"The sunsets are so beautiful from up here." I tell my cousin Darby. She smiles then sits up from her position propped up on the truck's hood. "I still can't believe that you've never been to Widow's Peak and you've lived here your whole life." I sit up onto my elbows. "I've lived in Dallas my whole life. Not Odessa." I correct. "Whatever. So are you excited to be headin' to Permian High in about twelve hours?" She asks. I roll my eyes. "Of course not. I used to be your school's rival. And plus, with all the white people at your school, I'll be surprised if I make it the whole day without being hung by my neck on the flagpole." Darby laughs at my exaggeration. "I haven't been hung yet. That has to say something, right?" The sun is finally down. We're surrounded by darkness now. "That's becuz they know you, Darby." I tell her. She lets out a loud breath then jumps off of the hood. "We can plan your funeral some other time. Let's get home." I take one last look at the town before getting into her truck.
''I'm telling ya ma, I'm gonna be the best on that team!" My brother, Dommie exclaims. He's once again bragging about how he's going to be the star tail back at Permian. I roll my eyes as we make our way into the house. I look to my left to see my mom cooking and my aunt Roselle reading a magazine at the kitchen counter. ''I'm sure you will, Dommie." Mom says absentmindedly as she stirs whatever's in the pot. Darby sets down her keys on the hall table as I walk into the living room where my brother is. "Remember lil' Dommie, there's always gonna be someone better than you in this world." I say in a sweet voice as I plop down onto the couch. His smile goes away as he lays eyes on me. "That might be true, Lucy. But that person isn't in this town." He shoots back. I roll my eyes then make my way to the kitchen.
The sauce that mom was stirring before is now being glazed over the bake chicken. My stomach starts to growl. I didn't notice how hungry I was until now. I hear my aunt's laugh. "Lucy you're starin' at that chicken like its Michael Jackson in that 'Beat It' video." She tells me. I grin at her. "No, it's just that I haven't eaten all day." I say. "And ma, you're the only one who thinks Michael Jackson looked sexy in that video." Darby says from the dinner table. Auntie turns around to look at her daughter. "That's becuz he did look sexy in that video, child." Dommie comes into the room now. "Yeah auntie, you are wrong about that Mike Jack stuff. I'm sexier than that bird chested dude. All muscle right here and women love it." He gloats. I scoff at his comment. He's so arrogant. But I have to admit, Dommie is attractive. No girl at Carter High could resist him. With him being 6'2 with big brown eyes and straight white teeth, girls were all over him. Let's see how the white girls respond to him tomorrow. "Boy, sit down and shut up." Auntie tells him. Dommie puts his hands up in mock surrender and takes his seat across from Darby. Mom nudges me in the side. I look over to see her holding a bowl of her special seasoned broccoli. This is the only kid of broccoli that I can eat. I take it from her and head to the table. Mom soon comes out with the baked chicken that I've been eyeing and Aunt Roselle comes out with the rice pilaf and French bread.
We all say grace then dig in. "We already know what Dommie's doin' for his activity. What do you two have planned?" Ma asks. "Well I'm tryin' out for drama club." Darby says with a mouth full of food. "Fits you just right." Auntie and Dommie say in unison. Ma and I laugh while Darby rolls her eyes and groan loudly. Their point exactly. "So, what about you, Lucy? Any clubs?" Ma asks. I look up at her, her eyes on me with a pleading look. She always wanted me to get more involved in school activities. She always felt as if I'm an outcast or something. Ma never says it out loud, but I just know it, I can feel it. At this point everyone's eyes are on me. "Uhh, I might try out for science club and writing club." I say in one quick breath. Everyone smiles except for Dommie who scoffs. "Dork." He says under his breath. I give him a dirty look. "Well at least I'm gonna be workin' my brain while your too busy destroyin' yours!" I retort. Darby whispers, "Good one", while Dommie is about to say something else. Ma notices this and cuts in quickly. "Alright, alright. No one's better than the other, so let's just relax and finish our dinner." Dommie gives me one more dirty look before returning to his food.
