Niggahs were in the auditorium crying! I can't even front, when me and Tray were singing, a tear kept falling out my eye and every time I looked at Cole, he was looking at me. Then when my baby got up there and sang 'How do I breathe?' and hit them high notes, I was tempted to pass out. Zeny and Raven did their thing. I like how they combined their voices in the last verse. This one girl has just finished her song and now we were waiting for Mrs. Rysavvy, Mrs. Zauhar, Mrs. Freeze, and Dr. Nolan to deliberate. "You guys did amazing!" I say to Cole, Azendra and Raven. "Thanks. So did y'all." They reply.
*15 minutes later*
"Alright! This was a very tough choice but we've came to a decision on who will be performing in the next challenge." Mrs. Rysavvy says and we all hold each others' hands. "Alejandra Hernandez, Amina Mohammed, Jonathan Jones, Truce Woodberry, Dante James, Cole Jackson, Daisy Andablo, Daisy Arriola, Jessika Barnes, Nadie Smith, Christa Aldridge, Michael Anderson, Jeremy Rosenfeldt, Raven Smith, Azendra Jenkins, Kyrie Johnson, Trayvon Wright and Joanie White. You all did very well in your singing today. You're next topic is an R. Kelly song. Have fun deciding." Dr. Nolan says and walks off stage as we break out into cheers. "We go dibs on 'The World's Greatest'." Tray says. "Cool. I got 'I wish'." "And we got 'I Believe I can Fly'." Raven says as we all walk out the school. "So, can I kidnap Stallion, Tray?" Cole asks and he nods. "I'll organize the song." Tray says and I nod as I'm being pulled over to Cole's car. "Uhh, aggressive." I say and he laughs. "Thea! Lemme get your keys!" Trayvon yells. "Crash my car and we gone have a problem." I say as I throw them to him. He nods and gets in. "What are we gonna do?" I ask as I climb into the backseat of Cole's car. "I need to talk to you about something." He says and gets in and drives off.
*An hour later*
"To live and die in LA, it's the place to be. You gotta be there to know it, what everybody wanna see. To live and die in LA, it's the place to be. You gotta be there to know it, what everybody wanna see." I sang as we just drove around. "Cole, can we stop so I can get a Sprite or something?" I ask. "Yea." He replies. We drive for another 5 minutes before he stops and gets out. I just lay in backseat twiddling my thumbs. He gets back in a couple minutes later and says, "Does your stomach hurt?" "Yea." "Okay. So I got you a Canada Dry to ease the pain and a Sprite for when you need it." He responds and I look at him. He sees me staring and says, "What?" "Just thinking." I reply and lean up to kiss him. He smiles and starts the car again. "Oh and thank you." "You're welcome." "Where are we going?" "That trail on Riverside." He responds. A few minutes later, Cole is parking. I sit up and then lay right back down. I'm nauseous as shit! "Want me to take you home?" He asks and I shake my head no. He nods and lets his seat back so that we can see each other's face. "Novia?" He says. "Yessir?" "Is there anything that you want to know about me?" He asks and I think for a minute. It's a lot that I wanna know but I settle for, "How was your childhood?" "Kel and I had everything we could ever want and need. But we didn't have love. Our parents never said, 'I love you, son.' 'Good job, kids.' 'We're proud of you.' They thought that material things would say what they didn't. Once I turned 10, it was pure bullshit! I'll never forget this day. I was in a gifted group and we had a field trip one day. We were studying old Victorian houses in St. Paul. My mom was a real estate agent and we had stopped at one of the houses she was planning to sell. I waved at her and she looked taken aback. The whole we were at the house, she had this death glare trained on me. In that moment, I never wanted to get away from her so fast." He says and adjusts his body so that he's laying on his side. "When I got home, I couldn't wait to tell my parents all the cool things I saw. That never happened. As soon as I walked through the door, I was snatched up by the collar. 'Who told you that you could leave school?!' My dad yelled in my face. 'You did. You signed the permission slip.' I replied and was slapped to the floor. 'And who were those people?' My mom asks. 'The other members of my gifted group.' 'Gifted? You could never be gifted. Not if you think you can fool us.' My dad says and that's when I learned the true meaning of stupidity. First, you beat because you don't remember saying I could go. And second, you don't pay enough attention to even know what I do in school. How fucked up could you be? Then like a week after that, Kel missed his chance to go to Basketball Camp because my dad got drunk and just started wailing on us. Kel's left leg got broken when my dad pushed him and he fell down the stairs. After that, we didn't get anymore stuff, we were always doing something wrong which caused us to be beaten and it went on like that for ... 3 years. It only stopped because my parents were in a car crash, and this probably so wrong to say, but luckily they didn't make it." Cole says and I'm shocked. He hasn't shed a tear and he's comfortable talking about it. He then sits up and removes his shirt. This is NOT the time to be drooling. But Cole's V-lines and his happy trail. Uff! He turns to the side and points to a long gash going down his side. "This is from a nail." He says. Next, he pulls his pulls down his pants a little and there's an arch looking scar. "This one is from a belt buckle. Painful shit. That's all the scars I have left. But I'm more emotionally scarred than anything." Cole says as he lays his head on my chest. "Do you wish you had different parents?" "I do. But I don't. I believe that I experienced what I did for a reason. So, I just accept it and try not to let it effect me as much. Also, it's given the ability to do give and things that I never got." He says and I nod. I really don't know what to say but he's just like my mom. Minus the getting beat part. "You wanna go home now?" He asks. I shake my head and run my fingers through his hair. Thick ass afro. He buries his face in my chest and we just lay there.
