Serenity

Twenty Three

I huffed out of annoyance as I checked the time on my phone. School had been out for almost 45 minutes, and Malik was still a no show.

I knew he wasn't going to show up. It was just typical of him. I hated that I had to be the one to relay the message to him. I wish Mrs. Anderson had done it herself, better yet, she shouldn't have even given us these roles.

"He's still not here yet?" Mrs. Anderson asked poking her head into the classroom.

"No, and he's not going to be here," I muttered. "Can we just call it a day?"

"Let's wait for another 15 minutes," she urged. "Maybe he had another school commitment."

I don't understand why we had to stay after school to do this. The nigga was capable of reading without assistance. We could all do this shit at home. At this point, I was almost hoping I did have to change schools again just so I wouldn't have to deal with his selfish ass and this dumb play.

I sat and waited for the next 15 minutes just playing around on my phone until Mrs. Anderson finally came back and realized Malik wasn't going to show.

"I'm sorry to have wasted your time today, Diamanté. We will try this again next week."

Next week? I don't think so.

Without even saying anything, I gathered my books and things and walked out to the parking lot where I saw Malik chatting with a couple of boys on the basketball team.

I walked right up to him and stood in front of him with my hand on my hips. The chatter immediately died down once everyone noticed me.

"Can I help you?" he asked, looking at me all confused.

"Yea, if you can give me an hour of my time back that I just spent waiting on your ass!" I said with attitude.

"Girl, chill yo ass out. I told you I wasn't coming to that shit. That's your fault. You wasted your own time," he said, turning around to continue talking to his friends.

"You such an asshole, yo!" I said turning around.

I could hear the group of boys laughing as I stormed off. This was the second time that Malik had made me look like an idiot in front of other people. The first time it was in front of his so called girlfriend, Courtney.

I made a mental note to tell Mrs. Anderson tomorrow that I would not be participating in this play as long as Malik was supposed to play Romeo.

...

The Next Day ...

"So did you ask him?"

"Ask who?" I questioned Alaina while chewing up a french fry.

"Did you ask Isaiah to come to the football game?" she asked pushing her tray aside and giving me her full attention as if I was gonna spill the tea on Isaiah.

"Why are you so interested in him? Do you know him or something?" I asked. Alaina has kept bringing up Isaiah ever since I mentioned him that one time, and it was almost getting annoying.

"Uh..no. I don't know him," she quickly said. "I was just curious to see if y'all were taking it to that level."

"We're just friends," I stated. "Nothing about a relationship has even come up."

I still was indecisive about coming to the football game alone. I kind of wanted to ask Isaiah because we were building a friendship I guess, but then again, I was afraid to ask him.

A loud argument caused Alaina and I to turn our attention to the back of the cafeteria. When I looked, I noticed Malik and that Courtney girl were arguing.

"I wish that girl would just give it a rest," Alaina said, shaking her head. "Clearly he doesn't want to be with her but she's making herself look like a fool in front of everyone."

"Don't even get me started," I mumbled as we looked on at the couple arguing.

Soon enough, a teacher came and escorted Courtney out after she slapped Malik, something I found myself wanting to do also.