, and by the way, Riley's lookin' forward to seein' some black lingerie. He heard we went to Victoria Secret, and he had a request. I told him he was too late, and we went last week. See you on Monday!" I tell her and start the car. Payback's a bitch huh? I chuckle in my head. Wow, Huey must really be rubbing off on me.
"Jazmine! Ooh! I am goin' ta get ya homegirl!" Cindy screeches at me as I just laugh and head home.
As soon as I get out of the car, I put my clothes away and head back over to the Freemans'. I knock on the door, and hope Riley will answer the door so I can get information from him on what went on with my iPod while I was gone. Huey answers the door instead. "H-hey Huey, I heard I left my iPod here," I tell him, trying not to blush because he apparently was working out not too long ago as he was shirtless and sweaty. I try to keep my eyes on his face, but it's hard to when milk chocolate is right in front of you.
"Oh yeah, you did, are you okay?" He asks, all the blood is rushing to my head, and my face must be the shade of a cherry at this moment.
"It's just a little hot," I tell him looking over to the side. Riley comes down the stares.
"Huey, are you trying to knock her out? Put on a shirt," Riley demands. I blush even harder when Huey looks at me after that, and immediately go after Riley.
"Speaking of knock out, how much of my iPod were you able to get to?" I ask him, an angry look on my face.
"Oh just your password, and letting Huey know about your playlists," Riley tells me with a smirk on his face.
"Riley!" I'm about to round on him when I think of something else. "I need to speak with you in private." I have to be careful now, if I do anything stupid now, he may add to the humiliation by showing Huey that picture… I pull him upstairs, much to his displeasure.
"What?" Riley demands.
"What all did you show Huey on my iPod?" I ask him.
"Please that guy's so oblivious, he only saw the playlist Love Guerilla," Riley tells me with a shrug.
"Eeek! No!" I squeal at him and cover my face. "God that's embarrassing! That's worse than the picture! You suck Riley! I can't look him in the face again!"
"He only saw the title of the playlist, and he realized nothing, you're fine, stop being so overdramatic." Riley huffs. "He also has not seen your photo either, so stop acting like it's the end of the world."
"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" I yell at him, hugging him without even thinking about it. "Thank god, woo!"
"What is going on?" Huey demands to know with an eyebrow lifted. "I thought you were with Cindy… Why are you receiving dirty photos from others?"
"You told me you didn't show it to him! I hate you Riley!" I tell him as I head for the door, grabbing my iPod on the way.
"Why the hell are you sending him dirty pictures?!" Huey demands, almost looking angry. "Also why are you getting dirty pictures from a girl who is not your girlfriend?"
"It was not a dirty picture! If you saw it, you would know it's not." Riley said.
"As if! Cindy sent him the picture without my consent," I tell him before I realize something. "Wait, you… Did you seriously just assume I'm some ho?!" How dare you?! Wait, he also… "You tried to trick me into telling you what it is, when you know I don't want you seeing it. Hell, I didn't want Riley seeing it! Fuck you!" I scream at him. "Riley, delete that picture, I won't be coming over here for a while anyway."
"Jazmine," Huey tries to say but I push past him. "You are the one keeping so many secrets from me, who the hell is this guy you're making playlists over, and why didn't you tell me he existed? Are you his mistress or something? Are you ashamed to tell me he exists?"
"I am no one's slut! I do keep a few secrets from you, but you keep many secrets from me so what the hell is the fucking problem you hypocritical asshole?! You know what? I don't even care!" I push past him and leave the house. I am so pissed I can't see straight. I have never cussed this much in my entire life I am just too mad to care. I slam his front door. I nearly run into his Grandad, who dodges me because I am so mad I can't talk to him right now. I don't bother with heading in, I just get back in my car and drive to the park. I turn up the tunes really loud and scream for a while, but when that finishes I dissolve into tears. I finally look at my phone to see that Cindy is calling me.
"Cindy?" I turn down the music and sniff. I am still really upset and trying hard to not hyperventilate.
"Hey girl, I heard what happened," Cindy tells me. "Where are you? Do you need me to come get you? You don't sound okay to drive."
"He thinks I'm a slut…" I breathe, hiccupping. "How? I-I-I…" I dissolve into more sobs. "He asked me if I was someone's mistress and why he didn't know the guy!" I pause for a second. "He also asked why I was sending dirty pictures to someone's boyfriend, before I told him you sent the picture!"
