Later That Day
"Hey, Royce," Terren's mom (Noel) said as she carried his little sister to the bedroom. "You hungry?" Terren asked as he looked through their huge kitchen. I shook my head. "I ate before you came," I replied. "Well. I'm hungry," he said. I laughed. "That's fine," I said,"what was your team meeting about?" He closed the refrigerator and sighed. "The new team. You know, since we bouta graduate we gotta get a new varsity team and they want me to help with the tryouts. But coach said if I'm involved in anything else, I'm off the team and he won't write my letter for U of M," he explained. "Damn," I whispered.
"But... No worries, We done with all the bullshit, right?" He asked. I nodded. "Of course," I said. He took me back to his room once his food was done microwaving. I jumped on his big comfy bed and sighed. "Did coach know your dad?" I asked. He nodded. "They went to school together," he pointed to an old team picture on his dresser,"that's him." He was dark skinned and had big afro. He was the shortest one on the team. "And that's my dad," he pointed. His dad was brown skinned and had his hair cut so low it was like he almost didn't have any. Terren looked just like him.
"You look just alike," I told him. He smiled. "That's what my mama say everyday.... look, Roy. I know you tryna forget this whole Kimma thing but I know how you feel. My pops was like my best friend. Ya know, he was only 16 years older than me. The same way you feel now is the same way I felt when he died." I looked down tgen looked back up. "I know. I know I'm not the first person to lose somebody but you know, different people handle it differently." He nodded. "Just know you aint the only one goin through it."
