Chasing Romeo

by A. J. Byrd

“From the beginning,” she says with amusement lingering in her voice.

  Drawing a deep breath, this time I start on the right foot and perform the entire routine from memory.

  When I finish, Phoenix barks, “Do it again.”

  Confidence restored, I do it again.

  Something sparks in her eyes, and I can tell she wants to lie and say that I was awful, but she can’t.

  “Very good,” Coach Kennedy says coming up behind us. “What’s your name, hon?”

  “Kierra Combs.”

  She nods and scans her list. “Have you been a cheerleader before?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  “Any dance training?”

  I pause. “Well, my sister is a dancer. I watch her sometimes,” I answer using the term dancer loosely.

  “Very good,” the coach says and then drifts off.

  A smile eases onto my face.

  “Okay, ladies. Time is up. Let’s go through the routine.”

  I glance over at Phoenix, loving the fact that she looks like she’s ready to chew through a box of nails. I lift my head, still smiling. “Thanks for your help.”

  The junior varsity cheerleaders quickly return to the bleachers. Phoenix makes sure to bump me hard on the shoulder as she passes; but nothing she does now can intimidate me. I’m sure I’m going to make the squad.

  The music starts again, and I just go for it: popping my hips, swinging my arms and making my kicks all in sync. From the corner of my eyes I see a few girls struggling, but I keep my eyes on the prize. No way I’m going to show weakness in front of Phoenix and her crew.

  No way in hell.

  The only time I get a little nervous during the hour-long audition is when the coach starts talking about tumbling. I have no problem performing a basic cartwheel and handstand, but when the coach starts talking about round-offs and walkovers, I’m glancing toward my girls, thinking the coach is talking pig latin.

  Thankfully, these stunts will be taught once the lucky few make the team. Overall, I feel extremely confident in my performance.

  “Thank you, ladies. Thank you for coming. The results will be posted on the bulletin board tomorrow after school.”

  I nearly collapse from relief and exhaustion.

  “Ohmigod! You were really good,” Nicole exclaims as she rushes to my side.

  “You were, too,” I say, even though I saw her struggling with the moves.

  “Naw. I doubt I’ll get in. I kept starting on the wrong foot and twisting when I should have kicked and kicked when I should have twisted.” Nicole laughs. “I just wished my sister hadn’t been here to make me so nervous.”

  “I wish she wasn’t here, too,” I mumble.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Now you, on the other hand, are a natural.”

  “Thanks.” I see my girls moving through the throng to get to me.

  “I nearly lost it when Romeo came in,” Nicole says.

  “What? Romeo was here?”

  “You didn’t see him?” Nicole asks. “He came in and whispered something to Phoenix. Whatever it was, it couldn’t have been good because she stormed out of here. But he did watch for a few minutes. God, he is sooo gorgeous.”

  Damn. I was concentrating so hard on my moves that I missed him. “Wait. You like Romeo?”

  “Please.” She rolls her eyes. “Every girl in this school has a thing for Romeo. Trust me.”

  chapter 18

  Anjenai—A Change of Heart

  I’m ignoring Romeo.

  It seems fair since he’s pretty much ignoring me, despite his offer to coach me before basketball tryouts. But ignoring him is not easy. Whenever he walks into a room or passes me in the hallway, I’m charged with an energy I can’t describe and longing for something I have no business longing for. Every time I think about the argument me and the girls had over him, I want to laugh. There’s no way a boy like him would ever kick it with an Oak Hill girl.

  What were we thinking?

  With basketball tryouts just days away, I’m having second thoughts about the whole thing. What I need to concentrate on is getting good grades. The only way I can fulfill Granny’s dream of my going to college is to bust my butt for a high GPA and win a scholarship from somewhere.

  Of course I still haven’t settled on a career just yet. This week I’m leaning toward being a politician. Someone needs to do something about the way senior citizens are treated on fixed incomes.

  “I’ll see you at basketball tryouts, right?” Coach Whittaker asks as I head for the girls’ locker room.

