Onyx and Starr

by Lady Lissa

Starr’s fingers are going crazy as she texts back.

  Starr: Bring it bitch! Ain’t nobody scared of u

  “How did she get your number?”

  “How am I supposed to know? It’s not like she and I are friends or anything for her to have it. Ugh! I hate that fuckin’ bitch!” she says in an exasperated tone.

  “Don’t let her get to you,” I tell her.

  “Right! The way you didn’t let Miles get to you,” she throws in my face as another text comes through.

  Mandy: O I plan to bring it to u bitch

  “Don’t answer her. The best way to get under someone’s skin is to ignore them. I know your mom taught you that because mine used to say the same thing to me and she is right. Don’t play into her bullshit,” I say.

  “That’s easy for you to say. She’s not texting your phone.”

  Starr: Good…I’ll look forward to it

  “I wouldn’t give a shit if she texted my phone. She and I are no longer a couple. Sometimes you just gotta walk away from shit, ya know?”

  “Well, it certainly wasn’t my idea to get into a fight with her at school. But, I am just like you when it comes to someone respecting me and my space. She jumped in my face on my way to class and wouldn’t move. I was going to just slide her bitch ass out the way so I can go to class,” she says.

  “Slide her ass huh? Do you wanna get suspended Starr?”

  “So you worried about me getting suspended? You weren’t worried about getting suspended a few minutes ago. You could get suspended for fighting too you know? Not just me,” she says.

  “I already told you that Coach Brown is not going to suspend me. They need me to win the championship,” I say.

  “You do know that I’m on the girls’ basketball team and we’re undefeated right?”

  “Yea I know and that’s all the more reason why you shouldn’t want to fight at school. Just let it go Starr. You don’t have to keep fighting someone who is irrelevant to you,” I say.

  “Says the guy who just finished fighting. That sounds a bit hypocritical,” she says.

  “Let me tell you what the difference between my fight and yours, then we have to go to class. When I kicked Miles ass, I did it because he was wrong for leaving you at the movies the other night. No man should leave a chick behind unless he knows for sure someone is coming to get her. He was wrong. He was disrespectful and he got what he deserved,” I say.

  “You will get no argument from me,” she says.

  “Now you and Mandy have been duking it out for the last two days. There is no reason for you to continue fighting her when you already beat her ass twice. All she’s trying to do is push your buttons so she can get you suspended from school so she can talk to me without you around. Let it go. She ain’t worth it at all,” I tell her.

  “Fine, I’m done. Next time she comes in my personal space, I will do my best to walk around her. But, and that’s a big but, if she continues to step into my space, I am going to hit her. She already knows I dislike her ass, no I can’t stand her ass, but she still doesn’t see anything wrong with invading my space. I am going to fuck her up next time she pulls that shit. So don’t try and stop me or I will retaliate against you too. Now go to class and I’ll go to mine,” she says.

  We went our separate ways, heading to class. I am not looking forward to my first class because Mandy is in my first period class. I walk in and she is already sitting in the chair next to mine. Before we broke up, we always sat next to each other. Now that we’re no longer dating, I want to put as much space between us as I can. I approach Alana who sits in the second to last seat three rows over.

  “Hey Alana,” I say with a smile.

  “Hey O, what’s up?”

  “I was wondering if you would mind doing me a favor,” I begin.

  “Sure, what do you need?”

  “I need to switch seats with you,” I say.

  “You mean, you want to sit here and I’ll take your seat?”

  “Yea. Is that okay with you?”

  “Yea sure. Is this going to be an everyday thing or just today?”

  “Every single day until our last day of school,” I say.

  “Oh alright. I guess the rumors about you and Mandy breaking up are true huh?” She asks with a quizzical look on her face.

  “Yea, we ain’t together no more,” I say.

  “Oh, sorry to hear that.” She says but the smile on her face tells me that she ain’t sorry about our break up at all.

  “Yea, aight. Thanks though, for the seat I mean.”

  “Yea, you are so welcome. Hey, maybe we can go out some time now that you’re no longer seeing the battle axe,” Alana says.

