The melanated bodies belonging to teens and tweens jumped into the cold pool water, splashing water all on the cement around it as they enjoyed their time during the major heatwave that hit Charlotte earlier this morning. It was finally Saturday, and unlike what Donald had told me, every kid in Charlotte was at the community school, they walked and sat around with snacks from the snack counter in front of the brick building near the water fountain and bathrooms.
Some even ran around the perimeter of the pool in their flip flops, driving the lifeguard nuts as they were so close they could almost fall in and possibly drown. I sat in one of the beach chairs under the pretty umbrellas that sat in the middle of the round glass tables next to each chair. My baby blue beach towel that mama let me borrow laid across my legs, I wore my peach colored striped one piece halter bathing suit, with my matching flip flops. Mama braided my hair into two cornrows so my hair wouldn't get messed up, she was going to try to touch it up when I got home.
Daddy dropped me and Mikey off to the pool to meet up with the DeGrate boys since mama had to work, Mikey was still upset at what I said so he barely said anything to me, only when mama and daddy made him speak to me, and one day when he went out and told me not to tell them, other than that I never heard a peep from him, which I deserved, I really hurt his feelings, even though he'd never admit it.
I laid back, staring into space, Derek and Dalvin sat at the edge of my chair with uno cards in their hands, bickering and yelling at eachother about who cheated and what the color cards was supposed to be dropped down. Donald and Mikey sat in the white beach chair next to me, they secretly whispered to eachother while looking down in this notebook Donald had brought with him, maybe it was his boy diary or something.
Prince's "Little Red Corvette" boomed loudly from the boombox nearby, Dalvin's squeaky voice soon snapped me out of my thoughts as he gently shook me by my leg, "Hey Monica? You wanna play with us? Derek keeps losing and it's making me bored."
The corners of my mouth turned up with a half shrug, my stomach lowly started to growl the more I smelt the nacho cheese and popcorn from the snack stand, "Nah, it's okay, I'm just gonna go get something to eat from the snack stand."
I threw the towel off of my legs before climbing out of the chair and walking away from the boys, as I passed by Mikey and Donald, his deep nasally voice stopped me, "Wait up!"
"I was just about to go up there too, we can walk together." Donald put Derek and Dalvin's floaters to the side before jumping up from his spot next to Mikey. I followed beside his tall frame that towered over mine as we made our way over to the snack stand, waiting in the long line.
"So... what's up with you and Mike? It's like y'all ain't talkin' to eachother at all." Donald's right eyebrow began to rise up as he looked down at me, I anxiously rubbed my arm as I tried to come up with an excuse.
"We got into a childish argument after church. He's giving me the silent treatment like he always do." I chuckled as we began to move forward in line. It was starting to move faster than I expected since almost everyone here came back and forth into the line.
"I get it, me and my brothers get into a whole bunch of arguments all the time. Don't get me wrong I love them a lot—but they're so annoying , that's why i'm glad I'll have a year to myself when we go to school." Donald mumbles to himself as he digs into the pockets of his indigo swimming trunks, pulling out a crumbled 5 dollar bill, he ran his thumb and index finger across it to straighten it out.
"You know what you want right? I'll get it for you."
My eyebrows raised as my eyes got big, I was quick to decline his offer, i overheard mama saying don't began to accept a man's offer to buy you something so quick, he'll think you're just after his money all along, it's how my Aunt Beverly got caught up when she went out with this famous football player "Oh no it's okay. I'm sure Derek and Dalvin want something. I just wanted a Slushy and some Doritos anyways."
Donald shook his head side to side, it was like this boy was too good to be true, what boy you know still pays for a girl's food and snacks nowadays, Mikey was wrong, not all Charlotte boys were bad, Donald was just being a good friend to me, "Monica it's fine, I have enough to get what we both want. Just tell me."
"Um... I want a medium blueberry slushy, the Doritos, Skittles, and the gummy bears." I spoke shyly, Donald giggled, nodding before we finally made it up to the counter. There was a fair skinned guy with a black Jheri curl hairstyle behind the counter in a basic red tee, he looked no older than twenty one, must be a summer job for him, he looked almost identical to El DeBarge.
"What can I getchu' kiddos today?"
"Sup Marvin, let me get A medium blueberry slush, Doritos, skittles, gummy bears for my friend. And get me a large cherry slush, two bags of Cheetos, a pack of M&M's without the nuts, some Chilli cheese fries, a small mixed snow-cone, a king sized snickers bar... and a hot dog with ketchup." My eyes almost popped out of my sockets as I overheard all the food Donald ordered for himself. The Marvin guy chuckled as he wrote down all what Donald and I wanted before passing it behind him to the cocoa brown girl around his age with a red tennis hat on top of her long brown hair.
"Dang Don, you always eatin' up all my shit." The Marvin guy chuckled along with Donald as he waved him off, Marvin's brown eyes then traveled over to me with a friendly tight grin.
