CHAPTER NINE
It was the last day before our project was due, and Dio and I hadn’t even communicated on what the hell we were going to do.
I figured he gave up and did his own thing since catching Percy and me together.
I knew he and Xavier were friends, and it made me wonder if those niggas talked like the girls did.
Xavier and I hadn’t said anything to each other since then.
I had been hanging with the girls, but it wasn’t enough to keep my mind off Xavier.
I sat in Hawks Chapel waiting for Dio to show up.
I’d finally been able to get him to meet up with me, and this is the place he chose.
A few minutes went by, and he came in looking over his shoulder like someone was following him.
He hurried over, swung his back, and sat down.
“Dark and Lovely, let’s get to it. I don’t have time for the small talk. ”
I smacked my lips. “Don’t rush me. You’re the one who wanted to wait last minute.”
“You’re the one who wanted to wait last minute.” He mocked me. “Man, look. What kind of information did you gather?”
I pulled out my laptop and turned it to show him. “I was thinking we do like the whiteboard deal. Showing the formula in—”
He waved me off. “You’re trying to play teacher-student. I’m not doing all that,” he hissed as he pulled out a neat folding board.
When he opened it, my eyes lit up. “Damn Dio,” I found myself mumbling.
He had drawn the simulation out to the t. I was taken aback because the way it was all laid out, the way the formula was explained was fucking perfect. I slightly shook my head because I glanced at him and the board again. “Who did you pay to do this for you?”
He closed the board. “Listen, Phoebe Lavigne, Evanescence, punk rock, darker shade of brown, whatever you want to call yourself. I did this. Just because I look like this doesn’t mean I don’t know shit. Just as you don’t want to be judge don’t do it to me.”
I laughed as I threw both my hands up. “Ok, Kentrell, oh wait, maybe Lil Baby Dio, or—”
His eyes slowly rolled my way. “I get it, ha fucking ha,”
For the next thirty minutes, we went over his board.
I watched him get so intrigued as he talked about elastic scattering, quantum simulations, neutrons, and protons.
It was interesting. Dio was smart as hell, and it made me wonder if he was like this, how many other Black males on campus who looked like him were like this too.
I couldn’t lie, hearing him go on and on, he may have been one of the school’s biggest reasons why the mission was Black excellence.
As we were wrapping up our study session, he looked at me.
“I know you hang with Samara and shit. Make sure my girl stays out of trouble.”
I smiled because the way he said it; I felt the love.
I wanted to ask him about Xavier so badly, but I knew that, with him seeing Percy and me, it would only open the conversation to what he saw.
He packed up his things and stood up. “I did judge you, and I’m still judging you, but you’re smart, Dark and Lovely.
I hope the way you look at science is the way you look at life.
Fucking with Zoo niggas isn’t easy, but know that we look out for each other, and that shit I saw wasn’t fucking cool. You be easy.”