by S. L. Walker
“You’ll be fine, Raven,” Eva said. “Now if we are done here, I gotta get home.” We all looked at Eva with anger.
“Whats up with you, Eva, this is serious? What if Treach doesn’t care about Deon saying no to him?” Angel asked her.
“You know what, I am so sick of all your drama, Raven. The world doesn’t revolve around you. Some of us got things going on in our life, too. But do you even give a shit?!” Eva said angrily, getting up from her seat. I looked at her confused. All of this over detention?
“Eva sit down, okay,” Victoria said to her.
“No, Tori!” Eva shouted causing a scene with the few people that were in the restaurant.
“Eva, it’s cool we all got stuff going on, you know Raven isn’t like that,” Angel added. My eyes never left Evas’ and I was curious as to why she was so angry. It wasn’t like her.
“No, fuck that. Did you know I might be moving to Philadelphia?!” S he looked at me. Victoria looked just as shocked as me and Angel put her head in her hands. “Angel knows,” she pointed at Angel.
All I could do was apologize. It all came from left field.
“I’m sorry, Eve. When? I mean, why?” I asked her confused even more now.
“Don’t even worry about it. I’m kind of glad I’m leaving all of this drama. We’re 15!” she yelled, grabbing her bag and walking out the door. Angel and Tori called for her, but I didn’t. I just sat there wondering what just happened.
EVA
I was so irritated from the day, that when my dad left another voicemail about coming to visit, I deleted it before he could even finish his message. My mom had given me strict orders not to hang out or do anything while she was gone out of town for work. I warmed up some left over spaghetti and opened my Biology book to start getting prepared to see Professor Heart after school.
That was the only thing I had good to look forward to.
I found myself daydreaming about him before there was a knock at the front door. I curiously got up and looked out the peep hole. I sighed as I opened the door.
“What are you doing here?” I asked looking at Raven’s concerned face.
“You gonna let me in?” She leaned on the edge of the door. I opened the door wider for her to walk through. “Where’s your mom?” She asked.
“She’s in Philly, she’ll be back tomorrow,” I followed her as she walked into the living room.
“Look, Eve, I’m sorry,” she said following me into the living room.
I shrugged my shoulders.
“I didn’t know,” she said.
“Yeah, cus you’re too caught up with drugs and fighting over broads, you don’t even know,” I glared at her.
“I know, okay? A lot of shit been going on with me. But what’s this about moving? What’s going on?” I could see the concern in her eyes which almost made me not even want to be mad a her anymore. I crossed my arms and leaned on the arm of couch.
“Mom got a new job in Philadelphia. Right now she’s just going back and forth from time to time. I don’t know if she’s trying to see if that’s what she wants to do or if she has to do that first. I don’t know. She knows I am not happy, so I think she just avoids talking about the whole thing all together,” I told her. The more I kept telling this situation, the more it hit home that I could possibly be moving from the only city I ever known. That I would be moving from my only friends.
“That’s bull shit. She can’t wait till you graduate or something?” Raven said angrily. I shook my head.
“That’s what I get for complaining about her never being home,” I sulked.
“No, Fuck that, Eve. It’s not fair. Why do we always got to compromise for our parents decisions?!” Raven said joining me by the couch.
I couldn’t have agreed more. Kids are always dragged along with whatever their parents have going on with no say in the matter. I knew my mother knew I was hurt and pissed, but I also knew that she would do whatever she had to do to provide, and as her daughter, I had to not only understand it, but respect it.
“My dad wants to me to come visit,” I blurted out. She looked surprised. “He’s left a few messages already.”
“You going?” Raven asked me.
“I don’t know. Maybe I should get to know my sister. Fuck his wife, though. She can kiss my ass,” I said sitting and sulking on the couch.
Raven then pulled out a phat joint out the front of her sweater pocket.
“I have a temporary solution,” Raven smiled waving the joint in my face.