  “Umm, yeah. Sure,” I lie. For some reason I just can’t bring myself to tell her I’ve changed my mind.

  “All right. I’m counting on seeing you.”

  In the locker room, Tyler and I endure the buzzing and snickering led by our nemesis, Phoenix. It’s strange, really. The day we’d kicked them off their table we thought the whole school was in love with us.

  Now not so much.

  “See you on the bus,” I tell Tyler before parting ways after gym class. I rush to my locker for my English book. I’m so caught up in my own world that I don’t notice who’s leaning against my locker until I get right up on it. “Romeo.”

  His beautiful smile slides into place. “I was just beginning to worry that I had the wrong locker.”

  I glance around to make sure that he’s talking to me. When I glance back at him, his smile is even brighter.

  “Yeah, I’m talking to you.”

  I laugh. I feel that giddy. “What are you doing here?”

  “Well, I did agree to give you a few basketball lessons, didn’t I?”

  “Oh.” I blink while my heart starts to pick up speed. “Well, that’s all right,” I say. “You don’t have to do that anymore. I’ve changed my mind.” I step closer and wait for him to move.

  His smile vanishes. “What do you mean you’ve changed your mind?”

  I draw a deep breath and try to act nonchalant. “I really don’t have the time,” I admit. “I really need to concentrate on my grades, plus all my responsibilities at home. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  He looks genuinely disappointed. “Aw. C’mon. You’re a natural. Winning the championship is guaranteed with you on the team.”

  I smile, and from the corner of my eyes, I see a few stunned gazes swinging our way.

  “Ah. There we go. You’re smiling. This must mean that you really do want to play.”

  I want to tell him I’m smiling because of him.

  “Well, I think you should play,” he says. “And I’m not moving from this spot until you agree to join the team.” He crosses his arms and smirks at me as if he’d cornered me in a masterful chess move.

  “Are you for real?” I ask.

  “Straight up.”

  Even though I’m blown away to be having this conversation, I can’t contain my curiosity. “Why do you care?”

  “Are you kidding me? Me tutoring Jackson High’s newest basketball star?”

  I cock my head. “That’s pouring it on a bit thick, don’t you think? Me? A star?” I laugh.

  The first bell rings, and I look up to see students starting to dash toward their classes. I’m going to be late.

  “Well?” he probes. “I’m risking being tardy to convince you to do this, you know.”

  He’s serious. He really wants to tutor me.

  “I don’t know,” I hedge, thinking about GPAs and practice schedules.

  “Boy. You’re a tough nut to crack.” He moves closer to me. “What are you so scared of?” As he stares into my eyes I feel as if I’m being pulled into a hypnotic spell, and the last thing I want to do is disappoint him.

  “Give me one good reason why you don’t want to do this.”

  He’s suddenly standing so close I can’t breathe. “Umm. My grades.”

  “Grades?” He laughs, blowing his peppermint-tinged breath. “You’re not going to convince me that a smart girl like you is havin
g trouble with her grades.”

  “You don’t understand,” I say, sighing.

  “Make me understand.”

  The second bell rings, and suddenly the hallway is empty except for us. Still, I hesitate.

  “Now we’re working on an unexcused absence.”

  “Fine. If I want to go to college then I have to earn a scholarship. To get a good scholarship I need good grades.”

  “You can also get in with a basketball scholarship.”

  I hadn’t thought about that. I blink up at him.

  “You didn’t know. Girl, let me school you.”

  He laughs and then swings his arm around my shoulder. I almost die. Just the feeling of being held up against his chest is like a fantasy come true.

  “If you kill this basketball thing like I know you can, colleges will be lining up, begging you to attend their schools. Trust me on this.”

  “Really?”

  “Hey, think of it as a backup plan. If you don’t get an academic scholarship then you have a sport scholarship to fall back on. Everybody needs a plan B, right?”

  He’s making sense. “Yeah, right.”

  He squeezes my shoulder, and my smile returns.

  “So. Are you going to do it?”

