Chapter One:

 

Denise Calloway made her way up the cement steps, staring at the gray brick building looming before her. She hated having to start over at a new school. All of this meant meeting new friends, having new teachers, and having her immediate family become the only East Coast residents in a small town that held a whopping twelve hundred people. Her gaze found the top of the building and took in a banner, which stated: Welcome to Tiger Hill High,

Sighing to herself, she continued up the remainder of stairs and pulled the glass doors open. The halls were full of students as they rushed to make it to homeroom. Denise looked down at her watch. The students were not going to homeroom, but their first period classes. Her mom was going to have a horrible fit after finding out she was late on her first day of school. Her mother always stressed the point that a young lady, especially a black one, should be on time, because you didn't want anyone to mold you into the stereotype they portrayed African Americans to be.

She glanced around the school and noticed a giant stairwell separated the hallway and cafeteria from one another. Plastic blue chairs were sitting right side up on round metal tables that looked to seat about five people per table. Reaching out to the walls on her left,she saw murals drawn along them, displaying different events that had occurred in the school's history.

Denise made her way along the corridors of the hallway, examining the land marks of the school. The walls to the right were decorated with posters of the basketball team, football team and the golf team. Denise gawked at the pictures in amusement. Tiger Hill had not been able to win a division title against a school called Brown High School since 1987. She shook her head incredulously. How could a team lose the division title for ten consecutive years in a row; and always against the same school?

She inhaled deeply and checked out the jheri curls on some of the players. A smile came to her lips as she thought of how ironic it was that ten years later, the style had been changed once, before regrouping back to the seventies. Her eyes fell like prey upon the bodies of the African American players in critique. She continued down until she reached the picture of the last team.

She nodded in approval at some pictures and frowned with amusement at others. "Very interesting," she whispered. Her eyes moved from the basketball photos, to take in everything else as she glanced around. Gray painted metal lockers stood erect in rows along the walls. She gazed along the hallway as far as her eyes could see. Murals adorned most of the walls. Maybe this school would not be dull after all. A bell rang as the last of the students trickled off to class.

By the time she made it to the front office, she was ten minutes late for first period. Opening the door, she made some more observations. Talking on the phone, a brown-haired woman was trying to assuage a parent on the other end. "I understand that Mrs. Graham, but you do know that if your son doesn't show up for class, he will be further behind than the other students? " The woman smiled at Denise and motioned for her to have a seat in one of the chairs, then continued her conversation.

“I understand that Terry's been going through a lot, but he still needs to make it to class."

The conversation continued with several “I understand”, until finally the woman hung up. She smiled at Denise. "How can I help you, sugar?" Her tone was not only friendly, but held an amiable accent. Denise stood up. "I'm Denise Calloway, a transfer student."

"Well, hello there, Denise. I hope you find it to your liking here in Virginia."

Denise smiled. "Are all the staff as nice as you?"

The lady smiled at her. “Some are.”

"Maybe I'll learn to like it here."

"It's a very nice place to live. Beautiful."

"That, I can tell."

"First things first Denise, we have to draw you up a schedule."

"That's cool Mrs.…"

"Just call me Ms. Alice, all the students do."

"Okay...Ms. Alice."

Ms. Alice smiled politely before continuing on, "here are your choices for an elective; art, home-ec, or computers."

"What kind of art?"

"All of these are beginner's classes; beginning art, sketching1 or sculpting1."

"How about sculpting?"

"Good choice." Ms. Alice typed in Sculpting 1 on her schedule. She then handed it to Denise. "Would you like me to help you find your classes?"

"No, I'm good."

 

"Well, darling, you better head off to class, or you'll miss the rest of first period."

Denise smiled, "It was nice meeting you Ms. Alice."

"You too, Denise. Have a nice day, and welcome to Hampton Virginia."

"Thank you."

With those parting words, Denise, schedule in hand, grabbed her bag and left the office. She glanced down at the schedule, scanned the document and concentrated on the numbers in the upper right hand corner. Her eyes moved from the schedule, to the row of lockers straight ahead.She shuffled along, staring at the Numbers. When she finally came to the locker she was assigned, she tried the combo. The lock did not budge when she pulled. She tried again, no budge. She'd been trying for five minutes when the bell rang. She growled in frustration. "Dang Locker!" She tried three more times, before becoming irate and hammering at it with her foot.

