Love is Only a Word

Chapter 5

“Hey Honey,” My mom sings joyfully to me as she sweeps the dusty, old kitchen floor. For years it’s been full of cracks and missing pieces, bound to be a death trap in at least two more years if it’s not repaired.

“Hey.” I mutter quietly as I grab a ripe banana off the counter.

My mom stopped sweeping and set the broom down, gave me a quick examination and placed a hand on her hip. “Why such the dull tone?”

I peel the banana and simply reply, “Dull tone for a dull girl.”

I didn’t stay to hear or see a response. Instead, I went up to my bedroom and locked the door. I sat right down on the bed and opened my laptop to the Facebook school page. And of course, the first thing I see is the video, with now 59 views.

With a deep sigh, I report the video and pray that it gets taken down by tonight.

Now that that is over with, I pick up my phone and read through the four messages I missed since school’s been over.

The first message is from Jayde.

Hey heffa, message me back when you get this!

I give off a small chuckle and respond with a Hi.

As I scroll over, the next message is from the Library telling me that my books are overdue past five days, Figures.

The third message is from my cousin that I haven’t seen in over a year. I give her a long message on how much I miss her and can’t wait to see her again.

The last message is from my personal stalker. He knows where I live, which window is my room, and knows my gym and regular locker area. That’s weird, right?

I turn my phone back off and throw it on the bed. No surprising messages like I would’ve expected. I don’t really know what else to do but to get back on Facebook, so that’s what I do.

I look down my wall to see what some of my friends have been saying. I take precaution as I finally see Kenny’s.

Maybe I did deserve the kick in the balls today. But Monday I’m really going to deserve it.

I read through the post about three more times, trying to analyze what that even meant. What’s going to happen Monday? It makes me sick to my stomach. I don’t even know what’s going on through my mind since the whole yelling fest. Do I still like him? Even though he’s the most arrogant jerk I know? My actions to him have been so mixed up even I can’t even tell how I feel anymore.

I shrugged my shoulders at my own thoughts. I don’t have anything to worry about for two more days. It’s Friday, and I’m heading over to Jayde’s house for our annual sleepover. This should get my mind off of everything for a while.

“We should do what the white girls in movies do at their sleepovers.” Jayde laughs as we lay down on the floor watching White Chicks.

I laugh along with her. “Yeah, we should, like, totally give each other mani’s.” I try to impersonate in my best white chick voice.

“We are so racist.” I say, still giving off faded giggles.

Jayde shrugs her shoulders and eats another handful of popcorn. “White people don’t even like me, so I couldn’t care less!”

I nod my head in agreement and we continue watching the movie.

“OH!” I jump up in excitement. “This is my favorite part!” The song starts playing in the car with the main characters, and I sing every word on key and add my own little additional dance moves.