"So, you and Don." Darby says as she flops onto my bed. "What about me and Don?" I ask, my face burning. "I've seen the way you guys been lookin at each other all damn day." I roll my eyes. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Darby sits up from my bed. "Oh please Lucy. You know exactly what I'm talking about. You guys couldn't stop starin at each other when we were at Arnie's! Ah, so cute. An interracial couple." She starts batting her eyelashes when I shoot her a glare. "I just met him today, Darby. So hush, hush." I say. She rolls her eyes. "Whatevs. I'm about to take me a shit. See ya." She says then shuts the door behind her. It's only been one day and she already thinks I've found my soul mate. There's then a knock at my door.
"Come in." Ma's head pokes in first then all of her appears. She's beautiful. With her long dark wavy hair and nice personality, she's worth a million. "Hey, Lucy. I was just wondering if we could talk." she says. I nod my head. "Of course." Mom smiles, and then takes a seat on the edge of my bed. It's quiet for a bit, kind of awkward. "You like it here?" she finally asks. Yes and no, but I don't wanna tell her that so I just settle for a simple, "Yes." She seems pleased. "So what happened today?" Ma asks. I tell her but leave out me smoking, the Minxie incident and Don. "Well that Chavo kid sounds great." She tells me. I shrug "Yeah, he's cool." We go into our silent pit again. I know that there is a reason why she wanted to talk. "You like it here?" She asks. I frown. "Ma, you just asked me that." She shakes her head and gives me a little chuckle. "No, I mean this house. Living here and everything." She clarifies. "Oh! Well it's better than when we were with…Dad. So, yeah. I like this place better. More peaceful." I explain. Ma lets out a breath of fresh air. "That's good. I was hoping you would." I nod my head. "I do." Mom pats her leg then hugs me. "Well, I'll let you get back to what you were doin." She tells me. "Ok. Love you ma." "Love you too, Lucille." After that, I did my homework then went to bed. "Who stunk up the bathroom and didn't spray?!" Aunt Roselle yells. I laugh to myself then pull the covers over my head.
"Wake up Lucille. You better get in that bathroom before ya brother." Darby whisper to me. My eyes shoot open just by the thought. I run to the bathroom right when Dommie's getting out of his room. "Ah come on Lucy!" He yells. Hmm. I never knew the smell of victory smelled like Dove soap.
"Ahh, look who's all ready for school. On time." Ma says as I join her and Aunt Roselle in the kitchen. I smile then start buttering up an English muffin. Darby comes into the kitchen now. "Ma is it ok if we head up to Widow's Peak tonight with some friends?" She asks. Auntie turns around with her eyebrows raised. "And by friends, you mean the football team?" There was a pause for a minute. "Yeah, I guess." Darby responds. Auntie groans. "Why can't you have any friends that are girls?" "I have Lucy." Darby pats my back like a man. I have to move over a little. "She's your cousin, of course you're friends. But all you hang around are boys." "That's becuz the girls around here are bi- aren't nice." Nice save Darby. Auntie gives her a look, knowing what she was going to say. "All I'm saying is that you need some girlfriends other than Lucy." Darby nods her head impatiently. "Uh-huh. I'll make sure that I get right on becoming a pimp. So can we go?" Auntie rolls her eyes then looks over to mom. They have a non-speaking conversation before looking back over to us. "Yeah, y'all can go. You just gotta be back by eleven, ok?" We nod our heads before heading out to the truck. "What's going on at the peak?" I ask Darby as we wait for Dommie's slow ass. She shrugs. "Just a little get together that the seniors do. Drinking, shooting, all the things us rebels do." I smirk at her comment. "Can I bring a blunt?" "Yeah. I'll make sure Dommie stays away when you do." And as if on cue, here he comes, walking out of the house. "Thanks Darby." I tell her. "Yeah, yeah." "Y'all miss me?" Dommie asks as he gets in. We both scoff loudly. "You wish."
As we pull up to the school we see everyone outside waiting to go in. Dommie left us to go "mac" on some girls while we headed over to the boys who were by the field.
"What up, people?" Darby says as we get closer to them. They all turn around to look at us. Including the cheerleaders. They didn't say anything of course, but everyone else mumbled a "hey" to us. "Oh, is that Minxie I see?" Darby asks. I look over and there she is. Shit, I really need a smoke right now. "Don't worry Darb, I already talked to her." Chavo says while laughing. I look over to Minxie to see her looking dead at me. She gives me a dirty look before turning around, scared of Darby seeing her. "I know Chavo. I just like to start stuff." Darby explains. Ha! We all know that. I look over to my left and Don is about ten feet away. This is the main reason why I know that he's looking at me. He turns away quickly, and if I'm not mistaken, I see a little bit of blushing going on. But the bell rings, so I don't have enough time to contemplate on it. "So are you and Darby headin up to Widow's Peak tonight?" Don asks as we head to the school building. I didn't know that we're walking next to each other till now. "Oh, uh yeah. W-we'll be up there." I respond. He nods then walks down the left hallway. "See ya there!" He calls from over his shoulder. "Bye." Even though he's probably too far to hear it by now, I say it anyways.
