Authors: Christopher Grant
“Martine,” Crystal responds, with a bit of disgust in her voice.
“Have a seat, Martine.”
I’m about to tell her that I can’t stay, but her statement was not a request. Crystal puts her bag on the floor, and I slide in next to her.
“So you’re friends with my baby cousin?”
“Who? Oh, Crystal. Yeah, we usually eat lunch together.” I guess she’s Crystal’s older cousin.
“Well, any friend of Crystal’s is a friend of mine. I’m Passion.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“Honestly, I have ulterior motives. I wanted to know where you got that sweat suit from. It’s hot.”
“My mother gave it to me. I’m not sure where she got it, though.”
She looks around at her friends and says, “Her mother must have some good taste, huh?” They all laugh. “I really like the color, and it fits you really well.”
“Thanks,” I say with a smile, thinking my first impression of her might have been off. She seems really nice.
“So do you have a boyfriend, Martine?”
“No.”
“Are you seeing anyone? Anyone checking for you?”
“Uhh, no.”
“So you’re not interested in boys in this school? There are a lot of cuties running around here.”
“No. I just kind of stay in my books. That’s about it.”
“As pretty as you are, trust me, they’ll find you.”
I fidget and force a smile. The rest of the girls are watching Passion question me like I’m on the witness stand. I think it’s time for me to leave. “I have to get going. I have to study for a test I have later.”
“Okay. Well, like I said, any friend of Crystal’s is a friend of mine, so next time you see me, holla. It was nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too.” I get up to leave, then I remember why I came over here in the first place. “Oh, Crystal, I need to talk to you real quick.”
“What?”
As I’m about to ask her to take a walk with me, Passion says, “Cuzzo, she wants to speak to you in private. Am I right?”
I nod my head and smile nervously.
Crystal gets up from the chair and walks a few feet from the table. “What do you want?”
“Sorry, I don’t mean to bother you, I just wanted to ask you a quick question.”
“Well, go ahead already, I don’t have all day.”
“What the hell is your problem? Why you acting so stink?”
“Sorry. I’m just having a rough day.”
Her apology feels phony. She’s saying she’s sorry, but her face tells a different story. I’m desperate, so I ask my question anyway. “Do you know what a blessing is?”
I can tell I have her attention by the way she responds. “A blessing? Someone asked you for a blessing?”
It kind of makes me regret asking her. I try to cover my true intentions. “No, not me. A friend of mine asked me, and I wasn’t sure, so I told her I would ask around.”
“A friend? Do I know this friend of yours?”
I shake my head.
She looks me up and down like she’s trying to read me or something. “Nah. I don’t know what it is.”
“Okay, thanks.” For nothing.
W
hen my English teacher, Ms. Barney, handed out the syllabus at the beginning of the year, she said it was our responsibility to mark down the day of the exams. She told us that she would not remind us about it and that we should make sure to be prepared for the test. Thank God I already read
Native Son
, because I would’ve bombed on today’s test if I hadn’t. Lucky for me, Bigger is one of my all-time favorite characters. The extra-credit questions were easy, so I can get higher than a hundred.
My heart almost skips a beat and the rest of the class groans when Ms. Barney says, “Pens down.” No one in the class listens, and they try to sneak in a few more lines before she can waddle down the aisle to grab their essay books. “I said pens down!” she barks.
I’m not upset like the rest of the class is because I didn’t have time to finish. I answered both extra-credit questions, and I even had time to review my answers. I’m upset because the bell is about to ring. The test was the only time all day where I haven’t thought about Cherise or Greg. Now that it’s over, they’re both back in my head.
I look up in the front at Sohmi’s empty seat. It’s almost like God is teasing me. Why of all days is this the day that none of my friends are around? There have been plenty of times when someone has asked me something and I had no idea what the hell they were talking about, only to be bailed out by my clique. It feels like a bad dream, like one of those dreams where no matter what I do, I can’t get away from the bad guy chasing me. No matter how many times I turn or twist or change directions, I trip over a tree root and get chopped in the back with a meat cleaver.
As if my encounter with Crystal and staring at Sohmi’s empty seat weren’t enough, I even see Cherise in the hallway. It’s no surprise that she turns and walks in the opposite direction.
