After Class (Janet and Aaliyah)

Chapter 41

Aaliyah

Something was wrong. From the moment class started, Acacia looked irritated. She wouldn't look at me, or say anything at all. She didn't even call on me, which she loved to do when she knew I wasn't paying attention. Well, today, my mind was on everything but math. Last night was such a big deal, to say that we loved each other, that I went to bed with a big smile on my face that carried into the next day.  And my friends wondered why I was acting so goofy, so early in the morning, before I'd even eaten my bag of Hot Cheetos, but it didn't matter. Nobody knew how that woman was making me feel and I loved that about us.

And then Travis was the icing on the cake. Ever since Kadeem and I broke up, he was stuck on me. I always just ignored him, gave him a funny look and the hand, but today, I just wanted to laugh. His little rap made me do just that. I was just having a good day, and I figured that Acacia would be too. I felt closer to her now than ever, now that she knew how I really felt. But she wasn't acting like I'd just told her I loved her. She was, in all honesty, ignoring me.

And what did Mr Hemphill tell her in the door that required them to be so close? I didn't like that. She knew how I felt about him. I wondered why she was even talking to him, since what happened at his little party. I needed both of them to be as far away from each other as possible.

A conversation needed to be had, and the class period couldn't be over fast enough. She assigned homework problems out the ass, scheduled a test for next week, and we already had finals coming up. It was starting to get difficult again, and I could feel my focus fading the closer we got to Christmas break. I needed a break. Me, Pac and Jazmine needed some time to really hustle our tape. Between work and school, it was hard to do it all. But the word was getting around, and people were excited to hear it. I was excited to make a little extra cash. I decided I would get something nice for Acacia. Aside from whatever this attitude she had today, she deserved it. I just had to figure out what it was going to be.

The bell rang and I really wanted to hang around and see where Acacia's head was. It wasn't on math, and it sure as hell wasn't on me. As I lingered a little bit and more people were filing out, she finally called me from her desk. "Ms. Haughton, can I help you?" She said in a stuffy, monotone voice. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

  "Yeah, um, can I talk to you?" I got out of my seat and approached her desk where she was going through some papers. She still had yet to look at me.

  "What's the nature of the conversation?" Acacia cleared her throat and took her glasses off, finally letting her eyes meet mine. I, for some reason, felt intimidated standing in front of her like this. She was ice cold and I just had no idea why. She wasn't even dropping any hints.

  "It's... uh..."

  "Personal?" She finished.

  "Yeah." I cleared my throat. "It's personal."

  "I'm going to ask that it wait until after school hours then. I'm extremely busy today."

  I looked around to see if anyone was still in the room. You could hear a pin drop, it was so silent. I lowered my voice. "Acacia, what's wrong?" I was getting worried now.

  "After school, please, Ms. Haughton. This is not the time. You're going to be late to second period." Something was bothering her. I knew for a fact.

  "O-okay... I'm sorry to interrupt."

  "Thank you. Please shut the door on the way out." She went back to doing whatever it was that had her too busy to talk to me without so much as another glance in my direction. I was so lost. And she was ruining my good day, after she'd sent me over the moon last night. None of it was making sense.