"You know what? I think he's just jealous. How about we have a spa and homework weekend just us two at my place? I'll go pick up your school stuff and one of your new outfits, we'll meet up at my house. On Monday we'll show him what he's missing, he'll bigtime regret bein' stupid," Cindy tells me over the phone. "And if he dudn't I can just beat him up like a G."
I giggle for a second, before telling her I'll be there soon. I call my parents to tell them I'll be at Cindy's the rest of the weekend. They tell me okay, and before I forget I call Cindy back. "Hey Cindy, when you're at my place can you grab my book 'The Art of War'? I think it might come in handy later."
"Okay girl, see you at my place in 5," She tells me as she hangs up. I breathe deeply to get myself back together. My hands are still shaking so I breathe deeply a couple more times before heading over to Cindy's. When I get there, Cindy's just arriving too. She invites me in, when she finally gets a look at me in the light. "Oh girl…" She softly says and hugs me. "I'm so sorry."
"I love him so much, why does he think it's someone else I want? I'm near him every day, when would I find time to go see anyone else?" I sniff again, trying not to dissolve back into tears.
"Niggas be cray cray sometimes," she tells me as I breathe into her shoulder. "We're gonna make him sorry he ever thought so though, when I'm done with you he won't have words."
"Whatever you say, I think I need to do some homework though, to get my mind off things," I tell her, hoping I can focus on anything else but what just happened.
"Okay girl, I got chu, I need to call Riley though, okay? He was worried about chu too, he's the one who called me." Cindy tells me.
"Okay," I tell her. As I rummage through my bag, I find out I have no homework left to do. Me spending Friday night on it paid off unfortunately. I must have some homework to do, I can't believe I finished all of it on Friday… I know, I'll do some yoga. By the time I finish the yoga I've calmed down a bit.
***Riley's POV***
(Right after Jazmine left.)
"For a smart guy, yo a dumbass nigga." I tell him as I head out of the room. I look out the window to see Jazmine speeding out of her driveway, even from this distance you can tell she's on the verge of tears. "The so-called dirty photo was a picture of her in an outfit that she was trying on. Cindy wanted a guy's opinion. Jazmine dropped her phone, and the photo ended up being of her bent over in jeans. If you are not always real with her, she is allowed to keep a few secrets from you, I know you lashed out like that because you jelly, but you're still a dumbass nigga." I delete the photo, and get ready to call Cindy. Her best friend is obviously her best choice while dumbass is still beating himself up. "Cindy, you might need to call your best friend soon."
"What happened?" She asks roughly, and I explain the situation.
At the end of my explanation I tell her "I've neva seen her cuss someone out befo' I have a feelin' she wuz mo' than jus' mad tho'. She prob'ly needs her best friend right now, you need to call her, she raced out of here in her car looking like she wuz holdin' back tears."
"Okay," Cindy responds. "Thanks for letting me know Boo, I love you."
"Love you too," I answer before hanging up.
A few hours later Jazmine still isn't back and Cindy's calling me. "Hey, how's she?" I can hear her walking to another place before she answers.
"I don't think I've eva seen her so upset, I may have to cut off yo nigga bro's nuts in his sleep. I almost didn't trust her to drive to my house from the park. We're having a spa weekend at mine, and she's currently doing yoga to calm down. She looks like she's been crying for hours. I had to call her about 6 times for her to pick up. Ya know, I may kill yo bro after dis."
"Trust me, he's beating himself up a lot as it is, and will make it up to her soon, but you can totally kick his ass next if he doesn't." I tell her.
"She's pissed at him too, so he might not see her around for a while… She demanded I bring The Art of War over when I grabbed her stuff from her house." Cindy chuckled for a second.
"She's right to be, damn, neva knew she wuz so fiery til now, they a perfect match." I remark to her. "I'm sure yo have ta get back ta her now, so Imma let you go ok?"
"Kay, bye."
"Bye."
***Jazmine POV***
Reading a few passages from The Art of War calmed me down enough to finally sleep, and with the exhaustion of being mad and crying, I stayed asleep until 8 am. I wake up to find Cindy there on her bed, but she's already awake and finishing up the last of her homework. "Hey girl!" She exclaims. "I was wondering when you'd wake up, you must have exhausted yourself. I figured we'd work out then do each other's nails and pick out your hairstyle for tomorrow. Other than that, I have no clue what to do for the rest of the day."
