15. Halo
Halo
A few days later
T oday, there’s a parent-teacher conference at Brave’s school. His teacher sent me an email a couple days ago letting me know that I needed to be there. She was lucky that I didn’t have to work or else I would’ve had to miss it. I don’t know why she didn’t schedule it earlier and let people know way ahead of time. I’d never understand why they did stupid shit.
I already had to get ready for the trip to Huntsville this weekend. I was kind of looking forward to it, but after that altercation with the girl at the restaurant the other day, I wasn’t sure how things were going to go. I wanted to say something to Joker about it, but I had to remember that he wasn’t my man no matter how he was treating me. If he was fucking with her, that’s on him.
Stepping away from my closet, I plopped on the edge of my bed. “I really don’t know what to take with me. I know I’ll only be there for a day, but it’s hard trying to figure out what I want to wear,” I told Krissy.
“With you being around Joker, you need to look yo’ absolute best.”
“After what happened the other day at work, I’on even know if I want to be bothered.” I rolled my eyes thinking about the shit old girl said. It wasn’t anything new to me. I’d always known that niggas would do anything to get the pussy, but Joker hadn’t even tried to sleep with me. Honestly, I couldn’t put nothing past him.
“I’m not going on a baecation or anything. It’s just a game, Krissy.”
“Yeah, but you’ll be out with maybe your future man. I’m just saying. Take something sexy just in case.”
“I doubt I’ll be wearing anything sexy. I’ll have Brave the entire time. Now, if you were there…”
“I wish I can be. I have to take Ma to the doctor that day.” Krissy’s mouth slacked. This was the second game that she was missing.
“I know.” Jumping up from the bed, I went back into the closet and came out with a pair of black distressed jeans that’d pair perfectly with my Hawks t-shirt. I rummaged through my room and found a few more items that I wanted to take on the trip with me and finished packing my overnight bag. Earlier, I asked Joker if I had to get us a hotel room there, and he assured me that everything was taken care of, which was a relief. I didn’t have anything to spare for a room right now anyway.
Once I was done packing, it was time to head to Brave’s school. Krissy was nice enough to take me since she didn’t have to work.
“Let me pee right quick,” Krissy said and got up from the bed. I grabbed my purse off the dresser and left out the room to wait for her in the living room. “Lord, all that water I be drinking be having me in the bathroom so much,” she said when she finally came out into the living room.
We stepped out the door and I locked up. Krissy and I took the stairs to the first floor and stopped when we saw the homeless man standing in the doorway with a blanket wrapped around his neck like it was a cape. He eyed us and asked, “Have y’all seen Jah?”
“Nope,” I quickly answered, thinking he was gon’ get the fuck out the way so we could leave. Now that I think about it, I hadn’t seen Jah since Brave’s last game. I remembered that he said his uncle had died, so maybe he was dealing with that.
“Do y’all know where I can get some coke from?”
“Hell no,” Krissy answered with a frown.
“I’ll do anything if you can get me some coke. I’ll even lick yo’ pussy.”
“Eww, no. Get the fuck outta here.” Krissy whipped out her pepper spray and aimed it at his face. The shit went everywhere. It was so loud that I began to cough. He stumbled back out the doorway, tripping over his own feet, covering his eyes with his hands.
“You raggedy bitch,” he fussed with his eyes squeezed shut. His hands roamed the air. We slipped out the door and past him, running to the truck. “I’m gon’ beat yo’ ass!” he barked behind us.
“Good luck finding us!” Krissy taunted him.
We hopped into the car and she pulled out the parking lot. “You do know that he’s gon’ be here when we get back, right?”
“Who cares. That nigga ain’t crazy enough to do anything to you, especially since he knows how Jah feels ’bout you. Hell, the whole hood knows that.”
“Jah is cool and all, but he’s too young for me and too much into the streets. You know I’on want no other street nigga.”
“Yeah, you don’t have to tell me,” she said and picked her phone up to change the song that was playing on the radio. Summer Walker’s “Heart of a Woman” began to play. I loved that fucking song down.
“Only thing that’s saving you…” Krissy and I began to sing in unison.