  “Maybe,” I tell her.

  Alana ain’t a bad looking chick but she’s messy as fuck yo. I have never seen a chick that’s always in everybody’s business like Alana is. When she hit me with that break up business, I already knew it was gonna come up. If anybody knows the scoop about anything, it’s Alana.

  “Hey, nice beat down you put on Miles’ ass this morning. I mean, how he gon’ leave Starr at the movies like that. And then, he left her there after she had already gotten in a fight with Mandy. That shit was childish on his part. He should have been more supportive so I definitely understood where you were coming from with that. He deserved to get his ass beat,” she says.

  You see what I mean? She knows every fucking thing about everybody’s fucking business. And it’s like when her mouth starts running, she spills every drop of tea that’s in her cup. She can’t hold shit or keep shit to herself.

  “Yea, aight.” I am not fixing to discuss any of my business with her. I mean, she already knows every damn thing anyway so ain’t no need for me to validate what she already knows.

  She finally turns and goes to sit at the desk that used to be mine. I breathe a sigh of relief because I’m finally able to get her ass up out of my damn face. Alana just knows too fucking much about everybody’s business.

  When Alana takes her seat in my old desk, Mandy turns to look in my direction as I place my ass in Alana’s old desk. She looks at Alana who is smiling so bright, if it were raining outside, you would definitely think the sun was in this room.

  “What the hell?”

  “He don’t want to sit next to your ass anymore,” Alana says.

  “Whatever bitch,” Mandy says.

  “I got your bitch. I don’t know how Starr served it to you last weekend, but I can promise you that I can serve it to you better. Try me,” Alana says.

  Mandy rolls her eyes but doesn’t say another word to her. Yea, not only is Alana messy as fuck but she can also throw them hands. She will kick a bitch’s ass at the drop of a hat. But, I’m not surprised by how well she can fight. I mean, you fuck around and make mess on people, you are bound to get approached by those same people. She had to learn how to fight to defend herself because of her mouth. She can fuck a bitch up though. I’m glad she and Starr ain’t never got into it before, because while Starr can fight, she ain’t no match for Alana.

  The way she fights, you could swear somebody trained her ass professionally. Like someone from WWF trained her to fight; and not those fake fighters, the real ones.

  Miss Bishop walks in and begins checking the roll. When she looks at where I’m sitting and she sees Alana sitting in my old chair, she asks, “Is there something y’all care to share with me as to why the two of you aren’t in your seats?”

  “Well Miss Bishop, since Onyx and Mandy broke up, he felt it would be better if they separated themselves from each other in class,” Alana says, causing several heads of our classmates to turn in my direction.

  “What man? Look at Miss Bishop. Shit, she’s the teacher,” I say.

  What the fuck they looking at me like that for? Do I have egg on my face or something?

  “Oh well okay. Next time, y’all should discuss this with me first, okay?”

  “Sorry Miss Bishop, but you do want me to do my best in your class right?” I m
ean, if that’s what she wants, for me to do my best, this will help me do my best.

  “Yes Onyx, that is what I want for all my students,” she responds.

  “Well, sitting here will help me do my best. It will keep me from being distracted,” I say.

  “Okay, y’all can stay where y’all are,” she says.

  Once she’s done checking for roll, she begins teaching the lessons for today. Mandy glances my way every so often, but I don’t give her the satisfaction of looking back at her. But you know how you can feel when someone is watching you? That’s how I’m feeling. I can feel her looking at me and out of my peripheral vision, I can see her facing my direction. I choose to ignore her ass for the same reason we broke up; she’s too fucking immature and childish.

  “Mandy, the lesson is up here.” Miss Bishop snaps her out of her daydream or whatever she was doing and I know she’s embarrassed as fuck right now.

  She doesn’t say anything as she turns her attention back to Miss Bishop and the white board that she is writing today’s lesson on. I can’t wait to be finished with school. Four and a half more months and I’ll be done. I will be starting college in the fall but I’m still having trouble deciding which college I want to attend. I have narrowed it down to three universities, Georgia State, Morehouse, and Clark Atlanta.

