Under the Radar (COMPLETED)

Smart Guy

This decision may be strictly out of anger but I don't care. My mom is taking her lunch break, now, so we could come to the bank. I never had a savings account but now I needed it. "You sure about this?" She asks me one more time, before the associate finalizes my account. "I'm sure." I answer. The lady then goes over everything I need to know about my accounts. I'm putting $7,000 in my savings and the other $3,000, in my regular account. I've never had this much money before and it feels amazing. "You a big girl now," my mom says. "Congratulations." The lady says, making us all laugh. I'm just hoping the check clears.

After the bank, my mom drives me back home. She has about 15 minutes to get back in time. "See you when I get home. And don't dwell on this. Go buy you something nice. Love you." My mom says, before preparing to drive off. "I love you too." I answer. I'm gonna give it a few days, before I spend any of this money. I didn't have much over $500 in my account, before Mason's check. And honestly, that took me forever. Like Keisha so graciously pointed out, I only make $8 and I only work maybe four days out the week. I've just been tryna save whatever I can, to have spending money at school. If Mason's check clears and I get the $3,000 refund from school every semester, I'ma be straight. Gas ain't nothing but like $15 a week and I'll have a meal plan at school.

I lay down on my bed but pop back up, when my phone rings. Dre. "Hey." I answer. "What's good?" He says. "Nothing. I'm just chilling." "No work today?" "Nah." "Ya moms there?" "No. Why?" "I'm on the way." And he just hangs up the phone. Oh hell no! He can't come here. I quickly FaceTime my friends to see who would answer. Surprisingly Trevor answers. We haven't been the same, since his birthday. "What's up?" He asks, with little interest. "I know we haven't been talking but I need you." I quickly say. Now, he's alert. "Dre just called me and he says he's coming over. I'm scared. He knows I'm a virgin. He knows I have a little money. What if he rapes and robs me?..." "Maya, Maya calm down. He's not going to do that. You said he hugged you the other day right? You just might be a soft spot for him." "Or it's an act." I whine. "Don't think like that. I'm on my way, though. Stay on the phone."

The next ten minutes were silent. I stared at the door the whole time and Trevor ran over, from his hood. "I'm here." He says, out of breath. I quickly open the door, for him. He tiredly drops down on the couch. "Damn, I can't miss anymore practices." He says. They're supposed to practice five times a week but he's missed a few, for work. They try to understand, right now, since he's car less and lives on this side of town. When he gets to school, he can't miss any or he'll be on probation. "I really appreciate you coming." I say. "I got you, no matter what." He says, just as there's a knock on my door. 

I look through the peep hole and say a small prayer, when I see it's Dre. I open the door and give a small smile. He starts to smile, then rolls his eyes, when he sees Trevor. "What you think I was gone do to you?" Dre asks and steps inside. "The only boy allowed here, is him. You shouldn't even be here." I say. "Whatever. Where your room at?" I pause. "I mean it's only but so big in here. I can find out." He says, making a point. "I'm not talking, in front of him. I don't want him here but I guess I get where you coming from." I look at Trevor. "I'll be here the whole time." He says. I reluctantly lead Dre to my room. Thank God I cleaned up, a little earlier. He closes the door behind me.

He silently looks around. "Valedictorian." Dre says, eyeing my wall of accomplishments. I set up a bookshelf and placed all my trophies and awards on it. I just got my diploma, a few weeks ago and nailed it on the wall. I plan on getting both my bachelor's and master's degrees, so my diploma is kinda placed to the left. I hope I'm not still living here, by then but I don't know when I could make it out of here. "Yea. I'm kinda smart." I say shyly. "Kinda? You got all this nerd shit everywhere." Dre says, making me roll my eyes. "Well didn't you say you went to college?" "I did." He turns to me. "Well?" I fold my arms. "Well what?" "How was it? What your grades look like? College and high school." "That don't matter." "It does to me." I say, with my arms still folded, like somebody's mama. He shakes his head and pulls out his phone. 

"Here." He hands me his phone. I'm surprised by what I see. Both his diploma and degree say summa cum laude. "What!" I yell. "You're a nerd too!" "Come on chill out." He grabs his phone. "Why are you ashamed of that? That's good." "I'm not ashamed. I just don't need nobody tryna talk shit." "Well that's on they dumb asses. Everybody out here thinking drugs is all you know." "It might as well be. I only focused this hard, so I can be good with numbers and running a business." "Do you have an actual one, besides...you know?" "Yea but I'm not telling you what it is." It's cool. I saw his full name on both degrees. I'll look it up. "I'm impressed." I smile and take a seat on my bed. I don't like people sitting on my bed, so I always have a blanket covering my sheets just in case. He ends up sitting next to me. I text Trevor letting him know that everything is good so far. Keisha's off from work, now, so he heads over there, to kill time. 

"So what do you do during the day?" I ask. "I be around." He responds. "Is that when you're working your business?" "I'm always working on my business. Speaking of business, you could take your dad's money and start your own, or something." "I don't know about that. What could I do? I'm going to school for law so the only thing I can do is have my own law firm." "Well do like what your mom does. Start low, at a law firm, while in school. Make some decent money and make connects. Then when you graduate, hopefully they'll make you somebody important. Then you can have all the experience you need by the time you're 26, in order to build your own." He says and lays down. While he's getting too comfortable, I'm thinking about how right he is. I'm sure I can be an intern or something, once I'm a junior or senior in undergrad and then go from there. I end up laying next to him. We just lay there, in silence. It's a comfortable silence, though.

About five minutes in, our silence is interrupted by Dre's phone ringing. "Yea?" He answers. "Damn, aight. I'm on my way." Now, I kinda don't want him to. It's actually been good talking to him. "I'ma catch you later. Got business to handle." He stands up. "Okay." I say and walk him to the door. Once he's out on the steps, I rush over to Keisha's. "Tell us EVERYTHING!" Keisha says, as she opens the door. Trevor stops mid pour of his juice. "It was actually fine," I say, obviously surprising them. "He didn't try to touch you or anything?" Trevor asks. "Nothing. We just talked." I respond. "Wowww! He definitely wants you." Keisha says. "You always say that. "It's true! Look at the facts. He's hella nice you, bought you food, just chilling with you." "And let's not forget he was tryna give you $100 for your birthday." Trevor reminds me. "I still don't know though. He didn't want to talk to me, once he found out who my dad was." "Clearly, you are irresistible." Keisha smirks. I throw one of their couch pillows at her.