  I glance up to see he’s leaned in close; his light cologne tickles my nose and weakens my knees. “All right,” I say. “I’ll do it.”

  “Then we’re practicing together?”

  “What? Here at school?”

  “Sure. Coach Whittaker said we could use the gym.”

  I’m suddenly suspicious that the coach is the one who put him up to this; but at the same time, I don’t care.

  “How about today after school?” he asks.

  “Uh, today?”

  “You got other plans?”

  I hesitate. “I, umm—”

  “What? Your boyfriend isn’t going to like you spending time with me?”

  I laugh. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

  He blinks. “Really?”

  “No.” Now I’m blushing. “But what I was going to say was that I ride the bus home and if I stay—”

  “Oh, well. I can take you home.”

  “You have a car?” Isn’t he like fifteen?

  “Yep. I got my learner’s permit this summer.”

  “But doesn’t that mean you have to have an adult riding with you?”

  He holds a finger to his lips. “A small technicality that my parents have forgotten about.”

  So I’ll be practicing with him and riding alone with him in his car. Can this day get any better?

  “So. Do we have a date?” he asks.

  “Yeah. It’s a date.”

  chapter 19

  Anjenai—Private Lessons

  I am on cloud nine.

  A date. Romeo had actually used those words. Of course I know it’s not a real date. The idea of just being alone and spending time with him is enough to plant my head permanently in the clouds.

  My next two classes whiz by without me hearing a word the teachers said. By seventh period I can’t peel my eyes away from the clock.

  “Ms. Legend?”

  I jump. “What? Yes?”

  Mr. Carson smiles tightly. “Can you tell us who was the third president of United States?”

  “Umm, Thomas Jefferson?” I guess.

  His smile returns as he nods. “That’s correct.” He walks on.

  I sigh in relief and then command myself to start paying attention—but I can’t. My gaze keeps creeping back to the clock. When at last the final bell of the day rings, you would have thought someone had shot off a starter pistol the way I take off.

  “Hurry. Hurry,” I tell myself. I don’t want to be late. I make it halfway to the gym before it occurs to me that maybe I shouldn’t arrive too soon. I might look too eager.

  “Anjenai!”

  I jump and then see Kierra racing toward me and dragging Tyler behind her. I stare at them wide-eyed like I’d been caught stealing out of the cookie jar. How had I forgotten about our pact to stay away from Romeo? What will they say if I tell him that I’m now going to be taking private lessons from him?

  “Oh, thank goodness you’re here. I thought we’d have to run all the way to your locker to get you.”

  “I, umm…” Suddenly, I can’t think of a single thing to say.

  “Well, come on.” Kierra grabs my arm and starts dragging both Tyler and I.

  “Where are we going?”

  “To the bulletin board, silly,” Kierra says. “They’re supposed to be posting who made the team, remember?”

  “Oh, yeah.” I’d forgotten. We race down to the bulletin board outside the gym where a crowd of girls are already waiting in anxious anticipation.

  “Is my name up there? Does anybody see my name?” Kierra asks no one in particular.

  “They haven’t posted the list yet,” Nicole’s voice floats over the crowd seconds before she pops up. “We’re all waiting. Isn’t this exciting?” She grabs Kierra’s hand and starts bouncing all over the place.

  “I know. I’m about to pee in my pants,” Kierra admits.

  “Oh, please don’t do that to us,” Tyler quips.

  I laugh, but agree.

  “I don’t know why I’m even bothering to look,” Nicole says, diving off her previous excitement so fast it’s enough to give me whiplash. “I know I didn’t make the team.”

  “C’mon. You gotta be positive,” I say in effort to cheer her up—even though I’d be surprised if she made the team, too. Her audition was horrific. She’d looked self-conscious during her routine and had forgotten a lot of steps.

  “Well, if you two don’t make it,” Tyler says, “I guess there’s always the pep squad.”

  “Oh, please.” Kierra rolls her eyes. “All they do is wear T-shirts and scream during pep rallies.”

