so i got a little curious later that night, and decided to see what zion's instagram was about. i'm not gonna hold you, but he can sing...and i kinda like his cover of 18 by one direction.
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late september 2016.
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school was going great. mrs. wood is a charismatic teacher, so every a day was a breeze, especially since everyone in the class was chill with one another. on this day though, zion, along with one of his teammates were wearing their jerseys. after she made her announcements to the class, they asked if they could make their own announcement.
"hey everyone, we just wanted to let you know that the hockey team's first game is tonight at 7! hope everyone decides to come out and support the mustangs tonight! EVERYONE SAY GO MUSTANGS ON 3! 1! 2! 3! GO MUSTANGS!" they go back to their seats but not before thanking mrs. wood for allowing them to hype up the class. i wasn't planning to do much tonight outside of practice and homework, but i remembered when kuwonu was talking shit, so i made eye contact with him, nodded, and mouthed ok. he was confused leading me to believe he didn't remember his slick remarks from earlier in the month.
we were discussing the importance of tone in our essays. mrs. wood was going on and on about it's vital for us as writers to use concise words to help the reader figure out our tone. "to all of you further understand, i'm gonna pass out a poem some of you might know, and in small groups of three, you're gonna help each other figure out the tone. i'm gonna flip them over so everyone starts at the same time." she begins to hand out papers, and zion and i make eye contact once again. he seemed mouth, 'what do you mean ok?', and i shrugged it off, leading him to roll his eyes.
the poem she gave us was edgar allen poe's the raven, and being that this is an advanced placement class, it wasn't hard for us to figure out that the tone was somber, especially when you factor in the author. mrs. wood noticed that all of us were done discussing, but she didn't call for discussion just yet, which was weird. something told me she wasn't just gonna let us read a poem to figure out JUST the tone, so i, along with my group members decided to decipher the text to be ahead of the game. "now class, i hope the majority isn't relaxing, because they think i'm just making y'all figure out tone and nothing else. this is an advanced class, of course i wouldn't have y'all read an entire poem just for tone." bingo. of course, this led to every one following our footsteps. when we did have discussion, she, of course, asked questions about symbolism, if the man was in such a deep depression after losing lenore which caused him to hallucinate, and more.
class finally ended, and as i was packing my bag, zion came up to me. "what were you saying okay for?" i looked him in his eyes and told him nothing. "you know you wer—" "so, if you know i was saying okay for a reason, why are you pressing me about this reason?" i slung my backpack on, and started walking out the door. while i was walking to chemistry, i decided that i could go to the hockey game to see if kuwonu could back up the hot shit he doesn't remember talking.
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i got home after school, and immediately started doing my homework. pre-calculus wasn't that hard — i mean, i am a future biology major — mrs. wood prefers not to assign homework, thank god. canadian history was boring and i prefer to not acknowledge my economics homework til sunday so i can give it the proper attention it needs. by then it was four o clock, which gave me enough time to practice some volleyball in our backyard, and get ready for the game.
after practicing, i showered, and decided there was no reason to get all dressed up. it's a hockey game. a high school hockey game at that. i decide to wear an off the shoulder long sleeved black crop top, and black ripped jeans, with my favorite air jordan 1s — the gym reds, since we are the mustangs or whatever. i put some earrings and lipgloss, grabbed my letterman, car keys, gave my mom and dad a hug and a kiss, and left the house.
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i arrived to the game at about 6:30, and to my surprise, a lot of people were here. i never paid attention to any other sport at our school, especially one that shares the same season with mine, so i guess i was in awe a little? anyways, i grabbed a seat as close to the rink, just so i could get a good look at kuwonu and his game. i was a little cold, but i'll be alright. they were in the middle of warming up and he actually looked like he knew what he was doing. now that i think about it, it is kind of disrespectful for me to act like he doesn't have a brain, but it was also disrespectful for him to call my team, that trash so, i guess we're even?
anyways, we were facing our rivals, the lovett beavers. i figured this out because people in the stands were already getting heated and exchanging harsh words — "you haven't beat us in seven years you fucker!" "IN BASKETBALL! the mustangs couldn't even beat us in our sleep! it's been how many years since you've beat us in hockey? TWENTY YEARS!" "CAUSE Y'ALL FUCKING CHEATED!" — listening to various people diss each other was interesting, to say the least. i started to wonder if that man was talking about one particular game we were cheated out of, or several. by this time, the teams have left the rink as the game was being to start. the lights in the arena turned low, and both teams came out again, with the announcer introducing the starting lineups of both teams, and of course, caleb is a starter.
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puck drop.
the puck was moving at an insane speed, and the announcer seemed like he couldn't catch his breath. "wills passes to martin! martin to the wing! martin tries to shoot it but it's blocked! kuwonu with the rebound, and HE SCORES! MUSTANGS LEAD 1-0!" at that moment, the arena lit up with cheers and screams. it startled me honestly. kuwonu slid around hyping the crowd up with a smirk on his face, and i decided to stand up and clap for him, give him his dues you know.
the game starts back up. the puck is again moving at an intense speed, but the beavers are playing with this new ferocity that i knew was gonna lead to something, mainly because the guy caleb was guarding got two elbowing fouls, and he looked visibly irritated and sick of his shit. about three minutes later, they take off their helmets and start swinging. not gonna lie, i was enjoying it, because caleb was genuinely beating this guy's ass. the adrenaline in the crowd was overpowering, kids were recording, men and women were cheering like fucking hooligans, and everyone on the ice was scrambling to stop them before more teammates joined in on the madness. they finally broken the boys up, and i realized while caleb had a few scratches, the other guy's face was bleeding. the arena erupted with boos and claps when it was announced caleb would be ejected from the game and unable to play the next game. their coach looked so pissed at him, but he didn't give one fuck. i couldn't make out what they were saying, but it seemed like he was sticking up for himself and trying to explain himself, but coach wasn't going for it. by the way he was moving his hands, it appeared he told him to take off his uniform and go home, to which caleb rolled his eyes and left to go to the locker room. i wasn't trying to be a creep, but the person i came to see got ejected, so i decided that i was gonna figure out where the locker rooms were to see him and exchange some words.
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after like 20 minutes, i finally found the locker room, and kuwonu was walking out.
"hey. good game."
"i got ejected and you wanna tell me i had a good game?"
"yeah. i mean, you scored a goal, right?"
"yes, but that nigga kept elbowing me."
"okay? you brutalized his damn face. you should be lucky if you don't get a lawsuit in the mail."
we laughed, and continued talking while we walked to the location his family was waiting for him at. i found out that his true passion was singing, and that hockey was his backup, and college was his final choice, which was bold in my opinion. i did think his singing was good, i did think he has an infectious smile, and i did think he was cute, but i couldn't tell if he had the it factor, but i'm only one person so who knows. he agreed to come to one of my volleyball games when he had time, but he told me not to hold him to it which i thought was fair. i walked him to his family, and they were honestly nice. i mean elom was acting like your average younger brother, but outside of that, the rest of his family was cool. i also got his number before i left to go home.
later that night, he texted me with the good news that we had finally beat the lovett beavers, 3-1. our twenty year curse was broken, and i reiterated that he did have a good game, despite his ejection. we played pool a few times before texting the other good night.
