PPP Box Set

by Charmanie Saquea

  “What kind of fragrance you got for me?” she asked.

  We had the same taste in bags, shoes, make up, and fragrance. We would take each other’s stuff all the time. I threw her a bottle of my favorite Paris Hilton perfume. She sprayed it on without even smelling it.

  I pulled my fitted khaki Dickies from underneath my mattress. I had to grab a few pair from back home, just in case they didn’t sell them here. I decided to go with a silver theme. I put my silver bangles and hoops on.

  “Have to make the best of the uniform situation,” I thought.

  I pulled my silk scarf off and combed my wrap out. I put a little ponytail on top to keep the hair from hanging in my face. Silver clip, a little spray, smeared on some Mac gloss, and mascara and I’m done. I grabbed my bag and coat and headed downstairs. My mom still wasn’t ready as usual. She was running late and I was on the couch surfing the TV channels. I decided to watch “Saved by the Bell” as I sipped my orange juice.

  “It’s was a decent day,” I thought as I stepped out onto the porch.

  It wasn’t too cold, but I could still see my breath. My mom came out behind me in her new leather coat. I loved the smell of new leather. We sat in the car in silence as I looked out the window in disbelief.

  “Why me? This is some bullshit,” I thought.

  My eyes started to fill with tears. If I had blinked too hard, they would have messed up my mascara. We pulled up to my mom’s job and she got out.

  “Come up here when you get out of school Cherokee,” she directed.

  “Ok,” I said as she closed the door.

  I wanted to drive back home and get in the bed, but I would have to go eventually. They probably had one of those automated machines that called your house if you missed school.

  I cut the radio on and scanned through the channels. I realized they only had one hip-hop/R&B station. What type of city is this? What the hell do they listen to? I took a mental note to bring my CD’s on every trip from now on. I took the short drive from my mom’s job to the school. I pulled into the student parking lot. I drove up and down the aisles looking for a decent spot. I saw some pretty exclusive cars. There was a black Benz, a BMW, a Jaguar, and a Range Rover. There were also average cars, a few with rims, and some old school ones as well. I was average in my mom’s Camry and I parked it next to the Benz. The student parking lot looked like the teacher’s parking lot. I’m sure these were some of the parent’s cars, but we damn sure weren’t pulling up in BMW’s. My old school would have had maybe ten to fifteen cars tops, and they would have been Grand Ams, Buicks, and Chevys. I laughed at the comparison.

  As I walked through the double doors, I pulled out my schedule. First hour was ADV English.

  “ADV,” I thought. “I wonder what that is.”

  The room number started with a three and my locker was on the third floor so I figured the third floor was where I needed to be headed. I looked up and saw a long ass staircase that looked like it led up to a food court or something. As I headed towards the staircase, I saw two chicks walking towards me. One was a pretty plain, average looking black girl and the other was a short pie-faced chick rocking some Air Force Ones that even I had to look at again. They were some purple and pink Mids. I had to comment.

  “Nice shoes,” I said.

  She looked back. “I like yours too,” she said looking at my navy blue with the gum bottom joints.

  “Thanks,” I said and we kept it moving.

  “I need to go shopping,” I said aloud, but to no one in particular.

  I finally found my locker two minutes before the first bell rang. I stuck my mirror on the inside of the locker door and made myself at home. I looked around at the new faces. I viewed this white movie scene and noticed jock boys, jock girls, gothic people, rock star looking people, preppy white and black girls, interracial couples and the whole nine.

  “Geeesh, I need to get out more,” I thought.

  I started feeling a frog in my throat and those same tears building up again. I missed my old school at that moment, for real. Even though we might have had a few drive-bys on school grounds. Still, home is home. I had to crack a smile thinking about a few situations back home, although they weren’t funny. For me to think that was normal was fucked up altogether. New is new but I wasn’t feeling new at all. I looked in my mirror and then closed my locker.

