Asha Avery #2
“What the hell is she doing?!” I hissed as Souxie stood with her arms crossed, amused. “Somebody go get her!”
Ayira suddenly raised her hands up against her chest as she inhaled before slowly releasing her breath as fire, the color of royal blue, blew from her mouth and nostrils.
My mouth dropped. The fire spilled like bright waves.
She let her fingertips grip the flames to stretch before suddenly dissipating into a wisp of smoke drifting in the air.
Nobody said a word, but she had everyone’s attention all the same.
The girls from the sorority stared with annoyance, the men were intrigued and even those on the sideline of the fields were turned to see the blue flame princess.
Maggie was the first to rush towards her, almost tripping over her own feet when she grabbed both of Ayira’s hands.
“How in the hell did you do that?!” She shrieked. Souxie came up to her next while Isis leaned in.
“How amazing was that?” A growing crowd was beginning to get curious about the apparent rarest newest student at Drew Collins.
It wasn’t enough that she was about to become the latest obsession.
Maggie seemed almost attached to her off the rip but when Solomon King almost brushed past me to get to her, I shook my head and followed.
“Don’t think you’d get her attention with your sing-song shit, Kodak Flack,” I called out. Solomon turned around with a suck of his teeth in annoyance.
“Shouldn’t you be learning how to get to the same classes from last year?
” He asked instead with a tilt of his head.
His thick locs laid easily on his shoulders before he turned around to focus his attention back on Ayira.
“Ladies, ladies ladieeeees,” he playfully cooed as the group parted for the king of sirens.
The only man on the Grounds to have a harem of women follow his every move.
“Danielle,” Souxie said as she introduced the two. “This is our resident king, Solomon… Solomon King with his many women…”
“Many,” Maggie emphasized. “Women.”
Solo shrugged as I stepped up with pursed lips and arms folded looking at this fool.
“What’s a king without his many women to please him?
” He asked. “I can’t help that I was born into this life.
He gave a small bow towards Ayira. “How are you? Doesn’t matter,” he sniffed as he licked his lips.
“We can skip all of this. I normally can just look at a woman and she’s in my bed waiting on me. So what’s up?”
“Ohhh my God,” I groaned with a laugh. “Are you trying to be corny on purpose?”
“Nah, I just know I don’t have to work as much these days.
Women freely give it up after a basic hey,” he said with his eyes darting towards Isis who avoided his gaze.
Did I miss something between these two? They usually went out their way not to speak or deal with each other so what the hell was that?
“My father,” Ayira started. Her voice, soft and delicate as she raised her chin, almost looking down at Solomon. He immediately turned his attention back to her with a fake smile. “Would always tell me a man with many women and no queen is a little boy pretending to be a king.”
“Ohhhhhhh!” Maggie egged on with her hand flapping in the air. I laughed while getting in his face from behind.
“She said yo mamaaaaa,” I sang. Maggie and I playfully booed and laughed around him while Solomon forced another grin before nodding.
“Father sounds like a smart man,” was all he could say.
For once, he looked like his rightful age instead of some charming 20 something year old trying to freak on the young girls.
He didn’t like being embarrassed. He chucked his chin up towards her in a defensive manner.
“What are you?” Ayira’s eyes widened, surprised.
“I…am a student,” she replied. Souxie nodded while Maggie agreed.
I stepped in front of her on the stands and faced Solomon myself.
“She’s a student. That’s what she said, anything else?” I asked.
“I don’t want no beef with you, Asha. We’ve been there, done that. This isn’t about you,” he said with his hands in the air, surrendering to the conversation. “Don’t let her bully you. All the women aren’t as ruthless and cutthroat as her.”
“Don’t fill her head up with lies!” I yelled before rolling my neck. “I’m as sweet as can be.”
Solomon looked at me with a laugh while Ayira shook her head.
“There are women that look like her where I am from with the same personality. This is nothing,” Ayira said as I rolled my neck again, and playfully stuck my tongue out at Solo.