"I don't think you're gonna get it open that way." A soft voice spoke; that of a female. There was hint of an amused drawl.

Denise laughed, her head leaned against it, "I've tried five times already and the damn thing still won't open."

The girl laughed. "Here, let me help." She moved aside. The girl asked her the combo and with three swift motions- proliferation of a pull, the lock came undone.

"Thanks."

The girl looked at her and smiled. "You're welcome."

Denise held out a hand. "Denise Calloway."

"Tanya Harrison."

"Nice to meet you."

"You too. Is this your first day?"

"Yeah."

"Welcome to Tiger Hill, Denise."

"Yeah, Thanks."

"Where are you from?"

"Albany, New York."

"Hence the accent right?"

"You got it."

"So how long ya'll been here?"

“For a couple of weeks.”

“Welcome.” Tanya stated, glancing at Denise's schedule. “Need help finding your classes?”

“You mind?”

“What's the first one?”

"Chem… "Denise's voice trailed off as she looked up and saw a tall guy exiting one of the classrooms. He was what they would describe Tall, dark, and handsome with dark brown eyes, curly hair and a beautiful honey toned complexion and nice full lips. She felt her pulse thump in her throat. As his gaze found hers, he licked his lips. Her body intensely heated. Tanya turned around, rolled her eyes and said, “What's going on, Lamont?"

The one called Lamont came over, his gaze never leaving Denise's.

"So T, who's your friend?"

"She's new."

His eyes went over Denise's figure. "I like fresh meat."

Tanya's tone showed her disgust at his wolfish comment. "I bet you do."

"How are you doing, chocolate? I'm Lamont Green."

Tanya blocked his path. “We have to go to class." She pulled Denise's arm and led her toward the Science Department. Denise glanced back, her gaze sorrowful toward Lamont. Now he was a fine brother.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Two

"Trust me girl, Lamont is no good." Tanya stated once they were out of Lamont's viewpoint.

"What makes you say that?"

"Call it a hunch."

"Did he do something to you?"

"Well, no, but there's been rumors around school that he's done things to other girls."

"Has any of it been confirmed?"

"Not exactly."

"So that means all you have to go off of is a hunch?"

"It's a gut instinct."

"So you don't want me to be interested in him because of your gut instinct?"

"Denise, you've only been here a day, so don't try to act like you know how things are when you don't."

Denise took a step back. "The last time I checked Tanya, you weren't my mom."

Tanya put a hand on her hip. "Why don't you take a little advice and leave him alone?"

"What makes you so sure he's bad? I think he's cute."

"Cute and dangerous"

"I like my men like that."

"Hmm, well, you're right. I'm not your mamma and I can't tell you what to do, but I can say that you need to be careful."

Denise brushed off her comment,"So, what's this school like?

~ ~

Jordan Williams twirled the basketball in his hand. He made it top priority to focus on the spinning so that it would balance. He loved basketball and was exited about the new season coming up this winter. It was his passion. He had been an avid fan since he could pick up the ball. "What's up Jay?" His best friend Andrew Larson came up to him while he was sitting on the bleachers. "Nothing man."

"Want to play some one on one?"

"Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

"I could say the same for you." His friend teased back.

"Ms. Davidson’s one boring lady."

"I heard that. I had her last year."

"I hate English. I don't need to learn about synopsis and paraphrasing. It's stupid."

"Who cares right?"

"Yeah, exactly." Jordan tossed the ball in the air, catching it once it came back down. As the ball connected with his hand a third time, Andrew spoke.

"Let's talk about something else; my head's starting to swell with the pain."

"Alright, like what?"

"Like Tanya. You seen her lately?" Andrew inquired, his dark brown eyes lighting up. The smile on his face told everything. He was really feeling this girl.

"Yes. She was late to class this morning because she had to show a new student to one of her classes."

"Really? What's the new girl's name?"

"Denise I think."

"Have you seen her?"

"No. I haven't, you?"

"No, but Lamont Green did, and he said she was fine."

Jordan laughed. "Green thinks anything with a skirt and two legs is fine.”

Andrew nodded, agreeing, “Can't dispute that.” He switched the topic back to his reason for coming into gym. “So did you talk to Tanya?”

Jordan shook his head, “No. I told you I'm not doing your dirty work for you. I did you a favor by slipping that note into her locker, I'm not doing anything else. As a friend, that's as far as I go.”

