Chapter Two

“Cheyrenne, I have your breakfast waiting on you downstairs.” My mom announced calling me by my middle name, while peaking her head inside my room door. Lifting my heavy head off my plush pillow, I groaned groggily while shielding my eyes from the bright light.

“Okay,” I said before dropping my head back down onto the pillow. She closed my room door and went about her business, leaving me to get ready.

Once downstairs, I was greeted with buttermilk French toast and sausages. Smiling wide, I sat at the island and drenched my plate with syrup. I ate silently as my mom read her newspaper and glanced at the clock periodically, sipping on her glass of orange juice.

“Amanda, do you have anyone you want to invite to your graduation…besides family members?” My mom asked, bringing me to raise my brow in inquiry.

“The only other people I know are graduating with me.” I told her with a small, humorless laugh. She always wanted me to go out to make friends but I never did. The only friends I ever had moved away, drifted apart from me, or turned their backs on me when I wouldn’t follow them up to do stupid things. I’d rather be alone than be with a crowd of no good wanna-bees.

“Baby, are you sure?” She asked with a questioning glance.

“Ma, I think I would know if I had friends or not.” I told her as she sighed heavily.

“There’re some nice kids about your age at the church, why don’t you invite some of them?” She pushed.

“Mom, I’m okay with not having friends.” I stressed. I hated whenever she did this. I knew she meant no harm but it got pretty annoying most of the time.

“I know but, I don’t want you to grow up in a shell and become an antisocial cat woman.” She joked lightly.

“First off, I hate and am allergic to cats and second, I’ve already converted into a shell.”

“This sudden shyness is starting to bug me. You never used to be this way, want to tell me what‘s up?” She asked. “Is this about your dad and me?” She added after I failed to respond.

“No.” I said, answering both of her questions. A year ago, she and my dad walked away from a twenty-year marriage simply because they outgrew each other. They were still good friends, but any fool could sense the tension between them whenever they got within close proximities of one another.

“Well, you know I‘m willing to listen whenever you have a problem, okay sweetie?” I nodded just as I finished up my plate and downed my orange juice as well. I tossed my dirty dishes into the left side of our double sink and kissed her on the cheek before grabbing my house keys and backpack.

The fifteen-minute trek from my home to school seemed like less than five minutes since I was so used to walking. I loved the scenery and spent that time to enjoy nature and spend some time with myself. I had a car but choose not to drive it if I could walk where I needed to go. Only when a place was out of walking distance did I drive; gas prices were way too high to drive just a few minutes to nowhere. Some of the twisted kids around here would back out of their driveway to the mailbox if they wanted to, which made no sense to me.

Finally making it to school, I made my way inside and headed straight to my locker to get my needed materials for first period. After clasping my Environmental Science book, I closed the locker and headed straight to that class.

“Welcome to class Ms. Amanda Cheyrenne Taylor; I just love your name.” My teacher Mrs. Marriott greeted me. She was always happy to see me simply because I was the only nerd that actually paid attention to her boring self. I only paid attention because I enjoyed Science…that was about it. She was a little on the weird side if you asked me.

“Hey Mrs. Marriott.” I greeted, setting my book and binder on my assigned desk near the front. She commenced to talk me to death until the rest of the students filed in just before the tardy bell. Being that I didn’t speak to anyone, I was early to all of my classes.

The day went on, boring as usual. In second period, which was Trigonometry, we did nothing. Then in third period, English 4, we did yet again, nothing. Wrapping up the day with American Government, I did, once again nothing. I enjoyed my first and last class, the two in between, I could do without. I wasn’t big on Math or English but I did what was needed in order to get the hell out of here.

“Hey Amanda.” A voice almost as quiet as mine greeted. I pivoted my neck to face Tatiana, Trey’s sister. She rarely spoke to me anymore and when she did, it was a simple ‘hi, how are ya’ and ‘bye’.

“Hi.” I greeted with a complimentary wave.

