Growing up Black and upper middle class in Bedstuy, Brooklyn is already a privilege amongst those who can't. Adding in relationships and learning to navigate life only adds to the stress. Ketara Greene undergoes a transformation that changes the sco...
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Shakyra Smalls
"Everybody's got somebody that they mess with on the low, now I just want you to save me, I just want you to save me..."
-H.E.R.; Changes
I snickered to myself as we slowed to a stop. My laughter could hardly be contained as Ketara let me know she'd catch me later and sauntered off. Louis hadn't been too far behind, watching her shamelessly. I needed somebody to get my friend but knowing Louis, the plans to get at Ketara were already running through his mind. He won't admit them yet but seeing the way he was responding to her presence was enough to let me know he'd done an about face. The thoughts alone forced me to laugh a little louder.
Jay glanced at me, sucking his teeth at my display and shoved at me a little bit. I shoved at him back as we both fell out in laughter.
"Stop it. You know your boy is overwhelmed. Your girl ain't ever look that good before."
I looked at him pointedly, "Yes, she did. Y'all just couldn't see potential is all."
"I'm sayin' though, babe. Ketara about to have every nigga in school looking stuck. You going to laugh at all of them?"
"Damn right." I answered, shrugging, "Most of those same people had my girl crying herself to sleep at night because of how they treated her. You don't like someone, cool. But some of these people went beyond what was necessary. Louis is my dude but he was definitely one of them. I'm not about to feel sorry just because he's my friend. Wrong is wrong."
Jay shrugged and I shrugged back. He then turned his head back to the crowd, watching the students go by. Some of them were freshmen, about to start their high school career and you could see the nervous energy swirling around them. Some of them were sophomores and the excited energy to see their friends again was palpable.
Jay and I were juniors. When we met, Jay had moved from South Carolina with his parents. His father had retired from the Air Force and his mother was a finance executive. When his parents made the decision to move it bothered him at first until he moved up here and reconnected with Kofi, a friend of ours that lived in New York for some years. Kofi introduced him to a couple of us and he pretty much hit it off with everybody except for my ex-boyfriend DeMarcus, known to all of Brooklyn as Boogie.
I keep hearing the story that Jay and DeMarcus had seen me at the same time but it was DeMarcus who approached me first. A couple of phone conversations and hang outs and we came out as a couple. I believe that's when things went downhill.
A couple of months before school ended his attitude had gotten worse and worse when he'd been ready to have sex with me. Of course, as a burgeoning sixteen-year-old girl, I wasn't ready. Don't get me wrong. Looking at DeMarcus, most girls would've been giving it up to him, especially for clout. He was a choosy person and he definitely didn't just choose anyone to be his girlfriend. I definitely walked around different for a while because he'd approached me. I think when it came down to it, eventually I would have had given him what he wanted had he waited. I loved him and wanted to give him all of me. I just hadn't been ready.
