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I reached over the table and took her hand. “You want to talk about it?”
“No,” she replied abruptly, tearing the plastic wrapper off her utensil packet. “There’s nothing to talk about!”
I decided to leave well enough alone. I sat there pretending to be enthralled in my side dish selection of succotash, but I was really trying to think of another subject. I wanted to discuss anything except Jason, and Brina wanted to discuss anything except her mother.
“Zoe, what’s up, gal?” I whiffed the air and knew who it was without even looking over my shoulder. Could the day get any worse? Hell yeah! It just did! “Umph, umph, umph, you’re just lookin’ too fine for words, baby!”
Lyle Harris was by far the ugliest boy in school. We’d never taken a vote on the issue, but trust me; his ass was ugmo. He was skinny, short, high yella with red zits all over his face, and thought he was an extra for the movie House Party with the high-top fade he was trying to sport. On top of all that, he stank big-time. You could smell his ass coming a mile away. He was in my geometry class, and the teacher, Mr. Wilson, always had to crack a window during sixth period to try to air out some of Lyle’s au naturel body fumes.
I didn’t even give him the courtesy of an obligatory glance. “What you want, Lyle?”
He sat down beside me on the bench, and I almost passed the hell out. Brina started holding her nose. I wanted to puke.
“Listen here, Zoe,” he said, rubbing his grubby fingers up and down my right arm. “I heard you a woman now. A real woman.”
I knocked his hand away. “Keep your paws off of me, Rin Tin Tin!”
Brina giggled. So did I.
He threw his hands out, and the central air-conditioning-system got a hold of his underarm stench, redirecting it my way.
“Aight, you wanna play me like that huh?”
I igged him.
“I just wanted to holla at you. I was wondering if you wanted to go to a movie or sumptin’ this weekend. That new Lethal Weapon joint is coming out, and I figured you might want to check it out.”
I glared at him then, though that was a task. “You can’t be serious? Besides, your armpits are already hollering at me. Those bad boys are screaming!”
“I’m dead serious.” He grinned at me, and I almost lost my stomach contents for real. His gums were jet black. “I want to get to know you better wit’ your fine ass!”
Brina fell out laughing.
“Lyle, why do you have to pick today of all days to get up in my face?” I snapped at him. “I’m not even in the mood for your drama.”
“Like I said, I heard you a woman now. I figured by this weekend you might be off those pads, and we can do a little sumptin’ sumptin’.”
That did it! He obviously didn’t know who he was messing with. I picked up my tray and threw the whole thing at his ugly-ass face.
“What the hell you go and do that shit for?”
“I warned you to leave me alone!” I got up from the table. “Come on, Brina! Let’s jet! The air is mighty foul around here!”
We walked away from him. People were teasing his ass with no mercy. I felt no remorse. He asked for i
t.
We were halfway out of the cafeteria when I spotted Jason and Chandler sitting at a table with their clique.
“Hold up, Brina,” I said, yanking Brina backward by the elbow. “I have something to take care of!”
“Aw hell, Zoe!” Brina tried to drag me in the opposite direction. “Just drop it already. Jason has had his fun, and the day is halfway over. By tomorrow, everyone will forget all about it.”
As we approached their table, I heard Chandler bragging about trying out for the cheerleading squad later that week. She was positive not only that she would make it but that she would be the captain.
“I’m so pretty, I know Miss Weeden will pick me as the captain,” she boasted. A couple of the other girls at the table looked away, probably wanting to slap the hell out of her. I felt the same way. She was the most uppity Miss Thang in the school. Most tolerated her, but very few truly liked her. She leaned over and pecked Jason on the lips. “Baby, will you come to the tryouts and cheer me on? I know you’ll make the captain of the basketball team again this year. We’ll be the top couple in the school.”
“Oh, I dunno,” Jason replied. “I really need to get some things done around the house Wednesday afternoon. My mom’s been after me to sandpaper and repaint the shutters for months now.”