"Lucy you are no help. Ya know that?" Darby says with two shirts in her hand. One red with the Coca-Cola sign on it and the other black with a yellow winking smiley face on it. "Oh, sorry. I like the black one." I tell her. She smiles then sets the shirt on her desk chair in her room. "Your cranky mood about school is getting me into a stooper, too." Darby sits next to me on her bed as she says this. Her eyes are droopy. She wants me to like this school so much, just like her. Telling me all the good things about it and what not. Just trying to get me out of my stooper. I'm starting to feel guilty. I put on a fake smile and look her in the eye. "I'm gonna wake and bake tomorrow so your school is going to seem a hundred times better than it is." She can't resist the smile that I'd just put on her face. "Crazy ol' stoned nerd child." Darby says. I breakout into laughter. It was true. I am a stoner. But the only people who know about this are Darby and I. And I'll like to keep it that way. After we subside from our hysterics, we both start to yawn. "I'm about to go to bed. See ya in the mornin', Darby." I say as I get out of her bed. She gives me a faint wave as she starts to curl up into her bed. "Night, Lucy."
"Rise and shine, Sookie." Ma says as she rips open the curtains in my room. She couldn't be delicate. I groan then plop a pillow onto my head. I hear my door open and suspect that she's left. But then she slightly lifts my pillow, just enough for the smell of bacon to fill my nose. I lift up and make my way to my door. "Ah, ah, ah. Ya have to get ready first before ya eat." Ma says as she walks out of my room. Tricked, by my own mom. Who woulda thought? I know that Dommie is still in the bathroom getting his "sexy" on, as he like to call it, so I have enough time to get my clothes out, fill up my bag with the necessities and try to find that red sock that's been missing for days. There's a knock at my door then a fully dressed and ready Darby appears. "Aunt Loretta wanted me to tell you that you have twenty more minutes to get ready for school and ten before the foods gone." She tells me. I let out a groan then head to the bathroom door. I bang on it multiple times. "Dommie! I know you hear me, hurry the heck up!" I yell. He starts banging on it too just to aggravate me. It works. I throw a mini tantrum before stalking off back to my room. "Ten more minutes till foods gone!" Mom yells from downstairs in the kitchen. Darby's at my desk spinning a dradle. I grab my toothbrush and toothpaste then head downstairs into the kitchen. "Such a resourceful girl." Auntie says. I smile, continuing to brush. The bathroom door I hear opens. I quickly rinse my mouth and bolt up the stairs before he finds something else to do in the bathroom.
Three minutes later I'm in my room putting on my skinny jeans, white tank top and baggy cardigan. When I get downstairs, Dommie and Darby are already in the truck. I quickly make my bacon and egg sandwich then head out the door. "Make sure you get in the bathroom before ya brother next time, Sookie!" Mom yells after me. Dommie yawns when I get in the truck. "Wow. Just lost half of my life waitin on your ass." He says. I roll my eyes then take a bite of my sandwich. "Lick my ass, Dominic." I hiss back. "No thank you."
"Damn, I've never seen so many white people in my life." Dommie says as we get into a parking spot. I nod my head. Looking out at the swarm of people, I'm looking for a safe spot to blaze up. Dommie's already out of the truck. "By the football field. There's a shed. The coaches aren't gonna be there till second period, so you're safe right there." She tells me. I thank her then head towards the field. On my way there, people kept stopping and staring at me as if I was a gorilla giving birth right in front of them. The walk to the shed seemed to take forever. When I got there, I went to the back of it and blazed up. That first hit was the best. Always is. I look forward at the gate and just burst out into giggles. Nothing in particular was funny, but it was just so funny.
