“I wish they hurry the hell up,” Paige mumbled to herself. She kept looking at the door like her nieces would magically appear if she stared hard enough.
They were in the morning class and the students for the afternoon class were starting to arrive. Paige kept looking at the door until something else caught her attention. She thought her mind was playing tricks on her, but that was definitely who she thought it was.
“Rainey,” she yelled calling her ex man's God sister over to her car. Paige got out of the car, so that the other woman could get a better look at her. Rainey smiled wide as she made her way over to where she was parked.
“Hey girl, I haven’t see you in forever,” Rainey replied as they embraced.
“I know, but what’s been up with you?” Paige asked her.
“Nothing much, just getting ready to go to class.”
“Wait, what did I miss? You don’t go to Landry anymore?”
“Nope, I’m getting my GED. So much was going on in my life and this was the best decision for me,” Rainey replied.
She hadn’t been back to school since before the Thanksgiving break. She couldn’t take the slick comments and looks that everybody kept giving her. Her mother was livid when she dropped out of school, but she was grown, so it didn’t matter. She was able to drop herself from the school’s attendance and enroll in a GED program.
“My nieces go here, but I’ve never seen you here before,” Paige replied.
“I used to come at night, but I got a job doing overnight stocking at Walmart. This is my first time coming to the day classes.”
“I know Von is mad that you dropped out of school huh?’ Paige inquired.
“I don’t fuck with Von and Tank no more,” Rainey snapped shocking the hell out of Paige. She didn’t care how long her nieces took now. She had to get that good tea that Rainey was spilling.
“What happened?” Paige asked. “Von’s house used to be you and Mia’s hangout spot.”
“Fuck Mia! Me and that bitch had a fight on Thanksgiving Day at Von’s house. She hit me first, but he took her side like I did something wrong.”
“And where was Tank?”
“He wasn’t there. His urine was dirty and he have to do thirty days in rehab. But he would have been on her side too if he was there.”
“And they still want people to believe that they’re not fucking?” Paige yelled.
“Girl please, they’ve been fucking for over a year now. I’ve been wanting to tell you, but I felt like I had to be loyal to them. They don’t give a damn about me, so fuck their secrets,” Rainey said bitterly.
Although Paige and Tre were no longer together that bit of information still hurt her. She knew in her heart that he was messing with Mia, but now it had just been confirmed.
“I knew it. She was the main one smiling in my face when I was with him. I saw the changes in both of them and I knew that something was going on. Just like Moonie messed with Dalvin even though we were cool at one point. They just don’t know what loyalty is,” Paige said shaking her head.
“I heard that Moonie was pregnant again,” Rainey commented.
“Was is the right word. She had a miscarriage,” Paige replied. She conveniently left out the fact that she was the cause of it. That was on a need to know basis and Rainey didn’t need to know that.
“Oh well, she didn’t need any more kids anyway,” Rainey shrugged in and uncaring manner.
“I don’t want you to be late for class, so I’ll let you go. You know my number, call me when you get a minute,” Paige said right as her nieces walked out of the building.
“Okay, see you later,” Rainey yelled as she walked away.
Paige put up a good front in Rainey’s presence, but she actually felt like crying. To know that Mia and Tre had been dealing for over a year was like a slap in her face. He sat in her face and lied when he knew that she had him right all along. The final nail in the coffin was when he got her nieces jumped. As much as she still loved him that was something that she just couldn’t forgive or forget. It was all good, though. Tre was bound to get his right along with Mia. Paige just hoped she was around when karma came to serve both of them.
***
Tre stepped out of the facility with a brand new outlook on life. Mr. Warren played a big part in helping him to see things in a different light. Von always gave him good advice, but it felt good to talk to someone that wasn’t so close to his situation. He planned to take Mr. Warren’s advice every step of the way. Tre had a mission and he wasn’t stopping until it was accomplished. Mia was his heart’s desire and he wasn’t giving up until he had her back. The friend role is what she wanted him to play, so he would go along with it for the time being. Tre was willing to be the best friend that she ever had if that meant that they could be back together some day.
“What’s up boy?” Von smiled as he pulled him into a tight hug.
“Nothing much, just happy to be getting back to my own bed. I signed up to come back three times a week for counseling with Mr. Warren though,” Tre replied.
“That’s what’s up. I’m proud of you,” Von said.
“He’s real and I appreciate that. Where’s Terri and Mia?” Tre asked.
“Mia is probably running the streets with Brandis since Moonie is all better. She’s been staying home helping out until she got well. We had a long talk about her and Rainey fighting, but everything is cool now. Rainey is still being stubborn, but I think she’ll come around eventually.”
Tre wasn’t shocked at all when Von told him what happened. He could never bring himself to tell Mia certain things about Rainey, but she saw it all for herself. Rainey was always flirting with him every time Mia turned her back. He would always put her in her place and brush it off, but she started going too far. When she started trying to hook him up with London she was always talking about the three of them getting together at the same time. Rainey thought that him denying her was about her being his God sister. Obviously that wasn’t true seeing as how he was crazy in love with Mia and she was his God sister too. He just wasn’t attracted to Rainey and she just didn’t understand that.
