For the last 10 years of Gene Taylor Jr. knew only the streets of Harlem and football. But when his dad has a job transfer, it send them to the other side of the nation.
"Welcome to Arizona son. If you're awake." His father, Gene Sr. said.
"Senior don't be like that. It's not easy leaving your friends and family like that. You know the football team was practically his second family." Clara, his mom, said.
"The boy'll be fine." Senior waved her off.
"Dad's used to leaving people behind so it doesn't matter." Gene mumbled.
Gene Sr. and Gene Jr. always have had heated moments, but this one seemed to be the worst one by far. Senior wants his son to actually make something of his life than be a failed football player. Gene on the other hand wants to live his dream of becoming a NFL player. But he was mostly upset since he left his girlfriend, Luna, of two years back in Harlem. He knew they'd never see each other again.
"I'm doing this all for you and your mother. If we could've stayed in New York, we wouldn't be out here." Senior said.
Gene rolled his eyes ignoring his father's rant. He only been out of school for a week and made it to Arizona. He was starting his senior year at a new school across the nation. Meaning he's had to make new friends, probably even get a new girl.
Gene stared out the window at the wide open fields with livestock. He chuckled.
"Yo mama, is there a chance I could meet a black girl out here?" Gene asked.
"I'm sure of it. The southwest girls are better that northeast ones. Your father should know." Clara smirked at her husband.
"Okay, that means it's time to quit the conversation." Gene put on his headphones to avoid the rest of their conversation.
Gene noticed that the ranch house was newer than the ones they passed. After bringing in all his stuff to his room, there was a lot happing outside his bedroom window.
"A black girl on a patchy horse." Gene mumbled to himself.
Her braids flew around as she rode. It was definitely a sight to see.
"Gene, can you come down here for a minute?" Clara called.
He let her know he was coming down the stairs. Gene didn't expect to see a white woman and a mixed girl. Well, maybe the white woman.
"This is my son, Gene Jr." Clara said.
"Oh, this is my daughter Frannie. I'm Kimberly. I would've had my stepdaughter as well, but she's out riding." The woman spoke with a strong western accent.
"You have a stepdaughter?" Clara asked.
"Yeah, Mani is an incredible young woman who loves football and horse riding." Kimberly said with a smile.
"Well Gene here plays football. That's something they have in common."
A 10 minute conversation about Clara being a country girl lead to her and her son onto Kimberly's ranch.
"Alright, bring it in Mani. You've been riding all evening."
"Mani girl, you gonna break poor Taco, he's barely full grown." Frannie said.
"You guys are the new neighbors right?" A tall man asked.
"Yessir. This is my son Gene and I'm Clara."
"I'm sure you've met my daughter and wife. I'm Ethan Scott. On the horse, is Mani."
"Emani, join us. I'd like for you meet the new neighbors." Kimberly said.
Emani got off the horse. Her height wasn't as tall as Gene thought.
"Hey, names Emani. I'm having a party and I'm sure it'll would be rude not to invite him." Emani said not even looking at him.
All she did was remove the saddle from the horse the lead him into the stall.
"I'm Clara and I'm sure Gene would be happy to come. He'd be able to make some friends."
"Mama, I'm 17, not 7." Gene stressed.
His chocolate cheeks hid his blushing as he heard Emani, Mrs. Kimberly, and Frannie giggle.
A couple more moments of conversation before he was helping Mr. Scott with the party supplies. Gene still couldn't figure out why he and Emani didn't have an accent either but it wasn't really his business.
"You've got to be kidding me." Emani said looking out the kitchen window.
She had no idea that Gene was a brother, a cute one at that. She was too busy taking care of her horse, Taco, to notice him. She knew his deep voice wasn't like the ones she was used to at school.
"Girl, he is fine. You better hope Blaze doesn't show up." Mani's good friend, Leigh, said.
The girls watch as he worked with Ethan to set up everything.
"Blaze said he was hoping to come too. Everyone is gonna be wondering who Gene is by the way he dresses." Emani said.
"Yeah, he ain't the type to wear jeans or khakis all the time." Leigh said.
Both girls observed Gene's outfit as he was in a under armor shirt, Nike elite shorts, and LeBron's. Any boy that would usually dress around would be in a "Hey Bo" shirt, cargo shorts, and Sperry's.
"City boy. Probably has a high body count and couple scares...." Mani thought out loud.
Leigh gave her a weird face and a slow head nod. There wasn't much to say after.
"Okay..."
Outside, Gene sat on the back porch step and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the green towel Ethan had provided him.
"So, you nervous? Y'know, about meeting new people later this afternoon."
"Nah, to be honest Mr. Scott. I just wanna graduate. Then play college ball then go pro. The only good thing moving out here is that I can get a lot of scouts and recruiters watch be play football."
"My nephew would be new to the school too, and he's senior. You him and Mani can probably get to know each other better. He used to go to a rival school but once you get in trouble for fighting..." Mr. Scott shrugged. "They move you."
"I've gotten that type of warning before. I couldn't live with myself putting my mom through that. I'm just thankful that the football team started doing activities to keep us from being in the street and a lot more."
"Maybe I can talk to the athletic director or some of the coaches and parents to get something like that together. Maybe it'll get more guys like us involved."
"Don't tell me that the majority of the school's student body is-"
Mr. Scott cut Gene short of his sentence. The school was more diverse than he was thinking.
"Nope, there's more of kids like you and some foreigns than there is Caucasian. That school almost like something you'd expect out of Georgia."
"Wow. I didn't really think it would be so diverse." Gene said kinda amazed.
Ethan held in his laugh at the boy sitting next to him. There was much he could teach the you'on man in the next six months.
