Chapter 16
1010words
"Hey, are you going to be okay?"
I shook my head no. "I'm suspended for two weeks. My mom is going to freak when she finds out. She has been tolerant of you, but me getting suspended, she's going to skin me alive."
"I'm sure she will understand."
"You don't know my mother."
Jevan took me home and offered to stay with me until I told my mother about my suspension but I declined. I didn't want him getting caught in the middle of the fire I knew was coming.
I walked into the kitchen and saw my mother putting a tray of barbeque wings into the oven. She was already dressed for work.
"Good afternoon, ma," I started and hid my bruised fingers behind my back.
"I got a call from your principal. You've been fighting in the school Blossom?" She turned towards me.
"The other girl started it," I defended.
"How many times have I taught you to walk away? How many times have I taught you to stay away from negative people?"
"How can I stay away from her when she's was my head cheerleader?"
"Blossom, you're changing. I don't know if it's the company you're keeping or if it's that boy!"
"This has nothing to do with Jevan!"
"It has everything to do with him. The principal said that you confronted Jevan's girlfriend about him. Why would you do that?"
"She's not his girlfriend, I am. And I had to confront her because she was going to get him into trouble with the police."
"And now you're in trouble with your education. Have you forgotten that you're on a scholarship which can be revoked for bad behaviour?
You're not rich like these other kids, Blossom! That boy is driving cars worth more money than my annual salary! You can't fit in with people like that!"
"He loves me for me! Not my status or my net worth!"
"He loves you? Little girl, you better wake up and smell the coffee. You're both seniors. What's going to happen when he gets into an exorbitant college that not even a scholarship can afford?"
Her question carried weight. A weight that slammed against my chest and made me feel foolish for not realising this to begin with.
"I already have one Brooke to deal with at school. I don't need one at home too," I responded and went upstairs to my bedroom. I lost my appetite for dinner.
I heard the door slammed from downstairs and I knew she had left for her usual night shift. I peered out the window and saw her getting onto a bus.
Sighing to myself, I flopped down on the bed and thought about what she said.
Being friends with Nina and Sophia hadn't changed me one bit and they weren't bad company. They were the nicest girls in the whole school. They took me in one the very first day and made me feel like I belong.
Jevan Hollen was the sweetest boy ever. Charming, respectful, educated, athletic and handsome with his grey eyes. He was like a dream. A dream that only I had procession of - for now.
"It's times like these that I wish I had a cell phone," I said to myself.
And as if on cue, a knock came to the front door downstairs. I hopped off the bed and ran to the door.
Jevan stood outside with a smile on his face.
"What are you doing here?" I asked him.
"Let's go for a drive," he said.
"To where?"
"Anywhere."
"Okay. I'll just get freshen up and change," I told him, looking down at the uniform I was yet to come out of.
"Okay. I'll be in the car."
I quickly ran upstairs and got into my shower. After that, I put on my panties and I got into a pair of shorts and a white crop top I received from a charity group back in Ghana and I was itching to wear it for the first time.
For shoes, the ones I went to school with for I didn't have another pair.
I tip-toed into my mother's room, although I knew she wasn't at home, and took her red lipstick and put some on. Lastly, I used some of her perfume and went out the door.
Jevan's eyes twinkled when he saw me. He sat up from his slump figure and took me in.
"Wow. You're fricking beautiful," he complimented.
"Thanks," I said and smiled. I will never get bored of hearing him say how beautiful I was. I buckled the seat belt and Jevan started the car.
_______
It was now evening and the setting sun casted an orange and yellow tint into the skies as we drove through Sunset Boulevard. I watched the palm trees waved by as we soar on. Jevan laced his hand with mine, one in control of the steering wheel.
He pulled off the street and drove to a coast line where the waves were crashing on the cliff.
"This is beautiful." I got out of the Range Rover and looked at the scenery. Seagulls roamed the air, the fresh scent of the ocean and the wind through my thick head of hair.
He came from behind and circled my waist with his arms. I lean backwards and rest my head against his chest. I swayed as if a song was playing in my head. I was that comfortable now.
"This feels like an exotic getaway," he said.
And then I remembered my mother's words.
"Jevan, there's something I ought to ask you." I turned to him.
"Anything," he said. His eyes were directly on me.
"What's going to happen to us?"
"What do you mean?"
"When we go to separate colleges."
I didn't miss the small sigh and the shift in his mood. He raked his fingers through his hair.
