I was too cute to be a cheerleader so I play volleyball.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Izzy, wake up! It's 7:15! You overslept!" My eyes shoot open as I jump out of bed.
I run to the bathroom, turn on the water and quickly put some toothpaste on my toothbrush. After I finish brushing my teeth I run back to my room and throw on some leggings, a hoodie and my Timberlands. I pack my bookbag and my purse and I grab a hair tie and a hairband as I rush down stairs.
When I get downstairs to grab a pop tart, I see Rodney sitting at the counter eating cereal.
"Oh good, you're ready." He smiled.
"What are you talking about?" I ask trying to catch my breath.
"You're supposed to take me to the airport this morning." He looked at his phone, "My flight leaves at 8."
"But it's—" I looked at my phone to see that it's only 6:35, "Are you fucking kidding me?" I semi-yell.
"Wha—"
"It's Friday, meaning we have a late start today. Meaning I don't have to be at school until 9:30. Who the hell told you to wake me up so damn early?!" Now I'm yelling.
"Damn, chill Lil' Bit. Auntie told me since you're leaving out early, you had to take me to the airport."
I rub my temples trying to calm down, "Bruh, where are you even going? You're not scheduled to leave for another two weeks."
"I'm going to visit some friends in Mississippi."
"Oh." I looked at the clock again, "Well, we have to get going because you're gonna need extra time to get through security." I say.
He finishes his cereal and we grab our things and head out the door. I'll just grab some food on the way to school.
We made it to Midway Airport 45 minutes before Rodney's plane takes off; hopefully that gives him enough time to check in and go through security.
"Have fun Rondo and make sure you bring Mya and I something back from Mississippi please!" I say hugging him. I'm not tearing up this time since I know he's coming back.
"Ight Lil' Bit I gotchu." He says getting out.
"Text me when you land!" I yell. Hopefully he heard me.
I watch him walk though the revolving doors. He waved letting me know that it was okay to leave.
*
"Can I have a large caramel frappé and a sausage biscuit?" I'm currently at McDonald's since I didn't get to eat this morning.
"Your total will be $5.54. Please pull up to the next window."
I got my food and made it to school around 8:45 which gave me time to eat my food. I plugged in my AUX cord and turned on Beyoncé's new song Formation and put my music on shuffle. I ate my food as I texted Mya.
I continued playing on my phone when I felt someone staring at me. I put my phone down and looked up. I looked until my eyes fell on a boy who looked really familiar.
Holy crap.
It's the boy I bumped into at the mall the other day. I didn't know he went here.
I raised my eyebrows. He's starting to irritate me with this staring.
He took off his sunglasses and smirked at me and got out of his car. As much as I wanted to yell "Dude, what the hell do you want!?!" I didn't.
I rolled my eyes and finished up my food, grabbed my things and got out of the car as well. A warm breeze hit my face. It's mid-October and the weather is still pretty warm. It's a little unusual for Chicago, but no one's complaining.
I made it into school and I didn't even make it to my locker before Ali came running up to me.
"Guess what day it is?" She asks excitedly.
My eye widen, hoping today isn't her birthday.
"What?"
"It's the date night for Adam and I!" She squealed. I sighed in relief. I really didn't want to hear her complain about me forgetting her birthday.
Sophomore year I forgot her birthday and whenever she wanted something she would nag me and say, "You forgot my birthday, so you owe me." She kept that up until her birthday came up again. After all of that, I promised to never forget her birthday because that was annoying as hell.
"Oh cool!" I'm trying to sound excited for her, but I don't think it's working.
Ali's face fell, "Are you not happy about it? Oh my gosh, do you like Adam? Because if you do I can cancel tonight."
I chuckled a little, "No, no Ali, it's fine." I reassured her. And I really don't like Adam either.
"Okay, well come over after school so you can help me pick out my outfit?" It wasn't even a question, but more like a demand.
"Sure whatever. As long as you have food."
"Always. Oh! Did you hear we have another new student?"
"Yea, I think I saw him this morning on my way in."
"Oh, cool. Well I gotta get to class. Hasta luego!"
When she walks away, I grab the rest of my things from my locker and close it. I felt my phone vibrate in my hand. It was just Mya,
From: Mya
you seen the new boy ? he fineee
I laugh.
