Chapter Percy
PERCY
I stepped into the weight room, and all eyes were on me. My coach gave me a simple head nod as I walked over to the bench press. I was preparing for my set when one of the players came over to me.
“You heard what happened to Jesaiah? They found that guy floating in the lake. Said he was robbed and stabbed. Sorry, bud. I know y’all were close.”
The nigga is dead? I sat there in disbelief, trying to process somebody putting him into the river.
My coach pulled his phone from his pocket, scrolled through, and handed it to me.
I looked at it only to see that the scouts from the league had been reaching out to him about coming to see me in the fall.
Although I had been struggling all semester, between this news and having stability for my daughter, the stress was worth it.
Even though I wanted to celebrate the good things, I was still puzzled about Jesaiah.
The coach recommended me to seek counseling if needed, but my focus was on his auntie.
I couldn’t lie; with all the shit he had done over the years, it was probably leading up to this, but damn. I thought about Ms. Cecily again and snatched my bag up, leaving the weight room. I quickly made my way through the yard until I got to my car. I hopped in and took off.
My phone vibrated with a call from the daycare. When I answered, there was so much commotion going on in the back that it was hard to hear.
“Hello?” I called out.
“Yes, Mr. Milton. We’re calling because we have a Faye Johnson here trying to pick up your daughter. She’s saying she’s the mother.”
“Bitch, I am the momma! Now, go get my baby!” Faye yelled in the back.
I made a quick detour, hauling ass to the daycare, trying to figure out how she knew where Breann was. It took another ten minutes before I pulled up to Faye standing in front of the building. I hopped out to go inside, but Faye met me halfway.
“Oh, so you’re a balling-ass nigga now? Got you an apartment and shit! I heard you got my daughter around some bitch.”
“Faye, you ain’t want her!” I shouted. “Fuck you here for? How do you know my fucking business?”
She tossed her hand on her hips. “Nigga, my family does go to TSU. You would know that if you got to know me, but instead, you just wanted to fuck.”
I ran my hand over my face. “Ugh! Move out of my fucking way.”
She followed me while yelling. “Yeah, I know you were trying to join a fraternity and everything. Nigga, you out here doing whatever while you got my child.”
I fucking lost it. I spun, pointing at her. “Faye, you are pathetic. Nigga, I’ve been taking care of my daughter while managing school. You got your hot ass around Cedar Oaks being a hoe instead of doing what you're supposed to, and now you want to come around on some good bullshit! Fuck you!”
Security and staff came outside to calm us down. I wasn’t trying to do this because I wasn’t trying to lose my daughter this way. I gritted my teeth as I looked down at her. “Bye, Faye. The only word I can say is court.”
She laughed. “I’ll be at my brother’s house until then.”
“Who is your brother?”
She smirked. “Joshua. I’ll be seeing you, nigga.”
Joshua from the line? This shit couldn’t have been happening to me. I had one year left, and I should have known things were only going to get worse. A nigga had to figure something out by the fall semester, or Faye would ruin every-fucking-thing.
Right now, I have too much riding on my progress.