“I was wondering if you had all of your Trig notes.” She said. We didn’t have that class together but she had it first while I had it second, we would sometimes see one another whenever we were switching classes.

“Um, yeah.” I responded. “Which section do you need?” I asked her.

“Just three point three.” She replied. Fishing through my backpack, I pulled out the binder for that particular class to find the section she wanted right on top.

“Here you go.” I stated, handing it over to her.

“Thanks, is your number still the same?” She asked as I nodded.

“(305)-851-2276” I recited just in case she had the wrong one.

“Okay, I’ll call you when I’m done with them.” Without any other words, she walked off to the parking lot as I made my way down the sidewalk and away from the school.

A while ago, Tatiana and I used to be good friends but somehow, we drifted apart. I wouldn’t say best friends but close enough to the point where we had each other’s backs. Once she started hanging with some girls I didn’t particularly care for, we grew apart and now it’s just a ‘hi and bye’ friendship. Every now and then, we’d talk but it wasn’t often that we did.

“Amanda, a friend is on the phone for you.” My mom said cheerily holding the phone in both of her hands. “I see you took my advice.” She winked, actually thinking that she did something special. I flashed a fake smile before taking the phone from her.

“Hello?” I answered timidly.

“Hey Amanda, it‘s me…Tati. I don‘t mean to bother you but do you think that you can come over here and help me with some of this stuff because I am not getting any of this and Trey is no good.” She said with an added scoff on the last part. “I really don‘t mean to bug you. It‘s okay if you say no.” She added.

“It‘s no problem I guess.” I said feeling awkward. It was kind of weird how in one day we could go from being distant friends to study partners. I guess there was no harm in it.

“Do you remember where I live?” She asked. “I would come and get you but my car is shot.” She explained with a nervous laugh.

“Yeah, I remember.” I told her as I began to get ready while still on the phone. I pray to God that Trey neither Jarell was there. If so, I’d be a nervous wreck the whole time and probably would make an ass out of myself. That was the last thing I needed right now.

“Forgive my manners, would you like something to drink?” Tatiana asked after we had settled onto her couch. Since I got here, we have yet to talk about anything involving Trig, let alone school.

“What do you have?” I quizzically asked.

“Lemonade, Tea, Water, Milk, and Orange Kool-Aid.”

“I‘ll have some Kool-Aid.” I said as she laughed.

“Still the same I see.” She smiled softly before retreating out of the room. When she left, I took that opportunity to kick off my shoes and lay back on her couch. Slowly but surely, I was beginning to warm up, unwinding from my stiffness. When she came back, she had two glasses in her hand.

“In case you haven‘t noticed, I didn‘t exactly call you over to study.” She said as I laughed infinitesimally.

“I figured.” I responded.

“Really, though…the truth is I missed hanging out with you. Seriously, I feel so bad about us drifting apart and nearly becoming strangers. I remember all the fun we used to have talking about random things.” She reminisced. Not knowing what to say, I simply nodded. “I know this might seem awkward for you, but you know I was never a normal person.” She said with a small laugh. I joined in with her, recalling all the laugh attacks we would randomly slip into. Most of the time, we’d begin laughing at something small and then end up laughing harder at inside jokes we held between each other. I was just as weird as she was.

“I miss those laughing spells we‘d go into randomly.” I voiced what I was thinking while laughing.

“Hey! Remember that one time that Trey rolled down the stairs, running from a spider?” She asked before laughing hysterically. I joined in with her and began laughing my ass off. I remembered everything about that day.

“His pants slid off.” I said in between laughs remembering how his drawstring b-ball shorts slid down, exposing his raw booty. Tatiana began laughing harder and before we knew it, we were at it again. It was like we never separated.

Our bonding was suddenly interrupted at the sound of the doorknob turning. My heart literally leaped out of my chest and ran down the street as my mind began to race. It could only be one person walking through that door.

“What the hell are you in here laughing about Tati?” I heard Trey’s voice ask. Walking inside, he gave me a wary look before glancing back at her.

“Nothing.” She said, sticking her tongue out.

