Chapter 2: Off On the Wrong Foot
Indi Sky
By the time school let out I was more than ready to go home. It had been exhausting getting back into the swing of things. I'd stayed up all night and slept in late all summer so my body was just now adjusting to being up so early. I made my way to the gym to wait on Kali to finish her cheerleading meeting.
I quickly scanned the gym as I made my entrance. I noticed Kali and the prospective cheerleading squad in one corner, Amir and a few of his teammates were shooting around on the opposite side of the court, and a few kids just hung around the bleachers talking. I took a seat on the first row of bleachers near Kali and the cheerleaders.
Tuning her out, I turned my attention toward Amir. My brother truly was a great basketball player. Daddy stayed on him about practicing and bettering himself, and even though he was hard on him I know Amir liked it. Amir knew he was one of the greats and planned on going to the NBA one day.
"Oh my God, Amir Sanders is so fine!" I heard some girls gushing behind me. I rolled my eyes at their conversation.
Girls always talked about how cute they thought Amir was. It was disgusting to me honestly. What bothered me even more was the fact that they'd try to be friends with me so they could get close to him. The whole thing was just pathetic.
"Have you been staying off the ground?" I heard someone say from beside me.
I turned to see Jace sitting by my side, flashing that dazzling white smile of his. My heart began to speed up at us being so close. A blush graced my cheeks as I became embarrassed about the fall in the hallway all over again.
"That's not funny," I mumbled.
"Nah, I'm just messing with you," he laughed while leaning back on the bleachers. His white shirt lifted up slightly, daring to show a peek of his abdomen. I quickly fixed my gaze elsewhere. "So, why are you over here sitting all alone?"
"J-just waiting on my cousin to finish up a meeting." I mumbled nodding toward Kali who looked like she was wrapping things up. I looked back down the court toward Amir to find him glaring at me. I swear he caught an attitude whenever he saw any guy talking to me. Like I said before, he thinks he's Daddy.
"What grade are you in, Indi Sky?" he asked, once again saying my name in a way that sent butterflies fluttering around in my stomach.
"Tenth," I managed to respond without stuttering.
He raised an eyebrow. "So that's why I haven't seen you in any of my classes?"
I shrugged. "I guess so. What about you?"
"Junior," he smiled.
I took a few honors classes, but for the most part I rarely shared classes with any juniors or seniors.
"You again, huh? You feeling my sister or something?" I rolled my eyes at the sound of Amir's voice. When I looked up he was standing in front of Jace and me with the basketball under his arm.
"I mean...I think she's beautiful." Jace answered smiling over at me. I looked away as I felt my cheeks turning red.
He thought I was beautiful?
"Yeah, I'm glad you can see." Amir said in a bored tone. "She's 15 and she ain't interested in niggas."
I shot Amir a look feeling completely embarrassed. How dare he just call me out like that in front of Jace? It's not like he'd asked me out on a date or anything, we were just talking.
"Amir please." I pleaded, begging him to walk away with my eyes. "We were just talking."
"I don't like him." Mir said straight up.
Jace looked him up and down growing defensive. "You don't even know me."
"Don't need to," Amir shrugged. "I've seen the way you looked at my sister and I don't like it."
How had he looked at me? I looked between Jace and Amir trying to figure out exactly what Mir meant. I knew Amir would bully Jace to no end if I didn't step in so I stood up and walked up to my brother.
"Mir, can I not have friends? I promise we're just talking. He helped me earlier today when I fell in the hall and he was just coming to see if I was okay. Please, go." I lightly pushed him in the direction of his teammates.
He held eye contact with Jace a little longer before walking off.
"Sorry about him," I said giving Jace an apologetic look. "Amir doesn't like anyone."
"It's cool." He shrugged. "You're his little sister. I get it, I guess. I'll see you around, Indi Sky." He blessed me with his smile before stepping around me and walking out the gym.
Just as Jace was walking away, Kali was walking up.
"Uh who was that you were talking to?" Kali asked with her hands on her hips.
I playfully rolled my eyes and grabbed my things off the bleachers. "Just a guy named Jace."
Kali looped her arm through mine and we began walking toward the exit.
"Mhm, and how did you meet said boy named Jace?" she asked wiggling her eyebrows.