When my weed is out, I'm sad to see it go, but hurriedly spray myself with my cotton candy perfume when the bell sounds. I make my way towards the gym door as I apply the eye drops. "Are you lost or something?" I hear someone say. I put away my eye drops then look at the person who said it. It was a white guy at around Dommie's height but not his built. This guy is lankier. His long Leif Garretty hair glistens in the morning sun. I start laughing at him. "No, but are you Mr. Garrett?" I chuckle. His face starts to turn red as he walks toward me. "Lynch, what are you doin?" I look over Leif's shoulder to see a cute Mexican there. "Did you fuckin hear what she said to me, Chavo?" Lynch asks, not looking at the guy and still staring at me. "Yeah, and it's no reason to pummel a twenty pound girl." I pout my lips and move my head so I'm looking at the Mexican. "Hey, I'm not twenty pounds. I'm at least thirty." I say before laughing. The Chavo smirks at me. "Are you drunk?" Leif asks. I look up at him. "No, just a lil tweaked, just a little wittle." He gives me enough room to move, so I make my way to the office. "Fuckin spooks." I hear the white guy say. I'm too stoned to reply.
I walk into the main office to find Dommie there, so I walk over to him. The old white lady looks up at me and smiles a weary smile. "Oh, hi. You must be Lucille Banks. Just a minute, I'm getting yawls' schedules now." She tells me. I nod then avoid the urge to laugh. Dommie starts sniffing the air. "Why do ya smell like cotton candy just threw up on ya?" I look up at him and giggle. "I don't know, Dommie. Probably did." He narrows his eyes on me then looks away. The lady comes back with our schedules. "And here you are Mr. and . Your schedules. Your helpers will be here shortly." Dommie stuffs his schedule in his pocket. I fold mine all neatly while giggling. "Uhh, what do ya mean helpers?" Dommie asks. "Oh! Two students will be here to show you to your classes for the whole day. That's what that is." The lady explains. "Who are they?" "Well for you Dominic, it's Darby Swan. And Lucille, you have Brian Chavez." Dommie groans. "Do y'all know that that's our cousin?" The lady looks surprised at his comment. "Oh, well I didn't know that. I'm sorry if you don't like that." He turns around facing the door. That same Mexican from earlier comes in with Darby. She doesn't look so pleased. "Good morning Darby and Brian. Brian this is Lucille, your helpee and her brother, Dominic. And, well Darby you already know your cousins. Now get to it." The lady says. "I wish I got you." Darby whispers to me. I smile at her. "Come on dumb ass." She says while walking out of the office. "Aye, why you always be talking mad shit? Huh?" Dommie huffs as he, too walks out of the office. Brian looks back over to me with a smile. "Second time meeting. You can call me Chavo." He tells me. I give him a tweaked smile, the only one I can give him right now. "And you can call me Smurf. Haha, you can call me Lucy." Chavo's eyebrows go up. "Ok, Lucy? Lemme see your schedule."
Chavo takes me to my first class which is Health Education. I walk into the class to see a bunch of white people. And one misplaced Asian. The male teacher walks over to me. "Hello Ms. Banks. I'm Mr. Turner, and this is your class. Now go take a seat." I nod then take the seat in the back, with all eyes on me. The girl with the blonde frizzy hair in front of me turns around. "OhmyGod! You're black!" she says in a loud whisper. Her green eyes are wide. I take in a huge breath. "OhmyGod, your white!" I whisper back. Her eyes soften and she smirks. "Sorry, it's just that we don't get a lotta you guys in this part of town and I kinda always wanted a black friend." I nod my high starting to wear off. "Awesome. I'm Lucy." I say in a bored voice. "I like your name. I'm Belle Waters. We should hang out sometime." She holds out her hand. I shake it. "Sure, O-ok." "Great!" and with that, she turns around. I start listening to Mr. Turner's lesson on the female anatomy.
