Friday was officially deemed the last game that we had until the Championships started back up in 2017. We were excited because Howard's last home games were always the best ones. Dance practice was back in play after out unexpected cancellation on Monday, and by Thursday, we had the whole thing down pat. Dancing as a Bisonette has definitely taught me to catch on to dance moves easily. Prior to attending Howard, I usually had weeks, sometimes even months, to catch up with a routine before having to perform. But now, after being a Bisonette for about four months, I've recognized my ability to learn a whole routine--stands, halftime, and sometimes something extra--in a matter of a week.
Now, we just had to hope and pray that this mindset translated to my academics next semester.
I took my last final today--Statistics. It was safe to say that the extra studying I did was much needed. I had no idea what I got on the exam, but I was proud of myself for actually falling through with my whole study agenda. It definitely helped that Nia, Claire, and Alisha were a part of my study group. We kind of motivated each other throughout these past weeks which on campus was known as Hell Week. Hell Week, which was essentially just finals week, was a lot harder than any other week I had experienced on campus.
And now, we were done.
At this point a lot of students were preparing for our extended winter break. If it wasn't for the game this Friday, I'm sure a lot of students would be packing their bags and heading to their family's house for the holidays.
Howard's campus would be shut down completely winter break. The only way you were allowed to stay on campus was if you paid an extra fee. Our rooms didn't necessarily have to be cleaned out during winter break, but they had to be cleaned enough. RAs and campus police would be doing a mandatory walk through throughout the break in preparation for the next semester. This was the reason why I neatly folding up my clothes and placing them in a more organized location. Claire was doing the same, but her side of the room had remained relatively neat during this whole semester, so she really didn't have much to organize. I, on the other hand, managed to accumulate way too many clothes during my stay, and I guess it never hit me that one day I was going to have to find a place to put them.
"Are you going to get all of this done by Monday?" Claire questioned hesitantly. I sent her an unknowing look. Colby and I decided that were going to leave on December 19th to go to his hometown of Lincoln Heights and stay with his family until January 7th when campus officially opened. It was a long and drawn out stay and intially I thought we were going to go on the 24th and come back on the 26th. It was clear Colby had other things in mind, and the duration of the stay was making me nervous. I had been to summer camps and the likewise before, but I had never stayed with another family before. I was angry at my parents for making me do this because Lord knows if I could've been down South with my family, I would've. But, I was very disappointed in the actions of both my parents and I had to stand my ground when it came to this.
"I'm not sure, but I hope. Colby has his mind set on this date and I doubt he's going to push it back anymore. If it was up to him, we would've left like...yesterday." I mentioned. I turned and faced Claire again. "What about you?" I questioned. Alisha was going with Claire for the first half of the trip, and then was going to make the drive down to Florida so she could spend Christmas with her family. Claire's mother was very excited to meet Alisha, or Claire's new 'love interest' as she called it, and since Alisha had already informed her parents on her relationship status, she thought now was the perfect time to go.
However, none of them were as nervous as I was when it came to meeting the parents.
"We're leaving Saturday directly after the game. Alisha claims she has all her stuff packed and ready but I know that really just means she has the least important stuff packed away." Claire responded with a roll of her eyes. I had to laugh at that statement because it was true. Alisha sucked at prioritizing things which usually got her in a lot of trouble.
"Nia's leaving Saturday after the game too. Who am I going to be with when everyone goes?" I questioned. Claire shot me a look. "Are you really asking that? You'll have Colby of course!" Claire responded and I sighed. "Yeah, but I'm going to miss my girls. Three weeks with out my girls?" Now that I said it aloud, it did seem like a long time. The next time I see them would be in a whole other year. This year had went by extremely fast, and I felt as if so much had happened.
"Don't be all mushy about it. People go all breaks all the time." Claire spoke, leave it to her to be the logical one. "I'm not trying to be mushy," I whined, but that was definitely what I was doing. I don't know why but I felt as if by the time we come back, our group would've grown apart. I don't know, maybe I was really just overthinking things.
I packed a little bit more until practice came around. We didn't usually do theme practices, but since it was Thursday and one of our last practices before winter break, we all decided to come to practice in our favorite Ugly Christmas sweaters. I was definitely a holiday person, and Christmas just so happened to be my favorite one. I loved the music, the food, the gifts, the movies...everything about Christmas was so me. So of course, I went all out when it came to this Ugly Christmas sweater. It wasn't necessarily ugly, but practice today gave me the oppurtunity to dress up in my Mrs. Clause outfit. I'm talking stockings and everything. Now, the regular Mrs. Clause definitely wouldn't be showing this much skin, but we were dancing in this, so skin was necessary.
Alisha wore her Dabbing Santa sweater and Nia looked way too cute in her red and green Gingerbread man sweater. Even Coach Liz, who usually dressed up to the nines, looked casual in her festive gear. The entire practice itself was casual and for most of practice we found ourselves letting the kid out of us as we played childish games such as Duck-Duck-Goose and the likewise.
"How come practice isn't always like this?" Nia had to practically yell over the heavy laughing that was coming from the other dance mates. Everyone was gathering around and the sounds of Christmas music was playing in the background. There were sugar cookies being served in the back and it was such a cute holiday party. I was beginning to think we weren't going to have practice tomorrow based on all the festives that were occuring today. I didn't think we needed it anyway. We were all doing good clearly, or today wouldn't have been as laxed as it was.
