Jay
There was a cut on her face but she already explained that one, something about a razor. But the purple bruises on her neck threw me the fuck off. We were tight now, and if there was something going on I wanted to know. When I did ask her she shut down and ran into class. I tried shrugging it off and went to my first class of the day, government. I should do fine since Nique has taught me so much.
As expected I was doing better, in fact I got a B on the chapter test. I was happy as hell I was bringing all my grades up, but I couldn't totally be happy if something was wrong with Nique. She was the reason for my success, and I had to make sure she was good.
I made it a priority to check on her again and focused on class. This period was filled with players and cheerleaders. I made fun of the shit I heard up in here. Some of it was good ass gossip.
"The first game coming up and guess who finna get laid behind the stands?" This girl behind me asked her friends. She was cheer captain so of course she had all the intel. Across the room sat the rest of the football team and some ball players toward the back. The drill team girls sat in the middle of the class. What I hated most about them was that they stayed smacking on gum. They looked like some damn cows.
I sat on the far right with the cheerleaders behind me. The female athletes sat over here and didn't bother me much so I didn't care.
I stopped listening to their conversations up until they mentioned Domonique's name. "You know the real quiet girl, Domonique. She fine or whatever but she ain't no me. So I don't even know why Trey eyes is wandering over to her when he got all this."
I was tempted to turn around and defend her but thought of what would happen. People like her messy and fake as hell so I left it alone.
After the next two periods came lunch. I never ate anything here because it was nasty. I wasn't usually hungry at this time so I sat in my car or drove around. Nique was sitting at a table with her head down, probably sleeping. Walking over to where she was, I tapped her shoulder. Her response wasn't immediate but a couple more taps got her up. She rubbed her eyes slightly and I sat in the chair next to her.
"You hungry?" She nodded slowly as her eyes adjusted to the lights. "I want a mango. Do you have one?" There was a little bit of sleepiness in her voice and also lines on her face, meaning she slept good.
Of course I didn't just have a mango in my pocket or anything, so I offered to take her to buy one. At Monroe we could leave campus to get a bite. That's why it was so quiet in here; either you went out to eat or you were outside.
I saw that she was still trying to shake off the sleep when she got up. I grabbed her things and led her to my car. "Them Hispanic markets sells ripe mangoes. Is there one near by?" She strapped up and so did I. "Yeah let's go." I found it funny that we were leaving school to go buy a couple of fruits and then come back.
"You sleep good, ma'am?" She chuckled, finally out of her daze.
"Hells yeah. I was dreaming too," she looked out the window. I pulled into the parking lot and unlocked the doors so we could go inside and buy the mangoes.
"They having a sale, Jay. Four for a dollar. It's our lucky day," Nique pulled three dollars out of her back pocket and started flexing with it.
"Rich ass," I put my hand over her shoulder and rested it there was we walked around the store looking for her fruit.
Once we found the pile of them she put four in one of those plastic bags. "Get more, on me," she smiled and started getting more. We went to the cash register and got rung up. "And your total is 5.32" I handed her a ten and got my change. After we got our bags we headed back into the parking lot.
"Thank you, Jaylen." She wrapped her arms around me. She quickly let me go and started milky rocking. "I got my mangoes, werk." Once you got to know Dominique she was real goofy at times. She was taken to be real stuck up and snobby but that wasn't her at all.
We had fifteen minutes until we had to be back in class. The time was used to sit in my car, play music, and eat the fruit. She took my aux cord and plugged in her phone. "You like 90s rap?" I shrugged because I never really listened to it before. Her first selection was something by Kriss Kross. Other songs played on the drive back to school as she munched on her fruit.
"Domonique Williams, what the fuck are you doing?" I said, once I looked over and saw her eating.
She giggled at my surprise. The girl was eating a mango like an apple. "You eat the skin? Weirdo," juice dripped down her lips and onto her hands. "It's good for you. Anyways, it taste better like that." Everyday I was finding out about more unusual stuff she did.
"I can't bring myself to do that, Domo." The song changed to a track by Fugees. "Whatchu' like about this 90s stuff anyways?"
She shrugged and began explaining herself. "It's easy to vibe to. Plus it reminds me of my brothers." I forgot that she had siblings.
"We better go inside 'for we late, ma'am," I unlocked the doors for us to get out. She stuffed some mangoes in her bag and left the rest in my car.