"What's your name, sunshine?"
"Oh this is Monica, Tall Mike's little sister. This her first time here so make sure you tell your brother to watch these kids." Donald spoke up from me, Marvin smiled, nodding at me as I waved back at him. I looked over my shoulder and I seen a average height skinny boy with pecan skin and a Jheri curl sitting in the tall life guard chair in the corner near the pool, he wore a Kansas City Chiefs hat on top of his head in this hot weather.
"I gotchu' Don. Y'all stuff should be ready soon." Marvin replied with a nod as he took Donald's 5 dollar bill into his hands before turning his back towards us.
"Who's his brother?"
"David, he must've came back from Compton and got a lifeguard summer job. They have the same dad but different moms, I think David is going to Chapel Hill too, he's just a freshman in college, Marvin's the oldest out of all the siblings he got." Donald says as we continue to stare at the boy, but not too long to where he'd notice.
"And how can you eat all of that food without getting a tummy ache!?!" I cackle loudly as Donald soon joined me, he shrugged unknowingly, stuffing his hands into his pockets, his upper back pressing against the counter as his eyes squinted.
"I don't know, I'm like a little over one hundred pounds wet. I could eat fifty hot dogs, thirty seven hamburgers, twenty four cups of fries with twelve milkshakes, and I'll be as skinny as a pencil!" I guess food just doesn't affect his weight, I wish it was like that with me, I eat one bowl of cereal and I'll have a big belly like my Grandaddy Joe.
I sighed as I looked over my shoulder, noticing that Marvin was finally through putting together all of our snacks. My hands gathered as many items as I could from the counter, the least I could do was help Donald after he paid for me. We both thanked Marvin and the girl behind him before we stepped out of the even longer line that had formed behind us.
We started walking back towards to their area, careful not to drop their snacks, I chuckled under my breath as i seen that Dalvin and Derek were still fussing and fighting over their rounds of Uno. I sat my items on the table near me before plopping and falling back in the beach chair, it is too hot to be standing in a long line for some snacks, that's why I got all that I knew I would want for the day. I ran my fingers over my edges as I felt them slowly start to curl up. Great, now mama's gonna wanna press my edges out and burn me.
"Hey! Where's our stuff?" Derek fussed as he watched Donald finish helping me in my chair with my stuff before walking back over to Mikey, plopping down next to him. Donald scoffed with the type of laugh that you release when someone has the audacity.
"At the snack stand with Marvin! Dad gave us all five dollars each, use it." Donald sat his curly fries in his lap, popping a few in his mouth at a time. He licked the hot slippery cheese off of his long fingers and smacked his lips before ripping open the first bag of Doritos, he stuffed a few of those in his mouth before washing it all down with his cherry slushy and snowcone. His cheeks were puffed up like a squirrel eating a bunch of acorns.
"You guys can have some of my gummy bears if you want." I picked up the gold back of Haribo Goldbears and passed it to them. The both took a few each before stuffing them into their mouths, it's so cute and funny how they eat.
The snatched their floaters out of Donald's arms before they ran off to the pool, Donald's eyes soon traveled quickly over to them as his big brother mode kicked in, "Hey! Chew your food first, and stop all'at runnin'!"
They ignored his wishes and jumped their bodies right into the cold blue water, splashing little water particles onto us. Mikey sat up from the chair, placing his Ray Bans onto his eyes before jumping up from the chair, ridding his white t-shirt from his body, "I guess we oughta join them."
"C'mon Mo, you can sit on the edge with me." Donald says as he stood up with his second bag of Doritos, Hot Dog, and his drink, he stuffed his M&M's into his pockets. I sighed quietly, not really wanting to be in the sun all day, but I also didn't want to be in the shade by myself, so I decided to join them.
I grabbed my slushy and my gummy bears as me and Donald walked over to the pool, I kicked off my flip flops before we sat down on the edge, sticking out legs and feet into the cold water.
"So... are you excited about school?"
"Yeah, I'm excited to start high school, and I can't wait to finally make some friends. Mikey always picks on me because I don't have any friends." I replied with a nod.
"I'm not." Donald mumbled with his mouth a bit full, taking another big bite from his hot dog, licking the ketchup from the corners of his mouth.
"Why!?" I asked out of curiosity, but it came out as I took offense to the comment. Dang, I wonder what school did to make these boys not like it so much. Maybe it was just me and the fact that I hated staying in the house all the time and I actually wanted to explore the world, even though there's nothing to explore in Charlotte because it's so small and I know every place to go.
"Because... I think it's stupid. The shit that we learn in school won't benefit us after we graduate. So what's the point of it? Ya'know what I'm sayin?" Donald commented, it was like he was speaking his mind. His head lowered as he took a sip from his slushy, and he threw a few more Doritos into his mouth, not caring about the crumbs dropping down onto his lap.
