Black to the Past

Chapter 19

Michael and Jalen didn't have class together until fourth period. Michael hadn't seen Jalen all day, not even having passed him in the hallway. He was waiting against a set of lockers not far from their classroom. When he saw Jalen coming around the corner he smiled and waved. Jalen groaned inside. He didn't want Michael hanging around outside of class waiting for him. It was embarrassing. They were getting too old for him to act that way anymore.
"Where've you been all morning," Michael asked as he approached Jalen.
"Class, what's up with you?"
"Just waiting for you," Michael answered sincerely. He often thought that maybe he should share his feelings with Jalen but Jalen never gave any indication that he felt any way other than friendship towards him.
"Yeah, I see that. So, what's up?" Jalen asked as they walked into the room.
"Got a big assignment. I need to go to the library after school. You wanna come," Michael asked hopefully.
"I've got a big project too. The one I told you about yesterday. I need to see where they want to work but the library sounds good," Jalen agreed, taking his seat behind Michael. It had been just his bad luck that this particular teacher had told the kids based on where they sat the first day is where they would sit the entire year. That's how the stupid teacher remembered their names, he thought to himself.
"Okay, bet," Michael replied happily.
Jalen shook his head. He'd never shake Michael, at least he wouldn't until they went off to separate colleges. There was just no way that Michael's parents would let him go to anything less than an Ivy League school. It was one thing to go to your local public school to develop character but it was a completely different thing to be sent to an urban university.
Barely paying attention in class, Jalen had immersed himself into the project research for the eighth period. When he'd gone to bed the previous night, he thought that instead of isolating himself from the group, perhaps this was his way out. His way out of the nerd base. His way out of a life of isolation. Meredith was such a pretty girl and he thought of her a lot before this assignment. Lady luck had turned an eye his way and he wouldn't let this opportunity slip from his fingers. He dreamed of him and Meredith laughing in the hallway, sharing lunch, walking home together. Thoughts of her swirled his mind last night so he'd decided this morning that he would put more effort in to be friendly to everyone in the group and maybe, just maybe, his personality would appeal to her.
Jalen had his younger brother help him coordinate his outfit that morning. His brother didn't suffer from the same affliction he did and where he ignored him and his clothing advice most of the time, he decided that that was another area that he would benefit from lightening up a bit too. His brother appeared to have chosen well. Jalen had received a few glances from girls who usually paid him no attention and his first two teachers mentioned how nice he looked today. It was all the difference when he wore a pair of Adidas joggers with the three white stripes down the side of the leg with a matching sweatshirt. It was one of the outfits that his father had allowed him to order at the beginning of the school year but he'd never worn out of fear that he'd be considered copying some other kid in school. But once the year had gotten off to a rolling start and the weather had turned cold he noticed that most of the boys dressed in the very same outfits, even the same colors he had bought.
If he stuck to black colors, he seemed to be okay. It was when he tried to add red or green that the lines of color got very blurry. Fortunately, today, even though he'd paid very little attention in class he came out unscathed. He really should apologize to his teacher for yesterday but he wasn't in the mood to do that. The teacher was as much to blame as he was.
The rest of the day dragged on as he was eager to get to eighth period and share the research he had for the group. He saw Meredith in the hallway. She looked a little tired today but she had on an amazing outfit. She almost always wore black but today she was in red and it made her grey eyes pop and her auburn hair seemed that much brighter.
"Nice outfit," Jalen complimented as he walked behind her into their eighth period class.
"You talking to me," Meredith asked incredulously.
"Uh, yeah," Jalen said a little flustered. He kicked himself mentally. He shouldn't have said anything.
"Wow, um, thanks," Meredith said back as she went to her newly assigned seat with her group.
Jalen didn't say anything back. He needed to be cool and he was already sweating.
"I'm glad to see that you are all back in your groups. How many of you did research last night," the teacher asked.
