Disclaimer: I do not own the boondocks
The ride back home was quiet between Tom and Jazmine. Jazmine still wasn't exactly on speaking terms with her father. It was easier for her to forgive Huey. When all of this happened he was ten and he thought he was doing what was right, it was stupid, but he still had good intentions.
Tom knew what he was doing and had yet to apologize for it. Whoever did this to her at school only proved his point, in his mind at least. The look on his face when she got in the car said as much.
When Tom pulled into the yard he stopped Jazmine before she could get out by putting a hand on her shoulder. Jazmine sighed and sat back in her seat and took her hand off the door handle. Tom took that as a sign that she was prepared to listen.
"Jazmine you have to see why I did what I did based on what happened today. You went on one date with Huey and you were hurt because of it."
"You know what Dad, you could not be more wrong. I'm not in any physical harm from someone pulling a prank on me. In case you didn't know pranks are normal in high school."
Tom looked at her incredulously, "Jazmine someone spray painting your locker with red and calling you a slut is far from the pranks that were pulled when I was in high school."
Jazmine folded her arms defiantly, "Yeah, well that was a long time ago…can I go now?"
Tom sighed and rested his hands on the wheel, "How long are you going to be mad at me about this Huey situation."
Jazmine opened the car door and hopped out and turned to look at him, "Until you realize how much you hurt me," she closed the car door and headed towards the front door of the house.
Tom got out of the car as well and followed her to the front door. Tom walked in behind Jazmine and watched her angrily pull off her shoes in the foyer. When she was about to head up the stairs to her room Tom called out for her to stop.
Jazmine stopped reluctantly but did not turn around, she put her hand on the stair railing and waited for him to speak.
"Look Jazmine," Tom sighed, "I know that you were hurt by me asking Huey to cease all contact with you. If you remember in the early years when it first happened I held you when you cried when he refused to talk to you."
Jazmine turned to look at him but didn't say anything. She really wanted to hear what he had to say, she at least wanted to hear the apology that she felt she deserved.
"I respected Huey a lot and I still respect him even now but, he had been through a lot that had aged him faster than you and you were both the same age. He was aging you faster than me and your mother intended. You stopped believing in a lot of things that a ten year old girl should still believe in. You stopped playing with dolls and started taking care of his wounds. You stopped believing in unicorns and started watching the news and believing the views that Huey had about the world. In my eyes my little girl was becoming a little Huey Freeman and that is far from what I wanted for you."
"I knew what I was doing would hurt for a little bit but, in the end I just knew that it would all work out for you. I figured you would make new friends, friends that were more your speed. That's why we signed you up for gymnastics and the ballet so you could meet new people and make new connections. Believe me Jazmine, I saw that that was not working the way that I wanted it to but, I thought it had already gone too far. When you came and told me that Huey had started to go out of his way to be mean to you I thought that he had actually started to resent you for what I had asked him to do."
Tom gestured for Jazmine to sit down on the couch so that he could continue his explanation. Jazmine sat at the opposite end of the couch from her father showing him that she was listening yet, still apprehensive.
"I thought things between you and Huey were just done because it had been so many years and you had even stopped talking about him. Then I came home one day and he's here and it was like nothing had changed. You two were arguing like you used to and I was sure the laughter was soon to follow. I was happy at first to see it but then I thought about the danger that comes as a package deal with Huey. So, that's why I reacted the way I did."
Tom scooted over on the couch to rest his hand on Jazmine's shoulder and when she didn't shrug it off he took that as a good sign.
"Jazmine, I will never stop caring about your safety and wanting to keep you safe. But, after seeing how you reacted and listening to what your mother had to say. I know I could have gone about it in a better way. So, I'm sorry for what I did in the past and I'm sorry for what I said in the car. I know what happened at school today didn't actually cause you any physical harm. Emotional harm is debatable but, despite how I act I have seen the strong young woman you have become."
Tom reached out his arms for a hug with a hopeful look on his face and smiled when Jazmine rolled her eyes and hugged him. With a squeeze Tom asked, "Does this mean that you are finished being mad at me."
Jazmine gave a quick squeeze and pulled back, "No, but we're getting there. For the record, despite what you and Huey may think I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I was then and I am now. But, I appreciate you caring about me." Jazmine got up from the couch to head up the stairs but stopped and turned with a smile, "From now on though maybe get a second opinion from mom before doing something that could, you know be emotionally scarring for the rest of my life."
Tom smiled back, "I'll do my best sweetpea."
Back at school…
Things had pretty much calmed down since the morning. The school janitor, Mr Harris, reluctantly cleaned Jazmine's locker for the second time in two weeks. Those who passed him in the hallway heard him grumble about wanting to know what was so special about this girl that people had to keep messing with her locker.
wasn't the only one who was wondering what had made Jazmine so special. There were many girls who had their eyes set on Emmanuel Barnes who were wondering what could have possibly made him put flowers on her locker and then when things didn't go as planned, set out to destroy it.
This was the topic of conversation at the lunch table where Cindy, Caesar, Huey and Riley found themselves at again.