“Who dat?” He asked as I felt my heart sink a little. For some reason, I was hurt because he didn’t remember me. All the times I would come over a long time ago, I thought I’d at least leave some impression on him.

“Amanda.” She stated in a matter-of-fact tone as if he should be ashamed that he didn‘t recognize me.

“Mandy? Little Mandy?” He asked in a shocked tone. “Damn, time has been good to you. I thought you two stopped hanging out.” He directed his statement to me before walking over to my side of the couch, hugging me as if I was his friend.

“Ugh, Trey! Stop trying to cop a feel from her. I hate when you do that.” She scoffed, making him laugh.

“I‘m not doing anything. Unlike most of your other hood ratted friends, I liked Mandy. She never got in the way and never tried to ride my nuts every waking second of the day.” He explained before letting go of me. His scent remained on my shirt…the shirt I silently vowed never to wash again after this day.

“Whatever, get away from her, she doesn‘t like you.” She scoffed. If only she knew, I actually did. The things I would do to her brother; if she found out, it would jeopardize our friendship…if you want to call it that. I didn’t really know where we stood.

“Where the hell is that nigga?” Trey asked, looking out the front door, which was wide open. He walked over to the door and stood in the frame. “Jay, get your ass in here!” He yelled. At the mentioning of his name, my racing heart, due to Trey’s presence came to a screeching halt. Everything seemed to slow down as soon as his face appeared within the doorframe. The large lump in my throat that formed whenever Trey hugged me fell into my stomach, leaving my whole mouth dry. Stopping short, with his feet balanced on the threshold, he gave me an inquisitive glance before shifting his gaze to Tatiana.

“Sup?” He asked nodding his chin towards her. She nodded in response as he walked in the house fully. Without even acknowledging me, he walked into the kitchen. Feeling foolish for getting worked up over him for nothing; my face began to turn that dreaded velvet red color due to embarrassment. Never had he said one word to me, yet here I was about to die from him being within a five feet radius of me.

“What‘s the matter Amanda?” Tatiana asked me. Snapping out of my trance I turned to say something to her, only to stop when I saw Tashawn enter the house.

“Rell, mama said to bring my black ass home” He yelled throughout their house, ignorantly.

“Shut the fuck up with that yelling boy.” Jarell spat at him, emerging from the kitchen. Once again, my heart began to race when he came into view. “Tell her we‘ll be home later, and stay your ass outside.” He added. Bringing the phone Tashawn held in his hand into view, he pressed it against his ear.

“Ma, we‘ll be there later.” Tashawn said hanging up no sooner than the words left his mouth. Placing his phone back into his pocket, he turned to face Tatiana. “What‘s going on baby?” He asked, squeezing in between the two of us, focusing solely on her. This time my heart was racing out of fear and not anticipation. I prayed silently that he would simply ignore me and not embarrass me in front of everyone.

My prayers fell on deaf ears.

“What the hell are you doing with that loser behind me?” He asked, insulting me without even bothering to look at me.

“Leave her alone.” She defended, pushing his arms from her shoulders.

“For what? I can do whatever the hell I want. With that being said, when are you going to let me do you?” He asked her as she scoffed.

“As if you’d ever get a taste of this.” She scoffed with a roll of her eyes. Standing up, she motioned for me to follow her. “Let‘s go in my room, away from these idiots.”

Once in the safety of her room, I was able to breathe again. I managed not to open my mouth and make even a bigger ass of myself. Tashawn had already done enough to belittle me in front of both Jarell and Trey.

“I swear I want to punch his face in sometimes.” Tatiana vented. “He‘s the complete opposite of Jarell. Jarell is so sweet while Tashawn is just a damn bowl of two day old gross.” She commented.

“Jarell is sweet?” I asked incredulously. “He seems mean as hell.” I added, thinking of how he completely ignored me a few moments ago.

