Damon opened the doors to the front of the school and stepped in. He could smell the scent of lemon floor cleaner. The floors gleamed form the sunlight flowing in through the windows and Damon grinned. Fresh start. Yep. He blinked to clear his sight and shifted his black backpack to his left shoulder.
“Good morning,” said an older black man wearing a business suit. He was heavy set and had close-cropped hair. He was standing in the hall outside of a large room with a sign that said principal’s office over the door.
“Hello, sir,” said Damon, walking towards the man. He held out his hand and shook the older man’s.
“I’m Mr. Tally,” said the man. “The Vice-principal. And you must be Mr. Damon Hamilton.” Damon was impressed.
At Lansing Southern, it seemed that half the teachers knew only the troublemaker’s names. A quiet fellow like Damon could get lost in the shuffle very easily without even trying, unless he happened to be targeted by a deranged drug dealer for banging his old girlfriend. Damon pushed the thought away.
“You know all the students?” he asked.
“I make it a point to get to know each and every student at this school,” said Mr. Tally. “I like to tell my students up front, if you handle your business I won’t have to. We can be cool. I find that if I get to know you ahead of time, you won’t have to spend much time in my office.”
Damon smiled.
“That’s straight,” he said. “Don’t start none, won’t be none.”
“Exactly my philosophy,” said Mr. Tally, seriously.
“I heard that you had some problems at Lansing Southern,” said Mr. Tally. Damon stiffened and searched the older man’s eyes. Damon had not found many adults to be sympathetic to a young brother’s problems.
“Yes, sir,” he said. “I did. But I’m not looking for trouble, here. I just want to graduate from high school and go away to college.” He did not explain that the troubles hadn’t been his fault. He would just sound like a punk, and nobody besides his family believed him anyway.
“Let’s try to keep it that way,” said Mr. Talley, solemn eyed. “You come talk to me if you need anything, you hear?”
“Yes, sir,” said Damon, equally seriously. “Is it okay if I look around?”
“Be my guest,’ said Mr. Talley, gesturing with his hand. Damon turned to walk away.
“By the way, Mr. Hamilton,” said Mr. Talley. Damon tensed his shoulders but turned back with a look of mild inquiry on his face. “Take your hat off and welcome to Wimberley High School.”
Sasha
“What is this?”
Sasha looked up from the desk to see her mother, wrath of God expression in full effect, holding a purple and hot pink early pregnancy test box in her right hand.
‘Oh, God, should have put that in a dumpster far, far away.’
Sasha winced and said nothing.
“What is this?” her mother asked her again, advancing into the room. She stopped when she was about six inches from Sasha.
“It’s a box for an EPT test, mama,” Sasha mumbled to her mother’s stomach. She didn’t dare stand up. Better to be sitting when the volcano that was Reverend Evangeline Redmond erupted. That way Sasha wouldn’t have so far to fall.
“Girl, I can see that,” said her mother. “Now, what is going on?”
Sasha opened her mouth, but no words came out. Her eyesight blurred.
“You’re pregnant,” said her mother, making it a statement.
“Yes,” whispered Sasha, still looking at her mother’s stomach.
“I told you to keep your legs closed,” said her mother in an awful voice. “Didn’t I tell you that?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Dead silence followed for a few eternal moments.
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry?” her mother was yelling now. “Sorry about what? Getting smart? Gapping your legs open for some boy? Isn’t that what you do?” Evangeline pushed her, causing her to stumble over the corner of the bed. Sasha righted herself.
“Mama, please,” begged Sasha. “I need your help.”
She’d known how it was going to be, which was why Sasha had kept her secret until now. But knowing and being in the middle of a butt kicking were two different things. She should not have bought another test; like the test strip was going to say something different than the little pink and white stick had last week. She had hoped against hope that the stick that dropped into the toilet water caused the first test to malfunction. If she hadn’t bought the second test she would have been able to put things off a little longer.
“You need my help, huh?” said her mother in a quieter voice.
“Yeah.”
“What?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You ready to take care of this? Why do your mess ups always have to cost me some money?” Evangeline ran her hands over her face and then dropped them to her side.
“I’m going to have the baby, mama,” said Sasha, dully waiting for the next explosion.
“Not in my house, you’re not,” her mother snarled.
“Mama, you said abortion was wrong,” said Sasha. She could feel tears streaking down her face. “It’s against God’s will. It’s in the bible, right?”
“Oh, now you want to trot out the bible?” asked her mother, fists jammed on her ample hips. “Where was your bible when you were out there fornicating with some boy?”
“But -,”
“And
