Sugarpill

24- Say Hello to the Angels

Say Hello to the Angels

                   Wednesday…for 2 hard grueling days, we had been going over the procedures for the completion ceremony. Billings was in charge, and he didn’t act like the prick he was known for, unless a couple of guys were constantly fucking up…other than that, Billings was exemplary. He got high-fives, and daps from the rest of us, for putting forth the effort to change his ways.

                   I had to take a couple hours away from the rehearsal, to go to the doctor’s appointment that Pennel had scheduled for today. We had already found out she was pregnant, but then there was the whole matter of determining the health and the state of the fetus, because Pennel had partied so hard in Hilton Head she still had residual drugs in her system…not to forget, I had now found out from Kellie Maitland that Riley fucking Kessel had gotten shitfaced beyond all recognition with them when they went out the night of Haddie’s funeral, and might’ve had sex with Pennel. I remember Kellie going into a detail of sorts when she said Riley was giving Pennel hella foreplay in the limo- not that I needed to hear it, but it did give me an idea how intense things might’ve gotten with those two.

                   I pulled into the parking lot…the car I was driving was a 2008 Kia Sorrento, a rental car I had gotten until the insurance paperwork cleared, and my door on my Jetta was fixed- the result of an impromptu gunfight that the late Dre Hammond instigated, and ended it, with his demise.

                  I still couldn’t believe how he had thrown his life away like that…all that carnage and death, because he couldn’t get past the fact that the girl he wanted was in love with a white guy. A white guy who I guess he felt threatened by…I never wanted to beef with Dre, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to take his abuse, and I wasn’t gonna cower and back down, like he believed a typical white boy should. Even though I did beat him in our fight on the court, things shouldn’t have ended like it did Sunday night. I wished there would’ve been another way.

                 I didn’t see Pennel’s car…as I walked towards the door to the building, out stepped Pennel- and Riley. I stopped, as my brow rose…what in the hell is going on?

                   “Mitchell,” she said, then pressed her lips together, as if she had been caught red-handed, in the cookie jar. “I- I was going to call you. I had forgotten…I heard you were at the hospital with Jassandra’s brother,”

                   “Yeah,” I gestured, still looking kind of befuddled. “Aren’t you supposed to be going to an appointment, instead of leaving?”

                   Her green eyes searched, as if she were trying to find the right words to say. Pennel started to speak, then silenced herself. Something was going on, that I was sure I wasn’t going to like…

                   “Pennel…is everything okay?” I asked. She kept looking at me, as if she wanted to say something, but didn’t. She‘d start to speak, then seclude back into silence…her eyes started to water a little, as she gazed at me, then back to Riley, and once more to me again. That’s when Riley took her into his hands, caressing her arms, as she lowered her head.

                  “It’s over,” he said.

                   My mouth slightly dropped open, as Riley’s words resonated on my brain. Did he say what I thought he meant? Did he mean it, in that way? I let out a deep breath, as I put my hands on my hips…I couldn’t believe she had done it.