“Only to people he don‘t know. He doesn‘t really talk to strangers.” She said laughing a little. “Unless he has to.” She added. I nodded silently, taking in everything she was saying. Leaning in, she whispered as if someone might actually hear her through her walls. “I used to have the biggest crush on him but he’s so unresponsive. I don’t like mutes…they’re so boring. I still think he’s sexy though.” She giggled. Shaking my head at her, I drew my legs under me and wrapped my arms around my waist. It was an unusual cold night. It felt like December when it was actually the middle of March.

“Damn, it‘s almost nine already.” I noted. “We never even got to study.” I added with faux disappointment in my voice. She smiled before saying something.

“Didn’t you walk here?” She asked. I nodded my answer as she lifted a brow. “Girl, you‘re going to freeze your ass off.” She said glancing at the small t-shirt and shorts I wore. Earlier that day, it was hot as hell, now it was freezing.

“I know, yay me.” I said nonchalantly as she laughed.

“I can steal one of Trey‘s hoodys for you.” She suggested. Before I could open my mouth to protest, she was up and on her feet, halfway through the door. Leaving me in a daze for a few minutes, she returned with an oversized red and black hoody with graffiti letters encrusted all over it. On the back, it had his face on it and his name under it in graffiti letters as well. Of all hoodys for her to grab.

“How are you going to take his stuff just to give to other people?” I asked her.

“He never wears it and besides, he knows you so it‘s okay.” She said, tossing it in my lap. When she began lacing up her sneakers, I took that as a hint to get up and begin getting ready to leave as well. “I‘ll just walk with you and take it back with me.” She added.

Nodding, I followed her downstairs into the living room. By now, Trey and Jarell was laid back on the couch, both with one foot rested on the coffee table. Arielle was posted in Trey’s lap, snuggled close to him and whispering into his ear as he chuckled lowly. The sight brought forth a bitter taste in my mouth and my tongue went dry. On the other hand, Jarell was smoking a Philly, which magnified his sex appeal to greater heights.

It was hard work having one crush, let alone two. Especially when those two hang around each other almost around the clock; talk about an emotional sleigh ride.

When she saw me coming down the stairs with Tatiana, she scoffed and rolled her eyes at me. Standing up between Trey’s legs, she pulled down her shorter than short skirt and pranced her way over to us.

“Tati, what the hell are you doing with…that?”

“Arielle, leave her alone. She‘s my friend.”

“I thought I was your friend.” She stated ignorantly.

“You only want to be friends with me in order to get next to Trey.”

“T, that‘s not True!” She exclaimed. Tatiana rolled her eyes and shook her head. Focusing her attention back to me, Arielle turned on her heel and faced me.

“What are you doing wearing his hoody?” She asked once we turned to walk out of the door. My first instinct was to deny that it was his hoody but his damn face was on it, therefore I couldn’t.

“I gave it to her, got a problem?” Tatiana jumped in to my defense.

“Actually, I do. I‘m the one that got it made for him and I don’t want her wearing it.” Emphasis on the word, ‘her’.

“It‘s mine, and I said she can wear it so chill.” Trey spoke up. His words released a handful of butterflies into my stomach. His statement sent Arielle into hush mode, leaving me with a cocksure grin. Finally looking at Trey, he quickly flashed me a smile; for a moment, I thought I imagined it.

“Whatever.” She mumbled before grabbing her coat, which was next to Trey and shrugged it onto her shoulders, flipping her long lustrous hair from under it. “I‘m coming with you two.” She said, inviting herself along with us.

“Arielle, stay your ass here.” Trey intervened, yanking her back onto his lap. A part of me was happy that he stopped her from putting a damper on the rest of my night, but the other half wanted her to come, just so I know that she wasn’t here all over Trey.

“Oh wait, I forgot my phone, I‘ll be back.” Tati said before jetting back up the stairs. Left standing in front of a couch full of people, I slowly walked over to the door so that I’d be out of their line of view. I tried my hardest not to look at Trey and Arielle but it was quite hard; especially with her trying to grasp my attention every five seconds by sucking on various parts of him loudly and glancing in my direction.