I walk out of Health class to find Chavo waiting on me. "Hey Lucy, so what's your next class?" He asks. I look down at my paper. "History." Chavo takes the paper from me. "Ah, Honors History. You're a smart girl." I give him a slight smile. "Thanks." He nods then takes me upstairs. And again, a room full of white people.
Two periods later, it's time for lunch. I buy a slice of pepperoni pizza, a package of Chips Ahoy, a hot dog and Munchies Potato Chips. I start looking for Darby, but couldn't find her. "Lucy! Lucy, come sit over here." I look over and see Chavo and a bunch of jocks and their cheerleaders all at one table. I really don't feel comfortable sitting at a table full of guys and their girls. But if I can't find Darby or even Dommie, I might have to. And they're no where to be seen. I'm starting to look stupid just standing here, so I head over to Chavo. He slides over and I sit down next to him. "Guys, this is the new girl, Lucy Banks." They're all looking at me. I hate when all attention is on me. The cheerleaders ignore me. "Hi." I say in an almost whisper. The guys nod. "You guys aren't gonna introduce yourselves? Fine." Chavo says. They all groan and some roll their eyes. "I'm Chris Comer." I look at the voice. He's cute with his hazel eyes. "Winchell." Another says. He looks shy and it works on him. With him being tall and stuff, it's adorable. I give him a slight smile. "Christian." Wow, what did his mom feed him?! The guy is big and looks as if he's allergic to smiling. "I'm uh, Don." The guy that says it sits right in front of me. My breath gets caught in my throat. He's so handsome with his red cap and weirdly blue green eyes. He holds my gaze and I hold his. "And I'm Boobie Miles. Star tailback of the football team." I awkwardly looked over to Boobie. He has a wide arrogant smile on his face that reminds me of Dommie. Yeah, those two will get along just fine. "Hey, is your brother Dominic Banks?" Chris Comer asks. I nod and he rolls his eyes. "Is he always an arrogant dick?" I smile. "Yes." "Fuckin dick."
"Hey, Lucy. I was lookin for you." I look over to see Darby. "I didn't see you." "Oh, well I see you're with Chavo's lame ass." She teases. He laughs. "Always nice to see you, Darby." Chavo says. "Yeah I know. But I'll see you later, Lucy." I nod then take a bite of my pizza. "How ya know Darby?" I look up to see Don staring at me. I swallow the food then answer. "S-she's m-my cousin." Oh God, why do I have to stutter? Don nods then returns to his food. "That's a lotta food for a lil girl." Boobie chimes in. I smile then pop a cookie in my mouth. "Got the munchies?" Chavo whispers so only I can hear. My eyes widen. He saw me?! He smiles. "Don't worry, I'm not telling." I let out a breath of fresh air. "Thanks, Chavo." "So Darby is your cousin?" the blonde down the table asks, I nod. Didn't she hear the first time? The blonde rolls her eyes. "Seems like all of you are comin over." It was just a matter of time. All the girls agreed. "Well, it is a free country, Minxie." Don told the girl. "Don, we all know that the government lies." She shot back. "Yeah, and we all know that you lie when you say that you didn't suck the whole football team." Chavo put in. I choked on a potato chip. The table grew with laughter. Minxie slammed her hands on the table then stormed off. I give them both a thankful smile before returning to my food.
