Infatuation|| Orlando Johnson

Infatuation: ch 1

As the morning light softly streams through the curtains, Tyla awakens from her slumber.  As she gets up she notices her bonnet lying on the floor causing her to sigh. Bonnets never stay on

Tyla then rises and makes her way to the bathroom to take a shower. As she turns the shower on she grabs dove body soap bottle before entering the shower.

After the shower, Tyla stands before the mirror, her curls yearning for attention. she then reaches for a bottle, filled with a concoction of water and essential oils. As the fragrant droplets settle upon her curls, they come alive, making her crown new again.

As she goes to her closet she looks at her outfits before picking one out.

...
Tyla was humming a song as she walks in the hallway to her classroom when Simone runs up to her. "Hey girl" Simone greets as tyla turns to her. "Oh hey girl ready to kick somebody ass on the court?" Tyla asks referring to tennis that they both play as Simone nods. Tyla wasn't the exact person to play tennis but Simone convinced her to play. "Yeah I won't let nobody walk all over not tootie not anyone. And this semester, I am embracing my inner bad bitch on and off the court." Simone says as they walk to the class. "Ohh period" tyla responds as they walk to their seats, when they notice Nate already there.

"How was your weekend in Rome?" Nate asks as they all sit down next to eachother. "Oh yeah how was that" tyla asks turning to Simone as they begin taking out notes for the class . "Rome? Oh, no. He got a little hotep-y, so he's on time-out right now." Simone says making tyla and Nate smile. "And you gonna tell me where you were last night?" Simone asks causing Tyla to look over at Nate with an arched brow. "In heaven." Nate says making them chuckle as the professor walks in.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the first week of classes. As we are coming off the Martin Luther King Holiday, it should come as no surprise that we're starting this semester off on the subject of the good reverend. Your first assignment will focus not on King but on the men and women who walked with him, people whose names aren't as well-known to history but without whom the movement wouldn't have succeeded. So, yes, we were Kings, but we were also Cottons, Youngs..." the professor says as he shows a presentation of Martin Luther king and other protestors before calling on Orlando. "Abernathys." Orlando answers making the professor nod. "Exactly." The professor says in agreement while Tyla writes in her notebook.

"When people think about the Birmingham bus boycotts, they think about Rosa Parks and Dr. King, but there was a teenage girl named Claudette Colvin who refused to leave her seat 9 months before Parks." Simone starts out making tyla bonding agreement. "Yeah And local activists E.D. Nixon and Jo Ann Robinson led the charge to challenge segregation on those buses in 1956. So they should be credited for the boycott's success as well." Tyla adds in.

"I don't know if... I would actually say it was a success." Orlando says chuckling making Simone and tyla look at him. "well..It eliminated discrimination in mass transit and kicked off the Civil Rights movement. I'd say it's something " Tyla says but gets cut off by Orlando. "But a lot of Black small businesses couldn't compete once folks would go to the bigger White-owned stores." Is that what we are talking about? No" tyla says giving him a look.

"Well, maybe you should be. My family came from Birmingham. And two years after the boycott, my great-uncle's car service business went bankrupt." Orlando says making tyla tilt her head."Okay So what, you're pro-segregation?" Tyla questions arching her brow.

"No. Look, I just think there's a conversation about whether integration undercut the unity and financial stability of the community. An all-Black environment has its rewards. Case in point: the HBCU we're in right now. See, not everything is so simplistic." Orlando says causing everyone to laugh and tyla roll her eyes.

"No one said anything about simplistic." Tyla snaps back but the professor interrupts."OK, good points all around, but we're out of time. More to come." The professor says as tyla takes her eyes off of Orlando and to the board.

...

At the end of class tyla was putting her stuff in her bag when Orlando approaches her. "Hey, so, uh, that was fun. I'm, um--"Orlando says but tyla cuts him off. "The dude who tried to mansplain me in front of the entire class? Yeah I know" Tyla says cutting him off causing him to chuckle a bit. "See, now, what you call mansplaining I just call healthy debate." Orlando says shrugging as tyla looks at him. "Well, I'm always open to a healthy debate, but next time, just leave your simplistic arrogance and ego at home." Tyla says giving a tight lipped smile before taking her things and leaving with Nate and Simone.

"Well, damn bitch You didn't have to snatch his wig." Nate says pulling the bag over her shoulder. "You could've just asked for it." Simone adds in making them chuckle and Tyla shake her head.

"A mess... anyways I'll see you at practice" tyla says as she and Simone hug before she turns to Nate and hug her. As they part ways Orlando who was just coming out of class watches as tyla walks away.

...
"Shit I'm late" tyla mumbles as she runs to the court to see the coach talking to the team. "So for our first match, we'll be hosting Willis-Cobb University. I'm sure you recall they were supposed to merge with Bringston last semester, so there may be some residual hard feelings." Coach says as she notices tyla walking onto the court. "Carter your late" the coach says making tyla smile. "I know I know" tyla says as she takes a seat next to Simone who shakes her head at her friend. "She's never on time" Simone thinks as she smiles at her friends antics. Black people

The coach shakes her head and turns back to the team. "Always Rise above. Let's start with backhand drills." The coach says as everyone gets up. Simone grabs her racket when tootie purposely bumps into her. "My bad." Tootie says grinning as tyla comes behind her and bumps her, making her stumble a bit. "oops" tyla says as tootie glares at her.

"Hey. So I've been watching a ton of Willis-Cobb matches just to kind of get a sense of their strengths and weaknesses.You want to meet up later tonight? I'm happy to go over it with you guys." Simone offers as jerrika who was already on the court looks across the court where tootie and another girl was. "When you say "you guys," does that also include them?" She questions as Simone rolls her eyes. " Oh, please. Tootie and her crew made it very clear that they're not about this team life, so no. They will not be getting any extra help from me." Simone says shaking her head.

"That's fine with me. Never liked her to begin with" tyla mumbles as she begins to stretch.

Lando tho 🥰

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