After Melissa was cleared out of the hospital early in the next day, she expected to see Maria and Rodriguez. Instead, she watched as Louis walked inside of the room and gave her a blank stare. She gathered her gown, folding it and placing it into her chair.
"Where's mom and dad?" Melissa asked.
"Get your stuff, Melissa." Louis said in a serious tone. "We're going home."
While Melissa rode back with Louis, she knew that by his silence that the next result wasn't good. Melissa knew what was coming ahead but didn't bother to ask. She was tired, exhausted, and didn't care at the moment. Melissa remained calm, but when Louis passed her home, she sat up and gave Louis a weird look.
"Louis, we just passed mom and dad's house." Melissa said. "You just-"
"Melissa, just sit there and calm down." Louis murmured in an agitated tone.
So that's what Melissa did for 10 minutes. All the way until they arrived at Louis's apartment off of the beach. Melissa scrunched her eyebrows at him as Louis stepped out of the car, walking towards his place.
"A lot of your stuff is already here, Melissa." Louis said as he continued to walk. "Come on."
Melissa walked into Louis's place, staring at three large suitcases of hers. She gazed at the suitcases, giving him a shocked look.
"Wait a minute? I'm staying here!?" Melissa scowled. "For how long-"
"It doesn't matter, Melissa. You've already been kicked off the swim team for GOOD! The point is, you're coming here to shape up. And let me get something straight right now, I am NOT going to be like mom and dad. When you stay here, you're going to shape the hell up." Louis said in a serious tone. "I'm not gonna be super strict, but if you start to act super rebellious acts, I'm gonna make sure that they shift you off with grandma. Alright?"
Melissa sighed, rolling her eyes and slumping her shoulders.
"Fine." Melissa scoffed. "I guess."
Louis wiped his hands down his face, walking towards the back.
"Come on." Louis said. "Let me show you where you're sleeping."
The next day when Jionni sat in his 4th hour cooking class, he heard a few of the boys in there talking and murmuring about Melissa and a few other girls in the school. However, this was typical. Boys talked about girls all the time at the school. But since they were talking about Melissa, he listened in onto their conversation. He had this class with Ross, so he wasn't alone there. While listening, the teacher handed Jionni an assignment back while passing out papers.
"I don't know what you've been doing Jionni, but great job." The cooking teacher chuckled as she walked off. "I hope to god that you're not cheating!"
"Haaah." Jionni chuckled as he looked at his 98% paper. "Thanks, Mrs. Slover."
"You fuckin' nerd!" One of the girls in Jionni's class chanted at Jionni.
"Shut ya' ass up, Kim." Jionni scoffed back, smiling at her.
"Shiiiiit, I hope I get as good of a grade as that...." Ross scoffed.
Right afterwards, the teacher handed Ross's paper back and gave him a blank stare as she walked off. On it, was a 47%.
"Man damn...." Ross scoffed as he leaned back in his seat.
Jionni sat back in his zone and listened in on the boys conversation.
"Nah, she straight." The first boy scoffed. "She like cute, but I wouldn't hit."
"What 'bout Hannah?" The second boy asked. "Dat lil mixed girl?"
"I'D HIT!" The first and third boy nodded. "Shiiiiiitttttt...."
"What 'bout Trina?" The second boy asked.
"Mmm, nah." The first boy said, shaking his head.
"No? Not Trina, nigga?" The third boy said in a shocked tone. "She fine and she got ass!"
"Yeah but she a thot." The first boy scoffed. "She gotta new boyfriend er' month."
"He right, O." The second boy shrugged. "That mean she be fuckin' them niggas too."
"Nah, but what 'bout her friend Melissa though?"
"NIGGA I'd hit, wouldn't pull out, take a break, hit again, and not pull out da' second time!" The second boy said in a hype tone as the teacher continued to pass out papers.
"YES, NIGGA!" The third person nodded as he gave him a handshake. "She the type of girl you wanna get pregnant AND raise da' damn baby."
"I'm lowkey tryna get at her, though." The first boy murmured. "Real shit."
"Who wouldn't? Shit, to have somebody dat' bad on yo' side?" The second boy scoffed. "I'm tryna' get at her too, nigga."
Jionni shook his head, chuckling as he chewed on his gum.
"Y'all so funny, man.." Jionni murmured.
The boys glanced at Jionni, giving him a confused look.
"You talkin' to us, Jionni?" The second boy asked.
"Yeah, man." Jionni smiled.
