Disclaimer: I don't own The Boondocks. I don't own Huey Freeman, Riley Freeman, Robert Freeman (Granddad) or Jazmine Dubois etc… the show and characters all belong to Aaron McGruder. However, the characters that I made up by myself belong to me! Like Latoya for instance and new unfamiliar names… The Boondocks itself belongs to Aaron McGruder.
"So how do you like the school so far Latoya? I would've loved to go to a school like this when I was your age, it's so nice and big and you even have your own lockers," Kyndra said as she continued to walk down the hallway.
Latoya didn't respond as she tried to avoid the quizzical stares she received from the students that her mother, Kyndra failed to have noticed. Latoya also tried to ignore the stares from Huey, his brother Riley and two other boys that were standing next to the Freeman boys, one was Asian and the other was Jamaican. "These people are acting as if they have never seen a black girl before…" she thought impatiently. "Mama, where are we going anyway?" she asked.
"To the office, I have to make sure with the secretary that you have the right class and the right teacher and make sure that you also have a locker to boot, understand?" Kyndra replied. "As soon as we have that information, you can go straight to your class, okay?"
"Okay…" Latoya relented with a sigh as she prayed silently to herself, hoping that she didn't have the same class as Riley.
Kyndra and Latoya had finally reached to the school's office. When they got there, Latoya had received all the information she need from the secretary who kept hold of all the school records. Once that was settled, Latoya and her mother started to make their to Latoya's classroom.
"Well… that wasn't painful," started Kyndra, "we managed to get through that quick-," at that moment, Kyndra was interrupted by her wrist watch that bleeped which echoed through the empty hallway. "Tch, darn, I got so excited about your first day of school that I forgot about work. You remember where your class is right?" She asked as she got to Latoya's level.
"Yes mama," Latoya responded.
"So then you'll be fine walking to class on your own?" Kyndra asked.
Latoya rolled her eyes in unison with her sigh. "Mama… I'm not a baby anymore, I'm pretty sure that I can walk to class on my own." She said. Latoya paused before saying anything else, she realized how harsh she sounded as she took a deep breath and sighed once more. "But thank you mama," she said with a weak smile that one of her dimples showed.
Kyndra smiled back as she kissed Latoya's forehead and hugged her daughter, "don't you worry, you'll make friends and you have your father and my number."
Latoya nodded.
Kyndra kissed and hugged her daughter one last time, "love you baby."
"Love you too…"
"I've gotta go, I don't wanna be late on my first day at work." Kyndra said as she started to leave. "And remember, everything you is in your backpack, and behave yourself, bye baby, have a great day at school," she said and with that, Kyndra was down the hallway and out the school doors.
The young nine year old stood in the hallway alone as she brought out a piece of paper that had all the information written on it which included her classroom number and her teacher.
"Okay now… Mrs. Robinson…" Latoya began to read, "Classroom… 210…"
"And that is the story," Huey finished telling Caesar the story of his weekend which involved everything that happened including Jazmine and the caviar incident.
"Damn, that must've been some weekend and I missed it all, why didn't you call me?" Caesar said.
Huey raised an eyebrow at his friend as he rested his chin on his hand. "I appreciate the sympathy, really I do Caesar," he finally said sarcastically.
Caesar smiled innocently. "I guess that explains why Jazmine is going through extreme lengths to avoid you," he said as he shifted his glance to the other side of the classroom where Jazmine and Cindy were.
Huey followed Caesar glance then quickly looked away, "…yeah…" Huey then looked around the classroom and realized that their teacher hadn't showed up yet. "Damn, where's Mr. Petto?"
The two boys, Huey and Caesar along with the rest of the classmates including Jazmine and Cindy had all been waiting for their sixth grade teacher, Mr. Petto, for he had already been six minutes late.
"Better yet, where did Hiro go?" Caesar asked as he looked around the classroom.
"He said he was going to the washroom." Huey replied.
"More like he took a nice walk around the school like he usually does before class actually starts." Caesar said.
Jazmine who sat on the other side of the classroom with Cindy, away from Huey and Caesar, mainly Huey, were also waiting for the arrival of their sixth grade teacher, Mr. Petto who was now eight minutes late.
