Our Little Secret

Perfect Boyfriend

I'm at my locker making sure my Kente wrap looks ok in the mirror when I see Xavier coming my way. "Hey." He leans against the locker next to mine. "You gonna be ok today?"

"Stop it."

"What?" He scrunches his face up in confusion.

"You don't want me to fuss over you, so you can't fuss over me." I reach in for my chemistry textbook and close it.

"I was just--" He stops himself as Michael, Marissa, and Aiden stroll up. Kristi is also with them.

Aiden tugs at my wrap. "Can we get to class early? I need your help going over the material before the quiz." Yes, we have a quiz so soon in the year.

"Sure." I close my locker and start walking away with him, but Xavier stops me.

"Wait. You're tutoring him, but you can't tutor me?" He frowns at me.

"You never asked," I tell him.

"But I did," Michael steps in.

"That was before I chose to tutor." I sigh. They can be so annoying sometimes. "Look, how bout y'all come over to my house afterschool. I'll tutor y'all, while we..." I look to the girls. "Practice for tryouts."

"Ooh! This sounds like it's gonna be fun!" Kristi comes and hugs me and I'm so happy because I love hugs. I squeeze her back.

"Ok. See y'all later." Me and Aiden head to class.

+++++++++

Michael leans over to me during 3rd period. "Yo, I'm tryna get cuffed this year," he whispers, eyes still on the teacher.

I look at him, surprised. "You serious?"

"Yeah. It's about time. Don't you think?" He writes down some notes and looks back at me.

"I mean, I guess," I shrug. "But like are you for real for real?"

"Yes. The single life is getting boring." He leans back in his chair and props his feet up on the desk. "I'm tryna share some of this Michael Corvada love."

"Michael, get your feet off my desk!" Mrs. Kenny says from the front.

"Sorry!" He quickly gets his feet off and fixes himself. "Won't happen again."

I laugh along with the class, shaking my head.

+++++++++

When I get to the lunch table, I tell everyone about Michael's goal. They have the same reaction as me.

"On diggity?" Xavier asks.

"No doubt," I answer, smirking at Mike.

"It's not such a bad idea," Aiden shrugs, biting into a red apple. "We could all use a little loving this year."

"Yeah, Zakiyah." Rissa agrees. "We should get boyfriends."

I shake my head. "My parents don't let me date, remember?" They think boys are a "distraction to my academics". Marissa groans at that.

"Well... Do they HAVE to know?" Mike wiggles his eyebrows at me.

"Yeah!" Aiden nods. "Just keep it a secret. I heard secret relationships were fun anyway. Y'know, adrenaline rush from all the sneaking around."

"Do y'all hear yourselves?" I ask, digging into my lunch.

"Yes, we do," Rissa goes. "We're tryna help you get boo'd up."

"Doesn't sound like such a bad idea," Xavier inputs. "Just try it."

"It's never a good idea when y'all tell me to 'just try' something," I tell them
I smile when I see Kristi walking up to the table. "Hey!"