I walk into the bio lab and see Garth lifting a microscope out of its case. Someone in an earlier class had pushed my stool to the other side of the room, so I drag it from the window and sit down next to him. It takes him all of thirty seconds to get the microscope and slide specimen set up. Most of the class is still struggling with how to open the microscope case, but Garth has no problem with it. He’s so smart, and he knows everything. He reads almost as many books as I do, and he answers questions in class all the time. It doesn’t take long
for me to convince myself that he’ll be able to help me. I have nowhere else to turn anyway, so I might as well try.
“Garth?”
“Yeah.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure can.” He’s hard at work adjusting the magnification on the microscope to bring the amoebas on the slide into focus.
“Do you …” Please, God. Just do me this one favor and make him know. “Do you know what a blessing is?”
“A blessing?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah. Who doesn’t?”
I perk up and smile. My prayers are about to be answered. “What is it!? Tell me!” My heart is racing. Finally, the mystery will be solved. Garth is looking at me weird because my hands are gripped tightly around his forearm.
“That’s when like a priest or clergyman …”
I drown him out and feel worse than I did before I asked him.
“Are you sure that’s right, Garth?”
“Yes, Teenie.” He rolls his eyes, and rightfully so. I’ve had him check to see if the amoeba had a cell wall for about ten minutes. “The amoeba is not a plant, or cyanobacteria, and therefore will not have a cell wall.”
“Okay. I just wanted to make sure.”
“Can I move on to question two now?”
“Yeah, I guess.” I’m really trying to get into this. I don’t
want to think about whatever’s waiting for me at four o’clock. Garth is already starting on question 3 when I say, “Wait, wait. What was question two about? You’re going too fast.”
Garth picks his head up from the microscope and tilts it straight back, looking at the ceiling. He takes a deep breath before turning to me and saying, “You want to help?”
“Yeah.” I slide over a little closer, thinking he’ll let me look at the specimen.
I reach out for the microscope and he says, “Umm. The lens is dirty. Can you go in the supply cabinet and get one of the cloths to wipe it off?” He’s pointing toward the other side of the classroom.
It takes me a few moments to find it, but when I return to the desk, he’s busy packing up the microscope. “What’re you doing, Garth?”
“Oh, I’m done.”
“What? Why didn’t you wait for me?”
“Don’t worry, we got a hundred.”
“But I wanted to see it.”
“Oh, sorry. I needed to get it done because I have to go to the library now.”
Garth is one of the few students who can leave class early—he has so much work the teachers let him go as long as he gets everything in their class done. “Alright then. I guess I’ll see you later.”
If I thought I was feeling queasy earlier, the end of ninth period brings on a whole new level of anxiety. Part of me wishes I still had time to feel bad about Cherise and Crystal,
but the butterflies are doing a number on my guts. I have only one hour left before I meet Greg. I’m as excited as I am scared. Look how the guy had me after just one kiss.
I spend the hour between the end of school and my meeting with Greg in the pizzeria at the corner of Fulton and South Elliott. Even though the garlic knots look good as hell, I’m too nervous to eat anything. Besides that, I don’t want my breath to be kicking if Greg kisses me. That’s if he kisses me again, and I sure hope he does. Tony the pizza man sees me smiling to myself and looks at me a little longer than normal. It’s not unusual for me to study in here. He has a daughter, so I’m sure he has an idea of what I’m smiling about.
I start outlining my essay for Mr. Speight’s class. It’s an easy A for me, on how the railroads revolutionized commerce in the late nineteenth century. I want to get this out of the way early so I can spend the rest of the weekend studying for the math test. I finish the outline and glance up at the clock: 3:45, almost time for me to meet Greg. I pack my books up and head back to Tech.
The walk back to school is one of the most nerve-racking experiences of my short life. I can think of a million and one reasons to turn around and go home. But my legs and my curiosity, an even stronger sensation than what led me up to the attic, have overtaken my fear. Anything with Greg Millons
has
to be worth trying.
I get to the boys’ gym door and look for a good place to wait for Greg. My heart is beating so hard I can feel it in my ears. I want to look as comfortable as possible, but I can’t figure out if I should be sitting or standing. First I try sitting on
the steps, but then I remember that my pants are yellow. I jump up and sweep the gray dust off my butt. Thankfully it doesn’t leave a mark. Okay, so sitting is out.