“And what?” I jokingly barked. “Say something now.”
He stared at Ayira, eyes twinkling with a hint of curiosity before licking his lips.
“Aight,” he sighed in defeat. “Asha’s sweet, and I’m the bad guy.”
He stepped down despite our protests as his eyes fell back on Isis.
His face tightened up at the sight of her before turning to leave.
Ayira wouldn’t stand out so much if she didn’t have those chunky ass beads in her hair and wore clothes that looked comfortable.
It was inevitable that she was going to be popular and given my priorities shifting this year, I was going to have to deal.
“Alright princess,” I started with a commanding tone. “We need to settle on a name.”
The princess looked at us as a few guys began walking down the steps with suggestive eyes on her.
“Call me Ayira,” she declared.
In the distance, people began cheering as the men ran the field before one was tackled to the ground. You could see Coach Namir shouting as he pumped his fist into the air with excitement.
“This year is going to be so much fun, I can feel it,” Isis said with a giddy squeal of excitement. “Ooooo I can’t wait! It finally feels like what the old Drew Collins used to be like.”
…
The four of us and Quan stood at the entrance of what was now the new Legacy Row. The tryout games were still going on well past midnight and with students still moving into their new dorms and housing, everyone was still outside.
“They’ve changed…everything,” Isis said in awe as Maggie dug into her bag for her house keys.
Legacy Row was now moved to be on the Grounds and no longer an extension or the back street of the school, but another path that showed rows of colorful houses ranging from shotgun to townhomes pushed together.
There was no single street but a maze of paved walking pathways that was shaded by a canopy of Spanish moss trees.
The lamp posts were posted every other corner or so and as we began walking, you could see students with their luggage by the steps leading up to the door.
“This looks like we’re on another planet!” Isis beamed with excitement. “It’s like a maze of homes!”
“Everyone here is a legacy?” I questioned, noticing first year students not wearing any form of majority white in their uniform which was the mark of a legacy student. “Where do you drive or park your car?”
“You don’t…they are encouraging you to walk,” Souxie said as she looked around. “Everyone will have access to this area unlike the old Legacy Row…this is now on the Grounds where the school can keep an eye on things…After what happened last year…”
“So why not keep us all together like last time? I don’t understand?” I pouted. “I want to stay here.”
“Need to pay attention in class and maybe you will,” Quan said with a dignified tone before adding, “it’s probably a rebrand from the murders. It’s nothing new. Drew Collins is always shifting and changing, you just need to adjust and deal with it.”
Some of the houses were small shotgun style that were close together while others were three story townhomes with the balcony just around the corner.
We stopped in the center of it all where you could go either direction but ended up moving out the way when students began rolling their suitcases down the sidewalks.
“Excuse me! Thank youuuuu!” A girl yelled out as she pushed her pile of things down the way.
“If you don’t have housing in Legacy Row, please move aside so students can move in!”
There were others still trying to find their address and when we came to the very end where all the mailboxes were, it had to be three sections of just metal boxes with locks.
“Let’s gooo! Keep it moving!” Someone yelled out with a whistle as a group of shirtless men in maroon shorts and white sneakers were jogging in and out of the way of people.
I glanced at my vibrating phone to see a text from my boyfriend asking if I moved into my housing yet.
He was expecting all of us to have our own house, and our own room.
I made so many damn plans to sneak him in so we could kick it and… now?
We came to stand in front of the two-story light blue town house with the white balcony wrapped around the corner to connect to the dark blue matching home.
They shared a balcony and wall. Both homes had identical window placements and wooden steps with the metal railing leading up to a single black door.
Maggie was the first to step up with the skeleton key.
“I don’t know…I kinda like this,” Isis said as she looked around in awe. “It kinda looks like the Woodlands a little bit. I hate that we’re so far apart, but we can make it work. We can just come here after class.”