October 15, 1983 ~ Homecoming night
Patricia Rueben's "Forget Me Nots" flooded the school's gymnasium as the busy bodies of the high schoolers attending Baldwin high occupied the dance floor, dancing and prancing to the music. Here was Donald, sitting at one of the round tables covered in a royal blue colored table cloth. He sat slouched in the chair as he watched his schoolmates have a good time while he just sat there by himself, a plastic cup of cold cheap fruit punch occupying his left hand.
He fixed up his hot pink tie around his neck as he nodded his head along to the song he was fond of, his eyes bounced around the building, surveying the scene to see if he could find his date in her hot pink sequin dress, but she was no where to be found. They had been attending the dance for only an hour and she had yet to check on his wellbeing— he figured that she would be trying to help out the upperclassmen since they were the hosts of tonight's event.
Hearing a chair near him scoot against the polished wooden floors, he looked to his right and he had seen Michael, dressed in his baby blue tuxedo, taking a seat next to his bestfriend, he was a red as a tomato. He was so close to bursting out of the tight tuxedo his mother picked out for him. Seeing someone he knew brightened Donald's mood.
"Where you been all night?" Donald inquired over the loud music.
Michael sucks his teeth, releasing a sigh, "Man... Maureen got me waltzing 'round here talking to all her prissy lil' girlfriends that's where I been! I mean— it's like it's a competition with these girls in 'who's got the best boyfriend' and it's tickin' me off."
Donald laughs, "I told you not to take that spoiled brat to the dance— I even told you not to entertain her at all! But nooooo, you just had to be with her."
"Nigga shut up, I ain't said shit about you and Kandy." Michael retorts.
"That's 'cause there's nothin' to talk about, Hayes." Donald says confidently. Michael scoffs, sitting up in his seat and moving his head around, observing his surroundings.
"So where she at now?"
"She's helping around with the tickets and stuff, I think the upperclassmen are hosting this tonight." Donald responds, Michael sucks his teeth undefeated.
"You talk to JoJo? I'm surprised I don't see Ced's narrow behind up in here mackin' on some girl?" Michael inquires, taking a sip from the sweet punch in his cup.
Donald shakes his head, "Nope. Cedric should be 'round here somewhere— you know how he is, I ain't seen Monica yet, though."
"She's here— last time I saw her and Travis, Shannon's crazy behind pulled her into the bathroom for some girl emergency." Michael chuckled into his cup, going for another sip.
Donald took it upon himself to bring up the elephant in the room with him and Monica, "Hey— what's up with that Travis dude anyway? He just came up out of nowhere and swept Mo up off her feet."
Michael shrugs, twisting his lips to the right, "I dunno. I don't see no problem with the dude. I find it weird he's a junior going after a freshman, but— it's pumpkin we talkin' about. She really likes him so, oh well.
"Hmph." Donald hums quietly to himself, chugging down the rest of the fruity beverage as he drowns in his own thoughts.
He was now caught in a dilemma. He cared for Monica, and all he wanted was to see her happy and in a good mood. He didn't want to be that kind of guy to 'ruin her life', he's heard her complaining about Michael doing it ever since they first became friends, and the last thing he wanted to do was make her hate him because the big brother intuition he had was telling him that Travis was up to no good, and Monica was a victim of it.
He was popular in the school, he was a junior, Co-Captain of the football team, had the looks, the style—the charm, and all the girls on his back, he had it all— enough to woo Monica into his life. Donald would even see girls stare at Monica with disgust and jealousy because they knew that Travis was sweet on her, but he would see Travis talk to multiple girls. All up in their faces, walking to class with them, he would even flirt with some of the cheerleaders out on the football field.
But he swore up and down Monica was his 'number one girl' and the other girls were just groupies fighting and trying to get his attention. And like the young, innocent, and in love girl that she is— she believed every word that came out of his mouth, and continued to see him. From what he was told, her parents had little to no idea about her involvement with Deion. They knew that they were friends, but they didn't know that they were technically in a full blown relationship.
He just hoped that it wouldn't end up leaving her scarred in the future.
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"Ugh! I swear on my great-granny's grave I am going to kill him!" Shannon growled as she picked up more napkins to wipe the rest of the red punch the school had for us off of her white sleeveless dress, a frown plastered on her face as she looked in the mirror the bathroom provided for her.
We stood in the biggest stall in the girls bathroom as me and Denise tried to help Shannon get the juice off of her chest before it dripped down on to her dress. We were out on the dance floor, just having a good time when Cedric's clumsy self bumped into her, spilling a bit of his juice onto Shannon. The two already had problems from when they were little, this just added to the tension. Shannon stormed out of the gym before she could curse him out and possibly slap the skin off of him.
"I'm sure it's not that bad Shan, just use the scarf you brought to cover it." Denise tried to reassure her as she continued to pat the remaining red droplets off of Shannon's brown shoulder.
