Revolving Mirrors: Anger. Men. & Sex.

Chapter 5: Habla Espanol?

"Jackie Peterson."

"Here."

"Jamie Stevenson."

"Here."

"Tatum Blackwood."

"Here."

"Tiffany Whitley."

"Here."

"Kurt Thomas."

...

"Kurt Thomas."

...

"Last time for Kurt Thomas."

...

"Okay, Kurt Thomas is not here."

"Margaret Johnson."

"Here."

"And Kevin Baity."

"Kevin's not here Mrs. Sophia. He has a cold. He told me to tell you he will be back on Friday."

"Fantastic! Well, welcome to your first day of Intro to Spanish. These are you assigned seats for the year. Each person in your row is there to help you and encourage you to get through the year. Please take advantage of the people around you."

Unfortunately for me, Kurt was on my row. Judging by his absence he was already beginning the school like he did last year, M.I.A. It didn't bother me too much because it was one thing that I always excelled at and that was school. I've never had an issue with making A's nor did I have behavior issues. I got into a few fights here and there but never anything major. I was confident that I wouldn't need from the people in my row. I was also confident that I would be the one helping them, especially Kurt, but two months had gone by and I still hadn't seen or heard from him. I wasn't sure if he was attending school at all. I hadn't seen him in the hallway or in the cafeteria. I was thinking maybe he changed his schedule. He was one grade ahead of me, but he still needed to take a foreign language to graduate on time. I asked a couple of people that he was cool with, but no one had seen him. Since I hadn't spoken to Marc since we broke up I didn't want to call and ask him of Kurt's whereabouts. So I decided to just leave it alone.

As I was getting on the school bus, Stephanie ran up screaming my name.

"TAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY !!! Don't get on the bus yet! TAYYYYYY STOP DON'T GET ON THE BUS!"

I stepped down off the bus to see what she was screaming about. My immediate thought was we were about to have to whoop a bitch ass or something. I thought I better take my earrings and the rest of my jewelry off. I don't want anyone grabbing my necklace or snatching my earrings out. Good thing I have my tennis shoes and baggy jeans on today.

Steph ran up to the bus as I was getting off completely out of breath.

"Tay", she said panting, damn near out of breath, "come with me right quick."

"What's wrong? What's going on? Somebody bothering you? Where they at, Steph we can beat those bitches down right now?"

I was never one to shy away from a fight. In fact, for most of my elementary years of school, I was a smart bully. I had never lost a fight, except to my older sister which was strange because she can't fight. I think in my mind I felt inferior or subservient to her. I've fought girl twice her size and weight and didn't lose. I believe it was a mind thing with my sister. She fucked with my head. She knew the right buttons to push to really throw me off-kilter. She knew exactly what to say to make me wobble. Unfortunately, because I've never dealt with my less than feelings about her, I would see her reflection in another form. As I was saying, besides my sister, I was willing to jump in and box anyone that messed with any of my friends. My mother was holier than thou, but she never made a fuss about fighting or even getting suspended. I remember the last fight I got into. I told her the night before that a girl was bothering me and playing on my phone, which was true. I also told her that I was going to fight the girl the next day and it was a good chance that I was going to be suspended for 5 days, and that's exactly what happened. I confronted the girl about playing on my phone and she pushed me. Next thing I know we are in a full-on girl fight with hair pulling and headlocks. The fight didn't last very long. Long enough to get she and I suspended for 5 days. My mother wasn't upset because she said I told her in advance, but she did say I had to call and tell my dad. He responded nothing like my mother. I got a long lecture on right and wrong, God, and the holy spirit. No words on self-defense. That irritated the shit outta me.