  “Hey, don’t knock it,” Nicole says. “That might be my next option.”

  My heart goes out to Nicole. I’ve never been around someone who tries so hard to be liked. Other than us, I never see her with other people, and I’m wondering why.

  The gym doors open, and the large crowd of girls erupt into cheer. My heart leaps into my throat as I cross my fingers and hope for the best.

  Coach Kennedy smiles politely as she maneuvers through the crowd and sticks the list on the board.

  “Do you see my name? Does anybody see my name?” Kierra asks.

  “Chill. Just wait and see,” Tyler says, laughing at her.

  Suddenly, there are loud moans of disappointment in the crowd as some girls even break down and start crying. Is it that serious?

  “I’m scared. I’m scared,” Kierra chants. “Anje, you go look for me.”

  I hesitate.

  “Please,” she adds.

  “Oh, all right.” I exhale and then begin plowing my way through the crowd.

  Teams of crying girls peel away from the bulletin board, and I finally make it through. There are only six spots available, so it doesn’t take long to scan the list. I read it. I read it a second time and then turn away.

  “Well?” Kierra and Nicole ask when I return.

  I hesitate, not liking to be the bearer of bad news. I take a deep breath. “I’m sorry, but only one of you made it.”

  Kierra and Nicole look at each other.

  “I’m sorry, Nicole,” I say wincing. The way she looks at me, I feel as if I’ve just kicked a puppy.

  “Well, that means—I made it!” Kierra turns toward Tyler and swings her arms around her neck. Tyler’s eyes bulge as if Kierra is choking the hell out of her. When she turns to me, I suffer the same fate.

  “I made it! I made it!” she screams. “I can’t believe it.”

  “Congratulations,” Nicole says sadly.

  Kierra quickly calms down. “Oh, Nic. I’m so sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” she says, putting on a smile. “There’s always the pep squad.” She fakes a smile but then quickly turns and walks away.


  “Wait, Nic. You don’t have to go.”

  “No, I—I gotta get going if I’m going to catch my bus,” she says and then disappears into the crowd.

  The three of us stare after her not knowing what to say or do.

  “Damn. I feel so bad for her,” Kierra says.

  “Yeah. But—” Tyler turns to her. “You did make it so that’s a cause for celebration.”

  “I’m down. What should we do?”

  “Why don’t y’all come over to my place tonight and we can order a pizza and get drunk off root beers?”

  “Count me in.” Kierra beams before turning toward me.

  “Actually,” I say, hesitating. “I, umm, have to stay late today.”

  Their shining faces sour.

  “What? You got detention or something?”

  “No.” I try to think of something quick, but my girls know me and I’m scared they’ll see through me when I lie. “I actually need to stay and talk to Ms. Harrison about my biology assignment.” That doesn’t even sound convincing to my ears at all.

  “You actually don’t understand something?” Tyler asks. “You are having trouble with a subject?”

  “Someone, stop the presses,” Kierra adds, chuckling.

  They’re actually buying it. “Yeah. I guess I can’t be good at everything.”

  Tyler shrugs. “All right.” She turns to Kierra. “I guess that means it’s just me and you, kid.”

  “Damn straight.” Kierra perks up again. “But maybe the three of us can do something this weekend?”

  “Sure. Absolutely,” I say. “We can hang out at the mall and window-shop. Seriously, Kierra, congrats again.” I give her another hug. “I’m so proud of you.”

  “I did my part. Now you two have to make the basketball team.”

  I swallow the lump in my throat and try not to look suspicious. “We’ll see,” I answer, hoping I sound blasé enough. “I’ll catch you two later.” I turn and run off toward my locker. If I stand there too long, I’m sure the cracks in my facade will show.

  I hide upstairs in the girls’ bathroom, figuring it is a safe place until our bus leaves the school and I can be sure my girls won’t see me creeping back down to the gym to meet Romeo. I’m only in the stall a few seconds when I hear the main door open again.

  “Phoenix, calm down.”