BETWEEN YOU TWO AND I

CHAPTER FOUR

    'Some of you have improved since the last test which is very commendable,' Mr. Ian said handing out our maths test back. I had a 74%. Fair enough, I said to myself. Truthfully I deserved that mark and more. I had been doing calculus none stop  ever since the incident with Archer as if doings maths would dull my pain.

   'Good job,' Mr. Ian said as he placed my paper on the desk. My eyes immediately searched for Archer in the room. He was sitting my the window looking out, probably day-dreaming about the upcoming district debate. I didn't know whether to thank him for making me unconciously study or kill him for breaking my heart. But I knew one thing, I wouldn't be talking to him. Actually it's been almost two weeks since we last spoke and I kind of want to keep it that way. 

    Avoiding him would make my healing journey go a lot smoother. Actually, the wild dreams I had been having about him became more tame. That, my friends, I call progress.

     The school secretary poked his head through the door. 'Caleb Archer, is there someone named that in this class?'

   Archer raised his hand. 'You need to come with me immediately.' Archer stood from his seat and left. 

     The bell rang and I gathered my books and mentally prepared myself for chemistry class. It was the only AP class I was taking and I was desperate to ensure I didn't miss any assignments or fail any tests. The chem lab was just across the lacrosse field and it was kind of pouring outside. That meant I needed to do a short jog and pray I didn't slip on the wet path. The basketball coach was making the guys run drills in the rain, blowing his whistle as if his loud monstrous voice wasn't loud enough.

    'Pick it up, pick it up! Another lap for whoever is last!' coach bellowed. I watched the basketballers pace back and forth in the field as I walked quickly to the lab. One of the guys was sitting on the bench watching the rest of his team mates running. It was Chris Hunter; he was a friend of a friend. I didn't know him properly but he was a solid guy. 

     In chem class, the teacher was nowhere to be found. We found out later that all the teachers had been called to an impromptu meeting so that meant a free period. I buried my head in my chem textbook and tried to cram formulas. But since I have the attention span of a fruit fly, I was soon fast asleep.

    I might have gotten about ten minutes of sleep when my friend Kendra shook me awake. She pointed to the window. Other members of our crew were there; Amal, Jay and Stace.

   'Come on, grab your shit. Let's bounce,' Kendra said stuffing my stationery into my backpack. 

'Where are we going?' I asked. 

'Mama 's place.' Her mother owned a Jamaican hair salon and usually gave me and the girls reduced price hairstyles. I knew we might get into trouble for playing truant even though the teacher was absent, but nevertheless I didn't want to miss out.

    'We are going out tonight. Jay 's bro got a new job as a bouncer at club 69. You remeber that club downtown next to the vegan restaurant.'

  'Yeah, I think,' I said. By then we had snuck out of school through the little woods that led to the main road and were walking to the sunway.

    'Go home, grab a dress and your makeup and meet us at Mama 's salon.'

     'Okay,' I said giving her a quick hug. 

Nobody was home except Bullet Claw; our family cat. I quickly wrote mom a note that I'll be sleeping over at Kendra 's, and stuck it to the fridge. I then went and took a quick shower and took out gone of the dresses I was thinking of wearing to prom. It was salmon-pink, short and had a slit down one of the sides. Senior prom had always been a big deal to me. So when our school 's senior prom date was announced, I did a little online and in person shopping and tracked down three dresses I thought would be perfect dresses for me. The other two was a floor length maroon one that perfectly matches one of my lipsticks and a n outfit that consisted of a sparkly gold top and a knee length matching skirt. Not really a prom dress but a prom fit nonetheless. 

  Anyway, the salmon-pink dress was the only one I decided immediately that I wouldn't wear it to the prom but keep it for another special occassion. Seemed like the special occassion presented itself. 

   Pairing the dress with my white air jordans and my hair in a curly ponytail with a fringe in the front, I admired my look in the mirror. I grabbed my wallet and went to my mom 's room to take her Louis Vuitton bag with me. 

   'What do you think,' I asked Bullet Claws as I refilled his cat bowl and scratched him behind the ears. I then took out my metro card and walked to the subway station.