We jammed in the truck ’til we made it to the school. She parked in a space since we weren’t leaving there for a while. Getting out the truck, I stepped to the front entrance and pressed the buzzer.
“Come in,” a woman’s voice came through the speaker. I pulled the door open and stepped inside.
“I’m going to Mrs. Davis’s class,” I told the woman at the desk.
“Okay,” she responded and slid her chair across the floor to the other side of the window.
I trotted down the hallway toward Brave’s classroom. There were a couple kids standing outside one of the rooms. Their bad asses were probably in trouble. I swear I stayed getting put outside the door for talking too much when I was in school.
Stopping at Mrs. Davis’s door, I knocked on it and she opened it. “Hey, Ms. Carter. How are you?” she asked, stepping back from the door.
“I’m good.”
“You can have a seat over there.” She pointed to the back of the classroom where there were a couple empty chairs.
I maneuvered around the kids and took a seat in one of the chairs next to another parent that was here early just like I was. “Hey,” I spoke, being polite.
“Hey,” she replied.
We sat there ’til the bell rang. I noticed that there weren’t any other parents showing up and all the children were taken out of the classroom except for Brave and another little boy. We sat there, waiting for Mrs. Davis to come back. When she came back into the room, she gathered a couple folders off her desk and came over to where we sat.
“Thank you for taking the time out to be here today. There’s a few things that I need to discuss with you guys.”
“Is there something wrong? I see that we’re the only ones in here,” I told her.
“I’m getting there.” She looked down at the folders in her hand and handed me the red one. “Brave is a bright student. He always has been, but lately, I’ve noticed some changes in his behavior. He’s been drawing weird pictures in class. On several occasions, he and Justin have been having altercations.”
“He’s been fighting?” My eyes widened.
“No, but I am trying to stop them from getting to that point. Brave has told me there’s been instances where he feels as if Justin is picking on him.”
“Wait, is that the little boy who broke his glasses?” My teeth clenched. My baby walked around with tape on his old glasses ’til I was able to get him some more. I’d never understand why people were so comfortable destroying other people’s things.
“I’m aware that Brave’s glasses were broken, but he didn’t tell me that another student had done it.”
“Maybe he didn’t feel like you’d do anything if he told you, or maybe he felt like he was just going to make the situation worse. I’m telling you now,” I turned and faced Justin’s mama, and continued, “If your son keeps picking on mine, you gon’ catch me in the field, and y’all owe me money for glasses.”
“I wasn’t aware that Justin has been acting like this in school. I’ll have a talk with him when we get home. As for the glasses, let me know how much they were,” she said and got up from her seat. She went over to Justin and gripped him by the ear. He shot to his feet as she dragged him out of the room.
“You really need to pay better attention to your kids,” I told her and got up.
“I’m truly sorry, Ms. Carter.”
“Yeah, whatever. Come on, Brave.” I stopped by his desk and waited for him to collect his things. We stepped out into the hallway, and I looked down at my son. He was growing so big. Pretty soon, he was going to be taller than me. “Stop letting them kids pick on you. If you have to, whup their ass. They’ll never stop as long as they know that you aren’t going to do anything.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said as we exited the building.
People were still pulling up to get their kids as we stepped down off the curb and crossed the parking lot to Krissy’s truck.
“Hey, Aunt Krissy,” he said when he opened the door and dropped his bookbag on the floor.
“Hey, my baby. How was school?”
“He in there letting kids pick on him and shit,” I made known as I climbed into the seat.
“Oh, hell nah. Want me to go in there and beat their mama’s ass?” Krissy’s eyebrow arched to her hairline. She was serious as hell too.
“I already told his mama if he keeps picking on my child, I’m gon’ fuck her ass up. I may not can touch him, but I’ll slap her ass into next month fucking with me.”
“And I’m gon’ go into next month and slap her ass into present.” She pulled out her parking space and hopped into the line to leave the parking lot.
As we sat in line, I noticed this couple walking down the sidewalk with their son in the middle. I craved that so badly. It broke my heart, not knowing if I’d ever have it. Watching other people have two-parent households was depressing. Granted, I didn’t know what went on behind closed doors, but the thought still triggered me.