Shannon peers at Denise over her shoulder, then down at her black and blue floral dress, "Of course you'd say that, people wouldn't see the big freakin' red stain on your dress, just hush Denise , I swear imma make his boney behind pay every penny his ugly mama has to fix this."
Shannon huffs, pouting, letting her hot pink painted index finger run over the soft light pink stain at the top of her dress, she ran her fingers through her mushroom flip haircut, she bit her lip as tears started to well up in her eyes. She told us that her mama spent most of her paycheck just to have Shannon looking her best tonight, and if she were to come home with a big stain on her dress— her ass was grass whether if it was an accident or not.
"Damn it. Y-Y'all tell me s-something, something to s-stop me from panicking r-right now." Shannon stammered as her lower back leaned against the sink, she used the pads of her fingers to wipe away any tears that fell down her cheeks.
"Um... I think my mama is finally cheating on my daddy." Denise blurts out, Shannon's Mary Jane shoe stops tapping against the tile flooring of the bathroom as she cuts her eyes at Denise.
I gasp quietly as Denise stood there against the pink tile wall— her hazel eyes ping ponging between the both of us, the kind of resembled Donald's— speaking of him, I haven't seen him all night, I just saw Kandy in that pink dress looking a hot mess as she was helping her friends collect tickets with a pile of makeup on her face, she looked like Ronald McDonald, her blind grandmother must've did her makeup if they let her walk out of the house looking like that.
"H-How do you know?" Shannon asked her, Denise shrugs her shoulders in response. She didn't appear to be too shocked about the situation at hand, maybe it wasn't her first time.
"I heard them arguin' over it in their room a couple days ago. They were talking about someone calling the phone numerous times and I figured mama had a guy on the side." Denise explains.
Shannon sucks her teeth, pursing her lips as she cut her eyes at Denise once again, "Girl that don't mean she's the one cheating! I mean... it could be your dad— didn't you say that's why your parents almost got a divorce?"
Denise shoots up from the wall, lunging towards Shannon, "You know you a real pig for that Shannon cause I would never throw nothin' personal at you like that!"
I quickly slide in between the two as they continued to try to hit and pull at eachothers hair and necklaces, "Stop it! Stop it right now!"
I screamed to the top of my lungs as I pushed Denise back into the wall she was previously standing up against, "I have had enough of the constant fighting, y'all been doing this ever since we first met and y'all still keep hanging around eachother."
"I was just saying the truth, Moni! She ain't have to lung at me like that!" Shannon exclaims, swiping the small gold hoops out of her earlobes and tossing them onto the pink counter around the sink.
"And it wasn't your business or truth to tell Shannon. What's your problem with her?" I spat back at her, she kept a mean mug on her face as her arms crossed over her chest.
"Yeah, what's your problem with me!? I haven't done anything but try to be a good friend to you." Denise crossed her arms over her chest as she peered at Shannon.
Shannon groans, tossing her head back as she rolled her brown eyes, "she swears she's better than everybody. Always bragging about the good grades she makes, the nice clothes and shoes her daddy buys for her, the nice big house and expensive cars he's got— and if someone doesn't live that same luxurious lifestyle, she'll judge you for it! And I can't stand that."
I nod, understandingly as I let Shannon speak her peace. Shannon may be a pain in the but sometimes, but she's genuine, she real, and she has a good heart. The things she was saying about Denise were true— She was raised in a more put together environment because of her father's status, and money though her mother brought just as much to the table, and she did throw it in people's faces all the time— including Shannon.
"I do not! It's not my fault that I was just raised a different way, just like you were. That gives you no right to be mean to me." Denise retorts, Shannon sucks her teeth.
"She just don't get it..." Shannon mumbles, scratching her eyebrow with her thumbnail.
"Look Niecy, you do kind of judge people because they are less fortunate than you, and you've done it to Shannon plenty of times." I told her.
Denise shrugs her shoulders, throwing up her hands and slapping them against her thighs, "well I'm sorry! It was never my intention to judge you because of your lifestyle— I'll try to tone it down if it makes you feel better."
Shannon pushes herself from up against the sink, grabbing her earrings, and her small white handbag as she stomped her way towards the pink stall door with the doodles on it, "whateva', let's just go."
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"Donny— I'm so sorry I left you here, I had to help Jasmine and Sherri with the tickets, now I can finally wine down." Kandy breathes as she plops down in the chair next to Donald, placing a gentle kiss on his soft cheek.
He blushed, scratching the back of his neck to hide his red face, "It's alright, are you having fun?"
"Yeah I am... I'm glad I'm here with you though." She smiles, she placed her hand on top of his, intertwining their fingers.
