Serenity

Twenty Four

I stood by the gate surrounding the football field as our team ran out on the field in their blue and white team colors to start their warmups. I wasn't really a football person. I knew a lot about it thought, and I decided this would be a good opportunity to get out of the house since I was trying to spend as less time there as I possibly could.

My mother was still trying to breath down my back and make sure I wasn't getting in trouble. The teachers were calling her almost every day it seemed like, and I was just tired of it. I don't understand why she wouldn't just leave me alone.

I glanced up for a second and saw Diamanté walking with some guy who I couldn't see that well. I was surprised she came from how shy she used to act. I guess whoever the guy was convinced her to come.

I was still upset about us having to play damn Romeo and Juliet together. All the girls in the class, and Mrs. Anderson just had to pick her ass. Hell, she shouldn't have picked my ass to participate at all, and she's about to find out sooner or later because I ain't going to no practices or whatever the hell else she was trying to put together for this dumb play. The shit was all just stupid to me anyway. I'd never kill myself to be with no female.

"Aye, here come yo girl aint it?" Kelvin said, causing me to turn around. I looked behind me to see Courtney coming my way, and I immediately let out a sigh of annoyance. This damn girl just didn't know when to quit.

"Bro, don't come up to me starting no shit, cause I ain't tryna hear it," I said as soon as she stepped to me.

"You always think somebody tryna start some shit. Maybe I was just coming over here to be cordial and speak to yo dumb ass."

"You shouldn't be near me after that shit you pulled yesterday in the cafeteria, putting yo hands on me like you stupid or some shit. Woulda been looking stupid if I had hit yo ass back," I snapped as I turned back around the face the fence.

"You put yo hands on me if you want to, and that'll be the last time you touch a female," Courtney said.

I didn't hit girls and I said to myself that I never would, but Courtney was really pushing my buttons.

"Yea, aight," was all I said before I left my place at the fence and started walking towards the bleachers.

The bleachers were getting more and more packed by the minute, and it was to be expected since this was the first home game. I knew the crowd would be going crazy.

I walked through, trying to find some empty spots on the bleachers, and that's when I saw him. He saw me too. Our eyes stayed on each other for a few seconds before he turned away and back to Diamanté.

"What that nigga doing here?" I thought I asked this question to myself in my head, but soon I heard a reply from Jamal.

"Shit, that's your cousin. How we supposed to know if you don't even know," he snickered.

"Shut up. I wasn't even talking to you."

Isaiah hadn't stepped foot on Lakewood's school property since I caught him and Alaina together. Matter of factly, that was the last time I saw him at all. He stopped coming around, even though we had basically been like brothers. I stopped hearing from him, and I didn't know why. He didn't even text me when my dad died - his own uncle. He didn't show up to the funeral either.

I had been hearing in the streets that Isaiah had been up to no good, and honestly I didn't expect nothing less. He had been trying to join gangs by doing their dirty work, just for them to end up sending his ass on his way with threats that if he told, they would kill him.

"You gon' stand here and keep staring or you gon' find us somewhere to sit?" Jamal piped up again.

"Nigga, find your own place to sit. You grown," I said, shoving him in front of me.

Me and the guys walked down the bleachers until we found an empty spot.

...

It was halftime, and our team was in the lead by 14 points. I took this time to go to the concession stand and get some snacks.

I spoke to a couple of people on the way. I saw Courtney standing off to the side talking to some nigga, and if that had been me, she would have been trying to start a fight. I don't know what had made her become so confrontational in these last couple weeks. Usually, she wouldn't even say nothing to me at school or if we saw each other out in public, but now here she was slapping me in front of everybody and shit. I really needed to dead this situation. I don't even know what I was waiting on.

I shrugged her off, and went up to the concession stand where I saw Diamanté standing alone. For some reason I wanted to say something to her.

I walked up and stood behind her, looking down at her. She turned around and looked up at me with a frown on her face. Even though I didn't like her anymore, she was still fine as hell.

"Can I help you?" she asked with an attitude. "Since you staring and shit."

I licked my lips and said, "Wassup witchu s-"

"Nuh uh. We ain't even about to start this," she said holding her hand up to me and cutting me off.

"What are you talking about? I can't speak to you?" I asked offended.

"Speak to me for what?" she asked in a calm tone. I could tell she was slightly irritated, but she didn't show it that much on the outside.

"Cause, I just wanted to," I said. She had turned her gaze away from me, and was now looking straight ahead. She moved up in the line, and I did the same.

"You need to get away from me before your so called girlfriend tries to confront me again. And this time, I might say something back."

"You sure it's Courtney you worried about, or is it that nigga you came here with?"

"Excuse me?" she asked, looking at me again. Her brown eyes were shining under the lights over head. Her lips were pink, plump, and glossy as they always were. Her hair was in curls, and they looked soft to the touch.

"You heard me. What, that's yo nigga or some?"

"Why you worried?" she snapped back.

"I'm just tryna look out for you," I said, wondering if those were the right words to use.

"Look out for me for what? Do you know him?"

"Nah," I lied, scratching my head.

"Well there's no reason to be 'looking out' for me then. You've been an asshole these last couple days, so keep that energy."

I didn't even know what else to say to her as I watched her go to the counter and get handed two slices of pizza and a soda.

I couldn't help but wonder what she and Isaiah had going on, and I was gonna find out.

A/N: excuse any mistakes. I didn't proofread, but hopefully it's not too bad.