“What about Terri? What’s going on with her?” Tre asked.
“That’s another thing I wanted to talk to you about. Terri is in the hospital. And before you go crazy, she’ll be fine. They said she should be coming out today or tomorrow. Mia and Brandis have been checking up on her every day, and I paid Nina to sit up there with her for a few days,” Von assured him.
“Nina!” Tre yelled. “You got Nina’s crazy ass to help my mama? She’s probably already dead by now.”
“Boy calm down. Nina was the only person who was able to do it. Mia and Brandis are in school all day.”
“What happened for Terri to have to go to the hospital in the first place?”
“She was having dizzy spells and they couldn’t figure out why. She says they’ve stopped and she’s feeling much better though.”
“Okay, take me to my car so I can go see her. How long has she been in there?” Tre wanted to know.
“A few days,” Von said lowly. He knew that his son was about to flip out, but he didn’t care.
A few days!” Tre yelled. “Why didn’t somebody tell me something?”
“Calm down Tank,” Von instructed. “You weren’t in any position to do anything, so it was a waste of time to worry you for nothing. We’ve been keeping up with her and making sure she’s alright.”
“Has my brother and sister been up there to see her?”
“Not that I know of. Besides me, Nina, Mia and Brandis, I don’t think she’s had any other visitors,” Von replied.
“Damn,” Tre mumbled feeling bad for his mother.
When Teri said she didn’t have anybody in her corner she wasn’t lying. She really made him see how the things that you did when you were young affected you when you got older. He didn’t want that to be him later on in life. That was one of the reasons that he wanted to start doing things diff
erently now, starting with Mia.
C hapter 11
Mia ran through the hallway at school trying to get to her next class before everyone else. She was skipping her hour lunch break to get in a few extra minutes of studying before she took her last text. It was the last week before the Christmas break, and most of her teachers were giving their quarterly exams. She’d already taken three that week and the math exam was the last one. Since math was her favorite subject, Mia was confident that she would get a perfect score. After that, it was two weeks of nothing, but fun and relaxing. It would have two weeks of extra hours at work if she still had a job. When Moonie miscarried, Mia had to stay home more to help out with her brothers and sisters. She called off for two days after her mother came home from the hospital, but she didn’t want to make a habit out of it. Tiara suggested that she take and indefinite leave of absence and that way she could always go back to the job as long as they had a position open. Her supervisor really liked her so he promised Mia that she could return whenever she wanted to. She didn’t want to leave her job, but she really didn’t have a choice. Moonie and Mitch promised her that they would provide whatever she needed because they felt bad about her having to quit. Tre was still paying her car insurance, and he sent Brandis to give her money twice since he’d come home. He claimed that it was his way of thanking her for looking after Terri while he was away. She’d been in and out of the hospital a few times, but she was doing well at the moment. Tre spent a lot of time with her and made sure she did what she was supposed to do. Mia still saw him regularly, and they would talk on the phone occasionally. Surprisingly he never mentioned anything about them getting back together, and Mia was fine with that or so she made herself believe. A small part of her wondered if there was someone else in the picture. She also wondered if he’d started messing with Paige or London again. He wasn’t trying to get with her anymore, so it had to be another woman. She hated herself for even caring, but she couldn’t help it.
“Mia,” one of her classmates yelled pulling her away from thoughts of Tre.
“Hey, what’s up Charles?” She asked.
“Brandis is looking all over for you. It looks like she’s been crying,” Charles revealed.
“Where is she?” Mia asked in a panic.
“She was by the office when I last saw her,” he said as Mia ran past him in search of her friend.
She was praying the whole way that whatever was going on wasn’t too serious. Mia was so tired of hearing bad news, and it didn’t seem like it would ever stop. She grabbed her phone out of her bag and tried to call Brandis, but the voicemail picked up both times. After seeing that she wasn’t in the office, Mia ran towards the cafeteria. She asked a few people if they knew where Brandis was, but nobody seemed to have seen her. Just as Mia was heading up the steps to check in the gym, she saw Brandis and two other girls that lived in The Court walking her way. At first glance, she could see that Charles was right. Brandis had indeed been crying, and her puffy red eyes were evidence of that.
“Brandis what’s wrong?” Mia asked while embracing her friend.
“I need to leave Mia. My grandmother called and said that my mama’s sugar dropped too low, and they had to rush her to the hospital. She said that she’s okay, but I just have to see for myself. I won’t be right until I do. Can you take me to the hospital, Mia? I tried calling Duke, but you know he can’t bring that phone in the warehouse,” she said referring to Duke’s job as an assembly line worker.
“You know I would if I could Brandis, but I have to take my last exam. It’s two hours long and she won’t let me do it another day. Here, take my car and just come back for me after school,” Mia suggested as she handed Brandis her keys.
“Are you sure Mia?”
“Yes I’m sure. Go check on your mama and I’ll see you later.”
“Thank you so much friend,” Brandis smiled and hugged her.
“You know it’s no problem. I hope everything is okay.”
“Me too, but I’ll be back to get you at three,” Brandis assured her.