"Me too. Um... do you have any plans this week? Well actually next Sunday, I'm playin' at my church and I want you to come and watch me." Donald says, Kandy shifts in her seat, gripping onto Donald's hand.
She releases a soft sigh, "N-No I ain't busy... I'll see if my mama will take me, if she does— I'll be front and center watching you."
Donald smiles at her, lifting their intertwined hands up to his lips, placing a soft kiss on her knuckles, the music slowed down and the blue and white lighting dimmed down as DeBarge's "Stay With Me" scattered through out the gymnasium as couples start to hold eachother close in the middle of the dance floor.
"You wanna dance?" Kandy asked, Donald nods in response. The duo continue to hold hands as they rose up from their seats at the table and slid through the crowd as they found a clear spot in the middle of the dance floor, Kandy turned on her heels, she gifted Donald with a toothless grin as she wrapped her arms around his neck, his tall lanky frame towered over hers due to how short she was, standing at 5'4.
"I-I don't know what I'm doing..." Donald admitted as he whispered in her ear.
She giggles, shaking her head as she pressed her chest up against his, she removed her left hand from his neck to grab onto his, and placing in upon her waist, "it's fine Donny, just hold onto me."
Donald nods as he compiles, committing the same action with his other hand as he gently pulled Kandy close to him, she took it upon herself to rest her head against his chest, her ear lying right on top of his heart, being able to listen to his steady heartbeat— sending a warm sensation to her body. He tilted his head back a bit as he allowed her to get comfortable as they slowly swayed side to side to the music. Donald was shaking inside his oxfords as his top row embedded into his bottom lip— he tried to focus on his foot movements without Kandy noticing, he had two left feet and could only do the two step— even though he barely got the hang of that, but tonight will be the night that he will, for the girl of his life.
As his hazels bounced around the room, they finally landed on the special somebody— that somebody that he had been looking for the whole entire night, Monica Hayes. His heart almost dropped to his toes as he surveyed the pretty purple dress she told him about, it he felt like his heart was skipping beats as he grinned at her, she looked like a beautiful princess, just like he had imagined. His grinned was soon wiped off of his face once his eyes shot on the bullseye, Travis. He could've sworn he felt his eyes roll uncontrollably.
He just couldn't bring himself to at least tolerate Travis just because he was impressed with his skills on the field, he just felt that he wasn't right for Monica, even her own brother didn't like Travis, he just didn't want to admit it. He inhaled sharply as he controlled himself and just let the disgust he felt go. He glanced down at Kandy and smirked at her as her eyes were closed, drowning in the intimate moment she was feeling with Donald.
His eyes flickered back up and they landed right into Monica's. Travis' head was resting in the crook of her neck as she kept her eyes on Donald. She brushed a piece of her straightened hair as she flashed him a tight grin— he returned the favor. His heart began to pump at a quicker pace the more he stared into her chocolate brown eyes— gaining the attention of Kandy as she glanced up a him with her hazel eyes.
"Your heart is beatin' super fast." She giggles before she rested her head back on the warm spot on his chest.
He laughs, "Sorry. I-I'm just a little nervous."
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I quietly closed my bedroom door behind me as Travis finally dropped me off home. After our slow dance, he suggested that we ditch the rest of the dance to get something to eat and catch up since he's been so busy with practice. I agreed and we ended up going to Burger King— my favorite fast food place. He let me get whatever I wanted— and I did, and we just sat in his red Nissan Sentra, and just talked about anything that came up in our little brains.
I tossed my silver sandal onto the floor as I let out a big loud huff, I stretched my arms over my head as I released the tension on my body, especially my feet. I walked over to my dresser, turning on my radio as the station was playing Shalamar's "A Night to Remember", I gently nodded my head along to the song as I started to take off the diamond earring's Daddy got me for my birthday last year.
As I began to pick up my orange comb to comb through my hair to wrap it up, I heard three soft knocks on my window. I slowly put the comb down as I turned and walked over to the window as the moonlight was shining through it. Pushing my curtains back, I seen it was Punk— still dressed in his tuxedo from tonight, he just switched his his oxfords out for his bedroom shoes.
I scoff in a playful manner as I pushed both curtains to the side, unlocking my window and pushing it open wide enough for him to crawl his big body through.
"Hey Cricket!" He chirped.
"Sup punk, I thought you guys would be at Joel and Cedric's house after the dance, that's where Mikey and Maureen went." I responded as I watched him slam the widow behind him.
"Hey! My mama and daddy are sleeping, keep it down before we get out behinds whipped, boy." I whispered angrily at him, he shrugged it off, laughing under his breath as he finally turned to face me.
"Sorry. So... where did you and Timmy run off to after the dance?" He asked me, plopping down on the edge of my bed, I sucked my teeth and rolled my eyes as he yet again called Travis any name except for his actual name. I knew Donald and Michael didn't like Travis, but I would've at least expected them to be a little supportive of my decision to date him. That's all I ever asked from them.
