Journey Hayes-
"JJ! Time for school, get up!" I groaned and rolled over, throwing my covers over my head. "Journey, wake up." I felt myself being shook and I groaned, pushing my Dad's hand away. "Alright, I'll be back in here in thirty seconds. If you're not up, prepare to get splashed." I flipped my covers from over my head and glared at my Dad, "You wouldn't," I glared at him with squinted eyes and chuckled, "Let me leave out of this room and come back and you're still in this bed. Watch what happens." With that, he left out of my room and I whined, kicking my legs around. After my temper tantrum, I flipped my covers off of my body and sat up, staring straight ahead at the wall, contemplating if my education was really important enough for me to get out of my comfortable bed.
"I knew you'd make the right choice," My dad walks into the room with a cup of water in hand. "Come on so you can eat your breakfast. We don't want you being late for your last first day back to school." I smacked my lips. "I could honestly care less." I stood up and stretched before sliding my feet into my house shoes and following him into the kitchen. Wesley sat at the table, picking through his food. It was apparent he had an attitude.
"What's wrong with you?" I asked as I grabbed my fork and butter knife, cutting into my pancakes. "He got splashed," Dad simply said before he sat at the table. "Yikes.." I mumbled to myself as I poured syrup over my food. I said my grace before digging in.
"What time do you get out of school, JJ?" Dad asked. "2:35 and I have to be at work by 3:00," I said, grabbing my glass of apple juice. Apple Juice is much better than orange juice, don't argue with me.
"Alright, So after school Wesley, go to the Cafe. Don't go anywhere else," Dad said sternly and Wesley nodded, eating his food. I took a few more bites of food before wiping off my hands and face, "What time is it?" I asked Dad and he glanced at his watch, "6:45," He said and I stood up. "I have an hour before school starts. I gotta start getting ready. Thanks for breakfast." I went into the bathroom to do my regular hygiene routine, which included brushing my teeth, washing my face, and bathing. I then went back to my room and moisturized my body and got dressed.
I didn't want to be too over the top, so I settled for a yellow half shirt, light blue denim overalls, as well as white converse, examining myself in the mirror, pursing my lips while trying to figure out what to add to my outfit. I put on my bracelet, a watch, as well as my diamond studs and a necklace.
I looked at my clock and noticed I had fifteen minutes before I had to leave. Quickly, I went into the bathroom and slicked my hair into a low bun and quickly did my makeup, which consisted of lightly filling in my thick eyebrows, mascara, and lipgloss. I then went back into my bedroom to grab my backpack and beeper. I made sure I had everything in my backpack before heading out. "I love you guys," I called out.
"Have a good day, sweetheart! Love you." My Dad responded and Wesley went on to say, "Don't accidentally go into the boy's bathroom or trip in front of your whole class and get carpet burn on your forehead like you did your first day of fresh--" I cut Wesley off, "I'm breaking your neck when I see you later on," I left out and closed the door, adjusting my backpack. "Bastard," I mumbled before making my way down the street towards the direction of Parker High School. When I arrived, I heard the warning bell ring, which meant I had a good two minutes to get to class. Damn, I didn't think I walked that slow.
Luckily when I got enrolled last week, they gave me a tour of the school, assigned me a locker, and gave me the books I would need for my classes. I walked inside and maneuvered through groups of people to get to my destination. When I arrived at my locker, I quickly put in my combination and opened my locker. I grabbed my chemistry, Civics, and Literature books and closed my locker, before twisting the padlock and making my way to class. The bell had rung and the hallway was damn near cleared out about time I got to class. I opened the door and walked in. When I walked in, everybody's attention diverted to me and I grew self-conscious. "And you are?" The teacher asked.
Rude bit-
"My name is Journey and today's my first day," I said. "Adventurrrree!" A familiar voice called out and the class began to laugh. I rolled my eyes and my eyes scanned the classroom and my eyes landed on Dalvin and K-Ci. Just my luck...