"I don't know. But if it was would we really be as prestigous as we are?" Alisha answered and I couldn't help but laugh at her statement. She was sounding more and more like Martina everyday. Now that I think about it, I think we all had some Martina in us. Despite the fact that I was leading stands again this week, Martina still played her usual role. With the time running down of her captain spot, she herself had been more relaxed on herself, but definitely more particular when it came to us. I didn't want to sound cocky when I said this, but it seemed as if she was definitely more particular on me. Captain had been a word that was thrown around with my name since the beginning of my dance experience here, and I would be a little surprised if I wasn't at least one of the candidates. Of course, there were plenty of other strong dancers here, for example, Alama with her beautiful turns. And then there was Carmen who was naturally suppose to be next in line.
I tried to remain positive when it came to thinking of my future as a Bisonette, but with try outs starting up in March, I had to be on my toes.
I redirected my attention to the door that was swung open. No one else seemed to notice it, but I did. Samir entered into the dance studio and he rose his eyebrows at the group of girls doing the JuJu on that Beat challenge in front of the mirror before making his way towards Coach Liz. Nia and I got up, but I'm sure it was for two different reasons.
My attempts to reach out to Samir had dwindled during this week primarily because of the increased time I spent studying and preparing for my finals. I definitely didn't forget about him at all, but seeing him now made me want to go back into my copious amounts of apologies that he was probably tired of hearing. He spoke to his mom for a little bit before directing his attention towards Nia, all while completely ignoring my presence.
"Give him some time," Alisha spoke, placing an encouraging hand on my shoulder. She probably saw how down I was on the whole situation. Samir and I were suppose to be hanging out this Christmas. I remember us talking about doing a gift exchange, or a Secret Santa kind of thing amongst my group of friends and his. That topic hasn't been brought up at all since the Thanksgiving thing.
Nia and Samir stood next to each other, and I couldn't help but notice how well they complimented one another. Coach Liz seemed to notice as well, for she cooed at the not-really-couple before laughing at something Samir said. I was happy that Samir was no longer punishing his mother for something that I caused, but I couldn't help but be a little annoyed that he was still not talking to me. I had ideas on how to fix the situation, but they all required Samir cooperating by speaking to me.
Clearly that wasn't happening anytime soon.
Much like I had expected, Friday's practice was cancelled which gave me more time to pack my stuff. However, Colby decided to keep me company whilst I packed, which seriously just meant that he was distracting me. He helped a little bit when it came to picking up the heavier boxes and moving them around, but that was really it. Claire was helping Alisha pack so that they could be nice and ready for their road trip to New Jersey after the game Saturday. The sounds of Young Dolph played through the portable speaker he brought along with him, and he rapped to the vulgar lyrics all while tossing his basketball up and down into the air.
"I think that's all I'm going to do. I mean, the worst they could do is give me a citation, right?" I questioned Colby. He looked at the word that we, which was really just me, did before nodding. "It doesn't look too bad. It looks fine to me." Colby mentioned. Boxes were pushed against the wall and labeled specifically just like how the RAs had wanted it. I bit my lip, looking for anything that needed to be fixed before facing the open suitcase on the floor.
I definitely didn't mind overpacking for Colby and I's trip. I needed as many clothes as I could pack, and different varieties because you could never be too sure about an outfit choice. I had a bag for shoes and accessories, a bag for clothing, along with a smaller bag dedicated solely to makeup and hair products.
Appearance was everything when it came to meeting the family.
I took a deep breath before sighing and looking at Colby again. He looked so precious and innocent as he continued to play with his basketball. I couldn't help but crack a smile at my man. We didn't have much time together--though dance practice was cancelled, Coach Dyer were having the boys do some conditioning before the game tomorrow. Sometimes I wished I didn't have to share Colby with basketball all the time, but I knew that this was surely just the beginning. With talks of him going pro still moving around campus, I knew sooner or later basketball was going to become part of my life as well.
"What time does conditioning start?" I questioned before laying myself down on the bed next to Colby. Claire wasn't coming back into the dorm room anytime soon, she went out to the mall with some of her other friends, so I didn't mind getting comfortable with Colby. "Six something. I think it's six thirty but I don't know." He replied. It was nearing five now, so I had an hour left with him.
"Yo, for real though, don't be nervous about meeting my mom, okay?" Colby spoke suddenly. I rolled my eyes at his statement for dramatic effects, but in reality, I was glad he was able to reassure me. After the conversation we had about my anxiety towards meeting his mom, I was able to push most of my concerns aside. At this point, the only thing that was worrying me was whether I was going to be liked or not. The concern wasn't trivial, but it wasn't necessarily something I could fix or change. Everything would be in the hands of other people's opinions.
"I won't be, I won't be." I assured him, placing a tender hand on his jawline. The regular season grew tougher towards the end, and Colby had been slacking on his usual clean cut look. He had more of a scruffier look going on with an even patch of stubble growing on his chin. His hair, which was usually kept in a low buzz cut, had managed to grow out as well. I wasn't mad at it; I actually thought that his new look fitted him nicely.
"I need a hair cut," Colby spoke as if he could sense what I was thinking. I didn't agree with him or deny his statement. I didn't want to encourage him to get a hair cut because like I said, this look actually did make him look nice. However, at the same time I knew he was going to have to get a hair cut at some point, most likely before Christmas.
Time flew by, and before we knew it, Colby had to leave the comfort of my arm, to go attend conditioning. Disappointment was an understatement and if it wasn't for the fact that I was going to have a whole two and a half weeks with him, I would've been extremely annoyed. But I let him go to conditioning.
He better not complain when I'm clingy all break.