Jesseri
Thankful for the bell, I rush out of the room with my head glued to my textbooks in hand. All I have to do next week is pass finals and I'll be done with my junior year. Two more years and I'll be out of high school. No more Brooklyn, no more Day Walkers, no more Mama. I'll be going to CAL Arts that fall and will be starting new. Speaking to people, making friends, becoming a dancer, living with Eli. Everything I've always wanted. Only two years away. My body moves strategically past students, having the route to the greenhouse memorized. I don't know why I find reassurance in a run-down building that my generation uses for drug transactions and hookups before class. Maybe it's because of the little plants growing around or how it smells heavily of lavender. The world may never know. I duck my head under the broken entrance and take a seat on one of the cracked benches, letting the scent of lavender flood my senses. Suprisenly, no teenagers or the aura of weed were to be found. Fun. I move my wrist and glance at the clock face that laid there. Mama gets home at 6 so I have to be home by 5 to start dinner. 2 hours of peace and silence. A gun goes off twice in the distance, shouting heard afterwards and I wince. Well, as peaceful as Downtown Brooklyn can get.
The crunch of leaves breaks my tranquility causing me to groan. Why me?
"God damn, Kaleb. You're loud as hell." A voice scolds and giggles erupt from the outside of my sanctuary. Here come the potheads. I wrap my fingers around the strap of my messenger bag that laid at my feet, ready to get up and leave.
"Shut the hell up, Mikah. Ain't like there's teachers around to bust us." A second voice says. I push all my books into my bag with one swift motion and bounce up, hoping I can slide out without being noticed. But there's no such thing as luck. There they stood, stoners, finding refuge in the greenhouse for their joint needs. Not surprising that they're Mikah and Kaleb Caverly, resident gang members, and hardcore weed addicts. I duck my head down once more and try to make a beeline to the door, the path including brushing in between their shoulders. Great. I didn't get far cause my arm was captured in a grip. I had one job.
"And just who are you, ma?" My captor muses. I say nothing and stand there, finding a sudden interest in my tattered converses. Mikah steps in, coming to my rescue I assume.
"Leave her, K. She ain't mess with no one." Kaleb puts his fingers to my chin, lifting it to eye view. I twist my face away, getting a good look at Mikah. I've never seen him up close. Our groups don't exactly like each other so, naturally, we stay away. The first thing I notice is his dimples. Crevices that laid in his cheeks, making him seem softer than he looks. Then the eyes. Pretty brown orbs protected by thick lashes. Light brown or Hazel. His hair was a well know style, faded with curls on top, but goddamn if he didn't outstand everyone else. Jawline was shaped meticulously as if God was making the perfect boy. I instantly feel insecure under their eyes and I throw my head back down.
" What? You can't speak?" I squeeze my eyes shut and tug at my enclosed arm, starting to feel the effects of cut circulation.
"Kaleb, you dumbass. That's Jesseri Cole. Of course she can't speak. She's mute numbnuts." Kaleb scoffed and released me. I wasted no time getting my composure together and slinking out the archway. Great. Getting gripped by Kaleb Caverly was absolutely in my agenda, right next to being in the same space bubble as his brother Mikah. Don't you just love life? A flash of lighting makes its way across the horizon and I stomp my foot. With lighting comes thunder, and with thunder, comes rain. Something I wasn't expecting since no umbrella rested in my messenger. Well, fuck me running. I flipped up the hood on my sweatshirt and made the sad trek home. Happy day in the life of Jesseri Iris Cole.
Mikah
"Ouch." Kaleb yelped, rubbing his neck where I hit.
"You're fucking slow sometimes. You ain't had to grab her up like that. What she do to you?" I scolded him. Pops raised us to do a lot of things, but disrespecting girls wasn't one of them.
"Shut up, Mik. Came here to get high as a kite. Not to hear your nagging." He muttered, pulling the blunt from his pocket. I sit on the broken bench and grimace when it creaks. Kaleb laughs, drawing my attention to him with raised brows.
"Nigga, you sit on that and yo ass gon be on the ground, just like that." He snapped his fingers for emphasis, in which I roll my eyes at.
"Man, shut up. Smoke your shit and let's go. I got places to be." I lean my head against the wall, closing my eyes. I didn't really have to go anywhere but he didn't know that. I just really hated the smell of weed and wanted to leave.
"No, ya don't. Hell, if anything, I got somewhere to be. And that's with Abby. My girlfriend. You know, a relationship you don't have?" Kaleb bursts into giggles again before taking another puff. I flip him off. Whether fruitier than fruitloops or sober, he always jabs at me about getting a girlfriend. "You're the son of a gang leader. You have hella bitches at your beck and call. Cop one of them." And my personal favorite," Nigga, you still got your virginity? Lose that." With the way he talks about girls, it still shocks me and Pops how he managed to stay with one for 2 years. Abrielle Evans. The perfect definition of pretty in the face and thick in the waist. She took shit from nobody and made sure they knew it too. Dark skin, curly hair, the whole package.
"Aight Mik, let's bounce." I stand up and stretch, watching as Kaleb put out the blunt with his foot. He shoves his hand into his pockets and walks out, me right behind him. We hop into his car and head for the main road when the raindrops fall. Kaleb throws on the wipers and turns up the radio, Drake flowing through the speakers. Kaleb slows down and looks out the window, eyes squinted at something on the sidewalk. I push myself up to look too.
"Hey, Mikah. Ain't that your girl?" Kaleb says with a smile. And sure enough, there sat Jesseri, soaked and walking. She has to be miserable and cold.
