Future Us: Betting on Love ✔️

Chapter 5

-5-
1 week later
Charles in MM
Damon
Enjoy!

I sat in my Comp Sci class, trying my best not to doze off. Between my standing 3.95 GPA and falling asleep, I had to choose my GPA. His dull voice is lowkey tragic, though.

"So, what's the plan for the group project Damon?" Brian asked me after class.

He was a skinny dude with blond hair and glasses. High pants, tall socks. Sorry, it sounded like a stereotype, but he was crazy smart too.

"Umm, Friday night should be good." I looked up at him rubbing my eyes.

We had a group research project to do for this class that we had to present, and I wasn't that excited bout it. This degree plan literally sucked all my time up. We had a quiz for this class today, so I had to study for it all night.

"Terrific!" he said and left the lecture hall.

I put my backpack on my back and got up to leave when Mr. LeBlanc called me over as he erased the blackboard.

"Yes, Mr. LeBlanc," I said, strolling over to him.

He took a seat on his desk.

"Have you yet considered the offer to work on the new robot for the robotics competition Mr. Johnson?" he asked me while looking over his glasses.

Shoot, I forgot about that. The application was due tomorrow night.

"Umm...no, Mr. LeBlanc, I honestly forgot," I told him in all honesty.

I was kinda afraid to join too. You know, cause I'd be the only brother and all. Shit could sometimes be intimidating cause I sometimes felt like I had to do my best to show that my people weren't lazy and slackers. We were brilliant too. He leaned into me and rested his hand on my shoulder.

"Son, the prize is $2000 if you win. There's a great team of the best computer science majors, like yourself, waiting for you to join them. Your grades are amazing, and you have all the smarts to do it. I think you should fill out that application and just give it a try. You have nothing to lose," he said, locking eyes with me.

He's right; I didn't.

"Alright, I'll fill it out tomorrow," I promised.

Mr. Leblanc looked at me approvingly and nodded.

"Righto." He smiled and went back to erase the blackboard.

"Bye, sir," I said before I left and exited the room after he responded.

That was about to eat up a lot of my time, na. But I was gonna do it.

I walked into the den where Charles and the fellas were shooting pool. I had just finished studying for a linear algebra exam that I had coming up on Friday. Been practicing that shit for weeks now, so I should be good.

"Pass me a stick." I breathed, leaning over the table. "Cause this game looks tragic."

Everyone cracked up. Marquis was solids, and Charles was stripes. No one was making holes; the balls looked like they had been in the same place for 15 minutes na.

Charles handed me his stick and dapped me up. Me against Marquis.

"What you want if you win?" he asked me, tilting his head back. They know I wasn't finna play if there was no prize involved.

I thought long and hard what Marquis had that I wanted. Not money. What I wanted was risky, but I was gone ask anyway. Peep the situation before I got involved.

"If I win, I wanna hear about how come that girl Nell been acting like that toward you. All truth," I said, poking the inside of my cheek with my tongue.

The fellas started oohing, and Marquis looked at me and let air out his nostrils laughing.

"And if I win, you let me get thru to Wanda," he said, feeling proud.

I wanted to laugh, but I held it back. Why did this feel like a win-win situation? He could have her.

"Deal."

"Wait, wait, wait! Y'all bitches gotta start a new game for that then," Yung said and started gathering the balls together.

He was right. He set it up, and I let Marquis break. Marquis picked solids, and I was stripes. Charles had some trap music playing in the background as we fought it out. Marquis would hit a ball in, and I'd hit one in too. He was really determined to get Wanda tonight.

The game was tight. I had two balls left on the table, not including the black ball, and Marquis had one.

"Wanda's mine tonight, young buck." He laughed, then he knocked his ball into the hole, followed by the black ball.

My lips went into a frown. Man, I just wanted to find out something about that girl Nell and him. He could have Wanda; I didn't care.

"So you stepping off Wanda?" Marquis laughed, pushing my shoulder playfully.

The fellas were hyping up the situation cause they didn't expect Marquis to win. Charles just leaned up on a table, looking on and shaking his head with a laugh. He knew I didn't feel for Wanda like that. He then looked at me with a smirk reading my facial expression. Charles knew something was up.

"Man, whatever. I guess so," I said, resting the stick on the table.

"Ahh, you mad Damon!?" Ricky hollered, and I just shook my head and got quiet.

I took a seat on the couch next to Yung as he played a game of 2k16. His phone vibrated, and the name "Tasia" popped up on the screen. He stopped for 2 minutes to text back, then continued playing like it was nothing. Wondered who he was talking to right now?

I then turned back to watch Ricky and Yohan set up the balls to play. I was slightly sad about the situation. Marquis eyed me down triumphantly, then when he saw my face, he gave me a confused looked. I got up and rolled my eyes, walking to sit at a table by myself.

"Why you even wanna know bout Nell so much?" He walked over to me.

I stiffened up a little, trying for him not to read me.

"Nothing." I shrugged. "Just curious."

I couldn't tell him the real reason; I rather lie. We both observed the current game as Ricky hit a ball in the hole and started cheering himself on. Charles looked at me, laughing slightly, then he turned on the TV to watch ESPN. He knew me too well.

"I see how you looked at her at the party, though. If you like her, you like her," Marquis said smiling.

I glanced over at him and felt my heart race slightly.

"Well yeah, she a cu-"

He then continued before I could say another word.

"Just calm that shit down and don't come after mine else we gone have problems."

I jumped slightly. Wait? Is that a threat? The heck? His? He ain't know Nell doesn't want him.

"You threatening me, Marquis?" I asked, scrunching my forehead.

"Well, I definitely ain't playing. Leave Nell's ass alone." He mean-mugged me and walked off to the other side of the room.

Well shit. Ight.

I went back to sit with Yung, and he was lost in the game. I leaned on my arm, closing my eyes, mad as hell. Right now, I just wanted to go back to my room. Thank God I wasn't bout to listen to him, though.

He thought.