"Why are you so happy this morning? What's wrong with you?" I ask her, really not awake and not accustomed to morning people.
"Well, I'm having a sleepover with my best friend, I am about to spend the day with her, and I have already finished my homework as I've been up since six." Cindy counts off on her fingers. "Also I had coffee and there's more down there if you want some."
"Ugh…" I groan, not wanting to leave the bed. Soon enough I realize that I can't go back to sleep anyway, and coffee is very tempting at the moment. I groan lots as I escape from my warm bed. I finally wrench myself to the kitchen, where Cindy's Dad helps me get a cup of coffee.
"Sounds like someone's not awake yet," Cindy's Dad chuckles.
"Ugh," I groan in affirmation. Why must everyone try to talk to me right now? Unfortunately, in this instance niceness is required. "Good morning, I'm not a morning person."
"So stay away until coffee is finished, got it," Cindy's Dad says before escaping to the living room, while I bring my coffee upstairs. Smart guy.
"Thank you," I call as I hit the top of the stairs, heading back to Cindy's.
"Done!" Cindy closes her binder, and starts pulling out my outfit for tomorrow. "I picked out your favorite for tomorrow, let's paint our nails!"
(Fast Forward to Monday)
***Huey POV***
"Damn! Break me off a piece of that!" Caesar croons, putting his hand over his mouth.
"What are you on about this time?" I look up from my locker to see a Nubian queen walk right past me. I don't have any words.
"That ho is-" Caesar can't finish his sentence because I whack him on the back of the head.
"Jazmine is no ho," I reprimand him.
"Glad you realize that now," Riley sasses me. Like I don't already know I messed up. I don't need you to tell me that.
"Shut yo ass up Riley," I tell him, my eyebrows scrunched to my eyes.
"Just sayin' if you hadn't basically told her she wuz a ho, you'd have no problems tappin' dat ass," Riley shrugs and goes to see Cindy. When Cindy looks over, Jazmine does too, but then crosses her arms and turns around, grabbing her school books and leaving.
"What did you do? Jazmine's not ignored you like this since you told her that her pony did not exist, when you guys were 10." Caesar wondered.
"I thought she was sending dirty photos to my brother, and she was someone's mistress, so I asked if she was," I tried to make it sound nonchalant, but Caesar winces.
"Damn, you are the smartest guy I know, but damn bein' jelly makes ya stupid." He tells me. "I have to meet Ming, so see ya."
"Bye, man." Our fists meet, and I'm left to trail my eyes toward Jazmine's direction. I should let her cool off first, then maybe she'll listen to me. I am not jealous, I am just looking out for her.
***Jazmine POV***
"Damn girl, you fine!" some random guy tells me as he passes me by. My face gets a little red at the compliment.
"Jazzy I told you you'd be a knock out!" Cindy tells me in a whisper-yell. I just hope Huey thinks so. "Now, remember what we talked about." At this moment in time I catch Huey looking at me. "Remember what he said Saturday." My expression turns sour. I tell Cindy I'll be in class and she wishes me luck as I turn around, pissed at Huey once more, heading to class.
Once I'm sure I'm out of sight, I glance back to see Cindy gone, she must've seen Riley. I smile at my friend's happiness before continuing on to class. "Hey lil' Mama," the guy next to me in class greets. "You be lookin' damn fine!" I'm unsure of what to say so I smile and wait for class to start. Luckily enough for me, it started very soon after that.
A little before the bell rings, he comes up to me and tells me "shawty, you gon' be mine." I don't really know what to say again.
"I'm flattered, but I've decided on someone else." I tell him, and luckily the bell rings so I hurry to my next class that he's not in. The only issue is, Huey's in this class. Damn, well, I just have to ignore him.
"Okay class, today I'm assigning partners for the group project, Huey and Jazmine, you two are assigned together." Damn it! It's already hard enough to remember I'm mad at him.
"Fine," Huey tells her, while I just stay silent as he moves over to my desk. "So, what's up?"
"Let's just work on the project." Acting like nothing happened is not gonna fly today. I look over the list of possibilities of projects. We spend a few minutes in silence looking over everything. "Which one do you have in mind to work on?" I ask him. Might as well get this over with.
