All Pink Everything

6 - Look But Don't Touch

"GREG IS A BAD BOY." Ralph slapped hands with all his boys from the Thug-a-Boo Crew as Greg threw down his second touchdown of the quarter. An honorary Thug-a-Boo himself, Greg whooped it up to his crew in the stands. They nearly toppled over the people in front of them trying to whoop back. Imani rubbed the back of her neck as she anxiously waited for them to sit down and stop running amok. At least, somebody was winning tonight because it wasn't her.

Latrice seemed to have been reading her mind. She nearly punctured Jacoury's thigh with her razor sharp elbow as he stood over her. "Would y'all sit your werewolf asses down? Nobody told you to howl at the moon!" They could hardly hear her over the electric energy from the crowd. It had been an outstanding comeback from the meltdown that had happened last year, but not much had changed on Imani's end.

For the last year, she had been wracking her brain over how someone as plain as Crystal managed to secure the finest man to ever step foot on the campus of Melrose High. Even the teachers must have been stumped. To see the two of them cozied up next to each other for the second year in a row, just a few rows down from her, was her biggest fail in life. She found herself questioning everything that she had known to be true. Didn't boys like girls who were bright and shiny? That was what Steve Harvey had written in his bestselling book. Imani kept her ears, neck, and wrists so full of bright and shiny things that she could be seen from a mile away. Crystal was about as dull as a No. 2 pencil after the CAHSEE, and the brightest thing on her were the white letters of her signature black ADIDAS jacket.

"Jacoury, check your girl." Latrice gave Ralph a stare hard enough to bore a hole through his skull. If he was really her man instead of just a play thing to Imani, she would have had to check Latrice. She wasn't giving a damn about Ralph at the moment. All she was thinking about was how badly she wanted to renege on the verbal promise she had made to Jada and Sydney to move on with her life. The times when Mo blew right by her in Ms. Collins' class, the times when he threw her the look of death made her want to forget that he ever existed. Then she would see him showing Crystal the love and affection she so desperately wanted him to show her, and she would find herself falling in love with him all over again.

Could she really just sit behind him in art class while resisting the urge to blow in his ear? Could she really reduce her verbal communication with him to absolutely nothing? As for stalking all of his social media profiles, that would probably be the easiest thing for her to eliminate completely off the bat, considering they were filled with posts, pictures, and tweets about how Crystal Neighbors was his world.

"Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!" Ralph and Jacoury and the rest of the guys were having a field day as Greg made Deion Sanders proud, dancing his way off the field and into the direction of the locker rooms. A Thug-a-Boo had never achieved as much success. Greg was their guiding light, a success story for all of them. They were the St. Lunatics, and he was their Nelly. All of them were counting on him to put them on once he made it to the top.

"You good?" Ralph casually threw his arm around Imani's shoulder. He must have been enjoying the game to have his eyes stuck to it rather than the baby pink low-cut top she had paired with tight-fitting Levi's that must have had Field of Dreams in the back pocket because they were making all the boys weep.

"I'm good," she said with fake and forced appreciation. At least, he had been nice enough to ask. She was relieved to get a little peace. Then the crowd began to go wild again. Greg intercepted the ball, causing nearly everyone in the bleachers to stand on their feet and cheer madly. Then things really began to heat up. Not only was Greg blazing the other team, but the warm bodies around her began to stifle her airspace. She felt someone's knee hit the back of her head and a foot dig into her side. Latrice was tossing people off her and into the air like King Kong in New York City. They were so blocked in that they could hardly see the sky above them, but Imani managed to see something that rendered her still. She drew in a sharp breath as Mo tuned out the world, turning the temperature up even higher by guiding Crystal's face close to his and planting a kiss on her lips that was more passionate than the reactions of anyone in the stands.