“That's as far as I go...” Andrew mimicked him.

Jordan smirked, "I can't believe you like her."

"Why not? I've always thought she was a dime."

"She's really skinny. Like a toothpick."

“She's the most beautiful girl in the world.” Andrew quipped with a goofy smile on his face.

Jordan rolled his eyes, “Yeah, if you like that type.”

"Oh, so you like some meat on the bones huh?"

Jordan smiled, nodded, “The more the merrier.”

Andrew bursted out laughing, “You're a mess.”

“Get to class boys.”

The guys turned from their spot in the bleachers, to see the head coach a.k.a. the assistant principal Mr. Morris, starring up at them.

“Aww, Come on Mr. Morris, you know Ms. Davidson teaches the most boring class in the world. Don't you remember having her when you went here?" Jordan quipped, his words comical, causing Andrew to laugh.

"Jordan, that's still no reason to skip class. You do want to pass right?"

"Well Yeah, but I thought maybe I could switch to Mr. Motley or Ms. Baker's class. I heard Ms. Baker's class was off the hook."

"They're both full, now get to class."

The guys sighed, nodded at one another before coming down from th blearchers and walking toward the door of the gym. “See you at lunch."

"Yeah, you too Andy."

With that, both guys got up and headed to class.

~ ~

Tanya walked into the lunchroom with Denise following behind her. She went and got in line.

"What's on the menu for today?" Denise inquired.

"Stuff that makes you want to bring your own lunch." Tanya replied.

"So why didn't you?"

"Forgot it."

"Oh."

Both girls grabbed their lunch trays and waited for the line to move up.

"Excuse us girls, we need to get through."

Denise turned to see three girls moving toward them. They were dressed in pink. Denise's nose wrinkled in disgust. The color pink was so ugly. She could not help but noticed it seemed to look the worst on the red head. Denise looked at the girl from head to toe- long straight red hair, ice cold blue eyes, a pink halter top with a white tennis skirt, three inch heels, and an authentic Gucci bag that looked like pink shag carpet. Denise watched as they made their way up to them, turned to Tanya and inquired, "You don't mind us cutting in line do you?"

Before Tanya could answer, the girls broke into the line. A girl with blonde hair and blue eyes smiled sweetly, "Thanks Tanya."

Denise stood there for a minute, shocked. Shocked that Tanya would even allow this chick to disrespect her like that, and shocked that the girl would even be bold enough to do something so stupid. Denise looked at Tanya. "You're really going to let her jump in line like that?"

"She asked."

"No, she told you: Didn't even wait for you to say yes or no. She just hopped her little bony butt up there."

"Who are you calling bony?" The red head turned to Denise.

"She didn't mean it Sherry. De, come on now."

Denise stared at Tanya. "Oh, hell no! You three are going to have to wait in line now." She grabbed Tanya's hand and pulled her in front of the other girls. "Behind us."

The dark brown haired girl, with the black leather skirt and turquoise blouse, stared at Denise, her eyeliner thick around grey eyes.

"Do you know who we are?" The girl inquired, her eyes cold and hard.

"No, and it's not like I care."

"Did ya'll hear that?" The dark haired girl gleamed at her friends.

"Tanya, can we cut in front of you?" A blonde inquired sweetly. Her tone was so soft, that Denise had a hard time imagining her as part of this "click."

"Uhhh…." Tanya froze, indecisive.

"No. You can wait your turn. We are almost to the cashier anyway." Denise stated, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl on top the lunch counter.

"She let us cut her." The red haired girl snarled, her teeth clenching in annoyance.

Denise turned to her, narrowed her eyes and said. "No."

The girl double crossed both arms. “Tanya!!!” She appealed in a whiny voice. Tanya stood frozen still.

"No," Denise's voice grew firm. " Now wait your turn!"

The girls stared in shock. The red head girl was the first to recover, “You know what, I'm going to let that one slide, but let it happen again and their won't be a next time.”

“Is that a threat?”

“No, a promise.” The red head stated, standing toe to toe with Denise. Denise didn't shrink back or back down, she just glared at her, “Please do try.”

“Sherry, we don't need to make a scene right now.” The blonde stated, pleading with her.

“Nobody asked you, Candice, so stop talking.” Sherry commanded.

