Josh went home early that day claiming he was sick and Trisha never did get her answer. She told her parents who agreed to a sit down with my parents. There was talk of pressing charges against Josh from Trisha’s father but none of that actually happened. Still, it was enough to have Josh shaking in his boots.
For once it was Josh who was in trouble. My parents’ golden boy. They put him on a pedal stool, always talking about how much potential he had. I wondered if they still felt the same way now. I’m not rooting for my brother to fail, but it’s nice to see him do something less genius and more human for a change. With an I.Q that was equal to if not higher than Einstein’s, he didn’t even have the common sense to put a condom on right. It’s comical. Unfortunately neither he nor my parents found it very funny.
“I can’t believe Josh got Trisha pregnant.” Drew goes up for a shot.
“Shut up and play.” I steal the ball from him.
I went up for a layup, made the shot and smiled. It bothers Drew whenever I beat him at basketball. I loved it.
“You’re doing a number on my ego, you know that.” He laughs.
“Someone needs to knock it down a bit mister hoop star.” I smile.
“Oh, so you made it your personal goal to bust my balls huh?”
“No, you’d like that too much.” I go up for a jump shot. “But I do like shooting three pointers in your face.”
The ball dances around the rim for a second then drops inside the net and I laugh. Drew hangs his head low and shakes it.
“Oh, you think you’re funny don’t you.”
He grabs the water hose from the side of the house. Seeing what he’s doing I try to run but he catches me. We fought for the hose but by the time I was able to get it away from him I was already drenched from head to toe.
“Drew, get your hands off my daughter please.” Dad asks from the front porch. I didn’t even see him come out of the house.
“Yes sir.” Drew releases me.
“What’s up dad?” I ask.
“Your mother needs your help in the kitchen. Go get changed and help her out.”
“Is it okay if I come inside?” Drew asks.
My dad glares at Drew, and given the whole fiasco with Josh and Trisha, now was probably not the best time to be asking my dad anything.
“Okay, so I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Drew nods.
“Tomorrow is the big game, so don’t forget.”
“Me forget…now that’s funny.” He smiles. “I live for the game.”
“Goodbye Drew.” Dad replies more sternly.
Drew nods and jogs across the street to his house to dry off. “What happened to you?” Mom asks as I walk into the house.
“Drew drenched me with the water hose.”
“You do know that you’re wearing a white t-shirt don’t you?” She asks.
“Yes mom. What’s the big deal?”
“Go look in the mirror.” She suggests. “Maybe then you’ll understand.”
I jog up to my bedroom and when I stand in front of my bathroom mirror I realize I can see my bra. Knowing Dad, when he saw that he probably thought Drew was up to no good. Come to think of it, knowing Drew, he probably was.
I dried myself off and changed into some pajamas then went back downstairs. The doorbell rang and I went to answer it, it was Trisha with a bloody nose.
“What happened?” I pulled her inside. “Mom!”
“What is it Sid?” Mom came running. “Trisha, sweetie what happened to you?”
“My dad flipped out on me and Mom. He hit me for getting pregnant and he kicked me out. I’m sorry Mrs. Stansfield but I had no where else to go.” She began to cry.
“Oh shush sweetie, come in and sit down.” Mom took her over to the couch. “Sidney, go get your brother.”
I go get Josh who’s sitting on his bed. He’s playing his acoustic guitar and writing music. “Don’t you know how to knock?” Josh barks.
“Whatever. Mom sent me to tell you that Trisha is here. Apparently her dad hit her and kicked her out.” I inform him.
“Is she okay?” He quickly climbs to his feet.
“Come see for yourself.”
Josh rushes into the living room and Trisha runs into his arms. He’s so concerned about both her and the baby that I thought he was actually going to cry at some point.
Mom talked dad into letting Trisha stay until things cooled down but put limits on her relationship with Josh, like no sex unless they were married. Redundant if you ask me since she’s ALREADY PREGNANT. Trisha’s only sixteen, so marriage is out of the question unless she can get one of her parents to consent to it.
Wanting to stay away from all the drama, I went up to my room and talked to Drew on the phone all night. At one point Nicole called me so we all talked on a three way and I told them what happened with Trisha. Like classic teenagers we called up Patrice too and none of us went to bed until around midnight.
I was exhausted when I woke up the next day and barely made it to school on time. Tonight was the big game and with the way I felt I didn’t think I was going to be of much help.
At school Josh and Trisha were all over each other and it made me miss Drew. We played basketball together practically every other day, but we never went out on an actual date.
“What’s up with you and Troy Wilkerson?” Em asks. “I saw you two talking in the hall earlier.”
“He asked me out.” Nicole smiles.
“Can I have everyone’s attention?” Drew shouts getting everyone’s attention.
“What’s he up to?” Patrice mouths to me.
“No clue.” I mouth back.
