All Grown Up (Sequel To WDE)

1.

Zeus Pov

"God of all gods, supreme king, ruler ... Zeus!"

The people scream.

Here, I'm just like my namesake. King of kings. Opposite of home.

I'm somebody , I'm noticed.

I rule here and in Africa. I rule the Earth. I'm a king.

"Zeus?" Jayla says.

I smile at her. She's so beautiful and dark brown. She's wearing a daishiki and gold. Her braids hang to her waist. She's gorgeous and exotic. Yet, even here I can't talk to her.

"Zeus?"

I go mute.

"Zeus...wake up. Zeus...Z..Z..Zzzzzz..."

My snoring makes me jump in my sleep and the class laughs at me. My hair is all over my head.

C looks at Xavier. I pull up my jacket.

"Zeus Smith, asleep again. Third time this week," Mrs. Clemente says.

"Glad you can count," I mumble.

"What was that?"

"Bite me." I have never talked like this before.

She stared at me turned around.

"Z, you alright?" Xavier said.

I nod and stretch. I look at Jayla passing notes to her friends. She would never want a nigga like me.

I scratch my head. My afro is a mess. I'll fix it later.

"You about to be 18 this weekend, what's the move?" C asks me.

I shrug. "A lame birthday party my stepmom picked out because the twins wanted it."

"Dang man. We'll still come by, right X?"

Xavier nods. "Got nothing better to do."

I take a peek at Jayla. She smiles at me. I fake a smile back. I suck at this. I can't flirt with my crush.

I've been friends with Jayla since we were five. She's so smart and her vibe is different. She reminds me of ... well, Adonis. Or Adonis' friend Drea.

The thing is, Jayla is eons ahead of her time and wouldn't like a welding nerd like me. I'm not her type , I'm not even sure if anyone is.

I've gotten my heart broken before. When I was eight, my first girlfriend ate lunch with somebody else. Yeah, I know that sounds pathetic. "Come on, Z. Eight?"  It still hurts.

Then, like three years ago, my girlfriend of a year slept with one of my classmates. And got pregnant. She dropped out, by the way, and now she's still with him.

I don't deal with females much. I just don't understand them. However, with Jayla, she's different. It hurts me to watch her date lames and get her heart broken.

I know she deserves the world.

There I go again , sounding like Pops.

Speaking of my family, those twins steal all of my shine. Everyone loves them so much and forget I even exist. My dad doesn't even show up to my games or when I'm performing. He'd rather go to their science fairs and events.

Ajax or Aj is really good at science. Ambrosia or Amber is good at math. They're always on my nerves, even more so now that they've hit puberty. Next year they'll be here and no one will remember me.

Adonis has been trying her hardest to impress me. It doesn't work anymore, I'm not four. She's really sweet and all , but I know she could never really accept a man's outside child.

My aunt Naomi is an airhead.

My "grandma" is really sweet. She's honest with me.

My dad, the infamous war vet that went from paralyzed to prosthetics, is one of the main reasons I can't function. He can walk now, and people only talk to me to talk about him. He doesn't have time for me anymore.

My real mom? Another story. I'm no storyteller.

Xavier is my homie. He's blaxican (black and Mexican) and cool. We've been friends since second grade.

Cavalier, named after his dad's favorite team, has been our friend since third grade. He prefers to be called C or Cav.

Without my homies, I would've been out of my mind by now. They keep my mind off the things at home and my past.

I decide to pull my hood up and take another in class nap.