Krissy pulled out onto the street and drove the short ride home. She stopped in a parking space in front of the building. The crack head was still out there, sitting on the ground by the front door. I didn’t even want to get out the truck because I didn’t want to deal with him.
“Want me to walk y’all up?” Krissy asked, probably sensing my hesitation.
“No, it’s fine.”
“You sure?”
I nipped my lower lip and replied, “Yeah. I think we’ll be fine.”
We got out the car and dawdled to the door. The crack head looked up at me with red eyes. I didn’t know if it was from the pepper spray or he’d gotten a hold of some drugs. Whatever the case was, he didn’t bother getting up from the ground. I opened the door and entered the building. Brave and I went up to our floor.
“There goes my baby,” Mrs. Maple said as she stepped out the door. She was dressed in this purple floral dress. Her gray hair was pulled back in a bun at the nape of her neck. “I got something for you. Hold on.” She pushed her door back in and went into the house. A few minutes later, she came back with a container. “I baked you some peanut butter cookies yesterday. I was gon’ bring ’em over, but I got caught up watching Family Feud .”
She handed him the container, and he said, “Thank you.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Maple.”
“Not a problem. I’m about to head on over to this bingo and see what I can win.”
“Be careful out there,” I told her and unlocked our door.
“I’m not worried ’bout those young folks. I always keep mine on me.” She patted her purse, letting me know her gun was inside it.
“Alright, Mrs. Maple.” I laughed and pushed the door in.
Brave entered the house first and I came in behind him, shutting the door and turning every lock. I kicked my shoes off and flopped on the couch.
“Can I play my game?”
“No. Your two weeks aren’t up.”
“But I be so bored.”
“Go read a book or something. You don’t have no homework?” My brow quirked, and he marched off. “Reading is fundamental!” I shouted behind him and grabbed my laptop off the coffee table. Speaking of reading, I needed to be doing some studying for class. I had officially started and I couldn’t wait to be done with it. First, it was my GED, and then I was gon’ figure out if I wanted to take a trade or just start my own business. I knew if I went the business route, I was still going to have to work a nine to five ’til I had enough funds saved up to quit.
Soon as I cracked my laptop open, my phone began to ring. I lifted and pulled it from my pocket. Krissy’s name appeared on the screen. Quickly, I swiped and placed the phone to my ear. “Is everything okay?” I questioned her, knowing that she hadn’t left my house not too long ago.
“Girl…” I heard her keys jingling in the background. “Let me put this nozzle in the gas tank and hop back into the truck right quick.” I heard the beeping of the gas pump and relaxed back against the cushions. Flipping my hand, I stared at my fingernails that needed to be filed. Since I never had the extra money to go to the nail salon, I tried to keep my nails up myself. The last time I got my nails done was when I was fucking with Nutt. He only paid for them because he liked to see them wrapped around his dick.
“When I left your place, I had to stop at the gas station. My shit was on E. I didn’t really want to stop, but thank God I did. I just bumped into the finest nigga I’ve ever seen walking. This man was so freaking tall and fine.”
“Did you get his number?”
“Did I?... I’m still at a loss for words.”
“Don’t get too invested now. You know how these niggas be. I don’t want to crush your dreams, but he might have a girl at home.”
“Oh, I’m already knowing, but that’s not gon’ stop me from climbing that tree.” Beeping came from her background. Seconds later, I heard the car door shut and the truck start up.
“Hopefully, you’ll have better luck with men than me.”
“Aww, don’t do that boo. Your soulmate is out there somewhere. You probably already met him.”
“I doubt it.” A knock at my door grasped my attention. Getting up from the couch, I went over and looked through the peephole. I saw Joker standing there. Maybe I had… “Let me call you back,” I told her and unlocked the door. I pulled the door open and removed the phone from my ear.
“We’re you busy?” he asked with his hands shoved into his pockets.
“Not really.”
He nodded and took a step into the door. I moved back, and another man appeared in the doorway. A body flew inside and dropped at my feet. My eyes bulged. The person was hog tied. When he lifted his head, I realized exactly who is was. Nutt.