"It might not benefit us a lot, but it would teach us some valuable lessons outside of fractions and grammar." I declared, trying to get him to see the brighter side of it, but the look on his face told me I didn't have him convinced.
He smacked on the thick soft hot dog bun while licking the ketchup off of his fingers before replying to me with a full mouth, sometimes I hated when boys acted like boys, "like what?"
"It will teach us about how we should handle ourselves and our lives once we leave high school and go on into the future. There's always a deeper lesson than the one on the board." I explained.
Donald nodded, raising his eyebrows quickly as he understood what I was trying to say, "Okay... I get what you're saying there, I actually never thought about that way. You're really smart Monica... but I still hate school."
We both bursted into heavy laughter as my stomach soon started to ache due to how hard I was laughing, "Whatever you say Donald."
His fits of laughter continued as it started quiet down a bit, his eyes traveled to the right as he was looking towards the gate, Stevie Wonder's "That Girl" started to play as we watched the group of girls walk in, I was confused on who they were, but they surely had everyone's attention. They were like a bootleg Vanity 6 or something.
Donald's eyes widen as his face started to go pale, he quickly wiped the ketchup and small bread crumbs off of the side of his mouth and lap as one of the girls in the group smiled at us before she started to strut over to us like a model. The girl was about 5'4 feet tall, and was skinny, but she had a little bit of meat on her bones, her fair skin glowed under the sun as her long tightly curled sandy brown hair blew back along with the cool breeze that blew upon us.
Her fire red covered lips curled into a big smile as she walked over to Donald, sitting down next to him as her boobs moved and jiggled in her loud neon pink bikini top, she had to be older because if mama caught me wearing something like that, she'd pop my legs until they were redder than a tomato.
"Hey Lil' Don! I see you and your brothers are out here. I haven't seen you in a while." The girl squealed as she gave him a tight side hug, making him flinch, but he played it off and hugged her back with a tight grin, I could see small sweat beads forming on his shoulders, his hands sat in his lap as he fiddled with his fingers like he was nervous, did he have a crush on this girl?
"Oh uh- h-hey Kandy. It's was a bit hot in the house so my mama made us come out here to cool down, I met up with Mike and his sister Monica, whatchu ' doing here?" He stammered over his words, his thumb gestured back towards me. Kandy's green cat eyes quickly glanced over at me before they quickly bounced back on Donald, it was like she was totally ignoring me, and why the hell do people refer to Mikey as Tall Mike, he ain't even over six feet, and he might not never be.
"Oh I finally got off of my shift at the nail salon in the mall, I heard everybody was out here so I tagged along with Sherri and Jasmine over there. So... I hear you going to Baldwin... that true?" She asked him, running her tongue over her teeth, yeah go ahead and lick that cheap lipstick off of them.
"Uh y-yeah that's true."
"Great! I can't wait to see you there it's gonna be so much fun, the teachers are a pain in the ass but the kids are cool, we'll probably have the same lunch so you could sit with us, and then the winter dance in a few months- you got a date?" The girl kept rambling, making Donald totally forget that I was sitting next to him.
I shrugged it off, kicking my legs as water lightly splashed around, Mikey must've noticed me with a pout on my face as he swam over near me, holding onto my calfs to hold himself up in the water as he sat there and watched me, we both could over here Donald and Kandy's conversation.
"N-Nah I don't, do you?" Donald asked her, scratching the back of his neck, Mikey giggled and cackled quietly under his breath as he watched his friend try to get his Mack on.
"Sorta. Trevor-the captain of the football team asked me about a week ago, but he's still messin' with that weird fake blonde chick Abby. And thennn... Rodney, a guy from Baldwin, came back from his family trip in Chicago and said he wanted to go with me so... it's quiet complicated." Kandy explains and rambled on like an annoying cat, combing her tight curls out a bit with her fingers.
I can see Donald start to frown a bit as she mentioned all the boys that wanted to take her to the winter dance at Baldwin. They called it a Winter Formal, it's the dance all high schools have in October before students go on Thanksgiving break, it's similar to prom, just with freshman and sophomores attending as well. I've heard so many messed up stories about them from Mikey, he went last year with this Asian girl named Christine.
He told me that one of the most popular freshman's got caught making out with this senior football player in the boys bathroom, and when the rumor had got out, people started to call her mean names which made her move all the way out of the state of North Carolina, she even almost pressed charges against the boy for spreading lies. So after Mikey told me that, I never ever wanted to go to one once I got into high school.
"Oh... alright then."
"But I might just end up going with my friends, this dance is too important to be foolin' around, I hope to see you there though. It's your first year of high school- you should enjoy it to the fullest. I know you will." Kandy smiled gently snuggling against Donald as he smiled brightly, showing all thirty two of his teeth as he chuckled nervously.
Kandy's eyes soon plopped onto me, meeting with mine, she stared at me with a puzzled look on her face before grinning at me, "I'm sorry... what did you say your name was again?"
The thing is... I never did.