Nikita Glover.
It was to be expected that the different people I’d had in my past would all be under this one roof, but after years of trying to keep the worlds apart, it was a little disheartening to see that they’d gotten together and baked a Fuck-You-Deon pie.
Nikita looked me up and down, but whether or not she recognized me, I wasn’t sure. She didn’t linger too much on me but instead tapped Cherri on the shoulder.
“Hey,” Cherri greeted. “What’s up?”
“You’re wanted,” Nikita replied.
“Oh, um…” Cherri looked at me, then at Nikita, then at me, then at Nikita. “Okay.” She gave me a quick glance. “Let’s catch up more later, okay? You owe me an explanation.”
I nodded. “That I do.”
As disappointed as I was to watch Cherri leave, I was relieved for a little more time to figure out exactly what I was going to tell her. Four years had given me a lot of time to think, but every time I considered that what I may say could scare her off, I changed my game plan. I’d considered everything from outright lying to acting like she should already know. There wasn’t really one perfect option, and ultimately, I was just going to have to come right out and say it and hope for the best.
Flinging my backpack over my shoulder, I followed the few remaining students out of the classroom. All eyes were on me as I walked, and even though I tried to pick an outfit that hid most of the muscles I’d amassed over the course of the years prior, my arms still fought against the fabric of my t-shirt. Between that, my goatee, and my impossible to hide tattoos, it was proving next to impossible to fly under the radar.
“Do you think he was held back?” I heard someone whisper to their friend.
“Maybe he transferred from another high school because he got expelled,” someone else said.
After what I’d been through the past four years, a little bit of whispering and rumor spreading weren’t enough to bother me, so I just ignored them and pressed on. My next class was science, down in the wing opposite the one my homeroom was in, so I had a long walk to draw attention. Hopefully, after a few weeks, I’d be old news, but I’d just have to endure it until then.
“Hey! Deon!” I looked over my shoulder just in time for a kid at least a foot shorter than me to hop up and fling his arm around my shoulders, pulling me down to his level. “How you been, bud? Been a while.”
I thought back to the neighborhood I lived in before everything changed, and I remembered the other kids that lived there that I hung out with, but given that most of them were black, the pasty-white kid with a goatee and newsboy hat looking at me didn’t strike me as familiar. There were a few white families, including mine and, of course, Cherri’s, but her brother was eight years younger than her. The other one did have a son, but he was older than me and would have graduated by now.
Coming to the conclusion that I didn’t know the guy hanging off me, I roughly shoved him back. “Who the fuck are you?”
“Come on, man. It’s me, Sicily!”
Around us, I could see several students rolling their eyes and whispering to themselves while pointing in our direction. Suddenly, I wasn’t the center of attention anymore, and whoever this guy was, he had a reputation around the school.
Again, Sicily reached out and tried to wrap his arm around me, but I slapped it away. “I don’t know you. Keep your fucking hands off me.”
Sicily held up his hands. “Hey, man. Relax. I’m just…” He leaned in. “You’re new, right? I’ve long needed someone with a little muscle to hang around, and you need someone who knows the lay of the land. Let’s help each other out.”
I glared at him. “I don’t like when people use me.” When I took a menacing step toward him, he backed up so vehemently he nearly toppled over. “Bitch,” I growled, and then turned and continued off toward my next class.
So much for not drawing any additional attention to myself. Of course the seediest guy in the entire school sought me out. Anger boiled over me, but I remembered traveling a similar course of protection four years ago and thought that, if he’d been having trouble, it probably wasn’t dumb to seek out someone with some stock to them.
I looked back over my shoulder, but Sicily wasn’t there anymore. Whatever.
If I came across him again, maybe I’d hear him out, but in truth, I didn’t need any more excitement finding me. My only two goals in coming to school at all, as opposed to getting my GED, were to reunite with Cherri again and graduate. I didn’t need some punk who didn’t seem to be the school’s favorite guy risking either of those things for me.
I turned the final corner toward my next class just as the five-minute warning bell rang. Kids were funneling into every other class in that hallway, but the classroom I was bound for was the opposite. There was a huge crowd of people standing outside, including the teacher.
Were they locked out?
Students parted as I approached. As much as it annoyed me that they were treating me like some kind of virus, I was at least glad for the opportunity to get a little closer and find out what was going on. The last of the people in the group to look at me was the teacher. Her eyes widened as she took a huge step to the side.
Even the teachers?
I opened my mouth to ask what was going on, but before I could get any words out, I felt the poking of a sharp object at my back. Glancing to either side of me, everyone was avoiding