About two hands from each group went up. "I hope that those of you who do not have your hands up worked on some aspect of your project. Although this is a group project you will not necessarily be graded the same as everyone in your group. Each of you will turn in your research to me. I want to see how you work together based on the information that you individually provide to the assignment. Now, get to work," Ms. Hansen told them.
Jalen took a deep breath. This would be the hard part. He didn't want to seem like the nerd they all thought he was, but he wanted to contribute so they could have a conversation about things. He and Meredith turned their desks to face the others.
"Looks like me and Halle are the only ones who didn't research last night," Wilson admitted honestly.
"It was a rough night," Halle told them looking off into the distance. She was tired and it showed.
"I think we should all exchange numbers," Wilson told them. "That way, we can text about the project."
"Yeah, good idea," Jalen added. Now, he'd have Meredith's number and could start a text with her on the side, if he ever got the nerve.
Wilson put his number at the top of a sheet of paper and passed it to Halle next. They passed the paper around then all pulled out their phones and added the numbers right away. Jalen was only mildly embarrassed to have the oldest iPhone model but at least he'd be able to be in a group text with them and iMessage.
"Okay, next, I know I didn't have any research but I did think of the project and I think we should try to do something really unique," Wilson suggested.
"Yeah, like what?" Meredith asked.
"I don't know. That's just what I thought about," Wilson said, shrugging his shoulders.
Typical dumb jock, Jalen thought, then shook his head.
"No? You got a better idea," Wilson asked him.
"I wasn't shaking my head no to your idea," Jalen told him. I'm shaking my head to the fact that you're an idiot, Jalen thought to himself.
"Mmhmm," Wilson said shaking his head and crossing his arms in front of himself.
"That's a great idea, Wilson. Let's start with the research first. I'll go first," Meredith volunteered. She briefly explained to Wilson and Jalen about the fact that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his father were named Michael then changed their names to Martin after Martin Luther the theologian and Catholic priest who insisted on reformation in the church.
"Wow! Did not know that," Wilson exclaimed.
"It's also interesting to note that his father was a preacher and he grew up in a time period when lynchings were so common. He wanted better for his children and for other blacks. He stood up to the police when they called him boy and he was really an activist. He wouldn't even let his kids go to segregated movie theaters," Meredith added.
Jalen was stunned. The look on his face must have shown his surprise because Meredith stopped and stared at him.
"What?" he asked her.
"What? What are you looking at me like that for? I'm not dumb, you know?"
"I didn't say you were."
"You're looking at me like you're surprised that I did any research," Meredith accused.
"No, it's, um-I just," Jalen was stumbling over his words and he looked to Halle for help which was a huge mistake since she was looking at him like she was ready to chop off his head for offending her friend.
"I'm surprised at the information, that's all. I've never read any of that," Jalen lied. His own information mirrored that of Meredith's but now, unless he spoke up and added additional information she hadn't stated yet, he wouldn't be able to show what he'd typed up.
"The information I looked up was more about MLK Jr.'s education. He didn't intend to become a preacher. He thought there was too much emotionalism behind religion. He wanted to become a physician or a lawyer. It's interesting, I think, that if he'd become one of those professions he would have never been killed," Jalen said thoughtfully.
"That's wild!" Wilson said excitedly. "What if we could go back to when he was younger and tell him that if he becomes a civil rights activist he'll die young?"
"Yeah, but the whole concept of this project is pointless," Halle said in a bored tone. She was looking at one of her nails which had chipped polish. She hadn't been able to remove the old polish and paint them as she had wanted to last night.
"How so?" Meredith asked her. She was really interested in the project now that she'd done so much research.
"It's just that, we can't like, go back. We can't go back and warn him," Halle said shrugging her shoulders.
"But what if we could," Wilson asked her.
"What ifs are so," Meredith paused as she felt her teacher standing before her.