"Jesus," I mumbled to myself, shaking my head and I heard them cackle. While the class conversed amongst themselves, the teacher looked at her attendance sheet and said, "Journey Hayes is your name, correct?" I nodded and she gave me a small smile. "Class, this is Journey she's a new student here at Parker. Journey, why don't you tell us about yourself." I absolutely, positively hate being put on the spot. "Uh, I'd rather not," I said.
"Oh come on! Just tell us three facts about yourself," She pressed. I sighed and responded, "Well, my name is Journ--"
"We already knew that!" Dalvin said and the classroom filled with laughter. Why me? "Mr. Degrate, I'm almost certain you don't want detention on your first day back so I'd suggest you'd put a sock in it. Ms.Hayes, please continue," The teacher said. "I'm seventeen, turning eighteen soon. I'm from Decatur and I'm a black belt in karate." I said.
"And? What's that supposed to mean?" K-Ci said with a smirk and I responded, "That means, I'm skilled enough to kick anyone's ass, including yours." I said with a fake smile and an array of 'ooh's' filled the classroom. "Okay, enough. Ms. Hayes, go sit behind Mr. Degrate." She said. she can't be serious.
"You're joking, right?" I asked and she smiled. "I'm afraid not. All the rest of the seats are full." Shoot me now..
I walked through a row of desks and went and sat in my seat. As soon as I sat down, Dalvin and K-Ci turned around. "You didn't tell us you went here," K-Ci said. "You never asked," I responded pulling out my supplies. "You got a smart ass mouth," He said and I shrugged. "I've been told,"
"You're a Senior?" Dalvin asked and I nodded in response. "Why are you in a Junior class?" He asked and my eyebrows furrowed, K-Ci and Dalvin laughed, "I'm joking. We're Juniors but we have this as an AP class." I nodded, "That's cool. Is it hard?" I asked and he shook his head, "All the work is in the book." He shrugged. "We did have this class with De, but he switched out of it because he said 'we annoyed him too much' and 'it's bad enough he gotta deal with the shit all day, every day'" Dalvin mocked.
"I see exactly why he did. Mr. Hailey and Mr. Degrate please turn around and face the board. This is your last warning." The teacher glared at them and went back to writing on the board. They smacked their lips and turned around and Dalvin mumbled something under his breath.
Forty-five minutes later, The bell rang and it was the end of class, finally. I closed my notebook and gathered my things before putting them in my backpack. I stood up and swung my backpack over my shoulders before attempting to exit the class, but Dalvin stopped me. "What class you got next?" He asked. Dalvin, K-Ci, and I all exited the classroom and we walked the halls together. "I have Civics," I said, stopping by my locker to put my book inside. "Oh, alright. You know where your class is? I can walk you to it if you don't," Dalvin suggested. "Yeah, I do. Thanks." He nodded, "No problem," He said.
I closed my locker and turned around, seeing Donald approaching Dalvin and K-Ci with his arm draped around some girl's shoulder.
Of course, he has a girlfriend... I mean, as fine as he is, why wouldn't he?
"Yo, Wassup? Wassup?" He dapped them up and looked over at me. Oh shit.
"I didn't know you went here," He said. "Your name is Jay, right?" I nodded and gave him a small smile, which he returned. So fucking fi--
I glanced over at the girl Donald had on his shoulder and she was giving me the stink eye, "Tiana, this is Jay. Jay this is my girlfriend, Tiana," Donald introduced us two and she scoffed. "Who is she, Donald?" she clearly had an attitude for whatever reason. "He just told you who she was," Cedric said with a blank expression on his face, which made me snicker a bit.
"Alright, well, I'll catch up with you guys later. Nice to meet you," I said as the warning bell rang. "Bye Adventure," K-Ci said and I smacked my lips. "Whatever," I quickly glanced at Donald who was already staring at me, but he quickly looked away once I looked at him. Hmm. I walked away and made my way to my second class for today.