"It's a looong story." I said not wanting to rehash that nightmare for a third time.
"Bye Mir!" Kali yelled to my brother. I rolled my eyes as he yelled back to her.
"Bye K, love you Indi!" he shouted. I contemplated on holding up my middle finger, but instead shook my head and kept walking.
"Bye Kali!" a few of Amir's teammates yelled. Kali playfully put a little more sway in her hips as she knew they were watching her walk out.
I admired that the most about Kali. She was so confident and sure of herself and I was just...well me.
---
"Indi baby is that you?" my mama asked as soon as I entered the house.
I closed the door behind me before yelling back to her. "Yeah Mama, Kali's here too."
"Hey Tee Ivy," Kali greeted her as we walked into the living room.
Mama was sitting on the couch Indian style eating a bag of chips. Her favorite show, "Black-ish" was playing on the TV and I knew she'd been in this position for a few hours.
Dropping my bag and purse off behind the couch, I went and sat down next to her. I laid my head down in her lap and stretched my feet along the length of the couch.
"What's wrong?" she asked, not once breaking her eyes away from the TV.
I sighed, preparing myself to tell her about how Amir embarrassed me twice today.
"Mir embarrassed me, and in front of a cute boy too." I complained.
Mama lightly laughed to herself. "What happened?" she asked.
I began telling her about walking into the door, Jace helping me, and Amir scaring him off twice.
"He just doesn't want you to grow up, baby." Mama explained running her fingers through my hair. "And besides Amir's such a ho so he understands most boys his age think like him."
It was no secret that my parents knew about Mir's sexual conquests. He never had a steady girlfriend, and he was always with a different girl every week. It was just all too easy for Amir, he was the school's star basketball player so of course he got whoever he wanted. Girls practically threw themselves at him.
"Yeah, but it still doesn't give him the right to embarrass me. Jace probably thinks I'm some little kid."
"You are some little kid," Mama laughed while pinching my cheek. I shot her a menacing look, and she held her hands up in surrender.
"Okay, okay, maybe you aren't so little anymore. I'll have a talk with Amir, but you know that boy is just like his Daddy. He's gonna do what he wants to do." Mama told me.
She was definitely right about that. My brother and father were as stubborn and strong-willed as they come.
"Aside from your boy drama what else happened today?" Mama asked wanting all the juicy teenage drama since I'm sure her adult life was boring and drama-free.
"We got a new male teacher." Kali spoke up.
Mama raised her eyebrow. "You know that man is grown right?"
"But he is really fine." I added in thinking about Mr. Bryant. He was the new History teacher that strongly resembled Odell Beckham.
"Leave that grown ass man alone," Mama laughed. "You two should be ashamed of yourselves."
Kali and I both shrugged. Can you blame us for looking? Kali was 18 and I'm 15 going on 16, crushes are real at this age.
"Send him my way. He needs a grown woman." Mama joked.
I playfully hit her. "You need to be worried about Daddy."
"Girl, ain't nobody studying your daddy. I'm tired of looking at his ass every day." She laughed.
"You what?" Daddy suddenly asked out of nowhere. Mama's laughter quickly died and she pushed me off of her.
"Nothing, baby."
"Mhm," Daddy mumbled coming around to sit next to her. "Don't play with me girl."
"You know I only got eyes for you," Mama whispered and kissed his cheek.
I covered my eyes in disgust. "Ew get a room before this goes any further." I joked.
My parents loved each other unconditionally and it showed. Even though Mama was joking about our teacher, Daddy knew just like I did that she'd never leave him. They'd been together for almost 18 years, and it seemed like they fell more for each other every day. I only hoped that I could find a love as pure as theirs one day.
----------------
Ooooo I'm back y'all! 6 years later, and y'all are STILL reading the first book? Fu.cking crazy! All the new readers have inspired me to bring this book back! So much has changed since I was that little 22 year old author writing in the comfort of my college apartment. I honestly don't even remember the direction I wanted to take this story in save a few details. My mindset has changed sooo much, hell I'm almost 30 now so I've had A LOT of life to live! lol.
But I'll do my best to bring you an inspiring & life-changing story... OH but you KNOWWWW I'm bringing the drama too!
Hope you all enjoyed this chapter.
xoxo,
Nalani Rose