Thanks for all the reviews guys! You motivate me to go on. Also be prepared for a OC in this and please tell me if you don't like her so I can change any thing if problems arise. Special thank to Paige1292, thanks gurl!
Chapter 6: Enter a tamed jungle
I couldn't help but look behind me at my diminishing friend. She's hiding something from me, something big. She was always texting Riley or waiting to text him. Running off to be with him at the slightest moment. I was starting to wonder if I was like that with Huey, pushing Cindy aside with out a second thought.
"Huey, do I ignore Cindy?" We floated through the hall to our first period History with Mr. Peterson. Huey shot me a annoyed look, his eyes sending me back to a time when I was young and naive.
"You come crying to me when ever she doesn't reply to a text." he remarked. "'Terrorist Huey! They got her!'"
I huffed my cheeks, sighing heavily. " I don't sound like that...I didn't tell her about ..us. She should have been the first to know. She my best friend. How can I be a good friend if I don't tell her everything?"
Through his afro I could see wine colored pupils roll themselves. "Please Jazmine." He was always so uncaring when it came to other people. It pissed me off sometimes. I wasn't the only one in the world.
We walked a little bit farther in silence. My mind was consumed with the everyday sounds of the school. My eyes around over the crowd. I could understand why Huey hates it here. They was no diversity. No spots that caught the eyes.
Everyone looked the same with slight variations. Blonde hair to brown hair to black hair. Pale white to a warm peach to a summer tan. Blue eyes turn to brown eyes. Some where beautiful while others were lacking.
But there was no mixture. Well, I couldn't say that. The Freeman brothers, Ceasar, and myself are that mixture. The we were the small yet noticable stain that kept the school from being a bleach white napkin.
"Jazmine?" We had stopped walking and Huey was staring down at me, one eyebrow raised in question.
"Huh?" Dark eyes assaulted mine, shuffling through my mind and raiding my thoughts. I felt so bare around Huey. The black teen had the power to strip me to my most inner self and analyze what he saw. It thrilled and scared me at the same time.
"I asked you a question. Do you want to do something tonight?" His face was still and calculating. He was fifty moves ahead, thinking of all my possible answers then having ten plausible answers to all of them.
I gave him my best smile. "I wanna see Smurfs 2!"
I walked past him and into the history classroom. I knew it probably wasn't the sexiest date to have but the little blue things were too cute.
His sigh was heavy. "Really, Jazmine? Smurfs? The first one was horrible."
"No, it was adorable!"
We playfully argued over the cuteness of the movie. More students filled the room, the noise chatter dissipating as Mr. Peterson walked into the class. His usual wary smile was a smug frown as he ordered us to complete silence.
"Class today we have a new student attending our advance history class." He didn't glare at the door but simple stare at it with begrudging anticipate.
A dark skinned girl stepped into the classroom. No one spoke. I could see why Mr. Peterson was acting so cold. "Her name is Vase tee E-rokwee." I knew he was pronouncing he name wrong. "Please give her a warm welcome."
There was sparse clapping, a roaming cough breezed through the class. Vashti stood awkwardly at the front of the class. Her dark hair was braided down her back. She rolled her thick lips underneath her teeth.
"Now why don't you tell us something about yourself Ms. E-rokwee." Mr. Peterson groaned.
The girl shuffled a bit, straightening her red button up. "My name is Vashti Erokwu. I am sixteen years old. I'm from Nigeria." Her accent was rich. "I enjoy sports and cooking."
Her fingers twirled a braid before flipping it back in place. "May I sit teacher?"
Mr. Peterson forced his steely eyes on her before nodding to an empty seat in the front. Right next to me. I was holding back the need to scream. I was so excited! The new girl was right next to me. She probably didn't have any books so she would have to share with me. We might have the same schedule! She follow me around and sit with me at lunch! We'd be best friends.
I sneaked a peek at her. Her fingers were curled around a pen as she wrote in the notebook, copying what ever was in the board. She combed back her small, tight braids with her hand. As she looked up to copy more of the teacher's notes before she caught me staring. It was too late to look away.
"You should hurry and write before teacher gets notices." Her tone was hushed and urgent. My smiled deflated. As I watched her go back to scribbling. I turned back to the board.
For the rest of the class she didn't say a word to me or anyone else and in all of the other honor's classes I attended. She even followed Huey into Political Economics when I went to contemporary dance.
"She hates me Huey!" I whined into my hands. The stare Vashti gave me was so heart breaking! She must have thought I was annoying. Maybe she could sense I was a lousy friend. Maybe she talked to Cindy and they decided to be best friends without me! That would really be horrible.
"She doesn't hate you." His tone drawled as he pend the cafeteria door for the both of us. "You haven't even talked to her."
"But she talked to me! She mus think I'm a poor student or I'm stupid." I moped to our usual table.
"No she doesn't Jazmine." He settled in next to me, resting his cheek on his fist. He stared at me with leisure. Despite his frown, the mirth in his eyes mocked me. " She doesn't know you, like you don't know her."
But I couldn't help but whimper on. For the untennth million time today, Huey rolled his eyes at me.
"Want some of my soy sandwich? The pureness of it will cheer you up." He offered me some of his disgusting food. I loved organic food as much as a forced girlfriend could but I had to drew the line somewhere.