  My dad wants me to follow in his footsteps and attend Morehouse College. Now, while I want to please my dad, I don’t know if Morehouse is the university for me. My top two are Georgia State and Clark Atlanta. GSU has everything I could want in pursuing my education. Not only that, but Starr plans to attend GSU once she graduates. Clark Atlanta is also a great school and if I should choose to attend Clark, it’ll only be a few minutes from GSU so I would still be able to chill and hang with Starr on the regular. I have been trying to decide this for a few months now.

  Mandy is planning to attend Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana so I don’t have to worry about seeing her at all. Whatever university I choose, as long as I am away from Mandy, I will adapt great. I just want to be somewhere where I can be myself. I have toured all the universities; Starr and I toured GSU together, my dad and I toured Morehouse together and I toured Clark on my own. Four and a half months before graduation isn’t long and I need to make a decision within the next couple of weeks or so.

  After class, Mandy approaches me.

  “Hey, why won’t you talk to me? Why are you treating me like we never dated or weren’t even in love just a few days ago?” she asks with those puppy dog eyes she always uses to get her way.

  I am so over her manipulation.

  “Get out of my way Mandy,” I say.

  “I need to talk to you,” she says.

  “Go away,” I say, making my way to the door to exit the class.

  “Oh yea, and stop texting Starr’s phone.”

  She runs up to me and says, “Oh, you won’t talk to me but you will tell me not to text that bitch’s phone? You care more about her than you do me. Are you still going to try and tell me that the two of you are just friends?”

  “We are just friends and that’s what I do for all my friends; defend them when someone fucks with them. Not too long ago, I was doing the same damn thing for you. Now stop texting her,” I say.

  “You know you still love me,” she says pulling on the bottom of my shirt. “I still love you. Why are you treating me this way?”

  “Do yourself a favor and let this shit go,” I say.

  At lunch, my time at school is over and I’m waiting for Starr at her classroom door. I just need to holla at her before I leave so she can know that I expect her to behave while I’m gone. She exits the classroom and sees me and breaks into a huge smile.

  “Hey, I thought you had already left.”

  “I wanted to holla at you before I jet,” I say.

  “What about?” she asks.

  “About you and Mandy. I don’t want you to fight her while you’re at school. You don’t need to let her get under your skin. Just control yourself. Can you do that?”

  “I can control myself. I don’t have issues with self-control. I just don’t like how she gets in my face and expects me to not react. I am going to mind my business and not let her get to me, but if she tries anything, I will get her ass,” she says.

  “I know you will. Just don’t do it at school,” I say.

  “Says the dude who was fighting at school this morning. You should have followed your own advice, ya know? What happened with that? Are you getting suspended?”

  “Nah. Coach Brown pulled me out of class earlier and told me he spoke to Mr. Ross and they decided not to suspend me. He did say he was going to make me sit out tomorrow night’s game though, but I can handle that,” I say.

  Even though Coach Brown and Mr. Ross, our school principal, decided to bench me tomorrow night, I’m not that mad. I thought I would have been more upset but I’m not. I just think that it’s better than getting suspended because that would have been worse for me when choosing my school. I just hope the team can pull off a win without me because we are playing our rival school and this is a very important game.

  “Wow! You won’t be playing tomorrow night?”

  “Nah, but it’s cool. I’ll still be there to cheer the team on,” I say.

  “Are you gonna come to my game tonight?”

  “Wouldn’t miss it,” I say.

  “I will see you later then. Try not to get in any fights for the rest of the evening,” she says.

  “I’ll be straight. You don’t go knocking anybody out like Layla Ali,” I warn her.

  “I won’t. I know they won’t give me a pass the way they did you. If I fight, I’ll definitely be suspended; unless she hits me first,” she says.

  “Yea well, keep your hands to yourself,” I tell her again.

  “Yes sir,” she says, saluting me as if she were in the armed forces or something.

  “Ha! Ha! Very funny,” I say.