He’s commanded the attention of everyone in the cafeteria while standing on top of a table. He’s staring at me and his friends are laughing at him. Oh God. Please tell me he’s not about to do what I think he’s about to do.
“As many of you may know I’ve had to ask Sidney Stansfield to go out with me at least ten times before she finally said yes.”
“What are you doing?” I ask, embarrassed.
“I’m embarrassing myself…for you. This is probably the corniest thing I’m ever going to do, so enjoy it while you can.” He winks. “At the risk of losing my man-card and at the risk of being harassed by my teammates, Sidney, as my girl, today I’m officially giving you my pendant.”
Drew jumps down from the table, takes off the platinum chain with a hoop pendant and places it around my neck. It’s a big deal here at Consumnes. Giving up your letterman jacket or your pendant leads to punishment via ritual hazing. Drew knows this.
“OMG, they’re going to come after you Drew. You don’t have to do this.”
“I disagree. And now everyone knows how much you mean to me.” He smiles.
“You’re crazy. And this is definitely the corniest thing you’ve ever done.”
“Do you accept?” He asks.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
Drew backs me up to the wall of the cafeteria. There’s nowhere for me to go. Grasping my face between his hands, he kisses me hard. When he pulls away, I’m left breathless for the second time. He kisses me again but less forceful and more passionate this time.
Like clockwork his teammates come to kidnap him for what he’s done and escort him out of the cafeteria for his first official hazing.
“I can honestly say I have never had a boy do that for me before.” Nicole chuckles.
“Drew’s a little nuts, obviously.” I shake my head.
“Yes, about you.” Patrice adds.
Everyone in school is talking about how Drew embarrassed himself for me during lunch. Some people clap and some just smile as I walk the halls between periods. Others scoff and turn up their noses at me. Most of them are girls Drew used to date.
After sixth period we didn’t have practice like we normally would so I sat with Drew and his teammates. I’m waiting for game time to come around so I can start warming up. The girl’s team is first and then Drew’s game is after mine.
“What’s up with your sister?” Asks Xerxes, one of Drew’s teammates.
“Who? Emily?”
“Yes, she’s hot.”
“Nothing much.” I shrug.
“Yeah well she looks like she needs to be having my baby.” He jokes.
Everyone laughs and slaps him hi-five like he said something great. This was my sister he was talking about and I didn’t find his comment funny at all.
“That’s my sister you’re talking about, show some respect.” I snap.
“Oh my bad.” He laughs. “I forgot Drew said your family was kind of uppity.”
“What?”
“I don’t mean any disrespect, I just think your sister is extremely beautiful.” He replies, mimicking what he thinks a white person would sound like.
“I’m sorry, I don’t speak jerk but if you want to talk to me like you have some sense come find me.” I told him.
“Which one would you like me to do first?” He asks, winking at me. “Do you want me to come or do you want me to find you and then come?”
Xerxes and his buddies laugh again. They’re the perfect example of what’s wrong with my generation these days. They have no respect. “You give black people a bad name.” I told him.
“What?” He jumps up in my face.
“Whoa, Xerxes you can’t be running up on her like that man.” Drew steps in between us.
“So what, now you’re putting this trick before your brothers? Bro’s before hoes man, bro’s before hoes.”
“Hoe…your mom’s a hoe.” I reply, offended.
“What?”
Xerxes pushes Drew to the side and is about to hit me when Drew lays him out on the gym floor.
“Don’t ever put your hands on her.” Drew warns him.
The two of them began to fight and I can’t help but feel like this is my fault. The coach came over to break them up and glared at me once everything was explained.
“Shake hands and jog it off.” Coach Treggle demands.
Drew and Xerxes shook hands then ran laps. By the time they were done Drew and Xerxes were laughing and smiling.
Still angry and offended, I went to join my team on the other side of the gym. I didn’t like the fact that Drew was acting all buddy-buddy with Xerxes after the things he said about Emily and I. It ate at me and distracted me from my game. I played a horrible first half and Coach Penman benched me twice for making mistakes. I seriously need to get my head in the game.
“Sid, are you okay?” Drew jogged over to me to ask.
“No, I’m not okay Drew. Your friend is a prick. How can you be all buddy-buddy with him after what he said about me and Em?”
“He’s my teammate Sid, I have to play ball with him I can’t afford to have some petty beef between us.” He explains.
“He called me a hoe.”
“Last time I checked you weren’t one, so who cares? If you want to hold a grudge against him that’s fine, but he’s a part of my team and I have to make nice. Now get your head in the game and stop letting him get to you.”
I did need to get my head together, but Drew defending his friend and telling me to suck it up just made me angry. During the second half of my game that anger led to me making several amazing plays including a few steals to help us win the game. One of the senior girls actually gave me a compliment once the game was over.
This is just what I needed to earn their respect. I was so excited after my game that I went to find Drew but he looked irritated to see me.
ns 18.68.41.148da2