“There's TA's everywhere, Sherry, she's right.” The dark haired girl stated, grasping her friend by the shoulder and pulling her away. Denise rolled her eyes, infuriated that Sherry, had the audacity to threaten her. "please, that girl doesn't want to bump heads with me."

When Denise turned back to Tanya, she noticed that her face was spooked. "What's wrong?"

"You just ruined our social life, De."

"Come on Tanya, those girls don't care about anybody but themselves."

"No De, you don't get it. If those girls don't like you, then no one likes you."

Denise raised a brow, slightly irritated and bemused. "You're saying that the whole school's opinion rests on these three girls heads?"

"I mean they are really popular, and they can make your life miserable."

Denise smirked, ready for a fight, "Let them bring it on.Why should I be afraid of them? They can't hurt me."

Tanya swallowed. "Oh but they can. If you do that again, you'll activate the bitch switch."

Denise face squinched her aversion to that saying. "The what?"

"The bitch switch. They become your worst enemy." Tanya whispered, fear evident in her pitch.

Denise rolled her eyes, apathetic,"I'm pretty sure I can survive, I've had worst things happen." She couldn't begin to understand what it meant for those three girls to have you under their radar.

Tanya stared at Denise as if she'd lost her marbles. No one had ever gotten away with confronting Sherry Cooper, no one.

Andrew eyes roamed the cafeteria, hoping to find Tanya among the crowds. When he did, he noticed she was talking to a girl he had never seen before; a black girl. He lifted a brow. She was pretty. Her eyes were almond shaped with dark brown pupils that were flattered by the silver eye make up she wore to complement the gray v necked blouse, dark blue jeans and matching gray heels. When Jordan saw her, he would do a double take. She was just his type.

There was one thing he was not sure of since he had never witnessed it himself. Did Jordan even date black girls?

As if on cue, Jordan walked up and said, "Did you find…" His voice trailed off, as he felt a blush tint his cheeks. The girl coming in front of Tanya was beautiful. He was not used to staring, but his eyes seemed to be glued.

Denise furrowed her brows. This was strange. Was he really staring at her? Her gaze found his, and she heard the thumping began in her heart. His eyes were so gorgeous. She had seen green eyes before, but none like the dark emeralds he wore so well. She was taken aback by the shade of black his hair emanated. The long hair was curly at the ends and attached to a heart shaped face; narrow nose and deep jaw line. She could see that he worked out because his tall athletic figure was lean and muscular. "Wow."

She stopped and waited for Tanya to come through the line.

"Who are they?" She asked her friend.

Tanya smiled big, pointing to the African American,"That's Andy and that's Jordan."

"Jordan?" Denise sighed, unaware that Tanya was watching the interaction between her and Jordan. He just stared, his green eyes glossy. She then cast her gaze upon Andy. He was watching her with a smile on his face. Sighing, she turned to Denise. "Jordan's a major improvement when compared to Lamont."

Denise blinked, and looked up at Tanya. "Well I…I'm not interested in him. I just think he has beautiful eyes and hair." In an effort to convince herself, she cleared her throat. When they reached them, Tanya introduced everyone. "Andrew, Jordan, this is Denise.”

“Hi, nice to meet you.” Andrew held out a hand to her. Denise shook his hand and then shook Jordan's, whose eyes looked even more intense up close and personal. “Nice to meet you Denise.” The emotional warmth his touch had invoked within her was too much for her to take as she pulled her hand close to her body.

They all turned and walked to a table in the back of the cafeteria.

Chapter Three

Jordan tried to rake his brain for a question to ask her, but every-time he thought of something, he became discouraged and decided against it. He had always been one who knew what to say, but sensed by looking at this girl, that just any remark would not do. So instead, he sat there and took in the ponytail she sported. He noticed that her hair was springy. It looked soft and shiny. He wondered what its texture felt like. His eyes went to her face and carefully sculpted the features. Full beautiful shaped mouth, dark coffee brown eyes and high cheekbones. Blinking, he asked, "So, where are you from?"

She inhaled. "New York."

"Like it here?"

"I've only been here a weekend. It's beautiful." She admitted.

"There's a lot to do here.”

“Yeah, such as?”

“The upcoming sailing trip.”

"sailing?" Denise felt nauseous.

"What's wrong?" Tanya inquired, her tone curious.

"You guys can actually go sailing?" Denise was nervious. She'd never been sailing before and didn't know what to expect.

"Yeah, Jackson's creek leads out to the Atlantic; we can chart the waters there."

