WYNNIE
"Why even show up if you're gonna be sky high?"
"Man...it ain't a thang," Trippy mumbled next to me, head pressed into the cold, wooden table we sat at in Art class. The classroom was too small for all of us, that was one thing. And our teacher, Mr. Hartfort, couldn't control all 36 of us either. Earment PC was damn near Earment High all over again. Everybody either went here or to U of H at Earment, and it didn't seem like any of us had changed our ways for the better. This was high school, except now we paid for the classes we flunked.
I glanced over at Trippy again, trying to make sure she was still hanging on. Her infamous grill shone underneath the florescent lights the school just put in, a sheen of sweat along her hairline.
"You good, man?" I whispered, ducking my head next to her's. Trippy grumbled into the desk.
"The teacher's taking roll. You gotta at least get your attendance before you ask to go to the nurse, Evelyn," I said firmly, using her government.
"Ima be fine. I'm just a little outta there."
A little, I scoffed in my head.
I pulled out my art notebook and turned to my next blank page. It had smooth white paper, with some eraser markings that had imprinted from the page over. I pulled out my pencils and my erasers, glancing at Trippy every few moments.
"Evelyn Grater?"
"Here," Trippy mumbled hoarsely.
The teacher finished attendance, not even sparing Trippy a glance. "What did you do this morning?"
"Really, I'd say last night," Trippy grimaced, lifting her head up. Her eyes were a faint pink, and she now had the imprint of the desk on her forehead, like she had been wearing goggles. "We were partying until the sun fell. Then it rose back up."
"That's a damn shame. And yeen think to invite me?"
I bit my lip, "Well...never mind." I wasn't much of a party person anyways. I had always been the shy, off-to-the side girl. Plus, there was a distinct difference between Trippy friends and mine, one that would have kept us from all having fun.
But I won't think about that right now.
"Wynn," Trippy mumbled next to me, biting her bottom lip. I unfocused my eyes off of her face and looked elsewhere. The board? Yeah, that's way safer.
"What?" I said, pretending to be interested in Mr. Hartfort's lesson on color theory.
"Can you help me out here?"
"Trippy, I'm not doing that. Yo ass should know better than to get high and take yo ass to-
"Shhh," she hissed.
I gave the teacher's pet, a pale black girl with twists in a bun and a pretty thick shape, an innocent smile as she passed by.
"Hey, Wynn," the girl waved.
Her name was Koriyan, and I had been going to elementary with her since I moved from Idaho to Texas when I was four.
It was uncanny to watch someone grow up over the years, in my opinion, but nobody could deny that Koriyan had most definitely grown into a nice young woman.