From: Me
yea i think i saw em this morning on my way in. & yea he aight.
I lied, he wasn't aight; he was fine as hell. I don't want to admit it because I'm not trying to focus on boys this year. I just wanna graduate so I can play college ball, and hopefully make it to the 2020 Olympics.
"You think I'm just aight?" I jumped to the voice that was behind me.
I turn to see the boy I saw in the parking lot. Who is this boy?
"And you are?"
"Kado, Kado Jackson. And you?"
"Izzy Hooker." I said stuffing my phone in my purse. "So are you new or have you always went here?"
"New, I'm from Indianapolis, Indiana."
"Ew, no wonder you came here. There's nothing in Indiana."
He scrunched up his face, "There is stuff in Indiana. Not as much stuff like it is here in Chicago, but there's enough."
"Hm, okay, well do you have a shadow for the week?"
"Nah, I toll' em I ain't want one"
"Okay. Gimme your schedule."
"Gimme got shot." I gave him blank stare making him laugh, "Here lil' girl."
I scrunch up my face, "I'm not little." I argue, "I'm 5'10, so I'm actually considered tall."
"Eh, I'm taller than you so yea you're little."
I roll my eyes, "Whatever." I take a look at his schedule, "We have homeroom, lunch, and gym together." I say handing the paper back to him, "Where's your locker?"
He pointed to the locker not too far from mine.
I nodded my head and we began walking to class.
*
Just as I suspected, Kado had everyone over him. It's now lunch and surprisingly he's sitting with us even though he met a large amount of people today.
"So Kado, do you play any sports?" Miracle asks.
"Basketball. What about y'all?"
"We all play volleyball." Marcey said, "Well except Adam, Aaron, and Nathan of course. But yea we all play for the same team, and you see that girl over there?" Kado follows her hand over to Destiny's table, "You see the light skinned girl sitting next to the girl with the long weave?" He nodded his head, "That's Carter. She plays with us too."
"And there's another girl, but she doesn't go here." I explain
"Cool." He says biting into his pizza. Just as I was about to say something else his phone rang. He furrowed his eyebrows when he looked at the caller ID, "Do they care if we're on the phone?"
I shook my head no and he got up. I couldn't help but look at his butt as he walked away. I chuckled to myself and continued to eat my mozzarella sticks.
"Izzy, I don't know how you eat those." Nathan cringed.
I rolled my eyes, "Shut up, you're just saying that because you're lactose intolerant." I say eating another one.
"Damn girl, why you gotta put all my business out like that?"
"Boy, you saying it like it's a secret." Liana says making us laugh.
Kado came back looking kind of pissed.
"You good, Kado?" Adam asks.
"Yea, I'm aight."
We shrugged him off and continued to eat while Aaron and Nathan joked around.
*
"So, how'd you like your first day?" I asked Kado, walking towards our cars.
"It was better than I expected. It seem like this school got they shit together."
"Whatchu mean?"
"Before, I went to a bad school. There would be fights everyday and none of the people there didn't care about their education." He explained.
"We have schools like that here, but they're called alternative schools."
"I think most schools are like that in Indianapolis."
"I don't know how you survived that." I say.
Kado laughed, "I already know you wouldn't"
I put my hand on my hip, "And how would you know?"
"'Cause you bougie."
I scrunch my face up, "How the hell am I bougie? And do you even know what it means to be bougie?"
"Bougie came from bourgeois which means middle/upper class."
Hmm, cute and smart, "Okay, so how does that make me that?"
He shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno, you just look like it."
I rolled my eyes, "Shut up, Kado." I pulled my keys out and unlocked my car.
"I was nice meeting you Izzy." Kado said getting into his car.
I smiled, "You too." I waved to him as he pulled off.
I got into my car, plugged in my AUX cord and turned on Drop It Like It's Hot by Snoop Dogg. I nodded my head to the beat as I pulled out of the parking lot.
I felt my phone vibrate in my lap. I was just a text from Ali.
From: Ali
IZZY. you still coming over?
Crap, I totally forgot. I pulled over to the side to text her back 'cause it ain't worth it at all to text and drive.
To: Ali
yea im omw.
The drive to Ali's house isn't really long, but it's about to be rush hour and I'm not trying to be in no traffic. I quickly got on the express way before the traffic picked up even more. I turned on up the radio as Hands To Myself played through the speakers.
