Stormz on the Horizon

Check-In

Jabari
Two Fridays Later
North Oconee Game

"Are you blind or plain stupid?" I asked over the phone.

"I'm sorry, geez. You said to come around the left side of the bleachers!" Apple complained.

I'm in the process of sneaking her hardhead ass into the game. It was hard to do in broad daylight, the gate workers didn't play about keeping folks out who hadn't bought a ticket or didn't have a pass. I should've made her pay like the rest of the public, but Diamond begged me not to. I decided to be nice anyway. I would've used my pass, but Mama took it so I couldn't get on the field for the game. I'll get to that later.

"My left, not yours! Damn," I huffed.

I could see her loud blonde hair across the way and tried flagging her down so she could see me. People were looking at me and I never care if they do, but it would be nice if she opened her fucking eyes and saw my black ass standing here. Eventually she did and ran over to the gate that looked blocked off. For some reason it was unlocked which was dumb on their part, so I quickly let her in.

"You suck at following directions," I said annoyed.

"Hey, you sucked at giving 'em."

"Whatever. Go and find a seat. Zero Quarter is about to start." I pointed to the tunnel we have to go through to get from under the bleachers.

"Wait...I'm scared to go up there by myself," she admitted.

I cocked my head, uninterested. "And what do you want me to do about that?"

"Hello. Walk me up there! People are gonna be starin' me down if I go alone," she whined.

"If you don't put on yo big girl draws and walk up there. You the one that wanted to come."

She pouted more. I'm not holding her fucking hand to do something as simple as this. "Ugh. I'm pissin' myself thinkin' about it. Can you go get Diamond? Pleaseeee?"

"You want me to go pull her out of formation so she can walk you in? You are screaming spoiled right now," I said shaking my head.

Oh. That's right. Topaz decided to let Diamond continue on with the team. As he should. I was gone hate him forever. The missus was surely gonna be confiscating the cat from him if Diamond was wronged like that. That's what my Mama told me. As a very family-man, an unhappy wife equaling an unhappy life was not something he wanted. So he folded and here we are, with him and the family sitting in the stands. I find it hilarious that he thought we took him serious, though he was a "no bullshit" typa dude.

"Well..yes," Apple answered guilty.

I rolled my eyes as far back as they could go and cursed in frustration. I thought Diamond was bad about being timid around big crowds, this chick is worse.

I harshly sighed, "You lucky you're Diamond's lil friend."

Diamond and I have been working with Apple for the past two weeks. She's been coming over to Diamond's house almost every other day and I was starting to wonder why the hell she had this much time to work when she stayed three hours out. Turns out she got her daddy to switch her to hybrid learning, so she stays with him half the week and with her grandma—-who lives here—-the other half. I'm like damn, that was fast. White folks don't waste no time doing shit. Which means I can't get rid of her. Perfect. Yes she's really dedicated, but something about it I just can't stand. Maybe I'm a pessimist, I don't know. Diamond doesn't care that I don't care for her and neither does Apple apparently. Her feelings don't hurt as easily as I thought they would. It seems she's gotten used to my belligerent coaching style already. I guess that was good, but damn. She's proving me wrong so early. I would attempt to like her if she didn't hang on to Diamond as much as she does. She's gotten so attached to her it's ridiculous. She wasn't gonna run the two miles I gave her the first week unless Diamond did it with her, she was always whispering to her about how mean I am, and she didn't wanna do no stands unless Diamond was right beside her. Like come on. And Diamond is enabling her. Heiress coddles her so she gone do the same thing to this girl. Apple ain't never gone learn if Diamond don't let me be the bad guy. Simple. I went and pulled her out of the stands so she could deal with this lil girl out here acting scary.