white boys (river phoenix)

5

Chapter Five

( Wednesday ) She woke up to the sound of a car jetting off outside of her house. She rubbed her eyes, and then tossed onto her side, stretching her legs out of the bed first and then the rest of her body. There was no sweet smell of morning breakfast, so Robin assumed her father hadn't had any time to cook this morning. She also figured that her mom and dad had left for their interviews by now and knew she was home alone. So she got dressed, brushed her teeth, and then headed downstairs to make her own breakfast.

She sifted through items in the fridge - there wasn't much left except for leftovers from the party, and Robin didn't want to eat what strangers had eaten too, so she grabbed an almost empty jug of milk and pulled a box of cereal off from the top of the fridge. She poured her cereal, then the milk, and plopped a spoon from the pantry in the bowl, heading outside and having a seat on her steps as she shoved cereal into her mouth. Eating outside on the house front steps during the mornings in Boston definitely wasn't as southern as it was in Georgia, but it was more refreshing. There weren't as many flies trying to come in between Robin's meal and the cool air grazed her face.

"Hiya, Robin!" Corey Haim exclaimed, practically running over to her and sitting down next to her on the steps.

Robin tried not to roll her eyes at the boy,

"Hi, Corey."

"Hey, you sound down. Whatsa matter?"

"Nothing- I'm just eating," Robin shrugged.

He opened his mouth to say more, but was interrupted by the soft voice of another girl standing far behind him,

"Corey, leave her alone. She doesn't want to be bothered."

When Robin looked up appreciatively at the girl, she was surprised to see that she was black, just like Robin. She must have been Amandla, the girl River was talking about the other day. Robin was still surprised to see her there - hanging out with a gang involving Corey. Was this how boys in Boston were, or did this only apply to River's friends? By "this", Robin meant having friends that weren't of your racial background.

She turned to face Corey, and his nose scrunched up as he smiled,

"Gotta go, my girlfriend's up my ass again."

Robin's eyebrows shot up and she nearly choked on her cereal - Corey Haim had a girlfriend who was nowhere near as white as he was. Of course she'd heard of interracial relationships, but they were rare in Georgia. Whenever she saw them, it was always a black man with a white woman. And even when it there was a black man in a relationship with a white woman, they were publicly scrutinized for it. Corey lifted himself off of the stairs and ran over to his girlfriend, slipping an arm around her waist and turning her to face him, and then wrapping her in a passionate, romantic kiss.

Robin's cereal, which was placed tightly under her tongue, spilled out into her bowl as her jaw dropped from the sight in front of her. Never in her entire life had she seen such a thing happen right in front of her eyes. She only ever read about this in books she wrote, when she was still hoping that a white boy would tell her he loved her and mean it. She knew that was all bullshit now, whether it came from a white boy or not - she could love herself just fine without a man anyway. She had a man, back at home, but they weren't exactly official, they were just going on dates. His name was Jesus, a Latino boy with angelic hair and pink lips and tan skin that glowed.

The other Corey, Corey Feldman, came prancing over to her as well while she watched the scene continue. Out of pure surprise, she blinked twice.

"Hey Ro... oh, that? Yeah, they do that at least seven days out of the week, unless she's on her period or something," Corey Feldman said, like it was completely normal.