"Let's work on the one about bipolar disorder," Huey looks at me for a second before I start to wonder. "Or we could do one on nymphomania." I'm sure normally this is a joke he would pull, but Saturday comes to the forefront of my mind.
"Why because according to you I'm an expert?" I am ready to fry his ass now.
"Jazmine, I didn't mean that," Huey takes a deep breath and tells me. "I just didn't like you keeping secrets from me."
"What, like you don't keep them from me?" I demand, placing a hand on my hip.
"Those I keep for your protection, this one I think you're gonna end up hurt, especially if my hypothesis was right," Huey explains.
"Like hell, I do not need your protection from myself, I don't know how you got this misguided notion, but I am a grown up woman, and I can take care of myself." I tell him, I would normally be a little touched that he wants to protect me, but he's not going to force me to tell him things I don't want to. I have a right to my secrets. Especially when they involve him…
"Let's work on bipolar disorder, I'll make the presentation if you send me the research, we'll collaborate after we finish our alone work, I think that would be best. I'll see you Wednesday or Thursday at 3:00, my place or yours?"
"Wait how would you even know if I'm free those days?" He lifts an eyebrow.
"Because, Monday nights you have nothing technically planned, but you need time to research. Tuesday nights you update all of your blogs, and websites of B.R.U.H, B.R.O. and A.F.R.O. Fridays you spent trying to get Riley to stay out of trouble before he got with Cindy, but now you use them to find new causes to help, last week's was child marriage. Saturdays and Sundays you spend doing homework and generally doing anything you couldn't get done during the week normally, such as reading a new book, or updating the survival guides for if the world ends. Sometimes you go out into the garage and do extra martial arts practice, even though you already do that every day at 6:00 AM for one hour anyway. So you either have Thursday or Wednesday afternoons free, which works for me because I usually have those free as well." I tell him, turning my face to the side at the end to hide my huge blush from the smirk on his face due to knowing his schedule. "We grew up together, of course I know the schedule you've kept the same since you were 13."
"Wednesday at 3:00PM at my place it is." Huey says, "seeing as you have group yoga sessions on Friday nights, and you usually also finish your homework on Friday nights so you can spend Saturday nights with Cindy, and not worry about your homework."
Now I find myself trying to fight off a smile. I never knew he paid any attention to me. The bell rings, and I gather up my stuff to leave. "See ya later Huey." I smile at him. Oops, I wasn't supposed to give in so quickly. Oh well, he did do an almost apology, and considering I've never heard Huey apologize, that's huge.
"So how did it go?" Cindy approaches me as I head towards our lunch table. "You didn't cave did ya?"
"Well, he kind of apologized," I tell her, looking down at my hands.
"Kind of, or he did?" Cindy looks at me with both hands on her hips.
"You know what, I forgot I have things to do, I'm heading to my locker to pick up study materials for my French test today," I excuse myself quickly and head to my locker. Well, officially escaped.
"Hey lil' Shawty, we goin' to da Red Lobsta' tonight, pack yo shortest skirt, I'm pickin' ya up at 7." This jerk puts his arm around my shoulder, and unfortunately he's towering over me. I shirk his arm off my shoulder.
"I'm sorry, I'm flattered, but I'm not really interested in you." I tell him politely. What did I do to make you think I wanted to go out?
"Come on bitch, you don't mean that, you and I both know it, but you know what, we can skip the date. That ass makes it obvious you put out first, slut, so how much ya charge?"
"More than you can handle. I'm sorry, I'm not interested, and I don't appreciate you telling me I'm a slut." Sooner or later, I might have to use a lie.
"I call 'em like I see 'em," He tells me before grabbing my arm. "You know what, we can head to that bathroom right now and get it done, you can show me what you've learned from French."
"Let go of me! My boyfriend will have something to say to you!" I tell him, trying to yank my arm back, but he holds on, dragging me towards the guy's bathroom. If I can't figure a way out of this, I'm going to be raped… I realize, terrified. I try to get my hand out of his, but he holds tighter. "Ow! You're hurting me!" No sooner than I say that, another hand comes up to slap me. I gasp, completely surprised, and finally realizing, I can't take care of myself, I'm gonna be raped, Huey was right. I wince, but the slap never comes. I get caught by surprise even more when my attacker is sent flying backwards. The hand that was on my wrist is then bent backwards by a familiar chocolate colored hand.
