Books, Boys, and Basketball: Junior Year

COMING FOR ME

Drew slept on the floor while I slept on the sofa, and I kicked him out around five in the morning before Grams came home. Then I moved to my bed. It's Saturday and Grams is up at the crack of dawn, as usual, making breakfast for us both. She has a plate waiting for me when I stroll into the kitchen.

"How was your Zen time?" I ask.

"It was great. How about you? What did you do?"

"I won my basketball game."

"Did your parents show up?"

My face falls and I shake my head. I want to tell her what happened, but I keep choking on the words. The pain of them threatening to bring me to tears.

"I talked to your father, and he's still furious. He practically cursed me out for agreeing to take you in when social services asked me to. He feels as if I should have left you out in the cold, but I told him I wasn't gonna cater to his adult tantrums. It's the reason he's in the situation he's in now."

"So, you don't think this is my fault?" I ask, surprised.

"No, sweetheart. I've dealt with your father long enough to know how manipulative he can be. Besides, your aunts, uncles, other grandparents, and I have seen how differently he treats you than the other two. We've seen the bruises. It's the reason I agreed to take you in and truthfully someone should have done something sooner, but we didn't want to get in the middle of the mess between your mother and father and..."

Grams pauses as if she's hiding something. "And what?"

"Some business is not mine to tell Kit-kat, so forgive me if I change the subject."

Nodding, I chew on my bottom lip, wondering what she was about to say.

"My mom came by last night after my game. She's having another baby, but I'm not allowed to see it because apparently, no one is talking to me. Not Em, not mom, and not dad. I don't know about Josh because I haven't seen him since he brought the baby by and now, I'm wondering if he was even supposed to be here."

Grams is visibly angry. She reaches across the table and places her hand over mine. "I know it hurts, but don't worry about that. Let me worry about that. I'll fix it. What I want you to do is focus on school."

"Yes ma'am," I nod.

"Good. Now, who was the young black boy that spent the night here last night?"

I should've known I couldn't pull one past Grams...

Smiling, I tell her, "My best friend, Drew... who is also my ex."

"You sexually active?" She asks.

Damn... Grams doesn't pull any punches.

"No, ma'am."

"Good. I don't do babies having babies and not on my watch."

This conversation would have gone a lot differently with my dad. He would have yelled at me, hit me, and I would've been grounded for life.

"The house is quiet and creepy when you're gone. That's the only reason I've been asking people to spend the night."

"Boys," Grams gives me the look.

"Yes, boys." I sheepishly admit.

I honestly didn't think it through. Boys are natural protectors, and they make me feel safer than hanging out with Patrice or Nicole.

Not that I'd want to hang out with Nicole...

She's still smiling in my face while screwing Drew every chance she can get. And from the text messages Drew showed me, she's been trying to get him to agree to be exclusive, knowing how I feel about him. She's a friend to my face, but behind my back, she's still checking for him and I don't know how to digest that.