"I'm starting to get a little worried, where is Mr. Petto?" Jazmine said looking at the door every five seconds.
"Better yet Jazz, why are you mad at Huey for? Usually we normally sit with them. Why are we sitting here? Cindy asked.
"I didn't tell you why?" Jazmine asked looking at Cindy.
Cindy shook her head as she twirled her long blonde ponytail. "Gimmie the details Jazz."
Before Jazmine opened her mouth to explain, in came in Mr. Petto, their sixth grade teacher. Jazmine soon then leaned over to Cindy, "I'll tell you during lunch." She whispered.
"Gotcha," Cindy whispered back.
Mr. Petto had placed his brief case on his desk as he adjusted his tie and tried to regulate his breathing, it seemed as if he ran to the classroom.
Before Mr. Petto spoke, he scratched his grey, nearly bald head, "sorry that I'm late class," his voice was all nasal like, "I was law on gas and…" he trailed off as he saw Hiro, the Asian-American walk in through the door Mr. Petto frowned as he crossed his arms. "How nice of you to join us, Mr. Otomo," he finished impatiently.
Hiro put his headphones around his neck before he responded, "I could say the same thing about you, Mr. Petto," he replied, "I saw you jogging to class,"
Small chuckles and giggles filled the classroom with that comment. Mr. Petto then cleared his throat to make himself feel comfortable again.
"Indeed Hiro, however, I'm going to have to ask you to take your seat…" Mr. Petto had once again trailed off noticing that Jazmine and Cindy were not in their proper seats. "Miss Dubois," he began, "is there a reason why you are sitting in your improper seat as well as you Miss McPhearson?"
Jazmine couldn't speak right away, she didn't want to tell her teacher that she was trying to avoid Huey all because of a caviar a.k.a "fish eggs" incident. "Uh… I like this spot?" She responded as she tried not to look at Huey. "Uh… and I like sitting near the window…? Heh, heh…"
Mr. Petto then changed his glance to Cindy, "Cindy?" he asked.
"…same reason?" Cindy responded as she shrugged her shoulders.
"I see… can you two please sit back to your proper desks?" Mr. Petto asked.
Cindy and Jazmine both exchanged glances and then looked back at their teacher then looked at Huey and Caesar and then the two desks and the people who they switched desks with.
"But…" Jazmine trailed off, "I like this spot,"
Mr. Petto then looked over at Caesar and Huey, "I don't know what kind of game you're trying to pull, but it's not going to work. If this is some sort of play to take more class time than I'll be gladly to make it up to the class by making up the time, after school."
Huey and Caesar exchanged confused glances, "us?"
The classroom groaned.
"Hurry up and get back to your desks!" A girl groaned.
"Yeah, I got baseball practice after school!" Groaned another.
"I'm in my proper seat," Caesar said.
"So am I," Huey said.
"Jazmine, Cindy do I have to ask you again?" Mr. Petto said growing more impatient.
Cindy leaned over to Jazmine, "Sorry Jaz, I don't wanna be responsible for keeping the class after school," she said as she sat back to her regular seat which was one seat away from Caesar.
Jazmine then relented with a sigh then got up from her improper desk three seconds after and picked up all her items including her backpack and headed her way back, in defeat, to her regular desk which was behind Huey Freeman.
"Thank you, now Hiro, remove those grossly large headphones and head to your seat so I can start today's lesson." Mr. Petto insisted as he scratched his temples.
Without a word, Hiro headed to his seat which was almost near the back of the classroom about tree seats behind Jazmine.
"Now then," Mr. Petto began adjusting his glasses, "we can finally begin our lesson on basic science."
Jazmine closed her eyes and put her head on the desk trying not to look at Huey's oversized afro, "this is probably going to be the most uncomfortable class of my life," Jazmine thought.
"This is gonna be an awkward class…" Huey thought, feeling the same uncomfortable strange vide that Jazmine has.
"Okay class, now, who can tell me what nine times six is? Anyone?" Mrs. Robinson, Riley's fourth grade teacher asked as she wrote the equation on the blackboard. Mrs. Robinson then noticed a students hand rise; it was the teacher's pet, Jonathan Good who had his hand waving in the air, insisting that he knew the answer.
