2:00 AM// S.C

Chapter 2

The song  of this chapter is "You Don't Know My Name" by Alicia Keys

Louisa's POV
The drive from Birmingham to Tulsa is so far, incredibly boring the only pastime I have is to look outside of the bus window at the seemingly endless fields and prairies. I wasn't  used to the flat lands of Arkansas and Tennessee what we had already passed through. Being  from Alabama, rolling hills and mountains was all I was used to. I fiddled with my dress out of pure boredom as the bus driver announced that we where officially within the borders of the state of Oklahoma.

The bus was a buzz with incesstant chatter of all of it's inhabitants, an old lady sitting in front of me was going on and on about her grandkids to the stranger sitting next to her. I cringed in sympathy for the poor man who was just trying to be polite and engage in nice  but somewhat forced banter with the woman.

I turned my attention back towards the bus window and just stared at myself. Mama had straightened my hair yesterday, but I had forgot to put my bonnet on last night  so that had resulted in a very heated conversation with her. My hair wasn't to frizzy at the moment but I could definitely go for an appointment at the salon later. I noticed that my skin has gotten noticeably smoother since  that breakout I had got a couple days ago, and my once bloodshot eyes heavy with sleep had fully regained their wide and childlike wonder.

As I continued to observe myself the bus driver started to yell, "OK folks we are approaching the 8th hour of this bus ride and we will reach Tulsa in 1 hour!" My body thrummed with anxiety as I thought of what I might see in Tulsa. 'Would I have any friends?' I thought, ' Or maybe even go to one of those hip new RnB clubs they have!' Just the thought of hanging out with the popular kids of my new high school made my body pulse with excitement.

Just the very thought of doing so kept me up and alert  for the rest of the drive. "We have reached the destination of Tulsa, Oklahoma!" Yelled the bus driver. I waited until everyone had climbed off board before I grabbed my two pieces of luggage and payed on the way out. As I took my first steps in Oklahoma, I was pleasantly greeted with the cool breeze flowing through my hair  and the silky dark blue hue of the sky. I didn't have to wait long before I noticed my gramma's old 1955 Chevrolet pull up beside me. "Baby!" She exclaimed as she ran out the drivers seat, "I haven't seen you in a minute, you done gone and grown so big and pretty!" I couldn't help but break out into a big grin and give her a tight squeeze. "I missed you so much gramma," I said with my voice muffled by her chest. "I missed you a lot to honey, now let's get home so We can catch up."

We drove for about half an hour before we pulled up to a neat little home in the neighborhood of Baintown. My gramma helped me unload my bags and take everything inside. Just As I was about to walk back outside for my purse I bumped into a hard chest. "Oh sorry about that," said an familiar  voice. I looked up and saw a tall black teen who looked about age or maybe a tad bit older. I stared at him for a bit before it all clicked. "Malcolm!" I yelled and threw myself onto his body.  "Louisa?" He asked with a very confused expression on his face. "Yes it's me!" I exclaimed. "Oh shoot, I ain't seen you in a minute," he teased. I raised an eyebrow at him before placing my hand on my hip, "I'm just hurt that my favorite cousin in the whole wide world didn't remember me." We laughed and continued to talk some more about our childhood and we told each other silly jokes.

"Hey sweeties!" Gramma yelled from the kitchen. "Yes mam?" We both asked at the same time. "Do you think you can go to the store and buy me some onions please?, the stew wouldn't be stew without it." Before I had time to respond Malcolm was already on it, "Can we take the car?" I heard gramma sigh and then say "Alright, but so help me god if you get so much as a dent on my car I will personally beat you into next week!" I laughed and pushed his head as we got the money and the keys from gramma, "That goes for you to Louisa!" She pointed a finger in my face. Now it was Malcolm's turn to laugh in my  face as I sucked my teeth.

A couple minutes after that we where already in the car headed to the grocery store. We made it there in less than 10 minutes and quickly set out to find those onions gramma wanted, of course Malcolm got distracted by one of his friends who he found in the snack section and gave me the money for the onions.

I sighed and continued to walk around the store aimlessly looking for the vegetable section. The red and white polka dot dress I had decided to wear today was doing little to nothing in keeping me warm, the tiny goosebumps ravaged my skin like little tiny volcanoes popping up everywhere.

When I finally found the onions, I was headed on my way to find Malcolm and find the cashier when I was  stopped by a sweet sounding voice, "Hey honey, I think you dropped something." I immediately turned around to be greeted by a pair of blue eyes gazing curiously into mine. My breathing hitched as I gazed at the boy standing right in front of me. He. Was. Absolutely. Gorgeous. His long dark brown hair was greased to perfection and his sharp jawline was enough to stab and kill someone. His attire screamed "greaser," He had on a plain black t-shirt underneath a open plaid button up and a pair of jeans with cowboy boots on.

As we would stood there just admiring each other, I was the first one to break the intense stare down. "So, um, what exactly did you see me drop?" I asked as I rocked back and forth on my black flats. He looked confused and then had a sudden moment of realization, "Oh you dropped some change in aisle 4, I just thought you would want it back." I smiled and thanked him but before I could scurry off he kept on talking, "So what's your name? I ain't ever seen your pretty face around these parts." I swear in that moment if I was light enough to blush I would have. Before I could even fix my mouth to tell him my cousin came and grabbed me by my arm real tight. "What do you think your doing?" He hissed at me in low tone as he gave the mystery boy a firm look. "He was just giving me back something I had dropped!" I tried to reason.

Malcolm wasn't having it though, he dragged me all the way to the cashier and we payed for the onions. As we went outside and sat in the car, we shared a tense moment of silence. "You do realize your black right?!" He raged."White boys like him are dangerous and will only leave you lonely and looking stupid!" He paused before continuing " They don't give two shits about us black folk and I don't want you to get hurt!" "Especially  by them dam socs and greasers!" As much as I wanted to take heed to his warning to not get mixed up with the white folk there was only one thing on my mind.

'He don't know my name.'

Sodapop's  POV (A.N: Wasn't expecting that huh?)

'She don't even  know my name.'

A.N: Hi guys so I just had some sudden inspiration to write this chapter and I hope you guys like it. (I didn't want them to have a cliche meeting with her going to the DX and them falling in love so I decided on the store.) vote and comment please 🤗💕

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