After Class (Janet and Aaliyah)

Chapter 28

Acacia

Finally, the day was over and I was grabbing my purse to leave, when someone slowly opened the door. Half a second later, that someone was revealed to be none other than Aaliyah, looking particularly ashamed and almost like she'd been crying. I furrowed my eyebrows. "Hey, Acacia. I'm sorry I didn't come to class today, I just-"

"What happened to you?"

She waved her hands in front of her and smiled wearily. "I'm okay now. But I wanted to see you."

"Aaliyah, tell me, honey." I set my stuff down and sat back in my desk. "Come here and talk to me."

She looked like she could cry again. She wore glasses that I never even knew she needed to try and mask her puffy eyes. She had on minimal makeup, jeans, and a hoodie—quite underdressed compared to her previous standards.

Aaliyah sat gingerly in a desk and I got up to pull it closer to mine, with her still in it. "You were acting really strange this morning, did I do something?" I furrowed my eyebrows. It seemed every time I saw her, she was in a funk , until I cheered her up.

"No, no, it's not you. I-" she fought with herself, trying to find the right words, then getting frustrated all over again. She hugged her body tight with her own arms. "If I tell you, then—"

"Nothing's gonna happen. I'm gonna listen and be understanding. It's okay." I pulled myself further underneath my desk so that we were closer and stared her dead in her face.

"I'm still scared," she turned her head at the sound of footsteps treading the almost empty hallways. "Okay, well, it's about Pac."

I anticipated the worst news. Did he get arrested? Was he hurt?

"Yes?"

Aaliyah took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I don't even know where to start, okay..."

I didn't wanna rush her, but I was getting impatient. I wanted her to just spit it out. I bit my lip and leaned forward just a tad more. "You wanna go to my car and talk? You keep looking around, like..."

"Yeah, can we? I'm sorry, I just-" she laughed nervously and sniffled.

"It's okay, I want you to be comfortable, obviously." I stood up and led her out there, then started it up so could it could be warm. I drove about a half mile down the road to an abandoned grocery store, put it in park and turned my body to face her. "Tell me what's the matter, baby."

"He's in love with me," she blurted out. "We made that stupid bet, but I don't love him or even like him back I don't think, but I kissed him, and had that stupid ass dream-"

"Woah, woah, slow down." I put my hand on her thigh. "Take a deep breath." She did so. "Start over. Pac is what?"

"About a month or so ago, he told me, that day that I skipped class, that he was in love with me. And we was high, you know? So my dumb ass said, let's try it. Bet him $30 that we could be together and not wanna kill each other. But at the same time, I knew I was feeling you, even when I was sober, so I told him the next day, I quit. I don't want the money, I got something else more important going on." She played with her fingers and I smiled softly. How could little old me jump the line of her best friend? He was cute, and I wondered why they hadn't been together sooner, but it wasn't my business.

"That day that I called the bet off, he kissed me. And—and I liked it."

I felt my chest tighten. "Oh."

"I broke up with Kadeem later on, only to find out his stupid ass was fucking my ex on the side. That night you canceled our plans?"

She never told me that. "What? Honey, I'm so sorry."