After throwing away the seed we shuffled up the steps to Monroe High School. Other seniors were just arriving from their lunch breaks so the lot wasn't completely empty.
"Donuts and now mangoes... You've really outdone yourself, Jaylen." I stuffed my hands in my pockets.
"Why we goin' with the govy now? And like you said, as long as I keep you fed I'll be alright. Don't worry bout it though, Imma always make sure you straight." She smiled and looked down.
"Alright, brother. I will hold you accountable, ya hear?" I walked closer to her as we entered the school. The hallway with most of the senior classes was across the school, it was fine since we had 5 minutes to get there. The freshmen were back in class so this hallway was pretty bare.
"Guess what?" She turned to me to ask what was up. Her face quickly expressed concern. "Chill out. It's something good." After giving it some thought nothing seemed to click. I told her anyways. "I passed that test, with a B." We stopped walking.
Nique grabbed my hands as we stood in the middle of the empty hallway and spun in circles. "Yesss, Jay! My magic is working!" I spun her into me and embraced her in a hug. We walked like this until we got to her classroom. "I'll see you at practice?" She nodded assuring me she would be there.
When she walked inside I remembered the question I was supposed to ask her. I recalled how her neck looked in the car: less bruised up. It wasn't a good time to ask her about it anyways because it would definitely ruin the mood. I shrugged it off and went on my way.
The corridor was filling with more and more people when Trey walked up to me. He was on the football team too, but he wasn't me. He did have a slick mouth though. So much so, that nobody stepped to him.
"Ayo Jay, wait up." I turned around to him and his crew along with the girl that mentioned Domonique. He shooed them away in order to talk to me when no one was listening.
"What you got going on with that girl?" I shrugged. No we weren't an item, just good friends, but at the same time I didn't want her to fuck with him like that.
"Nothin', but ain't you with Sierra over there? Best keep that one," I pushed past him to get where I was going. Sierra was gorgeous, she just wasn't Nique.
I only wanted him to think he was lucky so he wouldn't think about going for Domo. It didn't look like me and her was going to be anything but friends and I was cool with that. But I didn't want her to mess with Trey; the nigga was no good.
"Seems like half of you got your grades up. I'm in a good mood so I'm not punishing anyone today. We need to run some plays. Second string, play defense." We hustled to our positions and lined up like we would on game day. I called out the play and Jones threw the ball back to me. I searched for and outlet while o-line kept the defensive line off of me.
Caldwell finally got open and I was ready to make the pass when Trey tried to tackle me. I was quick on my feet so his try wasn't going to work. I faked left and went right, making him fall down. I kept running, knowing no one would catch me. If this was a real game we would've scored. In practice we never take it all the way so coach blew the whistle.
An hour later we were finally allowed to go on a water break. That's when I spotted Nique in the stands. I completely forgot she was coming to watch me play. I approached the gate that separated the last row from the field, and she walked down the steps to meet me there.
"So what people say is true?" Assuming she meant my performance, I nodded.
"You fast, but you ain't faster than me." She shrugged. I smacked. "You know you can't out run me, stop playing." I squeezed the water into my mouth. Sweat dripped down my face. The chilly air made it feel refreshing though.
"We're just gonna have to race then." We chatted for the rest of the ten minute break. I saw Trey staring at us, hating ass. If he come near her we gon have some problems.
Coach made us run more plays for another hour. "Get some rest. Tomorrow will be a light practice then You got the weekend. Be ready for next week's game."
I went inside and got my stuff then hurried out to Domonique. "You hungry?" She hurried down the steps and informed me about how hungry she was. "Only way I'm feeding you is if you give me a hug." The face she made was priceless. I was tryna see if she'd do it, considering the fact that I'm drenched in sweat.
"I'll starve then," she replied. Nique was getting a hug whether she liked it or not, and plus seeing her squirm was the best thing ever.
"Come here," she saw me coming and tried to push me away but I got her. Squeezing her tightly I lifted her off the ground.
"Ew, Jay. Move." She was angry but laughing at the same time while I rubbed my sweat on her. She struggled against me but as we walked she relaxed. "I'm not tripping because you buying me food. This shit nasty and don't think Imma just forget." We were at the car before I knew it so I put her down.
"Now that that's over, where you wanna go?"