Beauty In Paradise

Chapter 4

Back To School

Surrounded by many watchful eyes, until one grows a familiar voice. "Hey Jay!" My bestfriend says as she comes up from behind me. Now facing her I respond "Hey babez." Valaría has been my bestfriend since we were 3 years old. I missed her over the weekend and I'm ready to tell her how it went but she beat me to it. "I missed you Jay." I smile, "I missed you too." She goes on to say "Soooooo, how was your visit this time? I hope better." I continue smiling and say, "Actually, Val, it was great. Other than the usual bitching from tomorrow." We laugh and she says, "You're gonna have to give me details but after school cuz we're about to be late. Love ya, talk to you later." As we walk in opposite directions waving I say, "Love you too - Later."
The bell rung just as I walked in. At least I made it. But before I could take my seat my professor tells "Ms. Wynnes! A word, please." I turn around and head his direction "Yes sir?" He pulls me to the side and states the obvious, "Now, Ms. Wynnes, you do know you just barely made it to class. You don't need to be lolly gagging around the halls. Next time you might not make it. Now take your seat please." I look at him and respond "Yes sir. I'll be sure to keep that in mind." He shows me away with a flip of his hand. As I turn around I hear voices yell "Damn, girl you fine." And others say "Welcome back sexy." I roll my eyes, shoot a bird, and say "Choke." Class drug on for another three hours but when the bell rang, I was the first one out. I text my bestfriend "Val, Meet me on chow hall." She text back "Already there." Walkn down the hall as a sophomore - seeing lots of new and old faces, people waving, some staring, and finally there's Valaría and here I am yelling over all the passing people "Gracey!!!" That's what I call her sometimes cuz her middle name is Grace. She looks back and runs to me sayn, "Hey babe. How was class?" I give her this, are you kidding me look, and she says for me "Boaring as hell." We laugh and she says as she grabs my wrist, "Come on, let's get to your apartment so you can fill me in." I smile at my overly excited bestfriend and say "Okay - I cant wait." The whole drive to my house Gracey would not shut up about her weekend in the cabins with her boyfriend Monte'. "He was so sweet to me. It was our 4 year anniversary and I thought he'd forgotten cuz hadn't said nun about it the whole day. But he made up for it that night" she laughs "his braces are good for something - If you know what I mean. He even---" I had to go through this the whole drive but I had to stop her at this point cuz I was afraid of what might pop up. "Ew, Grace! Grace, stop. You're babbling and you're going way too far. Plus we're here." She looked so embarrassed and said, "Oh, sorry." It was so cute. We got out the car and walked to my apartment, room 114, and as soon as I opened my door Val pushes pass me, jumps on my couch, and says " Spill." Sitting Indian style, reminding me of how she use to look 10 years ago. So I smiled at the thought of old times, walked over to her and said... "Okay, first off me and Tomorrow got into it." She shakes her head and says "Like always." I look at her and say "Yeah, but this time over some clothes I was wearing. That was Saturday though. Friday, I was at the park - just observing and admiring nature when this guy comes up to me and asks me my age." Eyes wide open she says "No girl - What you tell him? Was he cute?" I laugh, "Shh - and I'll tell you. Just listen." She sits back and sighs "My bad." So I get comfortable "I told him I was 13 or sumn," laughing I go on to say "I told him to get lost but he asked again. So I told him to keep it moven but he stayed and was like well I'm 15 or sumn like that, ya know." Val makes a face and I know she was thinkn sumn like damn he young. So I shake my head, "Just listen - Then he goes on to say sumn like 'Now how old are you for real?' So I pulled out my ID, with my name covered of course, and showed him my age. He smiled this amazing smile Val and did the same." I paused in deep thought so she asks "So how old is he?" She sounds like an excited child so I respond, "He's Twenty. But listen - we talked a while and then he gave me his number. The next morning, this is where me and Tomorrow get into it, I didnt know what to do so I asked her what I should do and she said 'change'. So I walked off. I went up stairs and got my phone, waited for someone to text or call me but I got impatient so I called him. Long story short - we went out, Kell started bitchn about how I'm never at the house n shit so we came back to my house. I prepared him to meet the family, well Tomorrow but when we got there nobody was there. So we chilled for a while." I take a breather then continue "Lastly, yesterday he woke me up at 4:30 in the morning to take me out on this amazing picnic. It was beautiful. He asked me to be his, using a can of hairspray and some lightning bugs. It was sweet. Then he brought me home to pack." She looks at me for a long while then says "And?" Like she expected more. But that's always. So I say to myself what else was there to know? Almost as if she read my mind she grabs my arm and says "Bestfriend! So you just up and left your dream guy behind?" I pat her hand as if she were young child causing her to release my arm and say "Duh Val. It wasnt hard - I've got school... and we've got work to do. I dont have time to get behind and its already getting late. So get home. You wanted to know so I told you. We'll talk more tomorrow. I love you, goodnight." She gets up and says "Love you too and keep me updated." As she walks out the door. Talkn out loud to myself I say, "Finally... Alone in my own bed." This work isnt as hard as I expected it to be. Now that I'm done I can hit the shower and go to bed. When I came out the shower I had two missed calls and a text from D'vontez. His text read "I guess you're sleep - sweet dreams." I thought that was so sweet. I went to bed with a smile.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Damn, I feel like I just went to sleep. My alarm is going off and it's so annoying. I'm already late for class so I just throw on some sweat pants and a Tshirt then rush out the door. I was in such a hurry that I left my phone. Today I had art so my teacher didnt quite care if I was late or not. This is my favorite course, "Kari!" I heard my nickname being called. Kari is short for my middle name Mah'Kari. "Kari!" I hear my bestfriend scream again and waven at me to get my attention. Shaken my head in embarrassment, she approaches me, "Dawg, girl - you dont look so hot." She grabs my hand, pulls for me to follow her, and says "Class is being dismissed early cuz professor Coxwood has to go somewhere. I guess a meeting or sumn, but she left us an assignment to do. Here it is- *The Assignment: Draw the first thing that comes to mind when u think of love*" I smile and she says, "I know this is gonna be easy for you so have fun. I'll talk to you later cuz me and Monte' are going to get something to eat. Want something?" I look at her and say "Naw, I think ima hang around the garden and start the assignment. Thanks though.

