Zakiya and Rylander.

All We Have In Common Is Our Humanity.

RYLANDER

I gasped and wondered what the heck just happened. As far as I knew, he had nothing to do with Zakiya unless she was his cousin or something. Yusuf is a bit shorter than me, but he's brawny and fights dirty. If it came down to it, I could fend for myself for a bit.


"I see... so all this has been about my little sister. You've been avoiding me so you can hit on my kid sister. WHAT IS UP WITH YOU, MAN?"


That answered my question. I couldn't respond because his hand was gripping too tight on my throat and my eyes were watering. I tried to shake my head but he was too busy threatening my life for several reasons. If I wasn't so oxygen deprived, I would have found it funny that he was more insulted by the fact I was hanging out with her rather than him over anything else. My vision began to tunnel in, so I kicked hard and hit him in the stomach. We both toppled and lay there, trying to regain our breaths. Then he was back on me, pinning me down, screaming down at me.

"You're flirting with my sister?! What happened with Nyla?"

"Yusuf, you've lost it! I wouldn't hit on your sister, calm down."


"How do you know each other, then?"


I sighed and he looked ready to punch me in the throat.

"We take Anger Management classes together. That's the truth- she's my partner."

He suddenly changed again and was looking at me gently. I envied how fast he could let his anger go. He rolled off of me and we sat down and leaned against the wall.


"That's it? Rylander, bro, I'm sorry I choked you, I just was mad about how you were ditching us, and then my sister winks at you? It didn't look good."


"Tell me about it."


He ignored me and went on.

"It made sense, you were flirting with my little sister, cheating on Nyla and felt bad about it. She's vulnerable right now, and you took advantage-"


"Have you no faith in me?"


"It's not even the having feelings for that really bothered me. It's the fact that you wouldn't say shit."


"Neither would you. I never knew she was your sister."


"I know that now. You don't know any of my sisters that well. You must have never realized she was related to me, despite last names."


I shook my head and he facepalmed, marveling how I couldn't note anything. I figured it would be wise not to mention the delivery or much else. Hey, I know, real dumb move on my part, but I would have noticed eventually.


"So, bro, I'm sorry. It makes sense now, but I'm still coming for you."

He got up and offered me his hand. I took it and he pulled me up. He picked his bag up and walked to his car. Umar was in the front seat, craning to see if we were still fighting, and excitedly asked Yusuf what happened. Yusuf, predictably, told him to shut it. He saluted me and Umar did too. They pulled out of the parking lot and left me there. I dusted myself off and left.


*

"You and Yusuf are friends? Good friends?"


"Never came to your house before," I admitted, "We only starting kicking it outside school sometime last year. Mostly we just made messes in the classes we shared."


"I'm just surprised I never heard about you before. Either that, I did and I didn't care. So, he was really cool with the fact we hang out?"


"We don't really-"