"It's Travis, punk. And he just took me to Burger King to get something to eat, that's all. Is that okay with you, Dad?" I explained as I smirked at him, crossing my arms over my chest.
He shrugs, keeping an unsure facial expression on his face, " I dunno, he could be a serial killer on a stroll."
"Shut up fool." I laugh as I took a seat on my bed next to him. He chuckles, looking down at his hands as he fiddled with his curved fingers that I grew to like and find interesting.
"What do you see in that boy anyway?"
My eyebrows knit with genuine confusion, "Obviously a lot since I consider him as a boyfriend— Donald where is this coming from? Did Travis do something to you in the past that I don't know about? I know he used to be a little rough around the edges."
He quickly shakes his head No as he makes eye contact with me, "No, No, No! It's not that— it's just... I don't think he's right for you, it's something about him..."
"And where are you getting this from!? Kandy?! Cause you definitely don't see me going around here talking about her when everyone knows she's no good for you!" My voice projects as I stood up from my bed and I was now standing in front of him. I hated that everyone was so quick to judge him and they barely knew him.
He soon frowned before yelling back at me, "That's because she is good for me, Monica! I know guys like Travis— he's a player! Even Mike knows that— you just wont listen! Cause you're too gone in the brain!"
"Cause it's none of your business and it's not true! Look— I like Travis and he likes me, so if you came over here to argue with me about that then you can crawl your scrawny behind right out of that window and go back home." I fumed, gesturing my head towards the window before I turned to my dresser and picked up my comb, starting to fix up my hair for the night.
I could hear him release a sigh, he stood up from my bed and slowly walked towards me, he turned and pressed his lower back against my dresser, looking down at his shoes as he avoided eye contact with me, "Look Monica, I don't want to argue, and that's not what I came over here for, I'm just looking out— I care about you a lot.
"That's nice. Thanks." I simply replied, keeping my eyes connected to myself as I pinned my hair up in a wrap before tossing my bonnet on my head, I picked up a few tissues from the tissue box and started to wipe the minimal amount of make up mama put on my face for tonight, just a bit of lip gloss, blush, and eye shadow.
"I'm sorry."
I slowly removed my hands from my lips, and sat them down on my dresser, "It's alright— I know how you and Mikey get, and I care about you guys too but... I'm a big girl, I can handle myself."
He laughs, "Girl you are still thirteen, you're still a baby, our baby. My baby"
My laughter collides with his as I resume wiping the lip gloss off of my lips, "Whatever punk. My point is... in order to make it in life, especially in a town like this... I have to learn to handle my own. I know I can't stop you and Mikey from y'all's little big brother antics—but don't stress yourself, I'll be alright."
He nods his head, "Hmph, Ya'know... you're really smart and wise... wiser than all these kids in the town."
"I'll take that as a compliment." I smiled, wiping the final remains of the silver eyeshadow as I turn to him, shifting my weight onto my left side of my body.
"I respect your opinions and decisions, you remember that always. And also remember that... we aren't tryna run over you— 'ruin your life' as you would say, we're just lookin' out, I do the same for Dalvin and Derek— and I know that I always act like they're a pain in my behind all the time but, I still look out because I care. Just like I care about you." Donald mentioned, I felt my heart warm as he revealed that he cared about me.
It was nice to have a friend like Donald, he could be a brother, a bestfriend, even a good boyfriend to anyone once you get to know him, he's the most genuine friend I've ever had, even when I get tired of Shannon and Denise with their bickering, I can always run and rant all night to him and he'll sit there and listen to me— because he was that much of a great friend, almost like a bestfriend, so it felt good to hear him say that he cares about me.
"I care about you too, punk." He bursts into heavy laughter as he cradled his stomach that bounced under his shirt.
"Alright enough with the emotions and violins. Just promise me one thing, Monica." He says with all seriousness as he tried to tone down his laughter.
"What is it now?"
"Promise me that you'll never lose yourself. Promise that you'll remain the same— and never change. Always have standards, and never settle for anything. Just promise me that you'll do what's best and what's right for you, please?" He beseeched me as his left hand gently grabbed onto my right.
I blink the tears that were welling up in my eyes back as I gripped onto his hand, "I promise."
He nods, folding his lips into a thin line, "Good. Well... I'll get out of your hair, it's getting late and we do have church tomorrow morning so I'll let you get some sleep, sleepy head.
He starts to walk towards the window, but soon stops once he hears me call his name, "Hey Donald..."
"Yeah?" He asks, looking over his shoulder.
I gestured my head towards his chosen attire for the night, "Nice suit — pink looks great on you."
He laughs, flipping me off as he opened the window and started to crawl out of it, "Goodnight Cricket."
"Good Night Punk."