"Atlantic?" Denise was panicking now.

"The Atlantic Ocean ." Andrew stated with pride.

"Whoa! Whoa,! Whoa! Your parents actually allow you to go sailing by yourselves?"

"From the time we turned thirteen."

"You guys were sailing at thirteen by yourselves?"

"We've been raised here all of our lives." Jordan stated, as if defending them and their life styles.

"And so you're expert sailors?"

Tanya shrugged, referring to the two boys, she said,"Andy and Jordan are. They've been sailing since they were like six or seven I believe."

"My dad owns a boat rental company." Andy stated.

"Oh."

"So you game or what?"

Denise pondered the idea. She wasn't sure if she'd like it. The thought of getting into a boat on the lake was nerve wrecking in itself, but charting the Atlantic made it even worse. “I don't know...”

“Aw come on, it'll be fun and you won't have to worry about getting lost. Andrew is an expert navigator.”

“Do we have to go out to the Atlantic?”

“You scared?” Andrew looked as if that was the most unnatural thing in the world.

“I've never been sailing before and I don't think it's wise to go too far.”

Jordan's green eyes flickered to hers and he offered a flirtatious grin, “I'll protect you.”

Denise chose to ignore his comment, despite the tingling that attacked her skin and burning that developed throughout her body. “Come on Denise, what could go wrong with us all there. And just as a precaution to you, we won't go beyond Jackson's creek, ok?” Denise pursed her lips together and sighed, “Alright, fine, as long as I don't end up on one of those missing posters."

Jordan smiled. "You won't."

~

"I can't believe that girl had the audacity to actually think that she could come in here and show us out."

"I know. She doesn't run anything." Pamela's reflection grimaced in the mirror where she was applying a touch up application of mascara."Ya'll, I think we need to give her a little welcoming party."

Candice didn't respond, she just continued applying her lipgloss while staring into the mirror over a second basin.

Sherry responded from the bathroom stall. "I don't think so, not yet. Let's wait for the opportunity to present itself."

"That can take all year." Pamela stated. A bathroom toilet flushed and Sherry came out, scooting in between both girls, bending to wash her hands,"I've got a feeling with this one it won't. She cannot keep her cool for long when she feels like she's being stepped on. Her parents probably told her that "black" integrity story, so she doesn't know how to shut up and let nature take its course."

"What about Tanya?" Pamela inquired.

Sherry shrugged. "What about her?"

"She needs a lesson too."

A sigh was heard as Sherry opened the cap on her pastel pink eye shadow, "No, she's just a pupil to what she sees."

"What if she gets out of hand?"

Sherry sighed nonchalantly, "Then that's when we'll handle her, but for now, let's keep our focus on Denise.

~ ~

"Jordan, if you and Denise hadn't stopped staring at one another like that, you would've bore a hole through each other. I could have sworn you guys were going to start kissing right at the table."

"It's not like that Drew and you know it."

"So, do you think she's cute?"

"She's alright."

"Think you'd want to date her?"

Yes! His mind screamed. "I don't know much about her except that she is cute, from New York and her name's Denise."

"That's a start. Saturday when we go sailing you both can mingle."

"Mingle?"

"Socialize?"

Jordan shook his head for Andrew's luck laster words. Mingle, socialize? What kid their age would say either term? Irregardless, he poked his nose into Andrew's business.

"So, what's up with you and Tanya? I saw that look ya'll gave each other."

"What look?"

"That we're just using them as an excuse to get together look." He stated knowingly.

"No."

"Yes."

Andrew laughed and shook his head, throwing a practice ball to Jordan, "Shut up and take out the ball."

~

Before the sixth period bell, Denise was standing at her locker pulling books out, when a tall figure, overshadowed her view.

"The least you could do is move out of my way, please."

"Hello there beautiful."

Denise felt chills go down the back of her neck. She stood up and closed the locker. Looking up at the person she remembered as Lamont, she greeted him. "Hi." What was it about this guy that made her feel so nervous?

"How is your first day going?"

"So far, so good"

"That's good." He leaned against her locker, falling toward her. She pulled back. "Yeah, things have been interesting so far."

"Cool."

She reached up and pulled a strand of hair from her ponytail. Twirling it between her fingers, she whispered, "So how about you?"

His smile was seductive in a way that it caused her to pull back a little more.

