DontaiDoesItAll

Prologue

"K-kendra...will you go to prom with me?" Even as the words came out of his mouth, Dontai instantly regretted them. Asking Kendra Williams to prom in itself was a terrible mistake, that much he was aware of. The possibilities of her saying yes were less than ideal, and even if she said yes, he had less than two weeks to scrape up some money for the ordeal.

The second mistake however, was asking her during his lunch period. Kendra's lip quivered as she struggled to stifle a laugh, as a result, the hopeful smile on Dontai's face slowly turned into a frown. He had stood in front of a mirror countless times...practicing, rehearsing, all in the name of asking out the prettiest woman he had ever seen in his 17 years of life.

But life had other plans.

Kendra couldn't hold it in any longer, she burst into a fit of laughter, as did the rest of the cafeteria who was previously dead silent. Earlier, when Dontai first entered the cafeteria, everyone who was enjoying their lunch had slowly put an end to whatever conversation they were having as Dontai made his way over to Kendra's table. He had red and black helium inflated balloons, along with roses and a teddy bear, in an attempt to woo Kendra into saying yes.

It was a valiant effort, but it was definitely in vain.

"N-no fucking way you really thought...HAHAHAHA." Kendra said in between fits of laughter. Dontai looked down as his shoulder slumped, clearly defeated. His worst fear had come to fruition. Kendra took a few deep breaths and then giggled.

"Okay, okay...it was a good try, I'll give you that." She looked at her friends who were also struggling to hold in their own laughs. Dontai knew every single one of them by name. The Angles of Death, is what he liked to call them.

Kendra Williams, the "it girl" at Palumbo Acadmey, a 5'2 Haitian woman with a slick tongue and dazzling looks to go along with such a title. There was also her cousin, Kyanne Pascal. Kyanne was in a grade above the both of them, but shared the same lunch period. She was the spitting image of Kendra, but just taller and a tad bit thinner. Clarissa Perez was the only one of the friends who wasn't trying to hold in her laugh. She was a tall and skinny woman with Mexican heritage, and rarely spoke English, unless she was talking to teachers or staff.

Then there was Mariyah Booker...the only one of them with an actual heart.

Mariyah and Dontai had been friends in grade school, back then it was them versus the world. But then the cruel world of high school hierarchy had other plans. Fitting in meant not sticking out, and Dontai stood out like a sore thumb. He didn't wear the same clothes as everyone else, he didn't have the same hobbies, and nor did he have the looks or charisma to distract people from his differences.

Dontai stared intently at Mariyah who tried her best to avoid his gaze. She tried desperately to pretended to laugh, but he could tell she didn't mean it. She did what she had to do to survive in high school. She adapted.

He didn't.

"What made you think that I would say yes to you?" Kendra asked, snapping Dontai out of his trance. He looked over at Kendra, but quickly averted his gaze when he saw the evil grin she had plastered on her face.

"I-I don't...I don't know, I'd give you the world if you'd just let me...I know you like flowers...and your favorite colors are red and black...I just thought that you wou-" he never finished the sentence, as he was cutoff by Kendra with a loud and obnoxious laugh.

"You sound like a fucking LOSER!" Kendra shouted. This earned another roar of laughter as the cafeteria got more riled up. Dontai's eyes burned as his glasses began to fog up, tears threatening to spill.

No, he thought to himself, I will not give her the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

But Keisha wasn't finished.

She stood from her table and slowly walked towards Dontai. "You know...you've got to be the biggest fucking CREEP I've ever met in my entire life...you know that? I spend every day roaming these halls looking forward to seeing you...know why?" By the time she had finished talking, she was standing directly in front of Dontai. He began to fidget nervously.

"N-no, I don't." He said while averting her gaze, she grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her.

"To make your life as miserable as possible," she grabbed a balloon and squeezed it between her fist, causing it to pop. "Take your cheap flowers, your dollar store teddy bear, and your corny ass balloons, and shove it up your ass you fucking weirdo!" She snatched the flowers from him and tossed them to the ground, then brutally, viciously, mercilessly, stomped the roses until they stained the cafeteria tile.

Dontai stared down at the flowers as the entire cafeteria erupted into laughter. Kendra grinned as she watched the tears fall down Dontai's cheek.

"Awwww, did that hurt your feelings? Well too fucking bad!" She laughed loudly and turned on her heels before walking back to her table. Dontai bit his lip as he mumbled before scooping up the flowers. Kendra stopped and looked back at Dontai, a smile still on her face.

"What did you say?" She asked, when she met his gaze her smiled disappeared, it was still Dontai, but he seemed...empty. Tears were streaming down his face as he clutched the last of the petals that were salvageable in his hand. He cleared his throat and wiped his eyes.

"I said...you could have just said no Kendra...I'm sorry for bothering you...enjoy the rest of your day." He turned away from her and walked as fast as he could out of the lunchroom.

Never again, he thought to himself. I will NEVER open myself up to a woman like that ever again!