"No thanks. It's faken." I gushed. "I prefer real chicken."
Then Ceaser came to sit with us. His dreads were pushed back in a loose ponytail. It looked so good on him. I wished Huey tie down his afro from time to time. Letting a few long curls frame his face. His body glazed with a light scented oil...maybe vanilla. His large hands rubbing my back, massaging me. Maybe him trailing kisses along my neck...
"Jazmine!"
"What?" I was snapped out of a nice fantasy by my only white friend. She glared at me over her seven up.
"She's been like this all day." Huey cited between bits of his sandwich.
"Sorry," I muttered into my unopened lunch bag."What were you saying?"
"I was askin' if you saw that dark azz gurl up ova dere!" Riley snickered beside her.
"Ay' ay' she so dark, niggas think her puzzy a cave!" The delinquents cracked up.
"Her azz so dark her mama though' she was a turd!" The inside out Oreo cooed in her fit of laughter.
I looked over my shoulder to see the dark girl in the corner of the cafe. She ate lunch slowly. I could see some other juniors laughing at something. He waved their hands in front of their noses, pointing. Vashti ignored them as she eat her lunch in an almost unaware serenity.
"She looks lonely." I commented.
"Yeah, it must be tuff' trans'fin from the jungle." the ghetto boy countered. I shot him bullets of hate.
"I think she needs a friend."
"Or a spear."
A quick swap of brown flow through the air to come down hard on the young Freeman's face.
"Shut yo dumb ass up. We all come from 'the jungle' you ignorant idiot." my boyfriend looked her over. "It upsets me she went for the weave, thou."
"Can't keep any sista from that." Ceaser agreed. He studied the girl thoroughly. "But Jazmine's right. She does look lonely."
I stood abruptly. "It's final, she sitting here!" With that, I went to fetch our new friend. She didn't look up when I placed my hands on the table.
"I am sorry if da food offens you. I will eat outside tomorrow."The African girl reprimanded herself. From this spot I could clear hear the taunts from the peers.
"Hey Kunta's daughter! How was the boat ride here?"
"Miss Africa!"
One of them clucked repeatedly. All of them were laughing. I felt a pang of hurt for the new student. Not even four hours into her new school year and she was being teased.
"I'm not here to complain about the food. It actually smells pretty good." I took in a deep breathe to show me truth. It smelt like spicy Jamaican food my mom loved to eat. " I'm Jazmine and I was wondering if you wanted to join me and my friends,"I pointed to the table where kid with corn-rolls and a guy with dreads were yelling at each other. "at our table."
Vashti gazed up at me. There was doubt in her eyes. I waited for her to tell me she hated my stupid guts and would pref not to ever talk to me or my friends again.
"Are you sure it's okay with da rest?" She gazed apprehensively at our rambunctious group.
"Of course!" I gave her my hand and after a few more seconds of consideration, she took it. I lead her to our bench, presenting her like a new toy in the possession of a spoiled child.
"Guys this is Vashti." She looked to the floor bashfully. "This is Huey, Cindy, Riley, and this Micheal-but we call him Ceaser."
"Vashti? What kind of name is that?" Riley inquired in his rude way.
"It's from the old Testaments." Huey groaned at her answer.
"Here we go." He moaned. His best friend patted his back apologetically. I jabbed him sharply with my finger.
"Be nice." I hissed."Come on and sit." I ushered her to sit right next to me. The braided girl sat down looking from person to person. Ceaser was the only one that held eye contact. Vashti was the one to break away and finish her lunch.
There was an agreed awkward silence, as if we all agreed that talking right now would be a bad discussion. We finished the rest of our meal in a stuffy quiet.
"I am sorry I ruined your meal." Vashti tucked a stray braid behind her ear. "It was very wrong of me."
"No way! The are usually really loud, inconsiderate, and obnoxious around people they don't like. Silence was a good sign." We shared a warm laugh that felt really nice to share. As we walked to her locker. It was on the western side of school since all the good lockers close to the main hall were used.
"Your boyfriend Huey seems very cold." she noted as she dialed in her combination.
"How did you know?" I was shocked at her attentiveness.
"I saw you guys holding hands in the morning." She faced me as she exchanged her textbooks for notebooks. "You are dating, no?"
"Yeah we are." The finally bell rang to signal the end of the academic day. " I have dance lessons so I have to go." I didn't want her to leave so soon. I wanted to learn more from her, about her.
"Okay, I will see you tomorrow." She closed her locker gently and started off to the main entrance.
This wasn't a strong chapter for me. Jazmine is hard for me. She is so unlike me in many ways so it was hard to capture her mentality. Tell me what you think of Vashti. I think her quiet and obedient nature could balance really well with the rest of the charters.
Also it's really hard to write Nigerian accents. It isn't like slang or Jamaican were you could visible see the difference since English is their first language. They have a many different sub-languages just like Chinese which is learned along side English. You know spanglish? It's kind of like that but Nigerian.
Ugh...it's difficult to explain. It's easy for me to see because I'm Nigerian so I could imagine...review. Please! Please! Please! Need it, especially if you hate it rip me to shreds if you hate it, put it all in a review! (Put if you like it review to).