Next I try leaning against the wall next to the door with my arms folded over my chest. I bend my knee and put my foot on the wall. This feels like a good way to stand because I
know
I look hot. Still, it’s probably better if I wait until he comes out before I stand like this. My leg is starting to hurt.
Standing this close to the door, I can hear voices coming from inside the gym. I feel myself starting to get nervous again. Maybe I should have gone to the bathroom to make sure I don’t have boogers in my nose. Oh no! What if I
do
have boogers in my nose or cheese stuck between my teeth? I didn’t even check to see how my hair looks. I’m sure the hole on the waistband is showing too.
There’s no time to pull my jacket into place, because the voices on the other side of the gym door are getting louder. It sounds as if they’re really close to the door! I’m not ready to see him, so I fly down the stairs. The gym door swings open and hits the wall, right where I was standing a few seconds ago. Thank God I didn’t stay there—that would’ve hurt. I stop moving and crouch so they don’t hear me running down the stairs. Greg is talking. I recognize his voice right away and catch him mid-sentence saying, “… go ahead without me. I’ll catch up with y’all tomorrow.”
“Come on, son. Whoppers at Burger King for a buck-fifty.” I can’t see them, but that must be one of Greg’s teammates talking.
“Forget a Whopper, man. I’ve got a date with destiny.”
Hearing Greg say that puts a huge smile on my face and makes butterflies whirl around in my tummy.
“Which one is it now, Millons? A blessing or a blasting?”
“The first one … for now.”
I do get a little nervous when I hear someone else say, “Damn, man, you stay lining them up.”
“You know how I do.”
They all start laughing.
“Aight, son. Go handle yours. See you tomorrow morning. Freakin’ practice.”
“Well, that’s what happens when you guys don’t act serious.”
I duck down a little lower as Greg’s teammates file out of the building. Greg goes into the hallway mumbling, “Where is this chick?”
After listening for a few more seconds, I hustle downstairs to the girls’ bathroom in the basement. The faucet of the sink in front of me has been running since I walked in here, but the water is ice-cold. A chill runs down my spine when I splash a little on my face. I was hoping it would make me feel better and relax a little, but all it did was make me think about stuff more! A blessing, a blasting, I don’t know which is better, or worse, or what the hell either of them is. Maybe I should leave. If I walk out of the building, I won’t have to be scared anymore. But this is Greg Millons. The cute boy has
never
liked me,
ever
! This is what I’ve waited my whole life for. How can I turn this opportunity down?
My legs are shaking so much that I need to grab the sides
of the sink to support myself. I look at my reflection in the mirror and really see how panicked I look.
“Calm down, Teenie. Calm down.” The sound of my voice is actually kind of soothing. I stare at my reflection and my eyes move to my shoulders. I’m half expecting to see a little angel on one and a little devil on the other. In all honesty, I would welcome the help.
The more I think about things, I realize the best thing for me to do is to leave. If I see him online later, I can just tell him that I felt sick. Yeah, I could tell him that I had a stomach virus and bad diarrhea. Okay, that’s too much information. I’ll just tell him that I had a stomachache and needed to go home. If I reschedule with him, at least I will have time to ask one of my friends what a blessing is.
After I take a few more deep breaths, I feel comfortable with my decision and turn the faucet off—well, try to. The knob turns but the water keeps running. I walk back to the bottom of the stairwell and listen for voices. There’s no one up there, so I walk up the stairs toward the exit. My hand never reaches the door. I smell him before I see him. Greg grabs my hip and whispers into my ear, “You going somewhere?”
“S
o if everything goes according to plan, you’ll see me all over
SportsCenter
next year.”
Greg has been doing most of the talking since we started walking up the stairs. I try to nod my head and follow the conversation. I can barely hear anything because my heart is just thumping away. We just passed the fifth floor and I haven’t done much more than smile. Even though I’m still petrified, the longer I’m with him, the more comfortable I feel. He’s been complimenting me since the first floor, nudging me playfully while we walk up the stairs. I giggle when he says my butt looks like “an upside-down McDonald’s sign.”