The boys laughed as they gave him a funny look.
"Why you mad, nigga? She ain't yours no mo!" The first boy laughed. "Don't be jealous, baby Jody."
"Oh I ain't mad at dat. Lissa would neva' date no niggas like y'all." Jionni laughed. "The question is is y'all willing to put up wit' all da' shit dat come wit' her?"
"Shit, hell yeah." The first boy nodded. "She dat' good lookin."
"Shit, das' easier said dan done. You gotta deal wit' her mood swings, her sometimes good days but shitty attitude most of da' days, her wantin' your attention, her wantin' you to feed her, her wantin' you to give her sex when she want it, of course I know dat." Jionni said, finishing his sentence. "DEN you gotta get through her family and boy, they so fuckin' evil dat it'll make you second guess if all dis' shit is worth it."
The boys gave him a stunned look, not believing him.
"You lyin', bruh." The second boy murmured.
"If y'all get through alla' dat, you deserve her." Jionni said in a serious tone. "All dem' good come wit' a bunch of costs."
And Jionni was right, but he wanted to scare any boy by telling them this. Though he didn't want anyone dating Melissa, she wasn't his anymore. If she was going to leave him, he wanted to make sure that the next person she got actually deserved her. And if the next boy went through this, he would know that she found the next one.
After school, Jionni did the regular by hanging out with a few friends after school. While hanging out, Jionni saw Kiara sitting on a bench by the bus, reading and keeping to herself. After spending time with his friends, he walked over to Kiara and sat beside her, cracking a small smile at her.
"Hey." Jionni murmured.
Kiara looked up at Jionni, looking back down at her book. Jionni scrunched his lips, placing his hands on the back of his neck.
"So......what you doin'?" Jionni asked.
"Reading." Kiara murmured in an agitated tone.
Jionni squinted his eyes at her, cracking a small smile.
"Why you always by yoself n' shit?" Jionni laughed.
"Because I have no desire to deal with these ignorant teenagers at my school."
When Jionni looked at Kiara's upper arm, noticing that she had a tattoo on her upper left arm. It was a photo of a heart with the letters JJ written in cursive on the ribbon going across.
"You just got dat' tat?" Jionni asked as he pointed at her arm. "Of JJ?"
Kiara looked away from her book, looking back down.
"Yeah......"
"It's nice."
Not wanting to focus on her son, Kiara continued to read her book.
"Listen Kiara, I know I been tellin' you dis' shit ever since JJ passed away, but I was wonderin' if we could still be cool. I mean, rememba' how close we was?" Jionni smiled. "I know you rememba' how me, you, Mook, n' Tray used to ride on da' back of ice cream trucks all da' time in da' hood!"
Kiara unintentionally cracked a small grin as Jionni nodded his head.
"Yeaaahhh. Dere it go!" Jionni smiled. "I see a smile!"
Kiara looked up and gave him a blank stare as she placed her book down.
"Aren't you busy this weekend?"
Jionni instantly thought of Melissa. But with her blowing him off, canceling, and doing her own thing, he said
"Nah." Jionni said. "I'm free."
Kiara sighed as they both watched the bus come by. Kiara got up and got on, giving him one final look.
"I'll see, Jionni."
And Melissa obviously wasn't the one who was doing her "own thing". And after school the next day, Melissa spent that time flaunting around in her outfit.
Being kicked out of swimming class seemed to take a lot off of Melissa's shoulders. She no longer had to worry about having that along with the hefty schedule at home. And since Louis and his girlfriend had to be to work before Melissa's school hours started, she could dress how she wanted and head straight to school. She wore a skintight black dress and some black heels along with some hoops, immediately catching the attention of the boys inside of the school. Melissa walked up to Trina, smiling as she placed her hands on her hips.
"Hey girls. Have y'all seen Jionni?" Melissa smiled. "I want him to see how 'fancy' I dressed for him."
"He ova' there." Britt Bratt said as she pointed down the hall.
"WORK BOO!" Trina cheered.
Melissa's heels clicked down the hall as she walked to the end and turned towards the lunchroom. When she got there, she froze after she saw who Jionni was with. Kiara. She saw the two walking slowly down the vacant part of the hall, brushing shoulders and murmuring some small things to each other. If Melissa didn't have a threat then, she had one now. This was the girl who bore Jionni's first child and came before she was even involved in the picture.
If Melissa wasn't jealous then, she was sure as hell jealous now.