It turns out that I have eighth period (last period) with Darby, Chavo, Don and unfortunately Dommie. Life skills. Don sat in front of me, Chavo sat on my left, Darby on my right and Dommie sitting in front of Chavo. "Hey, are football tryouts today?" Dommie asks Don. "Yeah, what position you play?" Don asks. Dommie smiles. Oh, God he's about to get started. "I play everything actually. But my specialty is tail back." Chavo and Don start laughing. "What's funny?" Dommie asks. "Boobie Miles is tail back." Darby answers. They're more alike than I thought. Arrogant and play the same position. "Yeah, good luck with tail back." "So are you comin to tryouts, Lucy?" Chavo asks. Don turns around to hear my answer. His gaze makes me nervous. Hell, HE makes me nervous! He's like a white God or something. Wait; is God white or just a mixture of everything? Shit, I'm stalling. "Uhh yeah, I-I'll be there. I'm j-just gonna sign up for a couple of clubs first." Why do I have to stutter? He nods. "What clubs?" Don asks. "Science club and wr-riting clu-ub." He smiles. "You must be smart to be in the science club." I nod and smile. "I am." He nods then turns back around. Darby flicks my arm. It stings and I shoot her a death glare. She looks between Don and me, moving her eyebrows up and down. I shake my head, she nods. "Alright people, let's get this started. I'm Mr. Savory, your life skills teacher. Now shut up."
After I had signed up for my clubs, Darby and I headed to the football field. Chavo runs over to us. "You guys came!" He says and we nod. "You guys should come with us after this to Arnie's Burgers." I look at Darby to see what she says. She looks at me. "You wanna go?" She asks. I nod. "Sounds good." Chavo smiles. "Great, well I gotta get back." Then he runs back over to the team. "Does Chavo have to tryout?" I ask when we sit on the bleachers. Darby shakes her head. "Nah, him, Don and the others don't. They've been playin long enough. But your brother of course, has to. The players are just helping out the newbies." I nod. Dommie's on the field already, doing tail back. Coach Gaines gives him the ball and Christian is given the position to try and stop his play. Coach blows his whistle and both boys start running full speed toward each other. I know what Dommie's about to do before he even does it. At the last minute, he spins to the left, out of the way of Christian, and then continues to make the touchdown. Some people clap. Dommie of course, makes his victory dance. I roll my eyes and look over to Darby who's shaking her head. Coach Gaines turns to one of the other coaches and whispers, "He's fast." Of course he is. "Banks! Come on back!" The coach yells. Dommie stops mid-dance and runs back over. He has the ball again, but now he has to throw it. Don is going to catch. He runs down the field to catch the ball, but misses horribly. "Damn." Darby whispers.
"What the hell was that?!" A man jogging down the bleachers and onto the field yells. "What the hell was that, Don? Can't keep the ball in your damn hand?" He yells, now closer to Don. "He does this every time." Darby tells me. "It's just practice, dad." That dick is his dad? "That's his dad?" I ask and Darby nods. "Unfortunately, yes. He does this shit when Don doesn't do a good play. I'm surprised that they haven't banned him yet." She explains. "Get him off the field." Gaines whispers to another coach. "Who cares if it's practice? You do the same shit During the game!" the older Billingsley yells. "I'll try harder next time, dad." Don says before walking away. His father grabs onto the back of his jersey and slams him onto the ground. Look like it hurt, too. The coach starts to walk a little but faster. "Don't you walk away from me when I'm talking to you, boy!" Winchell goes over to help Don up. The coach leads his father off of the field, telling him things that I cannot hear. "Charlie's a fuckin psycho drunk." Darby says and I nod. "I know Don gets embarrassed." "Eh, I think he's used to it. But I'm sure he still gets embarrassed." They proceed with tryouts without another incident.
Darby and I wait outside out of the locker room for the guys. "So do you hang out with the footballers a lot?" I ask. She smirks. "Footballers? But yeah, I do. They're not as douchey as everybody thinks they are. But the girls here are bitches." I nod my head in agreement. "Yeah, I know what you mean." Darby pushes off her truck to look at me, eyes narrowed. "Somebody been talking shit, Lucy?" Dammit. I forgot about this side of Darby. The vicious side. The side that'll kill anyone who hurts me. "Lucy…" she's waiting. "Yes?" I whisper. "Give me a name. Now." I bite my lip, suddenly scared of her, even though she won't do anything to me. "Minxie." I finally say. Her eyes grow livid. "That racist bitch! I swear I'll kill her!" Told you. "Please, don't make a big deal outta this, it's just my first day." She nods her head frantically. "Exactly, first day. Which means that she'll continue being a total bitch till the day school ends." People are now looking at us. "Stop, Darby. Please don't do anything stupid." I tell her. She looks at me intently for a bit. "Fine. But if I hear anybody say anything about you, I'm knockin someone out. Especially Minxie. Okay?" Darby says. I smile at her. "Thanks cousin, for tuning down your psychoness." She smiles, looking forward.
