Devil on the Rooftop [Book 1]

Chapter 20 - Khaleel

Zander got a hold of my neck and squeezed it. "And where the hell have you been all this time?" he asked, leading me away from the court.

A new five on five game began as soon as Arisa made her exit. Her presence had caused a stir among our peers, but Mr. Gonzalos seemed to be the most pissed about it. He was an unpredictable man who I tried not to associate with. He had a nasty temper and his morals were fucking questionable. I saw the way he talked down to the little spitfire, telling her to get off his court and shit. He didn't want his players to look bad in front of a girl. He didn't want to admit defeat in front of Mrs. Lister, the other gym teacher, so he defaulted to being a dick.

"Getting shat on by the Vice Prez," I confessed. I pulled away from the playboy and went to sit on the benches. Mr. Gonzalos was so busy maintaining order that he forgot to yell at me for being late to his class. "What happened with Arisa?"

"I have no excuses," Zander replied, joining me. "She's full of surprises."

"You're telling me? And I think your fan club might chew her out for today."

"That's what they're there for," he shrugged indifferently. "I get why Loyal gets all bent out of shape around her. That chick is in a different league."

"Than you?"

Zander didn't humour me with a reaction, instead he changed the subject, "Why was Matilda shitting on you?" he asked.

"I stole her first kiss."

Zander hung his head. "Khaleel, you can't keep messing with her like that."

"I didn't know it was her first when I did it, asshole! And what do you mean keep messing? I haven't known her for very long."

"We went to middle school with her, you dumbass. Matilda was best friends with Kaitlyn Pratt, that lunatic who had you wrapped around her finger."

"What are you talking about? I would have remembered if she went to Jackheights Middle. Vice Prez is a smoke-show."

Zander raised his brow at me. "She looked different back then, braces and acne, not really your type. It was definitely her! You used to bully the crap out of her, yanking her ponytail and tripping her in the halls. Juvenile shit like that."

The truth flooded over me like a hurricane. Matilda Hawkins. She was the dork who somehow convinced Kaitlyn Pratt to become friends with her in middle school? It was before I met Hino. It was before my father sent me to Pakistan for the summer. Oh shit. I had fucked up. I had fucked up big time.

"I know you got a nasty concussion fighting with your cousins," Zander said. "But I didn't know it gave you selective memory."

"Shut up," I said, annoyed.

Kaitlyn was someone I was desperate to fool around with in middle school, but no matter how hard I pursued her, she said I wasn't her type. Then one day, out of nowhere, she asked if I knew her friend Matilda. Obviously, I didn't. Kaitlyn said Matilda was the reason we couldn't date, because she was scared of me, and thought I wasn't someone her friend should associate with.

That was the day I broke the door to the girls' bathroom. My violent outbreak caught Kaitlyn off guard. She made a deal with me and said if I could get Matilda to change her mind then we could be together—knowing that would probably never happen. Unbeknownst to Kaitlyn, I didn't give two shits about dating her anymore, no, I decided to spend the rest of the school year getting revenge on the dork who dared to judge me.