Love Him

Part 1

I entered my English classroom, my eyes already trained in the direction to my desk. I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Joshua's smiling face in front of me. He pointed at my head. "I like your hair like this."

I smiled and self-consciously reached up to touch my hair. "Thanks." Joshua headed to his seat. I headed to mine, feeling a little better about taking my weave out the previous Sunday. It wasn't that I didn't like my natural hair, but I got so used to wearing weaves that I kinda found comfort in them. I had gone through a struggle trying to figure out what to do with my thick Type 4 hair. Luckily, that morning, I saved myself with some inspiration. I managed to slick my hair back and form a nice, puffy, low ponytail. Surprisingly, it turned out okay.

As I took my seat, my friends were already talking. And of course, they had seen everything. Mariah, who sat behind me, leaned forward. "Did Joshua just tell you that he likes your hair?"

I nodded casually. "Mm-hm."

"Oooo," Abby and Preena said, from their seats nearby, full of giggles.

I rolled my eyes. Mariah threw her braids over her shoulder and glared at our two friends. "Guys, chill. It's just a compliment." I smiled at her. She had some sense and she was right. I had known Joshua since elementary school. He had a little thing for me back in the day, but we were never more than just friends. Just because we had gotten a little closer this year, in the ninth grade, didn't mean that anything was gonna change. Right? *

Lunch rolled around, and as I finished eating half my meal, someone popped up next to me at the lunch table I shared with my friends. It was Josh. I stared at him. "Uh, hey Carmen." He scratched his head. "When you're done eating, I was wondering if you wanted to go on a school exploring adventure."

I smiled. School exploring adventure. Only he said fun things like that. I nodded. "Yeah." I looked around for his wing man. "Is Nick coming?" They did everything together.

Josh shook his head. "Naw. He's doing basketball." How come you're not in the gym watching him? I wanted to ask, but he said, "You wanna meet at my locker when you finish your lunch?"

I nodded. "Yeah, okay."

He glanced at Mariah and said, "Uh, did you want to come too?" Ah, good old Joshua. He was trying to be polite but I could tell it wasn't really an open invitation.

Mariah caught on and was smart about it. She shook her head. "Aw, no, no. Thanks." She looked at our friends. "I'll stay here with them."

Josh nodded. "Okay." He touched my shoulder. "I'll see you in a few at my locker."

I nodded too. "Yep." My friends watched him leave before they started in on me with questions. I stayed blunt with my answers and casually closed up my container, which held half of my uneaten ham sandwich. I wrapped all my things up and got up. "Well, I'm out. I'll see you guys later."

Like usual, when I left the lunch table first, I hugged Mariah and said later to the others. I made a quick stop to one of the bathrooms. I checked myself in the mirror. My hair was still nice and slick, my face was clean, and you couldn't see the outline of my underwear through my yoga pants. I was good. I went up to the third floor where my locker was. Coincidentally, Joshua's locker was in the same hallway as mine. And when I made it upstairs, he was at his locker, like he said he would be.

As I got my lock open, I could see him heading my way. I started to take my books out for my next class. Josh stood by the locker next to mine. "Hey."

I glanced at his smiling face. "Hey," I said softly. "You don't mind if we stop by science class first?"

Josh held up his arms and I noticed he had his books in his hands. "Already thought of that."