"Ooh, ooh! Mrs. Robinson! I know the answer!" Jonathan continued.
Mrs. Robinson sighed, "Anyone else besides Jonathan for once?" She asked.
"Mrs. Robinson…" Jonathan pleaded with his hand still up.
Riley then quietly kissed his teeth at Jonathan. Each second Riley was growing more and more annoyed with Jonathan. "Nigga you best be shutting yo white ass up," Riley mumbled to Jonathan.
"Riley," Mrs. Robinson hissed after hearing half of what Riley said. "Did I hear you giving us the answer to nine times six?" She said with a lighter tone in her voice.
"Naw Miss, I didn't say anything about numbers," Riley replied rudely. "I was just telling Jonathan to shut his ass up."
"Riley! Language like that will not be tolerated in this class-," Mrs. Robinson was then interrupted by a knock on the door. She glanced at her class and then walked over to the door to open it.
The fourth grade teacher opened the door to find a young African American girl with braids that was tied into a high ponytail, a birthmark near the corner of her left eye who wore a red headband with matching red shirt, black caprees that matched her black air force ones along with her small Elmo backpack. The girl seemed unsure of herself as she looked down on her piece of paper.
"Uh…" The African girl began, "this is classroom 210, right?" she asked.
"Yes it is," Mrs. Robinson confirmed.
The young girl looked down on her sheet of paper again, "okay and you are Mrs. Robinson?"
"Yes I am," Mrs. Robinson hummed.
"Okay so I am in the right place," The girl said as she crumpled her piece of paper and stuffed it into her pocket.
Mrs. Robinson suddenly had an epiphany, "Oh, you must be the new student, the office buzzed me saying that a new student was coming to my class," she said as she bent down to Latoya's level, "whats your name?"
"Latoya Johnson," the girl confirmed.
"Latoya," Mrs. Robinson echoed as she pulled the strand of her red hair from her face, "that's a pretty name," she smiled, "as you already know, I am Mrs. Robinson, your fourth grade teacher, why don't you come in and I'll introduce you to the class, hmm?"
"…thanks…" Latoya said as she walked further into the classroom behind Mrs. Robinson.
"Class," Mrs. Robinson began, I would like to introduce your new classmate, I want you to all give a nice warm welcome so that she feels welcome, say hello to, Latoya Johnson."
Riley had immediately lifted up his head to see if he heard correctly-he did. There she was, Latoya Johnson standing looking irritated as she stared back at him. Riley then clenched his teeth with his mouth still closed as his classmates all greeted Latoya in unison. He couldn't believe it, he refused to believe it. Out of all the fourth grade classes in the school, she had to end up in his class. From the looks of Latoya's face, she wasn't too happy to see Riley either- the feelings they had for each other, dislike was mutual.
"Latoya, why don't you tell the class a little bit about yourself, hm?" Mrs. Robinson suggested.
Riley continued to frown as he glared at Latoya.
Latoya's frown slowly disappeared, realizing that she had been spoken too by the teacher. She then looked at Mrs. Robinson and then at the class.
"Uh…" Latoya trailed off, "I don't know what you want me to say…" she told Mrs. Robinson.
"Just talk about yourself, where are you from? Your background, perhaps?" Mrs. Robinson replied.
"…right…" Latoya responded as she faced the class. "Uh… hey y'all," Latoya wasn't quite the talkative person, she just wanted to take a seat and continue on the lesson, "well, as you may already know, I'm Latoya Johnson, I moved from Atlanta, I'm from the dirty south, me and my family, by the way, I'm from a family of eight, including me, plus a dog."
"Family of eight?" Mrs. Robinson asked in disbelief.
"…whoa… that's a lot of people…" one of the students awed.
"I'll say, eight is a grossly large number," Jonathan agreed.
"Mhm…" Charlie Huffdale, Riley's overweight classmate agreed as he looked at Riley for support.
Riley just gave him a dirty look, "nigga you gay…" he quietly told Charlie.
"Yeah… I got a family of eight, including me in my family. I've got a mama and a daddy, two older half brothers, two older half sisters and a younger full brother, and a dog named Sampson." Latoya explained.
