Chapter 6:
(1975)
The cafeteria at Franklin Elementary school was noisy as ever, but this was always the best part of the day. Starving, I grabbed a plate of spaghetti, green beans, some fruit , pudding and a carton of milk. "Cal, over here!" I turned to see who was calling me and it was my best friend, Whitney Houston. She had brought her lunch that day, so she was able to save us some seats. As I walked over to my table, I ran into Keisha Taylor, one of the prettiest girls in our 6th grade class. We would wave to each other sometimes in the hallway because she was in a different class than me. "Hey Calvin," she told me. "Hey Keisha." I said after clearing my throat. "Whatcha doin'?" she asked. "Um, just about to eat." I hoped I didn't sound stupid by stating the obvious… you know, since it was lunchtime in a cafeteria. "Oh," she said looking at her own tray. "So I was just wondering… do you wanna eat with me and my friends today? There's room for one more." I looked over at Whitney who was taking out her sandwich and happened to look up at us. "Well I would but, I can't. I always eat with my friends." "Oh." She said again, looking over at her.
She shifted her weight. "Can I ask you something?" "Go ahead," I told her. "Do you like Whitney like a girlfriend or something? Y'all are always around each other." I shook my head. "No we aren't girlfriend and boyfriend. We're just best friends and neighbors. She's just a really cool person to hang with." "Well, she never says anything to us!" Keisha huffed. "It's like she's a snob. I mean she's always just with you and the other guys." "She's not a snob, she's nice. She has her reasons why she doesn't talk to everyone. It's mainly because girls mess with her for no reason. I've seen it myself." I was getting tired of explaining to kids why me and Whitney were always hanging together. It was like it was weird for a girl and guy to be best friends and I didn't understand why.
"Okay, let's just drop it." Keisha said, breaking my thoughts. "I know that you are good in math and I was wondering if you would help me with my homework after school sometimes." "I think that should be fine. It would just have to be after my Science club meeting." I informed her. "That's fine. Well we can talk about it later, but I just thought I would ask. My friends are waiting on me." After we split up, I sat down across from Whitney.
"Whatcha got today?" I asked her, as usual. Whitney peaked at her sandwich. "Bologna and cheese, my favorite! And I've got some carrots, an apple and a brownie." My mouth literally watered at the sound of her mother's delicious brownie. "You know you are gonna have to share that with me!" Whitney gave me a look, which I called her "poker face". "Hmm…okay sure. But you know our deal. Nothing comes free, so let's start the bargain." I quickly slapped down a cup of Jell-O pudding. She gave me a crazy look. "You think some store-bought pudding is gonna make me give you some of this moist, chocolaty brownie? Don't think so." I thought hard before giving her my poker face. "Okay…. I'll help you finish up your Science project, but you gotta give me almost ALL of it." Whitney looked thoughtful while she tapped her fingers on the table. "You drive a hard bargain Thompson. Okay, I will do it ONLY if you give your pudding too." "Deal!" I quickly said and she broke off most of the brownie and I threw her the pudding. We both knew that it was a win-win, since I loved anything that had to do with science, or math for that matter. And as usual, we took each other's bait.
For almost three years, we had discovered almost everything about each other. When Whitney wasn't with her brothers Spikey (Michael) and sometimes Gary and I wasn't running after my brother and my little sister wasn't following me around, we stuck together. We went to school together, did our homework together, ate over each other's houses, and of course, played together. Although I had other friends, I instantly felt closest to Whitney and I think she felt the same with me. When something was bothering me, I would tell her and knew that all of my secrets were safe and that I wouldn't be judged. I tried to do the same for her. Whitney (or Whit as I called her) was a kinda shy and quiet person, especially around people she didn't know. But around me and her family, she could gab her head off! I didn't care most of the time though, because she would always say something to make us laugh for hours. And I felt comfortable enough around her to be a goof. Plus she did cool stuff, like introducing me to her cousin Dionne Warwick and always bringing me back a souvenir whenever she got to travel with her or her mom. But even without doing all of that, I still would be her friend.
In my opinion, Whitney was one of a kind and it was too bad that some of the kids didn't know it.