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“We can’t smoke in here, let’s go in the back,” I said grabbing a hoodie and we both walked to my back patio. We moved the patio chairs to the far back of the house and sat down. She let me have the first smoke.
“I don’t want you to leave,” she said getting in her feelings. “We’re a team, she can’t just divide us like that. There’s gotta be something you can do. What if you talk to your dad?” She asked.
“And tell him what?” I laughed, taking puffs. “That bastard left us. For a white woman at that,” I handed Raven the weed. “I will never forget the pain my momma went through. I would never leave her nor ask his ass for anything.”
“I feel you,” Raven nodded. “When we get 18 we won’t have to ask for a damn thing,” she said. I saw her mind beginning to wonder, something she did every time she smoked. “We gone be rich one day. Yo mama not gone need to move nowhere and my dad can go relax in Hawaii somewhere and Deon gonna have all the cars he want,” Raven imagined.
“Who you think we are, Oprah?” I laughed at her fantasy. “We in Baltimore! Ghetto ass Baltimore. With NO job,” I took a puff as she handed the joint to me.
“I said one day!” she shoved me a little for crushing her dreams.
“Yeah. I can’t wait,” I said joining in her world.
Professor Heart was immediately ready to help me after class just like he said he would be. His smiled melted me as I walked up to his desk while his last class disbursed for the day.
“Thanks for meeting me. I’m sorry again about the whole detention thing-” I began.
“Aye, it’s okay, Eva. I know you’re not like that. Just gotta watch who you hang around. I know Raven is one of your close friends. I see you guys in class together. You just got to pick and choose your battles. High School is long, there’s going to be a lot of pressure. You just got to stay focused,” he said as I gazed upon his full lips and muscular neck. Professor Heart definitely worked out. I wouldn’t even be surprised if he was naturally built that way.
“You’re right,” I snapped out of it. He began to untie his tie a little to get more comfortable. He was wearing a blue and white striped collar shirt and the red tie offset his dark blue vest and jeans.
I watched him go over to the door as the last student left and close it.
“Shall we get started? Have you thought about a topic?” He asked, joining me back at his desk.
“Uh, yeah, human anatomy, specifically women,” I said. I chose that topic on purpose.
He snickered.
“Great topic!” He said. “So what about the female human anatomy do we want people to know? How do we want to display this? A diagram? Power point?” He asked. I started looking at his lips again. He opened up the biology book to the human anatomy section.
We both moved from his desk to the student desks.
“The human anatomy is easy. You already know half the stuff on your body already. And you being a woman should make this a piece of cake,” he said to me.
“You think I’m a woman?” I asked smiling. He paused and smiled a bit and it surprisingly wasn’t awkward.
“Of course, Eva. You’re very smart and beautiful and don’t let anybody tell you differently,” he charmed. I couldn’t tell if he was being nice or if he was flirting with me. Either way, I didn’t care and he had me blushing inside and out.
“So, let’s figure out how we want to present this and what to write the pape
r on so you don’t write all over the place,” he took out some notebook paper.
I once again was in a daze as he flipped through the book pin pointing different sections for me to write. I found myself trying to figure out what kind of cologne he was wearing. Between his voice, lips and seductive scent, I was in heaven.
RAVEN
“Hey!” A familiar voice rang out behind me as I walked home. I turned around and it was Zara following me on her mint green cruiser bike.
“Hey,” I said stopping for her. “What sup?”
“Nothing, you headed home?” She asked me.
“Yeah, I guess,” I replied.
“Where are the others? I was going to see if you guys wanted to come to my house. I told my dad how you guys helped me and he wanted to meet you,” she said.
“Eva stayed after school, Angel has work, and I think Tori is still on punishment. I was just gonna go blaze before I went home,” I said.
She laughed.
“Well, you wanna come? I could use a sesh,” Zara smirked.