"It's going good." He reached out and ran a hand along her forearm. Looking her in the eyes, he said, "But you definitely make it more interesting."

"Do I?"

He leaned in toward her. His face inches away from hers. "Yeah, you do." The mint freshness of his breath caused a sensation in the most intimate places. She smiled. "Cool."

He reached for her schedule. "So, what's your next class?"

She shook her head and looked at the piece of paper. "Oh, um…it's Algebra."

"Ms. Ralph?"

Denise cleared her throat. "Yeah."

"Cool, I'm headed that way, I'll drop you off."

Denise laughed.

"Very sexy; you should do it all the time." He teased.

"Are you serious?" Denise gushed.

"Most definitely.”

When Denise came to class, she was elated to find out that Tanya was also a student of Ms. Ralph's Algebra course.

"What are you smiling about?"

"I just ran into Lamont."

Tanya cleared her throat. "I thought you liked Jordan?"

"I only said he was cute."

"That's odd, because the looks you two were sharing said other wise."

"What ever, let's talk about Lamont?"

"Forget about Lamont. He's not even worth your time."

"You've never dated him, so you don't know."

"Plenty of other girls have and believe me, they don't say anything good about him."

"That doesn't mean anything."

"Whatever De, I just think you'd be stupid to let Jordan get away. He's a good catch, I'm telling you."

Denise smiled and took the seat in front of Tanya. "And so is Lamont."

 

 

Chapter Four:

Denise made her way through the hallways, out of the school, and toward the exit gates. Upon coming through them, she felt a tap on her shoulders. "Hi, Denise." She turned to the voice. Her eyes grew big upon seeing him, his tall frame lulling over her. Her eyes went over his features. "Hi Jordan."

"Enjoy your first day of school?"

"Yes. It wasn't too bad considering the lunchroom."

"Can I walk you home?"

"Sure." She stopped and waited for him to catch up. There was a gym bag slung over his shoulder. Looking up, she noticed that his hair was plastered to his face, making him even more alluring.

"So, what happened in the cafeteria?"

"Some stupid girls tried to cut in front of Tanya today, and when I told them they couldn't, they threw hissy fits."

"What were there names?"

"I didn't catch the other two girls' names, but there's this one girl, she gave me the chills. You could feel the hatred, venom, and everything else evil eminating from her. She said her name was Sherry."

"Red hair, blue eyes?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" Denise smiled.

"Everybody knows sherry; and that's a pretty accurate discription of her."

"She had the audacity to tell me and Tanya that she was going to cut in front of us. I told her no she wasn't! She could stay her no matching butt behind us and wait."

"So you noticed her clothing?"

Denise laughed, “ Yeah, and she looked a hot mess."

"A hot mess?"

"Yeah, in NY, when something's not fresh-new-we usually say it's a hot mess. What inspired her to wear a pink top with a tennis skirt and a Gucci handbag to match? I don't know, but it was tacky. She could have done better without all that pink."

"I take it you don't like pink."

A frown crossed her feautures squinching her nose and turning up her lips in the process,“It's the worse color ever. Besides, pink's for girly girls. I got a little roughness to me."

Jordan laughed. "So you're the type of girl who would probably step on a spider if it came near you instead of running and screaming."

Denise smiled. "No, I would run just like the rest. I hate spiders. I do have other interests besides make up-boys-and clothes."

"Hmm, such as..." Jordan's eyes met hers thoughtfully.

"Watching T.V. playing tennis, hiking, and reading."

"What kind of books do you like?" Denise gaze flickered back down to the ground, as she watched the cracks in the sidewalk. Already feeling nervous from just meeting his eyes.

"Action adventure and Mystery."

"No romance? Every girl likes romance novels."

Denise glanced up again. "I'm not every girl."

He nodded, an impish grin taking over. "That you're right about. It's about time we got a girl here who could stand up to Sherry and her crew."

"They don't scare me. They are too stupid. Probably can't tie their own shoes."

"You'd be amazed at how intelligent those girls really are. Sherry has one of the highest I.Q.'s in school."

"Now I'm impressed. I guess they're not your typical snobs."

"They used to be really brainy back in the day, I guess they watched Cruel Intentions one too many times."

"What do you know about Cruel Intentions?"

Jordan played with the strap on his bag. "I really don't know anything about the movie, but it sounded like the right thing to say."