"I mean I just don't get it," Cindy said, stabbing one of the tomatoes in her salad before popping it into her mouth, "how did Emmanuel even know that Jazmine and Huey went out this weekend if he wasn't even in town."
Caesar shrugged, "I mean I'm sure somebody besides us saw them at the yogurt place. That is a pretty popular spot in town. Maybe somebody texted him the picture and then he had it printed out."
Cindy and Caesar both turned to look at Huey who had been surprisingly quiet since they had sat down. Huey raised an eyebrow at them in response. Caesar nudged Huey in his arm.
"C'mon Huey, what do you think about all of this?"
"I don't think Emmanuel did it."
"What," Caesar and Cindy asked at the same time. They smiled at each other and then turned back to Huey.
"Huey, what are you talking about? How could you not think that Emmanuel messed with Jazmine's locker."
"Think about his past behavior Ceez. He's way more violent than this. He almost fought me on Jazmine's doorstep for just being there and he suckerpunched me in the parking lot for thinking that I had something to do with her cancelling their date. This time there was actual proof that I was making moves on Jazmine. I expect more from him than vandalism. Doing something petty like this is not his style at all."
Cindy and Caesar both nodded in agreement at his response. When they thought about it that made sense.
Riley had been sitting quietly for the duration of the lunch period, which was unusual for him but no one had said anything because he was on his phone texting so they figured nothing was wrong. When he finally did put his phone down Cindy was the first to question him.
"So, Riley, who you been texting?"
Riley sucked his teeth in Cindy's direction, "I don't kiss and tell," he sneered when Caesar started laughing, "Well I don't kiss and tell anymore. Anyway, Huey is right it wasn't E who messed with Jazmine this morning. It was some other chick that he was messing with before Jazmine who ain't realize that he ain't want her ass no more and defacing school property won't gonna change his mind."
"Riley, how do you know all this?"
"I got connections... and I got class with E."
Cindy scoffed, "What possible class could you have with a senior as a freshman?"
Riley threw a carrot at Cindy which she snatched out of the air with her teeth.
"For your information little snow bunny," Cindy made a face at him before smiling at the irony in his joke, "I have advanced art with E. He got called out of class today, even the principal assumed it was him until they were able to pull the security cameras from the hallway."
"Wow, so that means that it is only a matter of time before the whole school knows that it wasn't him," Caesar ran his hand through his dreads, "Y'all think Jazzy already knows?"
"I don't think so but I'll tell her when I go over to her place after school. Riley, is Emmanuel still in school?"
Riley was back on his phone and responded without looking up, "Nah, he never came back from the office, we found all that out from a girl who happened to be in the office and overheard the principal talking about it."
Huey sat back pensively and thought about how Emmanuel was probably handling knowing that he and Jazmine were now a thing. Based off of his past reactions to them just hanging out and barely being friends he couldn't see this blowing over easy.
The bell rang signaling the end of lunch. Everyone got up to throw away their trash and head to their next class.
"Leave it to Jazmine to almost end up with the most violent nigga in Wuncler High. Leave it to me to let that be the one nigga that slip past me and actually get a chance to talk to Jazmine.'
Huey's next class was Calculus and as luck would have it somehow Jake and him ended up being partners.
Now Huey didn't actually hate Jake. He just preferred to not have to deal with him. He was cool for a white boy until he became ignorant about his privilege and let something dumb slip from his mouth. Then Huey strongly disliked him, other than that Jake was fine.
was out today so a substitute was there with a worksheet for them to work on for the majority of class. Fortunately knew that most substitutes were useless so assigning an entire packet on a day she was out would just be a waste of time.
"That stuff with Jazmine this morning was crazy right, dude?"
Huey nodded and finished up the problem he was working on so he could give the next one to Jake.
"I mean you know me and E are both on the football team so we're pretty close but me and Jazmine are friends. Plus she's like the nicest girl in this school. She didn't deserve that. I was blown when I thought it was E."
"You know it wasn't him right," Huey said, taking the worksheet back from Jake so he could do the next problem.
"Oh yeah, I heard through the grapevine that it was Kim Masters, she's crazy dude. Anyway, I didn't hear that until after I did some research of my own," Jake flipped over the worksheet after finishing the last problem, "I thought to myself how would he even know that Jazmine had went out with you AND how would he have gotten that picture if he was in Virginia this weekend. So, I looked up the town in Virginia that he goes to all the time."
Huey was interested in where this was going at this point and made a 'go on' gesture with his hand.
"Right, right, the only thing that was in the paper for Fredericksburg Virginia this weekend was the domestic abuse case involving Charles Barnes. Must be E's dad or something. I didn't think that E lived in an abusive house. I mean I've met his dad and I thought he was pretty chill, guess you never know. Am I right?"
Huey nodded in thought. The more stuff that came up about Emmanuel today the more funny the feeling in his gut got. He didn't know what but he felt that something bad was about to happen.
A/N: Hey y'all! I know it's been a long ass time but we back like we never left. What better time to finish this story than in quarantine? I apologize for the years of hiatus and I'm not even gone make any more promises but please review! Reviews show me that you like this and I should keep going. Otherwise I feel like its trash and I should just stop. Tell me how you feel, Tell me how you doing, tell me something in the reviews. Please!