When star athlete, DeAndre Parker clashes with a tough no-nonsense female classmate, he quickly learns that unlike basketball, there's no playin' hard in the game of love.
"Yeah, maybe next year I'll bump into someone and we'll hit it off or something," I fantasized.
"Next year? That's too far away. I've got a plan."
"Yeah?"
"We gotta get our hair braided soon for the summer. I'm thinking box braids since it's in again and I may even get some blonde, honey blonde, you think that'll be cute?"
Besides the fact that Troiann's hair was too fine for braids that thick, the light colored hair may not have worked for her either. "I don't know, won't it clash with your skin tone?"
Troiann sucked her teeth. "Nah, maybe I'll do a few and not my whole head. We just gotta get a hair braider and then the boys will be all up on us. Since it's summer you know we get to show more skin and more skin means more boys and—"
Her line went dead and I could only assume Marcus had crept up behind her and ended the call.
I shook my head. Those two were a trip.
My cell phone rang out Tremaine's ringtone and I looked to the screen to see that he'd sent me a text message.
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I found DeAndre's number in my contacts and called him. With Marcus about to get into Troiann and Tremaine about to get into some girl, I only had one friend left and I hoped DeAndre wasn't busy with Draya Young. I didn't want to be alone, not in the same house with a father who didn't care about a performance I'd put on specifically for him.
"What's up?" DeAndre asked as he answered my call.
"Nothing, I'm bored. We should get into something," I said.
"I guess that explains the text I just got from Trey. You should be celebrating with your family."
I picked at my sweats. "Trust me; I already did the whole awkward dinner thing. I'm cool on that."
"So what do you wanna do?"
"I'm thinking movies, for me ice cream, for you a nice turkey sandwich and Cherry Coke."
"Cut diagonally?"
I laughed. "Of course, there is no other way to eat a sandwich."
"You're speaking to my heart. I'll be there in a few."
We hung up and I stood from my bed, going and slipping my feet into some sneakers. I grabbed my phone and headed down the steps, hesitating on whether I should've just left versus telling my father I'd be leaving. I knew I'd get in trouble so I sucked it up and headed over to the den, surprised to hear Loraine and my father talking loudly as if they were arguing.
"I am a member of this family, I have a right to say something," Loraine said.
"Not in this case," my father replied sounding pissed.
