DeMar
"Who you texting, fool?" I asked Kyle as I dribbled the ball on the concrete court. We had been shooting for ten minutes waiting for DJ and Jimmy to show up. We usually would play in the gym, but we couldn't because the lame volleyball girls were occupying it.
"No one," he turned around quickly staring at me. He locked his phone and shoved it in his pocket.
I made a straight line face, "Mhm, boy you know damn well you was texting someone."
He smiled, "It was someone but it doesn't concern you."
"What's her name?" I chest-passed him the ball. He stepped back and shot a three, making it in.
"Jordin," he sighed. "What about that girl you met today? I know her name ain't no 'Bear.'" He chuckled.
"Nah, it's Isabella."
"She Mexican?"
"Yeah," I said and shot the ball again. I missed and Kyle laughed. I shook my head at him.
"You get tired of them white girls?" He teased.
I did hookup with majority of white girls, but I mean, I don't know how to explain it why I did. I sighed, "Nah, Isabella is just beautiful. I don't know if I'll hookup with her, we'll see. She's fine as fuck though."
"Man, it's time for you to settle. You went all through highschool hooking up with girls and never actually dating someone. Shit, I want to settle with someone like Jordin," he admitted. I furrowed my eyebrows. Kyle wasn't really serious in relationships, but it was like he suddenly was. This girl literally got him going crazy.
"What's the point of settling now? It's senior year. I gotta focus on scholarships and colleges. Why go through all that trouble when we might not go to the same college or have the same dreams?" I asked and stole the ball from him. I could see DeAndre and Jimmy coming from their block.
"But why not just live in the moment and forget about all that future stuff later," he said and pulled his phone out.
"Because, it's stupid. Watch you're going to fall for her and then college is going to come, and you have to break up because you two are going to two different places," I scoffed. "Why fall for someone when you're just going to leave each other in the end?"
He wasn't listening, and pulled his phone out from his pocket and started typing. I scoffed again. DeAndre and Jimmy entered the court and we quickly dapped them up.
"Who was that girl you were with?" Jimmy asked Kyle while he held a mischievous smile. I rolled my eyes and dribbled the ball alone.
"No one," he said while DJ and Jimmy attacked him with childish love songs.
"So like, is y'all gonna be serious or y'all just gonna fūck?" Jimmy asked, his southern accent slipping out.
Kyle waved his hand, "Don't worry about it, man."
They laughed and then looked at me, "You making DeMar jealous, bro."
"Shut up," I smacked. They laughed again. I was two seconds away from throwing the ball at DJ's face but then he moved away.
"Yo, wasn't you with a girl today, too?" Jimmy asked, walking towards me. "Y'all hella fast."
"Yeah," I said. I passed him the ball and he shot it, making a jump shot.
"Yeah, she's in my fourth period. She beautiful and need a nice guy like me in her life," he teased and smirked.
"She was fine as fuck, she in my fourth period, too. Now, she gotta body," DJ slurped.
"We got the same fourth period, dumb ass," Jimmy said and smacked the back of DJ's head.
"Don't be talking about her like that," I shook my head.
Kyle snorted, "Yeah, J, don't talk about his girl like that." I rolled my eyes, Kyle sure was being a huge help.
"Ay, yo, check it," DJ yelled from the bench and motioned us to come. We all stared at each other with a confused expression. We jogged towards him and he pointed to two people walking; a boy and a girl.
"Ain't that your girl, D?" Kyle asked and patted my chest with his forearm. I shoved Jimmy out of the way because the bush blocked my view.
Isabella was walking and some other dude accompanied her - Reggie. She looked pissed and she was yelling at him angrily. Her arms were flying in the air over her head. Reggie must've made her mad. I'll admit, she looks cute mad.
"Go get your girl, bro," DJ said and shoved my shoulder a bit.
"Man, you guys play too much. Ain't even like that," I scowled.
"So what, y'all just gonna fūck?" Jimmy raised his eyebrow. I stayed silent. Maybe, because I don't want anything serious and she does have a banging body I'll admit.
"Maybe so," I dragged out.
"You stupid, man," he shook his head and sat down on the bench. "You think she got time to just fūck?"
"Why would she have time to be in a committed relationship? I don't even have time to eat dinner sometimes," I scoffed.
J shook his head, "Nah, she'll make time for you if she wants something more than just being friends. Ella is a good girl, she a square straight up. She's loyal, chill, and easy-going."
"Okay, and?"
"You just gonna treat her wrong? That how your momma taught you how to treat a woman? Because I know damn well that I wouldn't hurt an innocent girl like her," he said, not looking up at me.
I stood there silent, not sure what to say. My mom didn't teach me that, but it doesn't matter. I'm a freaking guy, I have needs and they need to be taken care of.
"Well then just have a quickie," DeAndre said, again not helping the conversation. "Like, remember that shirt that Draymond wore to school one time?" He laughed and Kyle joined in.
"Y'all some fūck tards," Jimmy shook his head again in disapproval but then started laughing. "I know if I had me a girl I'd treat them so right. Text them good morning and good night everyday. And I'd spoil them so much. I'd annoy them all the time, and I'd get me a feisty one so they can hit me all the time. I love when girls hit me when they're angry, it's funny."