  “For real, I’ll holla at you later.”

  “Aight,” I say as I walk away from her and down the hallway leading towards the school’s exit.

  Once I am out of the school, I slide in the driver’s seat of my dad’s car and head to Sonic Drive In to grab something to eat. I’m hungry as hell and I feel a craving for Sonic’s fast food. I pull up to the drive thru and place my order for a number seven add jalapenos with tater tots and a cherry limeade drink. I drive up to the window, pay for my food and wait for the cashier to bring my order. Once I receive my food, I drive away in the direction of home. My mom and dad are both at work so I’ll be home by myself since my brother is away at college. He is also at GSU, another reason I thought about going there.

  I sit and eat, then take a nap before heading back to school for Starr’s basketball game tonight. At a time, our games used to be on the same night. But our games always ran late and being that it was a school night, the parents were upset about their kids not getting enough sleep before school the next day. So now, the girls have their varsity games on Mondays and Thursdays and we have our games on Tuesdays and Fridays. It makes more sense anyway because now everyone gets home at a reasonable hour. I lay down for my nap, making sure to set my alarm to wake me up around five that afternoon.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Starr

  This bitch Mandy has been fuckin’ with me for the last week. She’s been texting me, calling me, stalking my Facebook page, everything she can do to get under my skin. I am this close to kicking her ass again, but I’m trying to hold on. I know if I fight her at school, I will get suspended from school and the team and that’s the last thing I want. But there is only so much I can take. She was stalking my Facebook page so seriously, I had to block her. Then she created a second page so she could monitor my wall. It takes me a couple of days, but I finally realized it was her and blocked that page too.

  On Saturday, Onyx and I were shooting hoops at his house when she drives by. She turns around and drives past his house three more times before
we decide to go inside. Once we are inside, my phone beeps a text message. I look at Onyx because I know its Mandy fucking with me again.

  “Man, I have never hated someone as much as I hate this girl. She is relentless in this shit and it’s getting on my damn nerves.

  Mandy: I thought I told u 2 stay away from my man bitch

  Me: Bitch stop texting my damn phone…I’m tired playin games with u

  Mandy: Well do something about it then

  Me: Fuck u! I don’t have time for your bs…get a life

  Mandy: Come outside so I can kick ur ass

  Me: Girl bye…n stop fuckin around on my damn phone

  Mandy: Whatever u coward bitch

  “What the hell is with this bitch? Talkin’ bout come outside so she can kick my ass. You know I have a good mind to go out there and kick her ass again,” I say as I head to the front door.

  Onyx jumps in my way, “Don’t play into her shit! You are better than that.”

  “I’ll leave it alone but if she keeps messing with me, I will kick her ass,” I say angrily.

  “Don’t worry about her. She’s just mad because we’re still best friends and she’s hating on that. Why do you care what she thinks anyway?”

  “I don’t. I just hate that she keeps fuckin’ with me,” I say.

  He puts his arms around me and holds me close. It feels really good in his arms. So good I don’t want it to end, but I push him back because this isn’t right. It shouldn’t feel this good to be in my best friend’s arms like that.

  “Okay, well I’m gonna go home now. I have some shit I need to do for my mom. I’ll call you later, okay?”

  I need to get out of there because there is no one at his house but us. I don’t want to risk staying longer because I know what will happen between us if I do stay. I cannot risk our friendship. I won’t do it.

  “Yea, okay. Hit me up before you go to bed or whenever you’re done doing shit for your mom,” he says.

  I walk out of the house, realizing how much I needed this breath of fresh air. It was getting way too hot in there. Whew!

  I met Freddy the following week, the night our varsity boys played Carver High School. Booker T. Washington High School and Carver High School have had a long standing rivalry for years and that didn’t change when we started attending Washington. Our athletic teams are constantly at it with Carver in an effort to prove that we’re the best team in the area. The night I met Freddy was strictly coincidental. I didn’t plan on attending the game because I had a science project due the next day. But I finished early so I headed over to the gym where the game was in full swing.