When I walked in, there were a few students in there chattering amongst themselves. I sat down at a desk and put my book on the desk and sat my backpack beside me. "Are you our new student?" The teacher asked, looking at me and I nodded. "Journey, correct?" I nodded once again. He gave me a warm smile and extended his hand so I could shake it. "My name is Mr. Fletcher, but you can just call me Jake." I shook his hand, "Do all the students call you by your first name?" I asked him. "Just about," was his response. Soon enough, all the students piled in and as the students walked in,
"Alright, class! Welcome back from Spring Break. If you guys couldn't tell already, we have a new student. Would you like to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself?" I hope I don't have to go through this in every single class.
"Uh, sure. My name is Journey, I'm seventeen, and I'm from Decatur, Georgia," I said and the class greeted me. I gave them a small smile and the teacher spoke, "Well, it's an honor to have you here, Ms. Hayes." He said and I thanked him. "Alright guys, pull out your textbooks and go to chapter 22," Jake said. I grabbed my book and turned to the chapter while the teacher handed out worksheets to everyone. "Alright, I'm not gonna bombard you guys in work just yet. So, go ahead and work on this worksheet then turn it into the turn-in box. I grabbed my pencil out of my backpack and began to work on my assignment. In the midst of us all working, the door squeaked which made us all look in that direction. Donald walked in with furrowed eyebrows and obvious irritation written all over his face.
"Here you go, Donald." The teacher held up a worksheet and he retrieved it before sitting in his seat. My gaze shifted back over to my paper and I finished my work.
After my civics and literature classes, I made my way down the hallway, towards the cafeteria. I wasn't really hungry so I decided to use my time wisely by doing my homework so I wouldn't have to worry about it later. When I arrived at the Cafeteria, it was still a bit empty so I had my chance to sit at a table without having to be bothered. As soon as I sat down, I was approached by a tall, dark-skinned guy. Brotha' was fioneee.
He stood at about 6'4 and I'd describe his body type to be average. He wasn't too muscular and he wasn't scrawny neither. As for his facial features, he had big, pink full lips and dark brown almond shaped eyes that complimented his high cheekbones. "Um, excuse me?" I looked up at him and he smiled at me, "Hey, how you doing? My name is Hakeem. Hakeem Daniels." He extended his hand so I could shake it. "Journey," I responded and he smiled at me. "You're new here at Parker, right?" He took it upon himself to sit down, which is something I didn't mind. "Yeah. I just moved here a few weeks ago," I said and he nodded. "From Decatur, right?" I furrowed my eyebrows and squinted my eyes, "Yeah...Yeah, how'd you know?" I asked. He licked his lips before he continued to speak, "Well, Parker isn't that big of a school and it's rare that we get a new student. Once we do, it's the talk of the whole entire school," he said.
"Oh," I trailed off, not exactly knowing what to say. He chuckled, "But, everything is true from what I heard," He said. "Well, it seems to be," I furrowed my eyebrows and spoke,
"And, what exactly is it that you've heard about me?" I asked. We made brief eye contact and I began to feel nervous under his subtle, yet intense stare. "They said that you're very shy and not very talkative, which is pretty obvious. But, the most obvious is that you're gorgeous. I see no lie in that." I chuckled and looked away, trying to hide my low-key blushing, which made him laugh. "Well, thank you," I said and he smiled, "No problem. But, aye, check this out, I'm about to head back over to my table. Do you mind if I got your number?" I was flattered, seeing as though I wasn't used to being approached by guys. But, I wouldn't feel comfortable giving my number out to a complete stranger. Besides, I didn't want to risk giving him my number and having either Dad or Wesley answer the phone. I would never hear the end of it.
"Uh, no, but I'll take your number," I said and he smirked. "You got a pen?" he asked. I reached into my backpack and grabbed a pen, handing it to him. He grabbed my hand and jotted his number down on my hand before handing me my pen back. "So, I'll be hearing from you, right?" He asked. "Maybe.." I smirked and he chuckled. "Alright," With that he stood up and left the table, going back over to his table. I chuckled to myself and grabbed my homework out of my bag before I began to work on it.