“Yea, sure,” I said, intrigued, and hopping on my bike and following her. I forgot to ask her where she lived and the journey there was almost questionable until we reached the hills.
“Where do you stay girl?!” I finally asked, out of breath.
She laughed at me. I’m sure I looked as tired as I felt pedaling up her steep ass hills.
“We are almost there!” She shouted and kept pedaling. We came to a big park with a lot of trees and barely any benches and stopped there. “My house is in those hills over there,” she pointed at a sign saying Liberty Heights. This was definitely a rich neighborhood.
“How the hell are you going to our school living here?” I asked.
“My daddy has his ways,” she grinned. “Come on,” she began to pedal.
“Aren’t we going to smoke? We could do it here, no one is around,” I reminded her looking at the empty park.
“We can at my house, come on,” she said and pedaled off. I pedaled after her confused and still intrigued.
The hill was a bit gruesome, but it didn’t take long before we pulled up to a small gate that instantly opened for us. There was a nice matte black Mercedes Benz and matching Harley Davidson sitting outside the front of their house in a brick driveway. The house was enormous. It had three white painted garages and cathedral style steps leading up to the front door.
“This is your house?” I asked, putting my bike in park and staring up at the house.
“Yep,” she smiled doing the same.
“What do your parents do?” I asked.
“It’s just me and my dad. He’s an investor,” she said. We walked up to the house and went in.
“Where’s your mom?” I hesitated to ask but I did anyway.
“She died when I was 10 in a car accident. Drunk driver. We moved here right after,” she told me, unlocking the door. As we walked in, the inside was just as gorgeous with high ceilings and glossy white tile floors. I followed her as she took her shoes off and put them in a small cubby by the wall. I took mine off and handed them to her. I couldn’t help but stare at the paintings, vases and unique wall accents.
“You want something to drink?” She asked.
“Sure,” I said, following her to the kitchen. The kitchen was all silver, a huge fruit bowl sat in the middle of a clean marble counter. There wasn’t a spec of dust anywhere.
She brought out a couple cans of pop and handed me one.
“Your house is beautiful,” I told her.
“Thanks. Molly keeps it pretty clean. Our maid,” she said.
“You got a maid, too!” I laughed in disbelief. “I need to be an investor,” I joked.
“And she’s white,” she laughed leaning on the counter.
“A white maid named Molly,” I shook my head, opening up my drink.
“I thought I heard some voices in here,” a manly voice came from behind me into the kitchen.
Zara’s dad was handsome, looked in his mid 50’s, had a full grey beard and was dressed in a nice white collared shirt and black slacks.
“Hey papa,” she said hugging and kissing him on the cheek.
“Who’s this?” He asked her looking at me.
“This is Raven. The girl I told you that helped me fight those girls,” she pulled me by the arm to him.
“Nice to meet you,” I stuck out my hand. If I had known I’d be in the presence of all this fanciness I wouldn’t be in some jeans and an old Looney Tunes t-shirt. He smiled and shook my hand hard.
“So this is the girl that had my beautiful daughters back?” He smiled, putting his hand on my shoulder. “Thank you! Any friend of my baby girls’ is a friend of mine!” He said, walking over to one of their cabinets and taking out a bottle of champagne.
“Zara grab some glasses will you?” He pointed towards another cabinet.
“This is a beautiful house you have here,” I told him. “Never seen anything like it.”
“Ohhhhhh thank you. One day you will have one just like it, you work hard, stay in school,” he told me. Zara handed him three small champagne glasses and he popped what looked like an expensive bottle open and poured into all three. He handed Zara and I one.
“This is to new friends! Saluti!” He toasted.
“Saluti!” Zara said smiling at me.
“Saluti!” I smiled back and we drank.
