Coming of Age

1

"Where is Joelle?"Aisha placed her hand on her hip and rolled her eyes. "We ain't gonna have nowhere to sit fucking with her."

"Ion' know. I told her that we was gonna wait right here for her."Raven slowly chewed on her gum.

The double doors flew open and 5 foot 4 Joelle Johnson came running out of the door like her life depended on it. "Run!"She screamed at her friends and they came full circle behind her.

With Joelle in the lead, they reached the end of the street before they finally stopped to catch their breath.

Joelle bent over and put her hands on her knees as she huffed and puffed to get her energy back.

"What happened?"Aisha paced her breathing.

"I went to the bathroom in Ms.Stevens class and never came back."Joelle laughed. "Y'know How She gets to rambling about her life and shit."She rolled.

"Watch your ass have lunch detention tomorrow."Raven leaned over to tie the strings on her black and white AirMax. "Where you go anyways?"

"Girl I was on the 3rd floor. I was just wondering around and happened to catch a dice game."Joelle sucked the inside of her cheek.

"Girl whatever! Wondering around my ass. You know exactly what how you ended up there."Aisha threw a candy wrapper at her.

"Mmhmm. Her Kesean meter went off."Raven narrowed her eyes causing Aisha to snicker. "They gotta word for bitches like you."

"Stalker. That's what it is."Aisha knit her eyebrows together. "I don't see why you won't just talk to the boy."

Joelle had been crushing on Kesean since they were in 7th grade and he moved to their school from Florida.

"I've never had a conversation with him...like ever. Other than the time he asked me for some paper in Chemistry. That'd be weird."Joelle sighed. She didn't know the first thing about talking to a boy.

"If you like him, you like him. There's nothing wrong with that and if he doesn't like you back, fuck him."Aisha opened the door for them as they walked up to their favorite after-school spot, Emeralds.

Anybody who was in High School in the neighborhood spent every day there. It was a spot just for them. Where they could eat, hang out and even showcase their talent sometimes.

They walked in and sat their stuff down in a booth by the window and went up to the counter to order what they wanted.

"How May I help you?"A girl from their school named Rochelle asked.

"Let me get uh..."Aisha popped her tongue and narrowed her eyes up towards the menu like she had never been there before. "Let me get the Brooklyn slice of pizza. Pepperoni. With a coke."Aisha pulled her money out of her pocket and handed it to her.

"You did all that like you didn't come in here and order the same shit you get every day. Move."Raven pushed her and pulled her wallet out of her jacket pocket.

"Damnnnnn. You got hella bones, let me hold something."Joelle looked over Raven's shoulder.

"Watch out. This ain't even mine."Raven sat a 20 on the counter. "Let me get a chocolate shake and whatever this buster behind me wants."

"Ooh, you paying for my food? Let me order the whole menu then."Joelle got excited. "Nah. I'm playing, but gimme a chicken sandwich and some onion rings. Oh and a sprite."Joelle ordered her food and they went to sit down at their table with Aisha on one side then Joelle and Raven sat on the other.

"So, did I tell y'all about Charmaine?"Aisha leaned over the table so that only they could hear her.

"Charmaine Thompson? No, what happened?"Joelle widened her eyes and sipped her drink.

"I heard that she let Orlando do it to her in the backseat of his car at the football game and Tommy caught them. Now she's pregnant and they saying it's not theirs."Aisha circled her eyes and popped her tongue.

"Word?"Raven gasped. "That's wild, ain't she a freshman?"

"Yup. That's probably why they ain't claiming her baby. They embarrassed."Joelle snickered holding her hand above her her mouth.

A busboy who they called MJ sat their food on the table and then sat down next to Aisha. "Joelle, wassup with the mixtapes? You flaking out on me?"He threw his hands up.

"All I got is my dancehall mix. Shabba, Patra, Buju, Shaggy, and etcetera."Joelle bit into an onion ring.

"Let me get it then."MJ stuck out his hand.

"10 dollars nigga."Joelle stuck out her hand.

"10 Dollars?"MJ widened his eyes. "What happened to 5?"

"You should be happy that I'm selling ya' ass anything after you didn't pay me for the last the last mixtape I gave you. I should be kickin' ya ass right now."Joelle pointed two fingers at him.

MJ sucked his teeth. "Why you buggin? I told you I'd pay you back."

"10 dollars."Joelle stuck out her hand once again. "Or you can go get ya mixtapes from Doug. Your choice."

"You killin' me."MJ took his wallet out of his pocket and handed Joelle two 5 dollar bills. She snatched them and held them up to the ceiling to see if they were real.

"Get out my face, nigga."Joelle pulled the mixtape out of her backpack and threw it at him.

MJ got up from the table and continued to go and do his job.

"MJ loves him some Joelle."Raven wiggled her eyebrows.

"Cut it out. We're friends."Joelle rolled her eyes.

"Now we gotta start calling you JJ."Aisha joked, making Joelle roll her eyes.

They continued to laugh and joke until it was time to walk home. They cleaned up and grabbed their things so they could go.

They all lived in the same neighborhood, but Joelle and Raven lived next door to each other.

"Don't forget to ask your momma about Friday. Both of Y'all."Aisha reminded them as they approached her house.

"I won't."Joelle gave her a toothless smile. "Bye Aisha."They waved at their friend and continued down the street to where they lived.

"Call me later?"Raven asked Joelle.

"Of course. Our show comes on tonight."Joelle smiled and unlocked her door. "Talk to you later."They parted ways.