After making sure her girl was straight, Mia rushed back to class and continued to get a little studying done. Once the exam was over she hung around a few minutes after school let out to get her grade. After all of her hard work and studying she was happy about the perfect one hundred score that she received. With all of her exams out of the way Mia was ready to get her two-week vacation started. She walked out of the classroom with a huge smile on her face and went outside looking for Brandis. When she didn’t see her, she called her phone to see where she was. It was fifteen minutes after three, so Brandis was probably riding around the school looking for her. Most of the students were already gone and she couldn’t go back inside to wait for her. The security guards would never allow that.
“Mia I’m so sorry I’m late. I left an hour ago, but this traffic is not moving. There must have been an accident or something. I’ve been sitting in this same spot forever,” Brandis rambled.
“Well, how far are you?” Mia asked.
“Don’t kill me, but I’m all the way in Metairie,” Brandis said.
“Oh hell no,” Mia yelled. “I’ll walk before I wait for you to come all the way from Metairie. The Court ain’t that far.”
“You don’t have to walk, I got a ride coming for you. I called somebody when I saw that I wasn’t going to make it on time,” Brandis informed her.
Before Mia had a chance to ask who was picking her up, Ro pulled up with another man in his passenger seat. She saw the car up ahead talking to a group of girls, but she didn’t know that Ro was the driver. Mia was about to walk home until she saw him. Now she was frozen with fear. She knew that he was beefing with Tre and she really didn’t know what he was capable of. After seeing the video of Rainey that he secretly recorded, Mia knew without a doubt that Ro was a grimy ass nigga.
“What’s up Mia?” Ro yelled. “You need a ride?
“No, my ride is on the way now, but thanks,” Mia smiled through her nervousness.
“Where your punk ass boyfriend at?”
“You got the wrong chick, I don’t have a boyfriend,” Mia replied. She tried not to let her words come off as being harsh for fear of provoking him.
“Don’t play dumb girl. I’m talking about Tank’s punk ass,” Ro scowled at her.
“He’s in jail,” Mia lied. “He violated his probation.”
“Who is that Mia?” Brandis yelled through the phone.
“Don’t hang up the phone, that’s Ro,” Mia whispered to her friend.
“You sure you don’t need a ride? You don’t need to be standing out here by yourself,” Ro said while staring her up and down lustfully.
When he licked his dry cracked lips, Mia wanted to hurl right there on the concrete. “What the hell was Rainey thinking about when she slept with him?” Mia thought to herself. And then she took it a step further and gave his ugly ass some head. The thought alone made Mia shudder.
“No, I’m good. Von and Lamar are right around the corner,” Mia lied in hopes of scaring him away. It must have worked because he nodded his head and drove off soon after.
“What did he say?” Brandis asked.
“He left, thank God,” Mia said with relief. “For a minute I thought he was the ride that you had for me.
“Are you crazy?” Brandis yelled. “I would have done better sending Paige and her nieces to get you.”
“I forgot to ask you about your mama. How is she doing?” Mia asked.
“She’s good, but they put her on a special diet and changed her medicine. They discharged her and my grandmother took her home.”
“That’s good, I’m just happy….” Mia started saying, but then her words trailed off when something or rather someone caught her eye.
“You’re happy about what?” Brandis asked when Mia didn’t finish her statement.
“Bitch no you didn’t,” Mia said through clenched teeth. Brandis started laughing uncontrollably because she knew just w
hat Mia was talking about.
“I guess your ride finally got there, huh?” Brandis laughed.
“This shit is not funny Brandis. Did you call Tre to pick me up? I can’t believe you. And then his ass is late.”
“Don’t be mad Mia, he just misses you and wants to talk. I’ve been home for a minute. Your car is parked in your driveway, and Moonie has your keys,” she chuckled.
“You know catch back is a bitch,” Mia threatened before she hung up in her friends face and walked over to Tre’s car.
“Sorry, I’m late. I ran into traffic coming from my group meeting.”
“It’s cool, but thanks for coming to get me,” Mia replied.
“You know I’ll do anything for you”, Tre said seriously while looking over at her.
“So, what exactly are you going to counseling for?” Mia asked changing the subject.
“It’s not really counseling. It’s like a rap session with a counselor. Most times it’s just him and me and I’m cool with that. Mr. Warren is real and he gives me some good advice.” Tre replied.
“That’s good, but what is it that y’all talk about?” Mia wanted to know.
“You,” Tre replied with a simple shrug.
Mia didn’t reply because she didn’t know what to say. She wondered what all Tre had told his counselor about her. She wondered if he told him anything about his lying cheating ways. Counseling was supposed to be all about honesty, so he probably told him everything. She also didn’t miss the music that he chose to play knowing that he was coming to get her. They were both huge Jodeci fans and both of them had all of their CD’s. Last night’s letter was “Their Song”, as they often called it. Tre couldn’t sing for nothing, but he would always try to whenever the song came on. Mia used to laugh at his silliness, but the words mattered to her more than him being off key. That was when she saw forever with him, now she couldn’t see past him giving her a ride home.
Creepin' 2: A New Orleans Love Story Page 10