"Whats a half brother or sister?" A student asked.
Latoya smiled; she was starting to feel more comfortable with the class within moments. "Um… well it's when you have siblings with either same dad different moms or same moms, different dads. In my case, me and my half brothers have the same dad and different moms."
"I'm truly looking forward to meeting your parents when it comes to parents' night. Is there anything else you would like to share about yourself?" Mrs. Robinson asked.
Latoya thought for a moment before she spoke. She then thought of something to say, "Well… I-,"
"Aye!" Riley rudely interrupted, "we don't have to hear her whole life story! I came here to be educated!"
Latoya stared down hard at Riley and gritted her teeth as she gave him a dirty look.
"Riley Freeman!" Mrs. Robinson scolded, "Do you wish to make a visit to the office?"
"So the school can call my Granddad and get him to beat my ass when I get home? I'll pass on that, thanks," Riley snubbed.
"Riley," Mrs. Robinson hissed in shock.
"It's okay Miss. Don't worry about it, Imma be the bigger person and just swallow my pride. Riley is right, y'all got the rest of the year to get to know me," Latoya sighed realizing that arguing with Riley wouldn't be the best way to start a new school. However, Latoya still gave Riley a dirty look; the old 'I'll-get-back-at-you' look and then pulled the old, 'I'm-better-than-that' smug look as well.
From what Riley could tell, Mrs. Robinson seemed rather impressed by the way Latoya handled herself. "That's very mature of you Latoya; perhaps you should learn a thing or two from Latoya." She said.
Riley frowned.
Latoya gave Riley another smug smile and then quickly stuck her tongue at him while the teacher wasn't looking. When Mrs. Robinson changed her glance to Latoya, Latoya quickly smiled innocently which made the classmates giggle but Riley.
"Which is why I believe your proper seating spot would be… next to Riley," Mrs. Robinson decided.
Both Riley's and Latoya's face dropped.
"Hell naw! Ain't now way!" Riley and Latoya protested.
Mrs. Robinson raised an eyebrow, "excuse me?"
"It's bad enough that she's my neighbor and she's in my class but she is not gonna be sitting next to me! No!" Riley continued to protest.
"You two already know each other?" Mrs. Robison asked.
"Hmph," Latoya folded her arms and looked away, "… I wish I didn't…"
"Pardon me, Latoya?" Mrs. Robinson asked once again.
"Me and Riley can't stand each other Miss," Latoya told Mrs. Robinson blankly, "we just can't, 'nough said."
"Well, I'm sorry to hear, but your going to have to sit next to him, regardless," Mrs. Robinson said with a shrug.
"Why?" Riley and Latoya groaned.
"Didn't you hear what I just said?" Latoya asked getting a little impatient.
"Well from what I understand, you both seem to have some kind of disagreement on something that we can discuss another time. So I believe having you sit next to each other can help you two deal and settle your differences. Two, that's the only seat left available for you to sit in," Mrs. Robison explained.
Riley's and Latoya's jaws simply dropped, they then both gave each other identical dirty glares.
"Now then, Latoya, if you please got to your assigned seat so I can continue our lesson," Mrs. Robinson said.
Latoya rolled her eyes with an aggravated sigh as she walked to her new desk, next to Riley Freeman the last person she would ever want to sit next too. As she made her way to her desk, she noticed Riley moving a little bit so that he wouldn't have to sit so close to Latoya; she gritted her teeth as she thought she felt her eye twitch irritably.
"What a bright ass nigga! Even my little brother Jerone is more mature than this… this… ugh!" Latoya thought bitterly. Still angry with her teacher's decision, Latoya dropped her bag beside her desk, pulled out her chair and sat down.
Once Latoya had sat in her seat, Mrs. Robinson smiled. She then turned to the board to continue her lesson.
This was one of the most awkward, uncomfortable position that Latoya had ever felt in her whole life; sitting next to someone who she strongly disliked. Riley probably even felt the same way. Latoya did the best she could as to ignore him and try to make the best of it but it was not going to be easy.
Riley continued to shift more to his side of his desk. He made it very clear that he didn't want to sit next to Latoya at the very least. She was the last person who he wanted to sit next to for sure.
