BOOK EXCERPT
ISBN: 978-0-9777573-2-9
ISBN: 0-9777573-2-3
Scorching sun rays beamed down on Brittany, Natasha and Shaniqua as the three best friends ate lunch in the lush green courtyard of Miller Grove High School. The excitement of spring break sparkled in everyone's eyes. In a couple of days, students would be out of school for the one-week vacation. Brittany flipped her long, wavy locks to one side. "So, Tasha, are you all packed?"
Natasha nodded through a forkful of salad while perspiration beaded on her forehead. "Girl, please, are you?"
"I'm not taking any clothes, only a couple of empty oversized suitcases. I plan on doing a lot of shopping," Brittany said, letting her deep dimples frame her perfect smile.
Shaniqua toyed with her red Razr phone. "Oh yeah, Tasha, I get paid Friday, so I'm going to give you some money to bring me back a cute outfit from Paris."
"Ohmigod, hide!" Natasha said, ducking behind Shaniqua. "Here comes Stephen-pretend like you don't see him."
Brittany frowned. "Girl, why are you trying to dodge your man?"
"Because he wants to be up under me all the time."
Shaniqua stood up and yelled across the courtyard. "Stephen! Tasha wants you."
"Dang!" Natasha scolded. "Why'd you do that?"
"Because I get tired of you frontin' like you're not really into him."
"If I am, it's my business and if I'm not, it's my business!" Natasha said, then flashed a fake smile at Stephen who was coming quickly toward her. "Hey, what's up?"
"What's up, ladies?" Stephen said. He kissed his girlfriend on the cheek. "I've been looking all over for you."
Natasha let out a soft, sarcastic chuckle. "Well, you found me."
Suddenly, a group of senior class boys walked past the table. Adonis, the tallest of the group, called out, "What's up, Tasha?"
Excitement fueled her smile until she realized her boyfriend was sitting right next to her. Stephen looked slowly from Natasha to Adonis and then back to Natasha. "Who's that?"
She shook her head, hoping to shake out a response but nothing came. "Who him?" she said, trying to hide the fact that she was blushing.
Brittany snickered, creating even more tension.
"Him who, Tasha?" Stephen said. His tone was as hard as the concrete bench he was sitting on.
"Adonis is in PE with me."
"Why did he go all out to speak to you, but didn't speak to anyone else at the table?"
Brittany looked back and forth between Natasha and Steven, then stood up and started singing Nelly's song, "It's getting hot in here!"
No one acknowledged the joke. It was obvious that the tension was very real between them. Brittany offered an apologetic smile. "All right, Tasha, I'll holla! Shaniqua, are you coming?"
Shaniqua looked at Brittany as if she had completely lost her mind. "I'm not done eating, yet," she said, then casually crossed her legs and slid the tip of a French fry in her mouth. Her expression showed that this was better drama than anything staged on the Jerry Springer Show.
"Shaniqua, let's go!"
She rolled her eyes hard at Brittany and slowly grabbed her belongings, then waved goodbye to Natasha.
As soon as Natasha's friends were far enough away, Stephen rose from the bench, crossed his arms over chest and just stared down at his girlfriend. His hazel eyes seemed to darken with anger like two mood rings. "What's up, Tasha? You have something you want to tell me?"
"What are you talking about?"
"What's up with you and Aladdin?"
"Adonis! And nothing's up with us. We're just friends."
"Yeah, alright."
"Yeah, alright," Natasha snapped back. She grabbed her belongings. "I've got to get to PE."
"To see Aladdin?"
Natasha flicked him off with her hand. He wasn't even worth correcting. She couldn't admit this to her friends, but Stephen was really beginning to irritate her with his paranoid ways. The week before, he had scrolled through her cell phone when she left her purse on the seat next to him in the movie theater. When she unexpectedly returned to her seat, he said that he was just trying to see the time.
The locker room was filled with girls changing into shorts and tee shirts for class. No matter how much the janitors cleaned the room, it still bore the smell of a damp, musty basement that had been closed up for years. Natasha quickly changed and made her way into the gymnasium where she noticed a little man, who had to be at least ninety years old, had replaced Coach Gilmore. He blew a whistle to exert his authority, pulled up his polyester light blue pants around his protruding belly. "My name's Coach Luebke. Coach Gilmore isn't here today."
Someone yelled out, "No, duhhh!" Everyone laughed and cracked more jokes. Coach Luebke ignored them and continued, "I'm declaring today a free play. Whatever equipment you use, be sure to sign for it."
Students immediately scattered across the gym. Most girls took to the bleachers to get their fill of gossip for the day. Natasha had no interest. Gossiping with the wrong crew was messy. She had her trusted sources for gossip, so she signed out a basketball and found a little hoop off to the side so that she would not interfere with the game the boys were running. She jumped for a lay-up when all of a sudden the ball went sailing through the air like a kite across the gym. "Get that out of here!" She heard someone shout. When her feet touched back down on the floor, she quickly noticed who was behind the shot block. "Adonis, quit playing!"
"What, I can't play with you?" Adonis wore his smile like a badge of honor. Most other boys smiled like it hurt or like they had given up smiling altogether.
"Nope!"
Adonis grabbed his chest. "Ahh, man, you breaking my heart."
Natasha bit her lip to conceal her smile. "Boohoo, cry me a river!"
"That's cold, girl, that's cold."
"Yo, Adonis, let's run it, man!" somebody called out.
"Eh, girl, I'm watchin' you!" Adonis said with his shapely lips curled into a smile and his index finger directed at his eye. His athletic physique sprinted down the court. The gold practice jersey contrasted nicely against his smooth, dark skin.
Natasha found herself smiling. He was a serious catch. Taller than her height of 5' 10". Not too many boys in the school towered over her. Definitely a plus, she thought. She had seen Adonis over the years, but never gave him much thought because he always had a girlfriend. She looked around the gymnasium discreetly, hoping no one had witnessed the exchange. Practically everyone in the school knew that she went out with Stephen. If word got back to Stephen that she and Adonis were playing ball together, there would definitely be drama that she definitely didn't need at the end of her high school years. She grabbed her ball and continued shooting around, resisting the temptation to gaze at Adonis.
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