The guys finally come out of the locker room and start walking to their cars. "You know the way to Arnie's?" Dommie asks as he throws his stuff into the truck. "Of course, dumbass. That's our spot." Darby huffs. "I really don't like you, Darby. I hope you know that." I laugh. "Yes, we all know that."
As I get out of the car, I notice that Arnie's is packed with teenagers from school. Darby tells me to get a place to sit as she gets our food, and Dommie is also in line. I look and see Don and Christian at a table and walk over. "C-can I sit with y-you guys?" I ask. Christian doesn't say anything and Don looks at me for a while before shaking his head and answering. "Yeah, I thought that's what you guys were gonna do anyways." He says with a slight smile. I blush and sit down. I look over at the line to see where Darby and Dommie are. They're ten people away from the cash register. They're gonna be there for a while. Even though it's loud as hell, the silence at the table is unbearable. "Thanks for what you did at lunch." I blurt out. Don looks up at me surprised, then soon smiles. Not a big one, but it was enough to make flutter. "Oh that was nothing. She always feels as if she's better than someone and it gets annoyin." He says and I nod. We fall into silence. I look over at the line again. Darby is now six people away from the register. God, this is going to be forever. "I'm not with Minxie." I look up at Don. "What?" I ask him. He looks uncomfortable now. "I mean, from what Chavo said at the table, that uhh, she's been with the whole football team. Not really true. Well, I mean," He's rambling now, "I dated her for a little, but you know, not to the extreme." What the extreme was, I had no idea. You could slice the awkwardness with a knife. Christian snickers a bit, shaking his head at Don.
Chavo and Comer come over now with trays full of food. They all attack the food as soon as it hits the table. It's disgusting watching them eat. But Chavo stops. "Oh, Darby should be over here any minute." He says, and then continues eating. I nod and see Dommie coming over with his food. He sits to my left with two double cheeseburgers, the biggest pack of fries I've ever seen and a giant milkshake. I grab just one fry and he slaps my damn hand. "Ow! You dick! It was just one fry!" I yell. Dommie shrugs then takes a bite of his burger. "Not your food. Darby has yours." He says dismissively. I hit his shoulder even though I know it won't hurt him. Chavo and Don were staring at us on the verge of laughing. "Are you guys' twins?" Dommie and I shake our head frantically. "No, no, no." Dommie says. "Then who's older?" Don asks. "I am." I say. "By eleven months, not even a year." Dommie always has to clarify that. "Aah fuck you Dominic. I'm still older." "I'm glad I'm the only child." Comer says. Darby finally comes over with our food. "Sorry I took so long. I was looking for Minxie's slutty ass." Darby sits down with a thump. I thought she was over this. "You heard what happened?" Chavo asks. "Not directly, but yeah, I did." She says. "I thought you were over that, Darby." I say. She passes me my burger and fries. Dommie makes a grab for my food but I slap his hand. "Oh I'm done with it for now. But if I see her, I don't know what's gonna happen." Chavo laughs. "Are you gonna beat Minxie's ass like you did with Don that time?" Don starts laughing. "My balls were hurting for like a month! I don't even know what I did!" The table started laughing. "You were drunk and kept poking me." Darby explains. "Oh, I remember now. I wasn't drunk. I was just trying to piss you off." Don laughs. "Well it worked." "But anyways, if I see Minxie, I'll tell her to calm her ass down for you, alright?" Chavo tells Darby. "Thank you Brian, thank you."