"Yo, ho, you didn't tell me yo man was a Guerilla fighter!" The hand is then put behind his back in a chicken wing. Huey's face is too blank, oh god, he's really pissed.
"She is not a ho, take it back before I break your arm." Huey almost growls at him.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Okay, okay, I take it back, damn, you should come with a warning label if you his girl." The jerk says before Huey lets go of him and he leaves.
"You okay?" Huey asks me when I rub my arm that has a hand print on it. He takes my hand to look at it, before telling me "it will be fine, you just need some circulation rubbed back into it, and it may turn have a contusion."
"Okay, thank you Huey," I stand there thinking for a moment. I guess there goes my ability to take care of myself huh? "I guess I was wrong about being able to take care of myself huh?" I chuckle for a minute before tears start to come to my eyes. I look down, trying not to cry, but realizing it's inevitable.
"C'mon, let's get outta here," Huey tells me, grabbing my hand, but unlike the last hand, it's gentle and makes me want to follow him. Wait, what is it with all of these guys claiming I'm a slut? Did I do something? Is it me? If Huey weren't there I'd be… My thoughts trail off as I try not to choke on my tears for the second time this week.
We make it out to Huey's car, before I start quietly sobbing, I'm shaking a bit at what could have happened, and I wouldn't have been able to do a thing about it. The scene races through my head again, I see me telling that guy "no" this morning, I see me telling him "no" today, I even lied and said I had a boyfriend, but he didn't care and grabbed my arm. I can still feel his hand on me, and that sense of not being able to get away. I don't even notice my breathing going faster until Huey takes my hand in his, forcing me to look at him. "Jazzy, look at me."
Him using my nickname shocks me out of my incoming panic attack. "Breathe with me okay," Huey tells me as he starts counting his breaths, but I still can't focus on that, so he pulls my hand to over his heart. Suddenly I have the opposite problem, and my heart skips a few beats. He notices something about my heartbeat, or at least I assume so because he was looking at my face, but now he's staring down at my hand, but before he can say anything the lunch bell rings. I take my way out where I can get it. I remove my hand very quickly, and grab my books, but he takes them out of my hands.
"I'll walk you to class," He tells me, we both get out of his car, and he picks up my books.
"Wait, if you do this, people will start thinking you're my boyfriend," I tell him, thinking about how he just knocked someone out for me, comforted a crying me, and is now about to carry my books.
"Then maybe people will stop thinking they can mess with you," He retorts, now opening the door for me, and even putting an arm around me. My entire face erupts in red. I look off to the side, trying not to show him the giant smile on my face.
We get to my class much faster than I wanted, and he hands me my books. "Thanks for everything," I tell him sincerely, before throwing my arms around his neck and giving him a hug, leaving a kiss on his cheek before heading into class quickly. What just happened? What was I thinking? I continue panicking for a little while longer, before realizing I'm not going to get myself an answer anyway. I am dazed for one more second before getting out my French textbook to study for the first ten minutes of class, before taking my French test with a smile.
***Riley POV***
(Next Period)
"Yo Jazmine, I have a trade fo' ya." I smirk at her. Dis has gone on fo' too long. If Huey ain't gon' make a move, I'll set Jazmine on track.
"What are you on about now?" She asks, looking up at me with a Huey expression on her face.
"I have somethin' you'll want," I tell her. "In exchange I want you iPod."
"What could you possibly have that I'd want?" She asks me, probably fed up with her day.
"Intel, on mah bro. 'Member dis?" I flash her the iPod in my hand.
"Wait, that's not your iPod that's…" She trails off for a second.
"Yep, the password is somethin' ta do wit his ride or die bitch," I tell her, hoping she'll get the hint. "Dis is da only way fo' yous ta figure out what's up. You gonna hand me da trade or wha?" I ask her, already knowing the answer. And Huey thinks he's the smart one.
"Fine," Jazmine seems to get over her conscience rather quick, I guess she got done with dat shit. Dat nigga is not gettin' his act together. Of course she needs da truth, but Imma make her beg.
"You don't sound like dis is dat important, I don't tink yous appreciate dis. Maybe I should just give it back," I tease her, smiling.
"Please, I am done being on the hook, if I'm not the one for him I should at least know." Jazmine iterates to me before I hand her the iPod. This should be interestin'.