  The first half of my day was a blur. English is English at every school, same thing with Math. Nothing major happened in those classes that very first day. The people were trying to be nice and helpful, so I put on a smile and accepted the help. In my third hour History class, I sat between Plain Jane from earlier and another girl. They were having a casual conversation at the end of the hour since the teacher let the last half of the class be free time. I just sat there doodling in my notebook, wondering what my girls and cousins were doing back home. I couldn’t help but overhear their conversation though.

  “Ay, Mr. Burg was looking good as hell at the game last night,” the one chick said. “Did you see him?” she asked her not so interested friend.

  “Yea girl, he’s ok,” Plain Jane said. “I don’t know why all these girls be on him like that,” she said with no real concern in her voice.

  “Somebody’s daddy is gonna fuck him up,” she said laughing then the bell rang for lunch.

  I started noticing a lot of faces like mine as I walked to put my stuff in my locker. I saw a few prospects to feed my ego from time to time. I saw their looks as I grabbed my phone out of my locker and headed to the cafeteria. I got in line and ordered some Bosco sticks and fries.

  Their food selection was much better than my old school. There were several options to choose from. I sat at the bar-like tables along the back wall. I wondered how long I would be antisocial. Making new friends was not a part of my plans. Before I could taste the food on my taste buds, I heard a girl’s voice say, “Nigga, why do you keep talking to that bitch?” That caught my attention as well as a hundred others.

  I looked across the room to see what all the commotion was. Surprisingly it was the girl with the cute Ones from that morning. She was standing over some dude letting him have it. She was pushing his head and putting her fingers all in his face. Guess the guy was embarrassed or fed up because he jumped up out of his chair, grabbed her, and choked her all in one motion.

  “Damn,” was all I could think.

  The cafeteria got rowdy. People were hopping over tables trying to get close to the action. The chick started throwing punches. They started fighting like I’d never seen a boy and girl do in public. Boys just didn’t hit girls. I had to admit ole’ girl was hanging with his ass. Within a few seconds, security came and snatched them both up.

  “Might not be as boring here after all,” I thought.

  I tossed the rest of my food and headed towards the door to use my phone before the bell rang. Towards the entrance slash exit was a round table with a group of females loud talking and laughing. The volume of the table seemed to lower when I walked past. I felt all eyes on the back of my head. I didn’t care to look back though. I really didn’t feel threatened even though I was out numbered in the school and city. I knew they couldn’t say shit about my hair because my shit was natural and we all had on the same blue shirts and tan pants. On top of that they didn’t know shit about me, so who cared. The whole new girl thing was not going to fly. Besides, I was already angry. Being expelled might just be the escape that I needed.

  I leaned up against the rails and scrolled down the contacts in my phone. I thought about my girls back home yet again. I compared what the times were to see what hour of school they were in. It was fourth hour here so they had to be in their third hour classes due to the hour time difference. The bell rang and the crowded cafeteria emptied out into the hallway. Guess it was time for me to see what my first day of Ethics was like with this Mr. Burg. I grabbed a notebook out of my locker and navigated through the halls until I found the right class. I hated not knowing where shit was
. It just made the experience worse than it already was.

  I didn’t learn anything in Ethics that day. Mr. Burg took attendance, passed out the assignment, and left for a teachers' meeting. The teacher’s aid took over which gave me a two- minute look at Mr. Burg. He was definitely handsome. Had to be in his early thirties, he had nice teeth, and nice style. He had my approval. I was immediately curious if he messed with students. The conversation I heard earlier did imply that. Now could I get him? Just a thought!

  I opened the book that was on the desk to do the fill in the blank questions. It was simple enough. The assignment was finished pretty quickly so the teacher’s aid let us watch TV. After turning the channels for five minutes, the class agreed on “106th and Park.”

  “That was cool,” I thought.

