[Highest ranking: #72 in General Fiction]
Spring semester is here!
Classes are back in session but will the girls be able to handle the struggle or will they get taken down like 'hay fever'?
College wasn't easy before but throw in a proposal, newbo...
The only light came from the TV's glow as Safiya sat on the couch bundled under the pink and white crochet blanket her Abuela made her for her sixteenth birthday. She tossed two Lemonheads into her mouth wondering what her friends were up to.
The Spring Bowling Tournament was something they all participated in since freshman year and this was the first time she missed it but there was no way she could be there. She had to be home with Ameera. Safiya didn't want to admit it but she wasn't ready to have someone watch her baby that was outside of her circle of friends or Carter.
"Rewind," Nick said dropping his feet to the floor and scooting to the edge of the couch. "They're speaking too fast."
"Or you're reading too slow." Safiya sat her box of candy in her lap and rewind the movie until he said right there.
"I don't read slow." Nick chirped propping his elbows on his knees and sitting his chin in the palms of his hands. "That shows how well you know me—I was the fastest reader in my fourth-grade class."
Safiya guffawed. "Oh...well excuse me."
"You're excused." He glanced back at her and saw her sight wasn't on the TV but had drifted to the dark corner of the room. "Are you still thinking about it?" He turned back to the TV.
"I can't help it." Safiya shook the candy box to hear how many sour sweets she had left. It wasn't that many. "Maybe he's right."
"Anonymous is not right." Nick slumped back on the couch; the position pulled his hoodie slightly off his head showing a clump of his smooth, jet-black lock. "When are you going to tell me who he is? I'm tired of calling him by a code name like he's a top-secret spy."
"I'm not." She uttered then crushed a Lemonhead with her molars.
"You still don't trust me."
"He's not some regular Joe and I don't want everybody to know."
"So, you don't trust me," Nick repeated with a little more emphasis on the word trust.
Safiya planted her eyes on the television. "It's not about trust."
"Then what is it about?" Nick pulled the remote off her lap and paused the movie.
"What'd you do that for?"
"So, you can look at me." Nick gestured from himself to her. "Like you're doing now." He dropped the remote on the small piece of the couch between them. "We've known each other for about three months. You know I have a little brother, my mom's a psychologist and my dad's a professor yet I haven't seen any of your friends what's the deal with that."
She stopped chewing the candy, "Your dad's a professor."
"Yes." Nick gawked at her strangely. "I've told you this before."
She shook her head. "No. I don't remember ever hearing that." She abandoned her relaxed position and sat erectly, "What's your father's name?"
Nick turned back to the TV, "Not until you tell me who Anonymous is."
Safiya rolled her eyes at him, "I don't even care." She flung her hand back. "You don't have to tell me."
"Reverse psychology won't work on me." Nick pointed the remote at the TV. "Like I said my mom's a psychologist."
"Keep your secret." Safiya fell back onto the couch. "I'll keep mine."
Nick tsked before he resumed the movie, "Relationships shouldn't start with secrets."
"Who said we're in a relationship?"
"I did darling." He tilted his head towards her. "I mean...I'm watching something in the snow with you."
Safiya chuckled, "It's called Palm Trees in the Snow."
"Like I said...relationship." He fixed his hoodie back on his head. "And that opening scene." He shook his shoulders. "Got me thinking all kinds of thoughts."
Safiya huffed. "Well, just keep thinking, buddy...'cause we ain't there yet."
How do you think Safiya is going to react when she finds out who Nick's father is?
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