***Huey POV***
(After school at home)
"So, I hur' you went postal on some dumbass nigga today," Riley said. "I also hur' ya got yo girl, about time ma nigga. So did ya knock that nigga's teeth out for touchin' Jazmine for reals? Dat be da real Gangsta shit."
"Jazmine and I are just friends, for one, and the guy didn't get teeth knocked out because Jazmine was terrified. For two, a guy tried to drag Jazmine into the guys' bathroom to blow him after she already said no, then told him her boyfriend would kill him, then raised his hand to hit her when she tried to get away. What do you think happened?" I raise an eyebrow at him, still mad about that dumbass. I should have castrated him, but Jazz needed me.
"Damn, I'm surprised you didn't kill the bitch ass nigga, wait… Why ain't you guys together now? What the hell is takin' you so long? Is you gay?" Riley demands.
"She sees me as a friend," I tell him.
"Nigga, fo' a nerd you be dumb as shit." Riley tells me shaking his damn head.
"What has led you to that conclusion?" I ask him with one eyebrow raised. What am I dumb for now?
"Here's her iPod, her password hint is the guy she's in love with, it's four letters, and it's a name. What's her password?"
"How did you get her iPod again?" I ask him, avoiding the question. Jazmine really needs to use a tracking device on that, considering how often Riley gets ahold of it now.
"I 'borrowed it' for my free period." Riley says offhandedly. "Here's another hint, her most played playlist is 'Love Guerilla', get back to me when you can hack it." After that Riley leaves and I hear the door shut.
Now normally I wouldn't put much stock into what Riley tells me, but these past few days have been weird as hell. "Fine." I tell him. If I do this, he'll probably leave me alone for a few days. As I am thinking this, the fight with that guy comes back into my head. "You didn't tell me he was a Guerilla Fighter!" Wait four letters, she told me my schedule today, she was seriously upset at me seeing a specific picture, it can't be…
I enter my name into the iPod screen, before I hear the door open behind me. "What are you-?" Jazmine looks shocked as I have her iPod in my hand, and she can see I have just opened the lock screen.
"Jazz, you-" Jazmine's eyes get really big.
"I see you found out huh?" Jazz states. "So um…" Her voice trails off once again. "Look, before you say anything, it's okay, I won't make it weird, I promise. I know revolutionaries normally don't have relationships, and I know how devoted you are to all of your causes. I just… I need to confess something. Riley handed me your iPod earlier today in exchange for mine. I tried everything involving me, I tried my birthdate, my middle name, and 'Hill' as the place we first met, so I know you don't feel that way, but I… If you change your mind, I'll always be in love with you, so, I'm heading home to stop making a fool of myself, don't come after me okay?" When she says these final words she starts running out again. Getting to the stairs before my mind reboots from the shock.
"I am getting really tired of you running away from me," I grab her around the waist and put her over my shoulder.
"Let me go!" She starts screaming, with fists banging into my back. "I have said my piece, you do not need to humiliate me by forcing me to be here for a rejection I don't need okay?!"
"Look, just put in your nickname okay?" I tell her, really tired of her crying today. I felt guilty enough when I made you cry on Friday….
"What?" She asks, obviously confused and discombobulated.
"I'm not rejecting you okay? I'm keeping you." I tell her, taking her back upstairs. When I finally get upstairs, I put her on my bed.
"What's happening right now?" She asks, sniffing and wiping her eyes. I grab her some tissues from the closet. "I thought you only believed in dating one person, the inspiration to your revolution."
"Why are you quoting my beliefs back to me?" I ask her. She still looks adorably confused with wide eyes and slightly frizzy hair from when I put her over my shoulder. I figure I should throw her a bone. "I chose you, and I reciprocate your emotions." I tell her, my face getting red at the end. She starts crying harder before throwing herself into me.
"I love you so much Huey! I love you, I love you, I love you…" She yells the first part and gets quieter as she gets more relaxed.
"Love you too." I tell her, nuzzling her adorable puffball hair and pulling her closer into me.
"About damn time!" I hear Riley whisper to Cindy from behind our door.
"Shh!" Cindy whispers back. Those idiots. Luckily Jazmine doesn't hear those niggas though, so I ignore them. Until…
"Shit, even when he's wit his girl he sound mighty gay." Riley quips. I hear Cindy whack him over the back of the head, but I just chuckle into Jazmine's hair, well, whatever.