nothing less ➸ demar derozan

thirty-three

Isabella

"Yo, Ella, I got a question," Arion asks as he busts into my room. I throw my dirty jacket angrily into my hamper and cross my arms at him.

"What?" I grit my teeth.

"Who closes the door after the bus driver gets off?" He sits down on my bed and stares hard at me. I can tell he's high just by the smell that reeks from him.

I kiss my teeth, "I don't have time for you. Please, leave."

"You always got a attitude, no wonder DeMar dicked down Tara," he says and gets up from my bed. Before he leaves, I push him from behind. I was mad that he mentioned something that happened a month ago. Arion was still a huge dick.

"Fuck off, Arion."

"Ooo you're lucky you're a girl."

"You're more of a pussy than I am,"

He flares his nostrils, "Don't call me that."

"You ain't gon' do shit," I snicker and step closer to him.

He jerks his body back and attempts to exit my room but he stumbles onto the floor. Malcolm comes into the doorway and glances at him.

"The fuck is wrong with you, Arion?" Malcolm asks while Arion slowly gets up. He leaves and Malcolm slowly waddles in. He had a leg brace that went from his thigh to his ankle, and my father instructed him to keep it locked for now. Malcolm doesn't live with us but frequently visits to help my father out.

"You good, Ella?" He leans against my doorway. "We're about to head out."

We all decided on taking a trip to downtown and hang out at some trampoline place. Reggie invited the boys so I'll be seeing DeMar after managing to avoid him for a whole month. It wasn't easy trying to avoid him since I did have a couple classes with him, but I sat across the room from him, and never did I share eye contact with him. It became normal after a while that I completely forgot about him, but then my eyes would see him and I would feel my heart squeezing in all over again.

"Why are you even coming, Malcolm?" I ask. He was going to be hanging out with all these people younger than him. "My dad probably needs you to help him out or something—plus you're broken."

He shakes his head, "I'm not broken anymore. My thigh has been good for like two weeks now. Your pops just wanted me wearing this stupid brace for protection." He begins unclipping the brace and throwing it over his shoulder. "I'm good."

I sigh, "I'll be downstairs in like five minutes. By the way, Arion is high right now and I don't want to take care of him."

He nods, "I'll take note of that." He leaves my room and I quickly change into some sweats and a plain t-shirt. I was beginning to dread about seeing DeMar and hanging out with the boys. I stopped sitting with them at lunch, but still talked to them in class just not as much. I still traveled with them to their playoff games and sat all the way in the front, so I wouldn't be near them. They were one more game away from state finals so it was getting exciting now.

I walked downstairs and saw the boys ready. Reggie was texting someone on his phone when he noticed me.

"Let's go," he said and headed towards the door. Arion grabbed a bag of chips before exiting. I tossed Reggie my keys. Haro got in the passenger which caused me to cramp in the back with Malcolm and Arion. I groaned.

"You want some," Arion offered me his stinky Takis.

"No, get that out of my face," I shoved his hand and leaned my head back.