"And I almost mistook you for an avid fan of Sarah Michele Gellar." Denise teased.

"My favorite actress is Vivica A. Fox."

"Really? What's the last movie you saw with her in it?"

"Jawana Man"

"That movie's hilarious."

"It's crazy."

"A man portraying a woman to become a member of a basketball team."

"Don't forget they kicked him out of the Men's league."

"Get in where you fit in, right?"

"Yeah, in his case."

They both laughed. Denise stopped. Jordan looked up to see they were standing in front of a yellow and white two story home. Looking around for a street sign, he found that they were on Grisham Road. "So you live on Grisham?"

"Yeah."

"You're not that far from me."

"No?"

"I stay on Terrace Road. It's about six blocks from here."

"Cool."

They stood there silent for a moment. He looked her in the eyes and said. "Well, I have to go."

"Yeah. Alright." Denise cleared her throat and waved goodbye. He waited until she went into the house before turning to leave.

Six weeks into the school year:

Denise was at her locker when she felt arms go around her waist. She smiled and turned toward him. Lamont said, "Let's go to lunch."

"Lunch?"

"Yeah, there's a little pizza joint over on Quincy and Thomas road. I would love to take you there. It's cool because not a lot of the student populous go there, and we can have some us time."

"I didn't know there was an us?"

"You need to get with the program. Everybody knows you're my girl now."

"Then how come I'm the only one who doesn't?"

He gave her a syrupy smile. "Welcome to the neighborhood baby."

Denise giggled.

Jordan, Andrew and Tany-a all stared at them disgusted. "Ew...I can't believe she likes him."

"Me either." Andrew stated. Jordan just stared, his feelings hurt. He had thought Denise was feeling him, but maybe it wasn't in the same manner he was interested in her. Sighing, he avoided eye contact with his friends. "She's entitled to date whomever she wish."

"Even if she would look better with you?" Tanya pressed.

Jordan cleared his throat. "That's just your opinion Tanya." Tanya goaded, "Maybe you don't like her as much as you think you do, since you're willing to let her go so easily." Jordan turned to Tanya, "Look, she likes him, and that's her right."

"Maybe she is better off with him, since you will let her go like that." Jordan sighed his frustration. "Look T. I know you think we mesh well together, and that may be true, but De-De is entitled to make her own choices."

"I don't like her choice. Lamont is a dog." She stated, her tone full of passion. With that, Tanya took off. Andrew looked up at Jordan. "I'm not one to get in your business bro, but she's right. Lamont' s going to do Denise the same way he does every girl."

"What am I supposed to do about that?"

"When you see her, what do you think? When you look at her and see him making the moves on her, what's your reaction?"

"Look man, I'm not a knight in shining armor."

Andrew sighed, irritated. What was wrong with Jordan? "Yeah, I know, but think about it. He hurts her, that's going to make it harder for you."

"Andy come on, I may not even like her in two months."

"How about this, you be a friend to her, watch her back, that way your pride won't get screwed with and at the same time you can make sure she's not hurt."

"Come on Andy, this is crazy, we don't even know the girl." Jordan reasoned.

"Tanya obviously likes her, so watch out for her."

"I am not Tanya's go boy. I don't go around protecting people because she tells me too."

"Fine man, you don't want to do it, don't. I just find it weird that you like the girl, yet you won't do anything to make her yours."

"I was just interested in getting to know her."

"And all that just happened to change because Lamont's trying to tap her groove."

"You don't know that, he could actually like her."

"Alright Jay, do what you want." Andrew sighed.

"Anyway, why do I have to be the one to look after her?"

"Because, she really likes you."

"As a friend."

"I think it's more than that."

"Yeah right..."

"Jordan, you guys have been talking an awful lot. Girls don't usually talk to guys the way she talks to you."

"As a friend." He emphasized.

"I have to go alright?"

"Alright."

Jordan swallowed the bitterness in his throat as he watched Lamont put an arm around Denise's shoulders. When they came toward him, Lamont threw up a hand in greeting. Denise smiled. "Hey Jordan." He smiled back.

 

Chapter Five

Denise walked arm and arm with Lamont. He was talking about the new car his dad was going to buy him. "Anyway, my dad's going to buy me a Ferrari this year if I can keep my grades

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Texte: Brandy Mundy
Lektorat: Brandy Mundy
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 28.03.2012
ISBN: 978-3-7368-8941-5

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