A Girl Like You // D. Swing [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter 12

Journey Hayes-

"Have you decided what colleges you wanted to apply to?" Denise asked as we sat at my table and did our homework together. The school year was slowly but surely coming to an end and it was time for us to make our decisions since there would be a college fair at our school soon and we'd be filling out college applications.

Soon as in next week so the pressure was most definitely on.

"I'm applying at University of Southern California, Georgia State University, New York University, Columbia University, and Duke. How about you?" I asked, tapping my pencil against my spiral notebook. She inhaled deeply and exhaled heavily, blowing her wild curls out of her face, only for them to land in back in their exact spot.

"Harvard, Duke, Spelman, UCLA, Columbia, and USC." She says. "My counselor said I should be able to get into one of these colleges with a full-ride scholarship because of my grades. But, to be honest, I'll probably end up at Duke." She says and I give her a warm, encouraging smile. "Denise, you're smart as hell. I'm pretty sure with your grades you'll probably get accepted into all of those colleges. But you know I'll support any decision you decide to make." She smiles at me and nudges me playfully.

"Same here, girlie." Before I could say anything else, the house phone began to ring from the other side of the kitchen. I stood up and walked over and picked it up off of the hook. "Hello?"

"What you doing?" I smiled and butterflies invaded my stomach when I recognized Hakeem's voice. "Uh, just doin' some homework with Denise. What about you?" I begin wrapping the phone cord around my fingers as I awaited his response.

"I was just sitting here thinking about you and I decided to call you. I wasn't able to see you today in school and I miss yo' cute ass." A wide smile forms on my face and I feel heat rushing to my face. "Aw! I miss you too, babe. What are you doing in about an hour?" I ask him and before he said anything, Denise had to open her big mouth from the other side of the kitchen. "Hey, Hakeem!!" She yells and I turn and face her only to be greeted by her infamous smirk.

I laughed and shook my head. "Tell Denise I said Wassup." He says and I relay the message before diverting my full attention to the conversation.

"What were you saying?" He asked.

"What are you doing in about an hour?"

He informed me that he hadn't had any plans so I invited him to meet up with Denise, Wesley, and myself at the park so we could watch the guys play basketball, excluding Donald since sports wasn't really his forte. He agreed to meet us up there and after exchanging goodbyes, we ended the call.

"Uh, you want anything else to eat or drink, Denise?" I asked her. "Can I have some more juice, please?" She asks. "Of course." I grab her glass and refilled her glass with Tropical Punch flavored Kool-Aid. After she retrieved her glass from me, I had gone ahead and set out Wesley's snack for him since he'd be home almost any minute. I went and sat back down at the table and Denise and I finished our homework and Wesley had finally arrived home from school.

"Aye! Time to pick up some hoes!" He yelled, walking further into the house. "Hey Denise," He greets her with a large smile on his face. "Hi, Wesley." She laughed and he winks at her before going over to the sink and washing his hands, grabbing his juice box and lunchable off of the table.

"Do you have any homework?" I asked him and he nodded his head while opening the packaging of his snack. "Yeah. I only have to do the math and I'm a free nigga." I roll my eyes playfully at his antics and I informed him that I'd give him time to finish his snack then do his homework so we could go to the park to meet up with everyone.