I pulled up to Ali's house and shut off the engine. I sent her a text saying I was outside and not even 30 seconds later she came running out in her robe. It looked like she was crying.
"Izzy!" She whined.
"What's wrong?" I say getting out the car. She ran her finger through the font of her hair and it looks like it had been burned off, "Bro, how did you end up doing that to yourself?"
"I was curling my hair while I was arguing with my mom on the phone and I held the piece of hair on the wand too long." She was starting to tear up probably thinking about the incident, "Ugh, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I have to redo my hair, makeup and I don't even have an outfit yet."
I took Ali back into her house and up to her room. I sat her in front of her vanity and turned on the light.
"First things first; where are you going."
"I don't know."
"How don't you know? You're the one that asked him out."
"I know, but he said he wanted to choose the place."
"Okayyy. Did he tell you what to wear?"
"Shit, umm. Something cute but casual. "
The perfect idea came to mind, "I'll be right back."
I ran to her walk-in closet and pulled out some light washed boyfriend jeans, a white tank top and her leather jacket. I paired the outfit with some brown ankle booties and a thin red scarf.
I walked back over to the vanity, "Where's your wand?"
Ali looked at me like I had two heads, "Since when do you do hair??"
I shrugged my shoulders. I've only ever done my hair, but I guess I can try something I've always wanted to do to my hair. I grabbed a comb and parted her hair in the front. I tied the rest of her hair up and began to braid the front part, making it look like she was wearing a headband. The piece of hair that she burned out was also a part of the braid. I moved the braid out the way and began curling her hair.
When I finished the curls I brushed them out a little to make them messy yet cute. I pinned the braid under her hair, and turned her around so she could see the finished look.
"Oh emm geee!" Ali squealed, "When did you learn how to do this?"
"I dunno. This is just something I've always wanted to try on my hair. I just never got to it."
When she was done admiring her hair, she pulled out her make up. I could've did her makeup too, but Ali is good at makeup too.
Once Ali was done I put my phone down. "How do I look?" She did a 360 turn to show her outfit.
"Perfect." I smiled
Ding dong
Ali looked at the clock, "Just in time!" She said excitedly.
I walked her to the door and opened it to find a very handsome Adam standing at the door with flowers in his hand.
"Awwn." I cooed, "Well have fun little babies." I say steeping out of the house. I honestly think Ali really likes Adam.
I've never seen her freak out before a date like she did. Before she never really cared, like I remember her going on this one date wearing workout clothes. They didn't even go to the gym.
I got into my car plugged in my music and headed home.
*
"She burnt off her hair?" Mya said as she laughed hysterically. I was over Mya's house tonight since she's always over mine.
"Only a piece of the front." I say.
"Dude, how?"
"Arguing with her mom again." I heard her phone ding for the 5th time tonight, "Um, who's texting you at this time of the night?"
"Rodney."
Rodney? Hold up, wait a minute, "That nigga was supposed to text me as soon as he got to Mississippi." Mya laughed as she continued to text away on her phone. I pull out my phone and scroll to his name.
To: Rondo
so what happened to my text ?
I immediately got a response.
From: Rondo
my bad lil bit
To: Rondo
mhmm
From: Rondo
im sorry ! dont worry i gotchu when i get back
I didn't respond back, but he saw that I read it. I flipped upside down on Mya's bed and decided to turn on some music.
When Mya heard her speaker being turned on, her head popped up.
"What you finna play?"
"Your favorite song."
"I have many." I smirked and pressed play.
You Could Be My Lover by Diddy a.k.a Puff Daddy came through the speakers.
"Awwwwe shiiit. This my jaaamm!" Mya said standing on the bed.
Something 'bout you girl, you got me
Just let me love you, girl, don't stop me
Oh, that ass amazing.
Told her "You can be my girl
But you can be my lover", ohh yea.
We sang along to the song as we danced on the bed. I was singing in a brush while Mya was grinding against her giant bear.
When the song was over, I turned on 3 more songs before we were dead tired and ready to go to bed. I threw my hair in a bun and climbed into bed with my best friend.
"Izzy?"
"Yea."
"Can you promise that we'll be best friends forever even through college?" I sat up and locked my pinky with hers.
"I promise we will be best friends through everything. No matter what."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~