As we began to eat, Whitney let me in on some gossip. "I saw Keisha trying to get you to eat with her," she began. "You know she likes you right?" I almost choked on my milk. "She likes me?" I asked." I thought I would be the last person that she would like. She doesn't even know me." "Well, I heard her talking about you in the bathroom. She was telling her friends that you were soooo tall and soooo cute and smart and soooo mature compared to the other boys." "Me?" I asked, still in shock. "Yes Cal! I just wish she would see how you mature you REALLLLY are." "Ha, ha very funny. You really should be a comedian Whit." "Well my name isn't WHIT-ney for nothing," she said, opening her drink. "Anyways, I don't think you should hang too much with Keisha and her gang. They are what my mom calls, 'fast'." "My mom uses that word to describe girls who try and do things that adults do." I said. "She is fine though!" "I guess so." Whitney said, rolling her eyes. I often wondered if she sometimes compared herself to some of the girls at our school, like Keisha. I mean, I have to admit, Whitney is a very pretty girl herself. Her mother, Miss Cissy didn't play when it came to her looks at all times. She still made her wear dresses and kept her hair curled. Some of the girls still thought that she was stuck up because of how she dressed, and no matter what, it really bothered her.
One day, we walked to school and as usual, Whitney had on a blouse and a pleated skirt. "Wait here for a sec." she told me once we approached the school bathrooms. She went in, carrying her backpack and a few minutes later, she came out in a pair of jeans. "What happened to your skirt?" I asked, looking her up and down. She pointed to her backpack. "I'm tired of getting being called Prissy Houston. I wanna show everyone that I can wear jeans just like they do." "So what are you gonna do? Sneak clothes in your backpack every day?" I asked. Whitney humped her shoulders. "If I have to. And you can't tell anyone about this Cal, ok?" "What you wear ain't got nothing to do with me!" I told her. "I could care less with what you wear." Once she started doing this, I think it took the mean girls by surprise because finally, Whitney dressed down like them. They left her alone for a while, but they would find something else to tease her about, like her reading glasses. They would do it most when I wasn't around, like in our separate girls and boys gym classes. It got so bad that they started following her home after school, on days they knew I had Science Club so it would be easy to gang up on her. Whitney told me that she had to sometimes run home so they wouldn't mess with her . "There's no way I'm just gonna stand there and let those girls kick my butt!" she would say. One day though, Miss Cissy had had enough of them teasing her daughter. After coming up to the school a couple of times (and embarrassing Whitney to the core because she would raise a whole lot of cane when she was there), nothing wasn't being done fast enough.
One day I was getting over the Chickenpox and had missed my third day of school. My little sister Lydia came up to me while I was watching TV. "Calvin, Whitney is outside with a buncha girls and it looks like she's gonna put her dukes up!" I shook my head. "Stop making up stories Lydia." I knew how my sister could lie sometimes to get my attention. "No, Calvin I swear! Come look!" she grabbed me and pulled me outside on our porch. Lo and behold, Whitney was outside of her house, on her own porch with her mother, with a gang of girls surrounding them. "I want the baddest one of you to come over here because Whitney is going to fight you today." Mrs. Houston told them. Tina, the so called "biggest" bully of our class stepped towards Whitney. Mrs. Houston pushed her into Tina and Whitney surprised everyone by swigging hard at her. She looked angry and she took Tina down to the ground- literally! "Get her Whit! Get her!" I cheered, not caring if no one saw me still in my PJs. I knew that Whit could fight (I mean she hung around mainly boys and had two brothers), but it was time that everyone else knew it. After a few minutes of them going at it, Mrs. Houston needed me and Michael's help to tear the fight up. "I'ma get you, you stupid little bitch!" Tina yelled, grabbing her stuff looking all embarrassed. "Young lady, I think we saw what happened today and there will be no more fighting. And there are no bitches around here. Now I suggest you all head on home." Said Mrs. Houston. And that was the end of that.
Although Whitney was scared that her mother gave her the option of being whooped by her or by Tina, she was glad that she finally could show them she could fight. I was proud she did her thing too. Tina and her crew finally left her alone. They still didn't like her, but they found a new respect for her.