Zara’s dad had to take a call in his office and she took me for a tour of their 5 bedroom house. We walked around her huge backyard with a pool, hot tub, and rose garden. There were two nicely decorated guest rooms, one she said Molly stayed in when she was there, her dad’s office, his master bedroom and then Zara’s room. It was decorated in light blue and her bed had a large white canopy over it. It reminded me of a Princess’ room. Neat, everything in perfect place, nothing around that she didn’t use. I gazed over her large white dresser filled with makeup, jewelry and body sprays all nicely organized. A big light blue teddy bear leaned a little to the side on her bed.
“This is my room,” she said closing the door behind us.
“Nice,” I said sitting on her bed. She walked over to her dresser drawer and pulled out a small joint
“We can smoke this,” she said lighting it with a bright pink hello kitty lighter she pulled from a small blue jewelry box.
“You’re gonna smoke in your room?” I asked her expecting her to say no.
She sparked the joint.
“Your dad doesn’t care?” I joined her as she sat down on her blue comforter. I was pretty sure she was getting tired of my questions. I felt a little lame asking them.
“Hell no. My pops and I have no secrets. He knows I’m a good girl. A little weed ain’t never hurt nobody. Plus he’d rather me do it here than some seniors bedroom,” she laughed. She handed me the joint for me to smoke.
“He seems cool,” I told her wishing my dad was cool like that. My dad wasn’t stupid, at the very least, I know he knew I drank alcohol and as for Deon, I mean, he was selling for shit sake.
“So where you from? Like, what are you? White?” I asked curiously. Her dad had a little accent and he definitely didn’t look Caucasian, but she did.
She chuckled. “Italian.”
“Okay, so white,” I laughed at her. “I’m kiddin’. So, you know Italian?” Eva was the only girl I messed with of a different nationality, and I learned a little Spanish and Portuguese here and there from her. She would teach us sometimes. Mostly the curse words.
“Grazie per essere amica mia.” It flowed off her tongue like her first language.
“Thank you fooooorrrr?” I showed off the little bit I did know from Eva’s lessons.
“Being my friend,” she blushed, handing me the joint.
“De nada,” I smiled back, taking a puff, proud of myself.
“That’s Spanish!” She burst out laughing.
“Oh duh!” I laughed back blowing the strong smoke out of my mouth.
“Prego,” she correcte
d me. “My papa taught me when I was a baby. Said there was no reason I shouldn’t know my own language.”
“Your pops is mad coo,” I nodded, giving her the joint back.
She took a puff and leaned back on her matching bed rest pillow.
“Yeah, he is. I’m all he has, you know?” She said. “When I told him about you, he really wanted to meet you. No one’s ever stood up for me before. We used to move so much I couldn’t keep friends long,” she took a puff.
“Why did you move so much? His job?” I asked.
She nodded.
“I just want to stay somewhere long enough to have some decent friends. I have a few here I’ve made but most of them stay too far away,” she said.
“I feel you. I don’t need no more friends….” I started to say before I realized what I was implying. “I mean, you coo, but that’s it!” I joked it off.
“I hope we can stay friends. I know you have your own, but…” she said.
“It’s cool. We’re cool.” I smiled. “I don’t know about Eva, but, we cool,” I told her taking the joint from her.
I liked Zara, something was just real about her. I knew Eva didn’t like her, but in reality, Eva just didn’t want any new friends and I understood that. I watched Zara puff on her joint and blow it into the air. She was cool. Damn cool.
VICTORIA
I could hear my mom in her room arguing with what sounded like my dad over the phone. She was cursing so loud I could hear them through my headphones. I took my headphones off and closed the book I was studying for school. I walked up to my door and opened it so I could hear what she was saying.
“This isn’t over, Alex, this is your daughter!” She yelled. “Well, I don’t give a damn about that! I haven’t-no! You hang up the phone and-hello! Hello?! Son of a bitch,” she said angrily.
I looked at the time and it was around 9pm. I rolled my eyes and closed my door as if I didn’t hear anything at all. I tried to get back to studying and couldn’t. I got up and walked to her room and knocked on the door.