Black to the Past

Chapter 3

Worst day ever, Jalen thought to himself. I haven't missed the first period ever, and now I'm stuck behind the jock, the pop, and the mean girl. All laughing at me because I'm not as perfect as they are!

Michael nudged him with his elbow. Jalen just shook his head no, it was okay. He'd had a bad morning, which was why they were late. Michael had a Jeep and picked him up every morning but Jalen's brother had been sick and of course, his father couldn't stay home from work so Jalen had to get him better with some medicine and off to school anyway. The bus was coming and it wouldn't do him any good to miss it. Jalen felt bad for rushing his kid brother around but that was the way life was. They just couldn't miss school. Their father worked seven days a week and twelve hour shifts just to make ends meet. It was Michael's job to make sure the house was clean and everyone was fed. He did the best he could. But since his brother had a bad cold and fever, he had to give him medicine, enough so he could get to school. The school nurse would take care of him the rest of the way.

Nonetheless, that set back had landed him in the hell that was the social room tardy area. Michael felt bad. He should have just stopped and given Jalen a hoodie to put on that would match his jeans in the car. He kept trying to remind Jalen not to wear dress socks but he couldn't fix everything.

"Assigned seats? Since when?" They all turned to hear Wilson asking why he was being assigned a seat today.

"Maybe it will stop you from coming in here Mr. Bullock," his eighth period teacher Ms. Hansen informed him. "Have a seat right there."

"Of course, it's right next to you," Wilson added disgustedly. He really couldn't stand his teacher right now. He was being forced to sit at a table with the four people he'd been standing in line in front of. Thank goodness they had to sit quietly. But he was sitting to the right of Halle who smelled like an angel. He was getting a whiff of something lemony yet rose scented all at the same time. While he knew that she sported a weave because no one's real hair was that perfect, it looked good on her. Her chocolate skin looked smooth as satin, he could see it peeking under her cropped top. Her long neck was inviting, it begged attention. He needed to put his head on straight. Halle would never give him attention.

Meredith was sitting directly across from Wilson. She noticed him staring at Halle and couldn't blame him. Aside from the chip Halle wore so clearly on her shoulder she was a beautiful girl. She had the looks and clothing of a supermodel. She reeked of wealth, intelligence, and power. But Halle could never see that for herself.

On one side of Meredith was Jalen, the boy with the mismatched clothes. Meredith was instantly feeling sorry for him. Clearly he was poor. Clean, but poor. On the other side of her was Michael. Everyone knew Michael was wealthy. His parents were two of the top surgeons at the Clinic downtown and every kid knew it. There was an entire wing in the school dedicated with their names and paid for by his family so that kids could learn about medicine while in high school. It was a nice program. Her mother was a physician that frequently sent people to those two surgeons. She didn't make anywhere near as much money as they did since Meredith had come along and ruined her plans of finishing the extra years it took to become a surgeon but she'd still successfully finished med school and was a neurology physician. She assisted in the identification of whether one needed surgery or not.

They were a motley crew of sorts. Other than eighth period American History which they'd all taken to get out of the higher level APUSH they didn't have any classes together. Oh, a few of them here and there had one class or another with one or the other but not all five of them together. And Michael didn't even have American History with them.

Ms. Hansen announced from the front of the room that the kids who were all there today would have after school detention for a week. A loud groan went through the room. "Why?" Michael asked loudly. "I've never been in here a day in my life!" His father would have a fit if he found out that he would be in detention.

"Because Mr. Van Boxel, today is your lucky day! And for the rest of you who want to complain that this is your first time in here you'll learn not to ever come here again. We're cracking down on tardiness this year. They are excessive. I'll meet you all here after school. If you're not here after school you'll have in-school detention starting in the morning."

"I can't believe this shit," Wilson said angrily.

"She's gotta be kidding me," Halle complained. "I've got to be home right after school or my mom will kill me."

"You and I both know your mom won't do anything to you," Meredith told her rolling her eyes.

"She will. She needs me to babysit the kids so she can take the baby to the doctor," Halle said in a quiet voice. Halle always tried to do everything in her power to be obedient. Life was easier when she didn't upset her parents.

"I'll vouch for you," Meredith told her. "Detention isn't that long, is it?"

"It's long enough," Jalen told them. He'd been late before. He'd had detention before. School let out at 2:56, Detention lasted from 3 to 345pm. It was the absolute longest they could get any teacher to stay after school with the bad ass kids of their high school.

"I can't stay," Halle told them.

"You have to or you'll have ISD," Wilson told her. He didn't know why he was telling her what she had to do. But he knew that he wanted her in there with him, after school.

The bell rang signaling the end of the first period. The kids all stood up and flocked out of the room. Halle tried to reach Ms. Hansen. She needed to get permission to start detention tomorrow. Ms. Hansen was long gone and Halle was unable to reach her. "Shoot," Halle said to herself.

"Hey, just text your mom to explain," Wilson said from behind her. He'd followed her up the stairs to the second floor in an attempt to see if her lame excuse would work in her favor. He had conditioning every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and wanted to beg off too. At least, that's what he told himself the reason he'd followed her was.

"I've got a feeling that she's not in a great mood and that's not going to work today, but thanks," Halle said appreciatively. She tried a small smile.

"Nice smile, kiss," Wilson said smiling back.

"Kiss?" Halle asked him confused.

"Don't mind if I do. Maybe later," he told her.

Shaking her head, thoroughly confused, Halle headed off to her second period class.