"Enough with that mushy stuff," DeAndre groaned. "You need to get laid more instead of being so damn committed and shit. That's why you be getting your heart broken all the time and crying like a little bītch."
There was an awkward silence around the two of them. I wanted to laugh but I knew it was wrong. It was true though, Jimmy had his heart broken too many times. They would either cheat on him or they'd leave him with no explanation.
"Alright, how about we go play some ball?" Kyle chimed in. He hopped up and took the ball from my hands. Jimmy sent a look towards DeAndre who just shrugged. I teamed up with DeAndre so it wouldn't be so awkward between the two. Hopefully, they could ease the tension on the court.
-
Isabella
"Reggie, you're not listening to me," I said and grabbed ahold of his forearm. His jaw was hard and he continued to stare forward, so I knew he was more than just furious.
"What the hell, Isabella," he said and nudged his arm. "You're the one who said you weren't going to be around me anymore, but look what you're doing."
I knew I said that, but truth was I couldn't leave Reggie alone. He'd get in so much trouble if I didn't stick around, and he'd be so lonely. He isn't much of a good person when he gets lonely.
"Leave me alone, Bella."
I groaned, "You're an asshole for calling me that." I let go of his arm and stopped walking.
"I'm not an asshole," he said, turning around to face me. He came inches close to my face. I was tempted to just spit in his face, but I didn't want to be more petty than I already have. "Isabella, leave me alone. You were right, Jordin does like Kyle and I just need to accept it. You can hang out with DeMar for all I care about, just be careful please."
I stared into his eyes trying to search for any sarcasm but there wasn't any. His nose wasn't twitching, so I knew he wasn't lying. I hugged him tightly, and he slowly wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on top of my head. "Stop hanging out with Jacori."
I heard him sigh, "No promises."
"Please, Reggie," I begged.
"Ella," he pulled back from the hug and rested his hands on my arms. "Just 'cause I hang out with them doesn't mean I'll end up like them. My friends don't justify me as who I am."
"It kind of does," I said hardheadedly. "Your friends do justify you as who you are. If you hang out with the wrong people you'll end up in the wrong places."
Reggie heaved out another loud sigh. He leaned in and kissed my forehead, "I promise you I won't end up in wrong places, okay? Trust me. I'm sorry, Ella."
I nodded, "Me too."
"You should go talk to DeMar," he sighed and looked afar to the community courtyard. There were a group of guys playing basketball, and of course Rozan was there with them.
"Why should I when I want to hang out with my brother right now instead?" I smiled motioning toward Reggie.
He chuckled with a full smile, "I'm being for real. Go with them and show 'em your basketball skills. I'm about to head back in to shower, because I need to get started on this artwork for tomorrow."
"Fine," I rolled my eyes. "You go and do your artistic work while I hang out with them fools." I pulled him into a hug and then released him. He jogged back towards his house while I crossed the street towards the courtyard.
I walked onto the court and saw DeAndre making an alley-oop. Wow, look at those muscles.
"Oh no, we got an intruder," Kyle yelled, making DeMar face me. He gave me a soft smile and walked towards me. I noticed Jimmy staring at me, so I turned to face him with my eyebrow raised. He quickly shot me back a smirk and a wink. I rolled my eyes which caused him to laugh from afar.
"What chu doing here?" Rozan asked. His face was full of sweat and his shoulders were also pretty soaked.
"Nothing, I just saw you so I decided to drop by," I said, partially lying.
"Mhm," he squinted his eyes. "Do you mind if I have a waterfall from your water bottle?"
"Um, sure," I said and handed it over to him. The other boys seemed to notice, so they did what anyone else does when they see water.
"Can I have some?" DeAndre and Jimmy jogged over to me; Kyle hesitated but followed.
"No," I furrowed my eyebrows and snatched the water bottle from Rozan who was about to hand it over to them.
"Oh snap, feisty." Jimmy stepped back. "Check."
Again, I stood there in confusion but the other boys hit him in his chest and shook their heads. They seemed to know what he meant.
"You wanna play?" DeAndre asked.
"Nah," I frowned. "Kinda do better when I'm on the sideline with my camera."
"Ahh, that's how I remember you," Jimmy mentioned and stood next to me. I could feel the heat radiating off of him, and Rozan sent another dagger towards him.
"Yeah." I dragged out. "Imma go so y'all have fun." I was about to start walking until they spoke again.
"Y'all?" Jimmy and DeAndre said together. I furrowed my eyebrows and crossed my arms.
"You southern?" Jimmy asked and placed his hands on his hips.
"Yeah."
"Where you from?"
"Dallas, Texas."
"No way, DJ and I are from Houston," Jimmy laughed.
"That's cool, but D-Town is way much better than H-Town," I hummed.
"No way!" They chimed.
I laughed, "I really need to get going so I'll see you guys later."
"Bye, shawty," Jimmy teased and waved. Rozan hit him hard in his stomach making him groan.
"Bye, Rozan."
"Bye, Bear," he gave me an innocent smile. I turned and saw Kyle again standing there being quiet. He moved behind DeAndre so I could walk.
"I'm sorry, Kyle," I said and jogged off.
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this chapter was pretty lame, but jimmy sort of starting to feel isabella's vibe. 👀