TwIsTeR

Chapter Two: This Isn't Real

Mariah

"Mariah. Wait up!" Manny called, running up beside Mariah.

"Hey, Manny. What up?" Mariah asked, as she kept walking, eyes glued to whatever was in front of her.

"Nothing really. I wanted to know if maybe you wanted to, like, hang out or something?" Manny asked slowly as she walked down the hallway with Mariah. Mariah swung open the doors and they made their way down the steps.

"Sure...I guess. What do you have in mind?" Mariah asked, stopping and taking a look at Manny.

"Um, I don't know. How 'bout going to the-Dot for something to eat? There's a lot of cuties there, you know." Manny said with a grin on her face.

A tiny smile spread across Mariah's face, "Alright. Sounds like a plan."

Jimmy

"Jimmy, dude..." Spinner waved his hand in front of Jimmy's face and Jimmy ignored him. "What's wrong with you?"

Jimmy's eyes traveled toward the doorway of the-Dot, where Manny Santos was standing with a familiar looking girl. Jimmy's eyes lit up as he realized who it was.

Spinner followed his gaze and raised his eyebrows, "Isn't that the girl who tried to tell Mr. Simpson off in M.I this morning?"

Jimmy smirked and nodded, "Mariah...yeah that's her."

Jimmy watched as Mariah and Manny found somewhere to sit, and started to talk. Manny kept glancing over at Jimmy, noticing how his eyes were glued to her new friend. Finally, Manny nudged Mariah and whispered something to her. Jimmy quickly looked away as Mariah glanced up and made eye contact with him. She raised an eyebrow and went back to chatting with Manny.

"I get it. You have a little crush on the girl with the majorly bad attitude. How sweet," Spinner said, laughing.

Jimmy threw him a Look and Spin immediately shut himself up. He turned away from Spinner and began watching the two friends, trying to make up a good excuse to go over there.

Mariah

"Oh my gosh," Manny said, laughing a little.

"What?" Mariah asked, looking at her curiously.

"It's Jimmy Brooks. He's totally checking you out!" Manny said, grinning from ear to ear.

Mariah slowly raised an eyebrow, "Um...so?"

Manny rolled her eyes, "He probably likes you or something. Go over there and talk to him."

"How can he like me? He doesn't even know me!" Mariah said, also rolling her eyes.

Manny shrugged and took a bite out of her veggie burger.

"Well, he is kind of cute..." Mariah said, pushing thoughts of Kareem out of her mind. He wasn't even close to being a boyfriend anyway. It was more like having a live in bully that loved to torture her.

"So go talk to him." Manny said, smiling.

"I'll wait until he comes to me..." Mariah said stubbornly. "I don't go to people, they come to me."

Manny shrugged and continued to eat her burger, "Whatever."

Jimmy

"So, are you going to go over there, or what?" Spin asked Jimmy, mouthful of french fries.

Jimmy made a face at Spinner's disgusting habit of talking with his mouth full, and shrugged, "What am I going to say?"

Spin shrugged and swallowed his food. "I don't know..."

After fifteen minutes of pondering over what to ask, Jimmy came up with something.

He slowly got up and walked over to their table. "Um, are you using that ketchup?"

Mariah and Manny burst out laughing and he just stared at them until a smile spread across his own face, "What?"

"I saw you grillin' me a minute ago, Brooks. Don't act like you came over here just for ketchup," Mariah said, gleam in her eye. "Take a seat."

He sat down and they started to talk, just the three of them. Jimmy noticed Manny wasn't as stuck up and slutty as everybody said she was. She was actually really sweet and funny. As for Mariah, she was kind of hard to read. One minute she was all over you, the next minute she's staring at you like you were a frog.

'Maybe it's because she's testing me, or something,' he thought to himself, 'I don't know, but she's playing hard to get. And everybody knows I love a challenge.'

Mariah

"Ohmigosh!" Mariah gasped, staring at her cell phone.

"What?" Jimmy and Manny asked, turning to look at me.

"I didn't realize how late it was." Mariah gushed, trying to clean up her mess so she could get out of there.

"Um, Mariah... It's only six." Manny said, staring at Mariah curiously.

"I know, but I-" Mariah decided not to let any lies come out of her mouth, by saying as little as possible. "I need to uh, get home."

"Why?"

"'Cause I do." She said, and she pushed open the door and left Manny and Jimmy sitting there at the table.

"And you've been where? I thought you were gonna pick Shay up after school." Kareem's voice made it's way to Mariah's ears as she flicked the hallway light on.

"I was chillaxin with this girl I met. She's really cool." Mariah said, walking into the kitchen. She set her bag down on the table and took a seat.

"That's not what Jamal told me." Kareem said icily.

Mariah froze. How could she had been so stupid? Jamal, a friend of Kareem's, worked at The Dot. He must of saw her, Jimmy, and Manny and snitched.

"What did Jamal tell you?" Mariah asked coolly, getting up out of her seat to fix dinner.

"He told me that you and some little high school boy were sitting there flirting like damn." Kareem said, coming up behind me.

"Can we finish talking about this later, please?" Mariah asked, taking a box of Mac and Cheese out of the cabinet.

"No, we can't." Kareem said, crossing his arms.

"Do you want dinner or not?" Mariah asked, knowing he would back off immediately.

He did just that, "When we put Shayleece to bed, we're talking."

Mariah shrugged and started to make dinner.

"So you think you can just go off and play me now?" Kareem asked, closing the bedroom door behind her.

"Play you? What the hell are you talking about?" Mariah asked, squinting at her boyfriend.

"Jamal told me everything. How you was out and about with that li'l high school niggah," Kareem said, crossing his arms and looking at her.

Mariah rolled her eyes, "Kareem, I was chillaxin with this girl from school and he came over and started talking to us. I figured he was pretty cool, so I let him chill. That's it."

Kareem squinted at her suspiciously, "That ain't what Jamal told me."

"Who gives a fuck about Jamal?!? Jamal doesn't know shit!" Mariah exploded, "You care about him more than you do me and Shay! Oh yeah, him and Vanessa. How's she doing, 'Reem?"

Kareem just stared at her and blinked, so she continued, "Don't act like you're not out clubbin' with her when you say your playing poker at Tyrone's. And do you remember when you missed half of Shay's second birthday for that cheap bitch?"

"Those are dirty lies! You fuckin' liar!"

Bash! Mariah felt Kareem's fist smack into her left eye. She stumbled and felt at her eye, which was swelling rapidly. She backed away from the fuming Kareem, and fell back on the bed.

"I'm sorry," Kareem gushed, rushing to her side.

She pushed him away with her free hand, "Stay away from me. Leave, now."

Kareem just stared at her.

"Now!"

He shook his head and walked out the door, slamming it behind him.

"Tell Vanessa I said hi..." Mariah whispered to herself, getting off of the bed. She stood in front of the mirror and stared at her reflection. Angry at herself for letting Kareem abuse her like he did, she felt her own fist slam into the mirror. A million glass shards flew everywhere and blood gushed from Mariah's hand. She just stared at it, and the mess around her and thought to herself, 'This isn't real.'

She was a careless sixteen year old, hair flowing behind her, grin on her face, no children or worries at all. She had a mother and a father who cared about her and loved her. That was real. Not living in a place where she feared for her life whenever something went wrong. Not a place where there was two year old calling her "Mommy". Not in a place where no matter what she did, it was never good enough.

'This isn't real,' She thought, a lone tear falling down her cheek. But oh, how real it was.