Moments after, three trays were placed on the table and I looked up to see Dalvin, K-Ci, and Jojo. They all sat down and K-Ci spoke, "Where's your food?" He asked, shoving some fries into his mouth. Before I could say anything, he spoke again, "And why the hell are you doing homework? It's lunchtime." I smacked my lips, "First of all, I wasn't hungry, fat hog. Secondly, I have work after school and if I don't do my homework now, it probably won't get done. Besides, I can eat at the cafe." I said as I proceeded to do my work. "What classes you got after this?" Dalvin asked, shoving a chicken nugget in his mouth.
"Just physics." I said and Jojo spoke, "So, tell us about yourself."
"What Y'all wanna know?" I asked as I wrote in my notebook and flipped through pages. "Um, why'd you move from Decatur?" Dalvin asked. "My dad's job transferred him out here. He's a lawyer." I said, looking up at him. "You just live with your Dad?" Cedric asked as he opened up his juice box.
"Yeah, just him and my little brother," I said. "But enough about me, what about you guys? How'd you guys meet?" I asked. They all looked at each other, trying to determine who was going to explain the story. "K-Ci, you got it," Dalvin said. He smacked his lips, "Well, the four of us were both popular on opposite sides of town because we were both apart of our Parents' Church choir- Well we still are, anyway, we'd always hear about each other but we never met until one night. Ti decided that she and her friend Sue would introduce us but Sue got caught up because she was messing with me and Dalvin at the same time. We got into it and we didn't speak for a long time. But since De and JoJo always hung out, we would see each other often and eventually we just became friends," He explained. I chuckled, "Wow, that was dumb of her. But, you guys sing?" I asked and Dalvin spoke, "Yeah, but they're the main ones," He pointed to K-Ci and Jojo. "De plays instruments," Dalvin explained.
"So, who was ol' dude that came over here?" Dalvin smirked and I smacked my lips. "Nobody important, Mr. Dalvin," I responded.
"Is that nobody important's number on your hand?" He asked and I glanced down, looking at the number. Shit. He and K-Ci erupted in laughter and even Jojo chuckled a bit, "Y'all fools crazy, man."
"Y'all are irritating," I shook my head, laughing a bit. Then, Donald walked in with Tiana on his arm and his eyes were low and they were bloodshot red. Tiana, on the other hand, looked a complete mess. Her lipstick was smeared and her hair looked a mess and there was a big ass reddish/purplish bruise on her neck so it was apparent what they had been doing before they got here. "Wassup Y'all?" Donald spoke lowly with a smirk on his face. The guys stared at him with smirks on their faces and all he did was laugh. Donald then looked over at me, "What are you working on?" He asked. "A summary on a short story I read today in Literature," I said, looking up at him. "Aw, you're a little nerd. That's cute," He said and I chuckled. "I wouldn't exactly refer to myself as a nerd but--" His attention diverted from me to Tiana who had grabbed his face and kissed him, shoving her tongue down this throat. I didn't exactly know what she was trying to do or prove but one thing I do know is that she was making herself look not only stupid but jealous and insecure as well.
"I think I'm gonna be sick..." Joel mumbled and I snickered. "Well, my appetite has officially come and gone," Dalvin said, pushing his tray away from him. She pulled away from their kiss, biting his bottom lip. He smiled and whispered something in her ear, that made her giggle. Cedric gagged and dropped his chicken nugget onto his tray, which caused me to snicker. "Y'all are a mess," The lunch bell had finally rung and I packed up my things before standing up. "I'll see y'all later?" It was more of a question, rather than a statement.
"Yeah, we'll catch you at the Cafe later on," Dalvin said and I nodded in response. For a few seconds, I had an inner-confliction. I didn't want to cause any trouble, but my petty side begged to differ. I adjusted the straps on my backpack, "See you, Donald," I smiled. "Bye, Jay," He gave me a small smile and Tiana scoffed. I walked away and exited the lunchroom and my smile remained on my face.