Latoya was finding that rather hard to concentrate with all the fidgeting that Riley was doing. She was going to tell him off right then and there as she turned and saw the gloves that he was wearing.
…w-what the…? Gloves? Latoya thought, utterly confused from the sight of seeing his gloves. She then looked up at him quickly and then looked way but then glanced at it again but only for longer.
Riley sensed a stare from someone who was sitting right next to him as he turned to see Latoya staring at his gloves.
"What hoe? What are you staring so hard?" Riley whispered harshly, "haven't you seen anyone wear gloves before?"
Not realizing that she was staring for so long and hard slightly blushed and then blinked, "not in the middle of spring, slowly moving onto summer, moron," she whispered back harshly.
Riley was shocked, "who are you calling a moron, hoe?"
That did it; Latoya didn't even bother to dignify Riley with a response. She redirected her attention to the board so that she could focus and get a lesson out her first day of school.
"Aye, I'm talking to you hoe!" Riley provoked, "I demand some respect!"
Latoya ignored him.
"Hoe!"
"Ugh! For the last time jerk, it's Latoya Johnson, understand? La-toy-a! Do I have to write it out on a piece of paper and force you to eat it so that you can take the hint? Glove boy?"
"Aye," Riley removed one his gloves and showed Latoya the bite mark that he had gotten from her the night before at Sir Ed Wuncler's party, "you did this to me!"
Latoya looked at it as she tried not to gasp so loudly, remembering that she was still in class. She had never seen any swollen bite mark like that in her whole entire nine years of her life. She looked up at Riley and then looked back at the swollen bite mark and up at Riley again; she frowned.
"I didn't do that,"
"Yeah, you did. When yo nasty mouth made contact with my hand the night of Ed Wuncler's party!"
What on earth is he talking about? Latoya thought with her face confused as she tried to think back to the right of Ed Wuncler's party; she then remembered.
Latoya remembered at Ed Wuncler's party when she was spying on Riley, Ed and Rummy. The three were discussing about Ed's blind dating arrangement with her oldest sister Tenisha. Latoya remembered knowing what Ed Wuncler the III was like; a player who sleeps with women during his spare time. Knowing Ed's characteristics, Latoya wanted to tell her sister about him before he got the chance too.
When she tried to get her sister, Latoya had tripped over the Wuncler's garden hose which caused her to fall and create a loud thud. The next thing she knew she was faced with a gun pointed to her face. Out of fear, Latoya began to scream at the top of her lungs. As a response to Latoya's loud terrifying scream, Riley had rushed to cover Latoya's mouth. Disgusted by Riley's hand covering her mouth, Latoya bit Riley's hard that it got Riley to remove his hand from Latoya's mouth, apparently leaving a swollen bite mark on his hand.
Latoya snapped back into reality, back into her classroom after remembering to what had happened the night before. Riley was still watching her as if he was expecting an apology. She looked at Riley's swollen hand then back at him, she frowned.
"Well if you are expecting an apology from me, then you can just forget it! Everything that has happened to you happened because you deserved it! From making sexist comments about my sister's to setting one of them up with a dangerous, psychopathic, ignorant veteran from the war!" Latoya shot back without realizing how loud she was.
"Latoya Johnson!" Mrs. Robinson called impatiently to Latoya, "I'm going to let you off the hook this time because you are a new student. But one more outburst like that and I'm afraid you are going to have to stay after school for detention," she warned, "do I make myself clear?"
Latoya bowed her head down from embarrassment, "yes ma'am."
Latoya felt a hint of irritation hearing Riley could not help but chuckle at her for getting in trouble. Hearing Riley's quiet chuckle cause Mrs. Robinson to redirect her attention to him.
"That goes for you too Riley Freeman," Mrs. Robison said to Riley very sternly.
Riley quickly stopped chuckling and almost immediately frowned from Mrs. Robinson's warning as he put his gloves back on.
Latoya looked at Riley from the corner of her eye as she rested her check on her palm with her elbow on her desk and tried to focus what was in front of her, Maybe even a trip to the principal's office wouldn't be so bad neither, I'd rather be anywhere else but here…
End Chapter
