The Start Of A Good Thing (Book 1)

Chapter 13

            On Monday at 12:07pm, Trevor was at lunch with Thoro, Tanesha, and Miya. They were serving detention hours by picking up trash around the school campus. Trevor led his friends outside to the gym. He and the others all carried trash bags, looking weary and aggravated.

            Thoro walked to a garbage can and dug inside for a few pieces of trash. Once he got enough, he picked up the can and poured a little bit in each of his friends bags. Trevor got his share and leaned on the side of the wall, staring at the ground.

            “Man hold the bag still Miya!” Thoro shouted; sounding irritated. “Got damn.”

            Miya cringed as Thoro dumped loads of mushy, soggy waste in her bag. “Ewww!” When a pair of raggedy panties slipped out of the garbage can and almost touched her, Miya dropped her bag in disgust. “Oh my God!”

            “You see that?” Tanesha exclaimed, pointing at the undergarments. Thoro picked up the dirty underwear with his glove-covered hand.

            He sucked his teeth. “Quit cryin’. You aint neva’ seen no panties befo’?” Thoro tossed the underwear to Miya, who leaped back screaming.

            “Nahiem you play too much!” She yelled. Tanesha and Thoro leaned on each other as they joined in laughter. Even Trevor had to crack a smile at that.

            Trevor looked up still smiling and caught sight of India. He suddenly lost all thought process and focused on her. She stood in the lunch line with some of her friends. After a few seconds of staring, Trevor realized what he was doing and straightened up. He glanced back at his friends who were goofing off and slipped away.

            Trevor eased closer to India and got into position. His plan was to ‘casually’ bump into her. He hung around the pizza stand a while, pretending to hunt for trash, but kept his eyes on the prize. When India and her friends left the pizza stand, Trevor made his move. He reached down and picked up a sheet of paper that lie directly in her path.

            “Hey pyro,” India waved.

            Trevor looked up like he didn’t know she was there. “Oh, what up?”

            “Nothing, just getting’ my food,” she smiled, getting close to him. “So, how’d you do on the test?”

             “I got a ninety-one,” He said.

            “Yay!” She jokingly exclaimed. “I knew you could do it.” Although his outward appearance looked grim, Trevor felt warm on the inside. It satisfied him to know he made India proud. “Oh yea, where are my manners. This is my bestie, Robin. And this is Brittney and Ebony.” Trevor and India’s friends all looked at each other oddly. He took note of their forced smile; they clearly weren’t enthused to meet him. “Ya’ll this Pyro.”

            Trevor nodded his head and returned his gaze to India. “I betta get goin’. I gotta finish servin’ these hours.”

            “Alright. I’ll see you around,” India waved. Trevor turned and headed back to his friends when he heard India shout out. “Hey!” He looked back at her. “Don’t forget about the talent show! It’s this Friday, I wanna see you there.”

            Trevor shrugged his shoulders.“ I don’t know.” He called back, returning to his peers.

            Robin noticed India still watching Trevor and placed her hand on her shoulder. “Umm, what’s that all about?”

            “What?” India asked.

            “This,” Robin faked an affectionate facial expression, implying that’s how India appeared. “Looking all goo-goo eyed at that boy.” India rolled her eyes at her friend’s exaggerated guise.

             “What you trying to say?” She asked.

            “I don’t know. You tell me ‘Miss’, I don’t have time for boys,” Robin stated. India figured Robin referred to Trevor, but it wasn’t like that. She didn’t have feelings for him, she was just happy to see the positive impact she made on him.

            “Look, it’s not what you think. I’m just helping someone out,” India explained.

            “… Mhmm …”            Robin hummed. India’s other friends seemed to agree with Robin.

            India glanced at her friends then looked back at Trevor. He was walking with Thoro and the others with his pants about to fall off. Shaking her head, India couldn’t help but smile. Trevor had a bad attitude, wasn’t that good looking, and was far from a prince charming. Still, despite all of his bad qualities there was something about him that India couldn’t put her finger on. To India, Trevor was cute in his own twisted, eerie way. But that didn’t mean she would date him. She has too much on her plate right now to worry about a boyfriend, especially one as troubled as Trevor.

            India noticed her friends were staring at her. She hopped they didn’t notice she was still looking at Trevor. “What ever. Ya’ll can say what you, and think what you want, but I know for a fact that there is nothing’ going on.” India proclaimed. She walked off, heading to their usual lunch spot.

            Robin lingered back a little, shaking her head at India. “Yea, we’ll see about that.”