The new semester also brought on less time with my girls. Rocky got busy with preparing for student council. Nicki helped out at her mother's daycare. Will had the girls' basketball team. And Kay, in a shocking turn of events, had Aaron and Aaron's friends.
And I, I went to school and went straight home.
I had all this free time and nothing to fill it with while my friends were all doing their own thing. We still spent time together in school, but we were getting distant. And I felt like I was the only one noticing.
"What's up with you?" Calvin demanded to know when he walked into the house, his best friend, Tyree, trailing behind him, interrupting my TV time.
"What?" I gave him a look. "Why you talking to me like that?"
"You're always in the house. You having girl problems?"
"No." I denied eating a chip out of the bag that was on my lap.
"What's up with the girls then?" Tyree asked, taking a seat and swiping the bag. "Doesn't Kay have a lil boyfriend?"
"Yeah. I think." I shrugged. "And the others are busy. I'm not, so I'm here."
"Well, that just sounds sad," Calvin spoke. "You gotta have more friends."
"I have enough."
"Well, that's debatable seeing you still don't got people to hang out with." Tyree quipped.
I looked between the two of them. "Y'all don't wanna hang out with me?"
"If I can get the remote." Calvin snatched it from my side, changing the channel, and I groaned.
"Calvin!"
"Go take a walk or something Nae."
"Why?"
"Cause you can't stay in the house forever."
"I can try."
"Bye, Janae."
Letting out a breath, I reluctantly rose from the couch. Walking to my room, I grabbed my jacket, slipping it on, and grabbed a couple dollars. I decided that if I had to go somewhere, I'd go to the corner store and buy another bag of chips.
No matter how annoying Calvin was, he sometimes meant well. And seeing how I'd been feeling, a walk around the block didn't sound too bad.
"Pick me up some Cheetos." He requested as I passed the living room to get to the door.
"Okay."
"And some Twinkies," Tyree added.
"Boy I-"
"Thank you!"
I exited the house and zipped up my jacket a little higher, seeing it was windy.
The five-minute walk to the corner store felt like an eternity with how cold it was outside. Once I was close enough, I jogged inside the store, the little bell chiming indicating my arrival.
"Hey, Janae." Tommy, the man who ran the store, greeted me. He was middle-aged and had kids that were older and younger than me. The corner store brought in a good profit for him.
"Hey, Tommy." I waved softly before going through the aisles, searching for what I wanted. The little Valentine's Day display caught my eye in the chocolate aisle, making me decide to get a snickers bar for myself.
I didn't forget to grab what the boys wanted before I made my way to the front.
"How's school going?" Tommy asked just to make small talk as he rang up my items.
"Good," I responded. "Not going by fast enough."
"You just got back."
"Yeah, three weeks ago," I replied, handing over the money I owed and accepting the bag.
"Over it already, huh?"
That shouldn't even have been a question. "Yes."
Our attention turned to the door, which chimed, indicating someone else was making their way inside.
I froze in place, forgetting to breathe for a moment, shocked at who just made their entrance.
Nico Brown, the self-proclaimed 'King of the Streets' was out of jail and in my presence.
He'd been locked up since I was 11 and Rashad and Kelly swore up and down that I'd be out of high school by the time he came around again.
They were wrong.
And I was internally shaking.
"What's good, Tom?" He spoke with a smug smile looking our way, and I couldn't help feel uncomfortable at how comfortable he seemed.
"Nico." Tommy greeted simply. "How long you been back?"
"Got out yesterday." He informed as he walked over. "How am I looking?" He did a smooth spin holding out his arms.
"Good. Looks like jail ain't slow you down." Tommy complimented.
My eyes focused on his muscles and toned physique. He never was a big dude, slim would be a good word to describe him, but I could see how four years in the pen allowed him to bulk up.
"Thank you. Thank you." Nico just grabbed a bag of chips before standing next to me. "Lemme get a pack."
Tommy passed him a pack of cigarettes and took his money, giving him his change back. Nico wasted no time, pulling a cigarette out of the pack and lighting it.
That was when he finally noticed me.
"Who you?" Taking a drag of his cigarette he blew the smoke to the side making my face scrunch up at the smell.
"Janae." I quietly and politely answered, taking a small step back.
"Janae, what?"
"Williams."
"You Kelly's little sister?"
I nodded.
"You look like her."
"Thank you," I mumbled softly only to cough as he blew his cigarette smoke in my direction.
A soft smirk came on his face at my reaction. "Y'all enjoy the rest of your day." He walked around me, making his exit.
I just let out a deep exhale looking to Tommy.
"Go home." He sternly instructed.
This was bad.
I left without another word. My thoughts ran wild as I thought about what his return could mean. Only two conclusions coming to mind, he was either gonna lay low or go back to the same old shit he used to get into.
When I said I didn't live in the worst area, part of that had to do with that fact that he was off of the streets.
And considering he blew smoke in my face and smiled about it, jail ain't change him one bit.
I was about to make it inside to go tell Calvin and Tyree the news when I saw Quincy walking from his Grandmother's house.
"Hey, Quincy." I waved just to be nice.
Ever since he gave me my fallen History homework, we were friendly. Saying hi and bye, waving. He was no longer someone invisible to me. And it was just chill like that.
"Hey, Janae." He smiled at me before crossing the street and making his way towards me. "What's up?"
"Nothing just went to the corner store. Did you just come from seeing your Grandma?"
"Yeah. Now I'm about to go meet up with the guys or something."
"Nice." I nodded. "It was nice seeing you."
"Nice seeing you too." He smiled once more before starting to walk off, leaving me to get inside my house, Calvin and Tyree sitting right where I left them.
Calvin's head turned at the sound of the door. "You get our stuff?"
"Yes." I threw them their items before taking a seat. "You won't believe what happened."
"What?" Calvin asked curiously.
"Nico's back, he got out yesterday," I informed.
"How do you know that?" Tyree demanded, instantly sitting up getting on alert.
"I saw him at Tommy's, he came in and bought chips and cigarettes."
"He say anything to you?" Calvin asked, and I just nodded.
"He asked who I was and blew some smoke in my face. Said I looked like Kelly." I summed up. "What do you think this means?"
"Nothing good that's for damn sure," Tyree asserted.
"All we gotta do is stay in our lanes and lay low. Ain't nothing he got going on have to do with us." Calvin spoke rationally. "There's no need to be scared about something that ain't happen yet."
"Ain't nobody scared." I denied, pulling a face. "I'm just letting you know what's going on. Finally, I got the gossip." I took a bite from my snickers bar.
"Don't go around running your mouth about this," Calvin instructed me. "Keep it to yourself. He knows who you are. Next thing you know he's coming looking for you 'cause you talk too much."
"Okay. Okay." I nodded softly. "I got it."
"Good." Calvin stared at me for another moment, to emphasize his seriousness before he turned to look at the TV. "You tryna watch some Fresh Prince?"
"Yeah."
And just like that the conversation was over and we didn't speak of it again.
It was like a regular normal night, watching Will Smith on my TV screen. But I was paying attention less, mentally trying to convince myself that nothing was gonna change.