An Intellectual in the Hood

Chapter 5

When we're done, I drop her home, it's 8 pm and even though she's not my girl, I'm not ruthless. I kiss her goodnight, and head on my way home. I run into Mandy and she's pissed. "Fuck is wrong with you? Why haven't you been texting me back? I thought we were best friends!" I start rolling my eyes and invite her in my house so we can actually talk about this instead of arguing outside at eight fucking thirty pm. We're sitting down on the couch and before she can even begin I put my hand over her mouth and begin talking. "So Jasmine came over, we had sex Mands." Her eyes grow wide. Confused, I keep going. "Yo she's such a freak, she even-" Mandy puts her hand over my mouth this time. "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" she yells. I'm lost but she knows this so she keeps going. "Bro she's a hoe. She has over 15 bodies!" I just look at Mandy and start laughing. "Mandy you honestly believe I care? She looks good and she's a freak. Let me be. I'm 17 not 12 anymore. I can take care of myself." Mandy gets up and attempts to leave. "Mandy you're sleeping over tonight, why else would you bring that dusty ass duffel bag?" She starts smiling and I'm laughing.

We decide to watch her favorite movie, Imitation of Life. The ending always makes her cry and I know to get tissues in advance. In the movie, a character struggles with embracing her identity. That reminds me of myself. I know I'm good looking, but every now and then I have my doubts. To add on, I have anxiety. I always feel as if I'm never good enough for anyone. That's why I haven't told Mandy how I really feel about her. I'm too afraid either she'll stop being my friend or she'll completely feel the opposite way. Lost in my thoughts, I hear Mandy sniffling, she's crying. Now I've known her for 17 years, I've seen her cry millions of times but it breaks my heart every time. I give her some tissues and hug her. She cries in my arms, again. Man every time we're like this I can't help but think about how beautiful our friendship is and how much guilt I would feel if I ruined it. She starts crying harder and I realize she's not only crying about the movie.

"Mandy, what's wrong?" And that's when I see it. The big, black and blue bruise on her chest. Instantly, I'm heated. "Mandy, who did this to you? I'll kill them. Who the hell did this to you?!" She says, with her voice cracking, "Kevin." In that moment in time, I wasn't thinking. All I knew was hatred and disgust towards Kevin. "Mandy, you don't have to worry about him hurting you. Cmon, go take a bath, you'll feel better." As she's in the bathroom, my mom comes home. It's 11 pm and I explain to her what happened. I don't tell her about the bruise. She doesn't need an explanation, she recognizes Mandy's bag. I'm assuming she's tired, she goes straight in her room. Mandy gets out and goes to sleep, on my bed. I take a shower, feed Bonnie, and join Mandy in my bed. She's not sleeping, surprisingly, It's 11:45. I say quietly "Mandy you don't have to be afraid of him anymore." Her phone rings, it's him. Before she can reach for the phone, I grab it, decline the call and turn both of our phones off. "Try to get some sleep, M." I fall asleep.