The Black Sheep

Park Romance

"And then we hopped the fence and got our ball back and it took the dog a good 5 minutes to finish the entire bone. It only took us like 30 seconds to get the ball back. And the neighbor never found out," Caleb finishes his story.

"How do you plan that all out at just 8?"

"Watching other kids do it I guess," he shrugs. "Besides, what's a little danger gonna do?"

"Get you hurt or killed," he laughs. "Talking about trouble, I cannot believe you and your friend staged a fight so you can stay in detention with me. Hasn't these two weeks been tiring?"

"Two week? Nah. Besides I got you so I'm kind of starting to enjoy detention now," he sits back in his chair and folds his arm. "Hey, after this, do you wanna call your friends and I call mine and we head to the park?"

"Sure. The good news is that the sun doesn't set until 8 so my parents will let me out til then."

"It must really suck being a girl sometimes."

"Why would you think that?"

"Periods and pregnancy aside, parents are extra cautious with girls. And for good reasons of course. You guys are more targeted than men, but my mom just wants me home before 1 a.m., even on school nights. You gotta be home by the time the sun sets. That's a big time difference."

"I mean with my... very severe social issues, my parents are extra cautious with me regardless. And me being a girl just adds onto that. But I don't have a problem with it. I hardly leave my house anyways."

"I'm the complete opposite. I'm hardly ever home." The bell rings and we all leave.

"Zion, I'm gonna head to the park, but I'll be home before 10."

"Aight, be safe," he rubs my head before walking away. I text Skye and Luna and they're heading there now.

"So how's it being the sister of the Zion?"

"It sucks sometimes, but regardless, I love him. And I guess this detention strengthened our relationship somehow."

"Yeah, all my brothers are older so I never had them in the same school as me." We walk outside and get in his car.

"Being his sister means it's basically his job to watch out for me." He drives off down the road and parks the car when we reach the park. We see Luna and Skye in the grass with his friends. We walk over to see them with chopped up watermelon, a speaker, a basketball, and Luna's volleyball. I sit down and lie my head on Skye's lap.

"How was detention?" Skye runs her fingers through my hair.

"Funny as hell," Caleb laughs. "All we did was flame the fuck out of Mr. Cabano." Luna stands up and starts hitting her ball up in the air.

"Come play with me Zaya," I stand up and we pass the ball back and forth.

"Got em!" Xavion shouts as he jumps up and grabs the ball.

"Xavion!" Luna chases him and he tries to pass it to Diego, but I catch it and start running up the hill. I turn around to see Caleb chasing me so I try to run faster, but he wraps his arms around me and spins me around. I let out a squeal and drop the ball. I turn around and look up at him. I glance behind him to see Xavion with Luna and Diego with Skye.

"You win," I smile.

"What do I get?" He smirks

"What do you want?"

"I'll have to get back to you on that," I look down and realize his arms are still around me. "I'm not gonna even lie, you look mad cute right now," I smile to myself, but I don't look up at him. "Nah, don't get all shy on me now," he pushes my face up with his hand and makes me look at him. I can feel my heart sinking down deeper into my body.

"What did you expect me to do?" I nervously laugh a little.

"Exactly what you're doing," he leans down slowly and I close my eyes.

"Dude, let's go to the basketball court!" Diego shouts. I open my eyes and pull away from him. I walk away first towards the court. I find Luna and glue myself to her until reach the court. The guys start shooting around while Luna, Skye, and I sit on top of the table.

"Were you guys about to kiss?" Skye whispers to me.

"No!" I deny, knowing damn well that was a lie.

"You're a horrible liar. But maybe it'll happen again."

"Why do you guys care so damn much?"

"Because we've never seen you so alive and social. It's exciting. And besides, we've already had our first kisses. Well we both had make out sessions, but you haven't. Caleb is hella into you," Luna nudges me. I glance over at the boys and Caleb glances at me. I look away, smiling. "And he smiles like an idiot any time you're around. It's obvious."

"I doubt it."