I make it into Health before the bell rings. "If you were a second later Ms. Banks, I would've given you a referral." Mr. Turner tells me. I nod my head then grab the last seat which is by Belle. "Hi, Lucy!" She says in a loud whisper. I smile at her. "Hi, Belle." "So, I know you're going to Widow's Peak tonight, right?" "Yeah, are you?" I ask. Her smile falters a little. "Well, I wasn't really invited. You see, I'm not really apart of the popular group and going to the Peak is mostly for the popular kids." She explains. I furrow my eyebrows. "I wouldn't say I'm popular either." Belle shrugs. "Ya kinda are. You're cousins with a loud mouth who hangs out with footballers." Finally, someone else who says the word "footballers". "Well, I guess since I'm apart of the 'popular group' than I can bring whoever I want, right?" I ask. "Of course." "Then I want you to come." Her face lights up like a Christmas tree. "Really?!" She squeals. "Settle down back there, Ms. Waters." Mr. Turner warns. "Really?" Belle says in a quieter voice. I nod my head. "Oh thank you, Lucy. Thank you." "No problem."
When school lets out, Darby and I head over to the football field to watch them practice. "How long is practice gonna be?" I ask Darby. "About two hours." Ugh. I might as well get started on my homework. Darby scoffs. "Nerd." She says. "Thank you. Want me to do yours too?" I ask. There's a pause for a second. "Yeah."
"Darby!" I hear a Spanish voice scream. I look up from Darby's homework to see a Spanish girl with long curly black hair coming our way. She resembles Chavo a little but of course is girlier. Her curves are what sticks out the most. Darby gets up to hug her. "Vicki!" She yells. "Oh my God, I've missed you, girl!" Vicki says. "I've missed you, too. Where you've been?" They sit down now. "I've been at that damn boarding school the whole time that's up state." Darby's jaws drop. "For that long?" Vicki nods. "For that long," she then looks at me and smiles, "who's this?" Darby looks at me also. "This is my wonderful cousin, Lucy." Vickie's eyes widen. "Oh, you're Lucy! I've heard so much about you, hey," she then hugs me, "where's Dommie?" "He's out on the field." I answer. "He plays, too?" We both nod. "Oh wow. I see Don still has that nice ass." Vickie says while looking out at the field. "Ah, ah, ah. That's Lucy's ass now." Darby teases. I hit her arm and she starts laughing. "You and Don fucked?" She asks. So blunt. I shake my head frantically. "No! I just met him yesterday." I say hurriedly. Vickie nods. "Well, I'll leave Don alone, he's all yours." I don't even respond. "Does Chavo know you're back?" Darby asks. "Nah, just you two. I was gonna head up with you guys to Willow's Peak, tonight." Vickie explains. So she is related to Chavo.
Practice is finally over and Darby, Vickie, and I are waiting by the truck for the guys. "Ya think he's gonna be mad when he sees me?" Vickie asks. "Nah, he won't. He misses you just like everyone else." Darby tells her. Finally, the boys come out. Vickie scans the crowd of boys for Chavo. "Vickie? Is that Vickie?" Chris asks. That makes the whole team look. All of them come over to hug her. Chavo and Don come out together. He looks at me with a questioning look. "Your sister." I mouth to him. His eyes widen and he takes off toward the crowd, pushing his way through. "Brian!" Vickie yells when they're finally face to face. He doesn't say anything, he just hugs her. Everyone starts heading to their cars to head up to the Peak. They finally depart and head to Chavo's car. "No one's driving with me except for Vickie." Chavo exclaims to everyone. Some guys groan at that. "Damn, who's the chick with Chavo?" Dommie asks while putting his bag in the trunk bed. "That's his sister, Vickie." Darby answers, getting into the truck. "Vickie got ass." I look at him and see that look in his eyes. That look that tells me he's going to spend all his energy trying to get with a girl. And that girl is Vickie Chavez.
Since Chavo didn't let anyone ride with him, our truck is packed with footballers. I had to sit on Chris's lap and five are in the bed. When we finally get to the Peak, the sun is setting. It looks exactly like it did on the first night when I went up here with Darby. I stretch when I finally get out of the truck. "Your ass is soft." Chris tells me. Damn weirdo. "Thanks?" I say then start walking around, looking for a place to smoke. "Walk down that path and you can smoke at the first boulder rock thingy." Darby whispers. I nod my head then start up the path. After about five minutes of walking, I find the boulder rock thingy. I get out my blunt and lighter, then light, it, up! I take my first puff and my head spaces out. I love it. The smoke leaves my nose as if I'm a bull and it looks cool as ever. I hear some twigs crack under someone's shoes. The blunt is already in my mouth when the person emerges. If my heart wasn't beating fast enough from the weed, it sure as hell was on a roll when Don appeared.