Valaría, comes running into the garden an hour later, pulling me and screaming about how her and Monte' just broke up, "He did it again Jay!" So I put my work down, wrap my arms around her, and say "What did he do this time?" With tears in her eyes she looks up to me and says "He kissed another girl in front of me and acted as if he didnt even know who I was." I shake my head, grab her cheeks, wipe her face, and say "If he did this then it was never meant to be. You are better than this. Stop cryn over spilled milk. There are lots of. sexy ass people at our college - Pick one!" I may have needed to pick a better choice of words but she gets the idea... I hope. She sits up, wipes the rest of her tears and says "You're right. I'm sorry I interrupted you. Can I see it so far?" I pull it out and say "Actually, I think I'm gonna leave it like this and title it 'blind love'." She smiles at me and says "Jay, I like it - A Lot. I wish I was half as talented as you." I shake my head "But you are. Val - It may not be in drawing but you do an amazing job with all kinds of things, like your piercings. That's a talent." She looks around and says "I gotta go, I love you and and I'll talk to you later - thanks again. Bye." I just let her go and stared at my picture for a while. It really is beautiful. So I decided to get up and walk to professor Coxwoods class. Surprisingly she's still or just got back, so I knock on the door. Startling her, she jumps and says "Come in dear." I smile, "Forgive me if I frightened you." With her back still facing me she says "You're fine - So what brings you back to me? Most of ya were dying to get out my class and here you are coming back now that yen's got it. Why?" Stammering over my words I say "I'm done with your assignment." She looks back at me now in total amazement and says "Its only been an hour. Let's see it deary." I pull out my sketch book and she reads the title aloud "Blind Love". She looks at me then back to my drawing and asks "You did this?" I look her directly in her eyes and say "Yes ma'am." She smiles "You have alot of talent. May I keep this?" I look at her and say "Sure - it's your assignment." She smiles and says before grabbing her bags to leave, "Me and you are gonna get along just fine. Now go on home sweety." Thank goodness shes not a grammar teacher but I did just that, I went home. I had what seemed like a trillion messages and missed calls. So I just go to the last text and read aloud "Hey babe, how was class today?" That was sent a little over 30 minutes ago by D'vontez so I respond "I had to draw😁" He responds "Glad to see you're not dead, Lol, and I didnt know you could draw." I text back "Umm, well, it's more of a hidden talent. I suck at it though. That's why it hidden lol." We text all night and I still got up in time for class today. I got psychology classes today from 2 to 6. Then I'm free all day. I cant wait to go. But nothing majors happening yet and it's been three weeks. "When am I gonna see you again?" D'vontez texts me. So I respond "I'm comen back soon. I promise." Two weeks went by faster than I thought it would.