Chapter 1 #2
He laughed, and I did too. I felt bad for my older cousin Paige. She was the oldest of five kids over there. If I thought my dad was strict, he had nothing on my Uncle Ty.
“Night, sissy,” he said before making his exit.
“Night, bro.”
After MJ closed my room door behind him, I just lay in the bed in my thoughts.
He didn’t even know who my boyfriend was.
I should have broken the news to him first, but I didn’t.
I just wanted to keep the happiness that Tahari gives me a secret just a little longer because you know, once you start talking about something good, something bad happens.
I tossed and turned as I tried to get rid of all the thoughts that were going through my head.
Flipping from one side to the other had become the norm until I drifted off to sleep.
My eyes stared fixatedly at the clock that hung on the wall.
Impatiently, I tapped my pen on the desk as I waited for class to finish.
All morning, I was thinking about what MJ had said to me.
I should have had the relationship that he did with Ma, but for the life of me, I didn’t understand why I couldn’t.
I guess a piece of me remembers little memories from when I was a little girl.
My mother would cry loudly at night, music would be playing, and still, I could hear her over it.
And over that, I would hear Dad trying to soothe her.
I started noticing it after Maylee was born.
I didn’t know why she was so emotional back then.
When I got older, that’s when I found out about my older brother.
I didn’t know all the details, but I knew that real late at night, when my mother thought that Maylee and I were sleeping, she mourned him.
“Maliah, class isn’t over just yet. I need you engaged and paying attention.”
I snapped my head up and looked directly at my science teacher.
“I need you engaged and paying attention,” I heard my brother’s voice mimic the teacher who was trying to clown on me.
“Malik, you might as well gather your things and head to the principal’s office. Spend the last bit of your comedian time with him.”
The rest of the kids in the class started to laugh.
“That’s cool.”
I watched as my brother tossed his backpack over his shoulder and then grabbed his basketball from under his seat before making his exit.
MALIK brOWNE JR. A.K.A MJ
I slowly walked through the halls while spinning the basketball on my fingertip.
I made a mental note to check in with Mali.
For our last two classes, she was zoned out.
I knew that she wasn’t in her feelings that much coming clean about having a little boyfriend.
Mom and Dad let me do what the fuck ever.
She should have seen that they were cool as shit.
But I understood where she came from. Not only was I not biologically my mom’s child, but I was a boy. Things were always different with boys.
“Psttt… MJ.”
I turned around and saw my girlfriend, Justine, peeking around the corner of the hall.
I checked the Apple Watch on my wrist and then smirked.
Just in time, I thought to myself as I began to lightly jog in her direction.
I was going to come up with something to get kicked out of class, and defending my sister was the perfect out.
Justine grabbed me and led me into the ladies’ bathroom and then locked the door.
“What you on?” I asked as she pushed me up against the door.
“I told you to meet me out here. What do you think I’m on?”
We only had a little over a month left in the school year, and I had already been accepted to the college of my dreams. I was going to be twelve states away, and she knew that she was not coming with me.
Justine was a cool girl, but she wasn’t the brightest. Although my skills on the court were carrying me to the school of my choice, my academics spoke for themselves.
Our parents didn’t play when it came to all of us having our shit together academically.
“Sssss,” I hissed when Justine started rubbing on me through my sweats.
I looked deep into her green eyes. Under her eyes were red as if she had been crying, and I wanted to ask what was wrong, but ever since I had been accepted into school, she had been an emotional mess.
“Are you going to miss me when you’re gone?” she whispered in my ear before gently nibbling on my lobe.
The truth was, I was so ready to pick up and leave that I didn’t think I would miss a damn soul.
I loved my family dearly, but a nigga needed his space for real.
Besides being the oldest in the house, I really wanted to create some distance between my father and me.
He had expectations of all of us, but for some odd reason, I felt like the ones placed on me were far more.
I knew parts of my father that the girls didn’t know.
So, I was holding on to that weight as well as the weight of this new him.
I shook my head to rid my thoughts of my family and focused on the light-skinned beauty in front of me.
“Mmhmm,” I grunted.
Right when she was about to pull my pole out, the bell for the end of the day went off.
“Gotta go, love.”
I kissed the side of her face and quickly fixed myself before rushing out of the bathroom. I walked through the sea of kids rushing out of the school until I made it to Maliah.
“Aye, big head, you ready to roll out?”
I poked her in the neck as she was walking past me. She lifted her shoulder to block me from doing it again.
“Yeah, man, let’s go.”
Although she had her license and own car, we always drove together.
On the ride home, I drummed the steering wheel with my hand.
Maliah was quiet, too damn quiet, and I knew that she was sitting beside me, probably overthinking how this conversation was about to go with our mother.
We sat silently as the massive gates to our home opened for us.
Once they were fully out of our way, I sped down the long driveway to the house.
“Hey…”
She turned and looked at me.
“You got this,” I reassured her.
She shook her head up and down and then popped her door open.
One of Dad’s cars wasn’t parked in the driveway, so I knew that she could have this conversation with Mom without worrying if he would overhear anything.
Shit, if you say the word boy too loud in the house, he appears in the doorway of whatever room you’re in.
I remained seated in the car as I watched her walk into the house.
Before she opened the front door, she turned and looked at me one last time.
I stuck my thumb up to give her all the encouragement she needed.
She smiled and then walked in and closed the door behind her.
“Ma gone kill her ass,” I mumbled under my breath before grabbing my phone and scrolling around for a bit.
I didn’t have much time left in Florida, and I was about to have as much fun as I could before leaving.