"The purpose of this project Miss Blackmon is to imagine that you can go back. Imagine that you could warn him. I want you to dig so deep into your research class, that you feel as if you know Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. enough to answer the question - ''Would he listen to you, if you warned him?" Mrs. Hansen stared at Halle a few moments longer before the bell rang. "I want to see ten note cards with research by Thursday. It's time to get into the meat and potatoes of this project. Also, please be ready to describe your project in unique detail. You can create a poster, a timeline, a video. Be creative! I want this to be uniquely done so that the best projects are presented before the community. Class dismissed!"
"Ugh! I didn't know we'd have to do a poster," Halle whined.
"She said or something. We can be creative," Jalen suggested as he turned to look at Wilson, "just like Wilson said. Why don't we meet at the library in a little bit."
"I've got conditioning," Wilson told the group.
"After then, we've got to get the ideas on paper ready to present," Meredith told him.
"OK, okay. I'll be at the main library at 5:45pm," Wilson told them.
"Fine," Halle mumbled.
"See you there," Jalen said as he walked behind Meredith watching her hips sway as she walked away.
"I saw you, dude," Wilson said patting Jalen on the back.
Ordinarily Jalen might have cringed, but wanting to fit in he shrugged with a lopsided grin and said, "she's cute."
Wilson laughed hard. Jalen joined in. They had something in common. They both liked girls in their class. "I'll see you at the library," Wilson said as he turned toward his locker.
"Yeah, ok."
Jalen didn't feel or see Michael creep up behind him.
"You're meeting Wilson at the library," Michael asked unbelievingly.
"Yeah," Jalen responded, suddenly irked that Michael was now aware of his plans.
"Why?"
"Why not?"
"He's not your type," Michael said.
"I'm not into guys, Mike. We're meeting some girls from our class," Jalen said, suddenly sounding like a high schooler, finally.
"I meant, he's not the type of guy you usually hang with."
"No, he's not. That's because you're the only guy I ever hang with," Jalen stopped at his locker. He wasn't going to have this conversation with Michael where other kids could hear them. It sounded like a lovers' quarrel.
"Right, me and the guys from Robotics. Wilson is an athlete."
"You make it sound like a disease, Michael. And it's not. And I don't have to explain any of this to you," Jalen said, instantly shutting down the conversation.
"What's wrong? Are you mad at me," Michael wanted to know as he pulled up short and grabbed Jalen by the arm before he could walk away from him.
"Man, what are you doing?" Jalen hissed at him. He was looking around at the kids passing by and pointing.
"Lovers fight," one girl laughed at them as she passed.
"You gotta be kiddin' me," Jalen yanked his arm away from Michael and almost ran down the hallway. He couldn't get away from him fast enough.
Michael looked forlorn as he watched Jalen running away. Jalen would have been embarrassed to know that Meredith had watched the entire exchange. She felt sorry for Michael. They'd grown up together, had been friends in elementary school, he was one of her neighbors and she felt sorry for him.
"You really care for him don't you?" she asked.
His cheeks flushed with color and he turned to look down at her. It seemed to him that Meredith hadn't grown one inch since they'd gotten out of the fifth grade.
"Yeah," he told her sadly.
"It's okay, you know. You should let him know how you feel," Meredith told him as she linked her arm with his and turned him so that he could walk with her.
"I know, why don't you meet us at the library. You could help us with our project. It'll be fun. We could use your Robotics expertise," Meredith said hoping that she was being helpful.
"He'll probably be mad," Michael said sadly.
"I'll help smooth things over. I'll text him and that'll be that," Meredith said happily.
She couldn't stand for anyone to look as sad as Michael did at that moment.

Meredith sent a text to Jalen as she walked with Michael. He guided her while she sent a message to him.
I think itd be cool if we built something for the project - Meredith
Like - Jalen
IDK but something I asked Michael to meet us at the library too : ) - Meredith
Why - Jalen
He can help see you there - Meredith

"See done," Meredith told him with a smile.
"He's not going to be happy about it," Michael said with a frown across his face. His beautiful blue eyes were filled with turmoil.
"He'll get over it," Meredith told him. She squeezed his arm and walked away leaving Michael in his own thoughts.