My eyes shifted a little to the right, and landed on Jarell who hasn’t said anything since we came from upstairs. My heart nearly packed its bags and walked out on me when I caught him staring straight at me. Swallowing the large lump that magically appeared in my throat, I quickly looked away and exhaled loudly. I hadn’t even realized that I had stop breathing. My mind raced at dangerous speeds as I glanced at him from the corner of my eyes only to find him still watching with a blank expression on his face. Hopefully, he was daydreaming in my direction and not looking at me. To test my hypothesis, I debated on whether I should move or not. If he was indeed watching me, his eyes would move whenever I did. Slowly, I stepped to the right.

They moved.

If you could take a picture of my insides, you’d see butterflies in my stomach, worms in my chest, and my mind would be running on a treadmill at top speed. It wasn’t until I snapped out of my trance did I realize that I was staring at him as well. I was having a staring contest with him, without my consent. I quickly turned completely around, facing the wall like a jackass. I heard his deep bass filled voice release a low grumble, which sounded a lot like a chuckle if I wasn’t mistaken.

“Okay, we can leave now.” I heard Tatiana say as I exhaled deeply once again not knowing that I was holding my breath. She opened the door and waited for me to walk through it. I turned around and waited for her to lock it before stepping out. Before she closed the door, my eyes locked with Jarell’s once again.

“So what do you plan on doing after graduation?” She asked as we walked slowly down the sidewalk a few blocks from her house. Her neighborhood wasn’t the friendliest and luckily for us, everyone that tried something with us would recognize her as Trey’s little sister and go on about their night. We’ve been stopped five times by lurking criminals in the last twenty minutes.

“I was thinking about enrolling in Trident.” I told her.

“No, no. I meant like right after? Are you going to any after parties?” She asked, restating what she meant.

“Oh…no.” I said shaking my head. I wasn’t the party type simply because I hated crowds. I wondered daily how I managed to make it through Stratford, the school that had over three thousand students under one roof.

“Seriously, you should come with me to the one Trey’s friend is throwing at the Kush Lounge. Some of his little homies are graduating also so he wanted to throw one for all of us.” She explained.

“I don‘t think I should, my family is supposed to be coming down here and they might want to do something for me.” I told her, thanking God I had a great excuse.

“Don‘t worry about that, it‘s supposed to start at nine and who knows when it’ll end.” She said, tossing my excuse right out the window. My smile slumped at the corners as I tried to think of another liable excuse.

“Um…”

“Oh come on!” She pleaded.

“I‘ll check with my mom first.” I told her, just as we came into view of my house. “I can walk the rest of the way, in case you wanted to start heading back home.” I told her as my walking slowed to a stop.

“Um, is it okay if I hail your mom?” She asked hesitantly. I nodded my answer as we continued on our trek.

“Oh my goodness sweetheart, I haven‘t seen you in a long time.” My mom said once I reminded her who Tatiana was. She pulled her close and gave her a bear hug.

“How are you?” Tati asked; her voice muffled from being held so tightly.

“I‘m great, and you?” My mom responded, pulling back from her.

“I‘m fine.” She answered before making herself comfortable on the sofa.

“It‘s been ages since Amanda brought any of her friends over.” My mom rambled. She began talking poor Tati to death, while I just sat and listened. She ended up feeding both of us some leftovers from the night before. She even sent two extra carry plates for her to take home.

“Give these to your brother and his little friend Jared that you told me about.” My mom said giving her the plates as I grinned at her mistake and shook my head.

“Jarell.” Tatiana corrected with a smile before descending the stairs to our porch with a wave.

“Oh yeah, that‘s right. Remember to tell Trey that just because he done grew up on me doesn‘t mean he can‘t come by sometime to visit.” She called out behind her once she started her way down the street. “And call me when you get in!” She added before closing the door and locking it. She turned to me and gave me a cocksure smile.

“What?” I asked her.

“Nothing.” She said with the same smile. Shaking my head at her, I headed to my room to get ready for bed.