C A T C H 22 |BWWM|

Ch. 4 • I Kinda Like Him. . .

Jackson, MS. September 1943
Wednesday, 3:40 pm

Deen

"Then when she bent down, woah! Dude you should've seen her face!"

I rolled my eyes for maybe the umpteenth time today. Everywhere I went my ears seemed to pick up on some kind of gossip. In particular: Paislee. Tony had been bragging all about what he did yesterday. The words alone had me wanting to slice off my ears whenever he was near.

I felt bad for Paislee, it had to be so humiliating to have those douchebags—including Tony—surrounding her and taunting. The phrases thrown at her, the yelling, and how they treated her bike. All because she was an easy target for them.

Personally, I found Paislee stunningly winsome. She was a doll all around, alluring and appealing to just stare at. Yes, she was the opposite of myself in many ways, but I didn't care. She was Paislee, a girl who I sparked a conversation with and I had a right to befriend her if I wanted. Opinions from everyone else were just opinions.

"Dude, Deen! Did you hear us?" Rick asked. I turned towards Tony as the rest of the boys walked alongside us and shook my head. "Wasn't it funny yesterday?"

"Yesterday?"

"With that girl and her bike. Look we have this plan–"

"No, it wasn't funny." I saw all the guys roll their eyes as we headed out the doors and into the open of our school.

"Don't tell me you're one of those freams," Tony mumbled.

"He's a nerd from nowhere," Dylan added jokingly. I shook my head, these boys were more immature than I thought.

"I'm not a fream I just don't think that was funny. It was pretty embarrassing if you ask me."

"So what? You're saying you feel bad for her?"

I nodded truly. "She's human y'all–"

"She's also colored."

I sighed. There was no getting past these dudes and their closed-minded ways. I had found that this new school, that I claimed to be mine, was full of dull, dimwitted fools. There was never a person that I had recently met that was like me in any way or held the same points of views as I did. It was hard to fit in if everywhere I went people were talking about the next time they would take advantage of a girl, or have sex in their parents' car, or even sneak out the house to attend the next ginchiest bashes.

"Still I think it's wrong and disrespectful to anyone," I reasoned. I could feel each of the guy's glare ardently searing into my skin. I sighed loudly if the guys had a problem with my opinions then they could gladly leave. It wasn't like I had known them for all the years of high school. I had briefly met them yesterday and didn't need to stress myself over them. "I'll catch y'all whenever, bye." I waved halfheartedly and started walking down the steps of our school.

"Oh stop! You're being such a candyass. I'll say I'm sorry to the girl for the love of Jesus," Tony yelled as I walked away. I turned around with raised eyebrows. I could tell he was lighting up the tilt sign.

"Really huh?"

"Yeah."

I shrugged. "I'll believe it when I see it. I have to go now."

I jogged the way down the steps—almost tripping over the third to last step and embarrassing myself in front of my peers. Looking up to see if anyone noticed my minor slip-up, the only pair of eyes I caught were from this certain girl. The girl with a goofy smile gracing her full lips and brown-skinned face, standing across the street. Paislee.