  For the last thirty minutes of class, it may have seemed like I was watching TV, but I was tuned in on the conversations that were going on around me. The two white girls on my right were talking about hair and coffee drinks. My focus didn’t last on them too long. Another group of girls that I wouldn’t peg to socialize normally due to their different wardrobes, talked about a dance that was coming up. I was really used to people hanging together according to the side of town they lived on or what neighborhood they grew up in. Everybody seemed to do their own thing and education was valued more there. The classes went smoothly without interruptions from class clowns, talking smart, or writing referrals to the principal’s office. That was one of the first and best things I learned about the school. The girls’ topic kind of got my attention. I listened while they talked about their dates and if they had one or not.

  In my last hour class I finally figured out what the hell “ADV” stood for, advanced. I finally put two and two together after my last hour in advanced writing, which was taught by my regular English teacher. She was nice, sweet, and always made sure that she knew if I would need time to catch up. I really didn’t though. Writing was my thing and she would soon find out. I chose that elective in order to get out of another gym class and ROTC. I’d be damned if I was taking a class full of freshman or wearing some army shit and letting somebody yell at me for nothing. Luckily, I was running out of classes to take and I was happy because that meant I could go to school for only half days next year and I could even graduate early.

  After day one ended, I rode around a little before I went to my mom’s job. I needed to locate a few things like a bank or ATM. I never really carried any cash on me. I decided I needed to get some money out for the weekend. I noticed my mom’s gas hand was getting low at the same time so I withdrew $200 from my account.

  “Twenty on pump three,” I told the cashier and gave her one of the crisp $100 bills to pay for the gas, honey bun, and kiwi strawberry Mystic.

  My mom called me while I was in the store. I listened to her voicemail as I pumped the gas. She wanted to inform me that she was tied up at work at least for another hour. She told me to do what I wanted and she would call if she was ready earlier.

  “Great, now what,” I thought.

  I had visited my mom only a handful of times before I moved there. I only knew where a few things were located.

  I decided to go home and change into some shopping gear, which meant comfy. I pulled my hair into a cheerleader type ponytail and washed my face to reveal my natural self. Victoria Secret was having a sale at the mall.

  “If I just go into one store and come out I should be able to be done in an hour and stay within the budget I set for myself,” I thought.

  Yeah, right! Of course, I splurged at Victoria Secret, leaving with three bras, ten pairs of panties and none were pink, and two new fragrances. I shook my head at the thought. I knew my ass should have stayed home. I was still delighted about my purchases as I walked to the food court to get a lemonade. My phone vibrated in my pocket and it was my mom again.

  “Hey, I’m finishing up for the night. You can be on your way,” she informed me. “Oh, and do you want to go to a game at your school?” she asked. “My coworker’s son is on the team and I said we would come.”

  I laughed. “Somehow we are going to game now.”

  “Yeah,” she said as she laughed.

  “Ok, sure,” I agreed. What else am I doing, really?

  I waited on my mom to get dressed in all my shit. It’s cool to borrow a fragrance, a nail polish, or jacket, but not an outfit that I haven’t worn yet. That’s just too much. It was as good as hers. I don’t know how we ended up being twins but she put on something similar to what I had on and a pair of my UGG’s. I hated when she wore my shoes because she would always return them damaged but I knew her ass would be getting some shit that I would want to slide my feet in so I just went with the flow.

  “She had to pick my pink cute ones too,” I thought.

  My mom was taking her precious time as usual, so I grabbed my bag of Flaming Hots, a quarter bag of sunflower seeds, and my Tahitian Treat that I had from my train ride there. I decided to snack and wait. Twenty minutes later, my snacks were gone and I was still waiting.

  Our asses finally made it to the school and I must say that the gym was packed. The crowd was hyped. It was looking like a college game in there.

  “White people sure do take school spirit seriously,” I thought.

  The entire gym was wearing the school colors. They showed a lot of support and I thought that was cool. Parents actually came out to see their kids play, cheer, dance, play in the band or whatever it was they were involved in that night.

  We made our way to the nearest empty spot and got situated. I looked up to check the score. It was the third quarter and the score was 55 to 67. The school I went to was winning. I wouldn’t dare say, “My school.” I checked out the cheerleaders on the sideline once I heard them start a cheer. They had a nice sized squad, really cute uniforms, and very short skirts. Plain Jane and the girl that was fighting earlier were both on the cheerleading squad. Although I didn’t know how she was cheering since she had to have been suspended. She could do all that flipping and shit though. The teams were on a timeout as I scanned both sides. They said some team spirit shit to get them back focused and then the game continued.

  Both teams were pretty good. You know I was looking at the guys but the game was so good that I actually paid attention from time to time. #21 on our team was decent. He could dunk, he dribbled the ball good as hell, and he was quick. He scored three times in the short period we were there. He had to be the shit because the crowd chanted his name every time he hit a basket. I didn’t know what the fuck they were saying, Mell or Nell. I couldn’t make it out but he was a cutie. I soon realized he was team captain and point guard. My mom pointed out her friends’ son to me.

  “Her son is #11,” she pointed.

  He was regular. He didn’t get too much playing time. My focus went back to the cute point guard.

  “I like your boots,” a chick sitting next to me told my mom.

  I hate when people get compliments when they’re wearing my stuff. Now when I wear them people are going to think I’m wearing my momma’s shoes.

  My mom loves fresh popped popcorn so we went to the concession stand not too long after we arrived. I knew that was coming as soon as I smelled it seeping through the doors. The game was damn near over, but that didn’t stop her. She would take a bag to go if she had too. She just can’t go anywhere, smell popcorn, and not get any. There was a spot back home that sold popcorn that we frequented often. The small shopping center was famous in our city but only had three or four decent stores at a time. The popcorn and polish stands kept the locals coming and my mom was one of them. I wanted to walk around so I joined her. Both lines were long as hell. She ordered her junk and we headed back to our seats.

  I could tell that being with my mom made the guys not try to talk to me. I caught a few looking. I even heard one guy say, “Damn, nigga, I think she’s with her moms.” I laughed at that shit. Being with my mom anywhere always kept the guys off me. That didn't keep the men off her
though. They always tried to ask us were we sisters to get the conversation started. We were on to that shit. My mom always let them down gracefully. She was much more graceful than I was. Guess that comes with time. Me, I was a rude girl. I would tell them I was good and keep it moving. When that didn’t work, I would just give out one of my ex’s numbers. Having a man definitely didn’t work if somebody really wanted to holla. Niggas don’t know the meaning of the word, no. They want to be your friend, just a friend, or your only friend. Either way, they wanted to get their foot in the door.

  After the game, my mom wanted to stick around to congratulate her friends’ son, DJ on the win. My mom and her friend, Anna, sat and chit chatted while the gym emptied out. People started cleaning immediately. A few other people stuck around after the game. I assumed it was mostly family and friends of the players. The people applauded as the players made their way back out from locker-room. I sat on the bleachers playing Tetris on my phone. I was too ready to go. I answered a few texts from a few of my friends that I left behind. I was happy they were checking up on me. They told me what went down in school that day and how it was weird not seeing me at my locker. It was just as weird for me to open a new one.

  DJ finally strolled his slow ass out of the locker room. He walked up to his mom and gave her a hug. I saw him and my mom exchange words and then all of a sudden I became involved in the conversation. My mom called me over.

  “Cherokee this is DJ, and DJ this is Cherokee,” she introduced us.

  “Hey,” I said. “Good game,” I really couldn’t think of shit else to say.

  “Thanks,” he said.

  There was an awkward silence then my mom saved the day with, “Well, good game again DJ.”

  That was music to my ears. My mom walked over to get her stuff off the bleachers. I saw DJ walk over to the point guard and a small group of people. It ooked like it could be his mom and granny, and a guy that could probably be his brother. He was about 20 or so. They favored him so I assumed family off the top. There were also a few cheerleaders hanging around being groupies. I checked #21 out in his regular clothes. He had some swag about himself. I liked that and I liked that he was an athlete.