The Lockdown

Indigo

"Ay Kev, wait up!" Asher called from behind me. First period had just ended and now I was headin to P.E. Me and Asher both have the same class. I stopped by the water fountain. "What up," I said, doing our handshake we had for each other since 4th grade.

"Oh brother... y'all still do that wack handshake," Tiffany said, brushing past me. I had to keep myself from doing a double take.

"You just a hater," Asher joked and she popped him upside his head. "Dude, you can close your mouth now," he said as she walked away.

"Bruh.. She is so fine," I said and we started crackin up. "We been knowin her since second grade and I still can't say NOTHIN!"

"That's cuz you get all shy and corny when she come around... You need to be more like me: un hombre fuerte," Ash said in a horrible Spanish accent. I gave him a dead look.

"Ash... you been watchin Bring it on: Fight to the Finish again, haven't you?...... You not even Mexican bro... you're white.... shut up," I said, laughing at him. He shoved me but missed and flew in front of me. "Remember this," I said and stuck my foot out and tripped him from behind. This basically summed up our friendship.

     Me and Asher have been close since kindergarten when my family moved to Fontana. I remember mom droppin me off and I was super nervous. I've always been kinda shy, so I wasn't lookin forward to meetin new kids but Asher has a coo personality. He walked right over to me and said "You have a big head but it's ok.. I'll be your friend anyways." And we been close ever since. We looked like day and night: Me with my dark brown curly hair that had been freshly cut, dark brown eyes, and light brown skin.. Asher with his blue eyes and ash blonde hair.. That's how he got his name. Despite having different interests and hobbies, I'm on the basketball team and he's in the drama club, we have a bond so tight, nobody could break us up. That's my homie for life.... No matter what.

     We made it to P.E. two minutes late; I hate walkin fast, and of course we got called out by the teacher. "Mr. Smith and Mr. Monroe... Nice of you to join us. Next time, join us on time," Mr. Fletcher said and the whole class snickered. Asher rolled his eyes. For some reason, he been trippin off the smallest stuff people say lately. As for me, I couldn't care less. We had to walk laps for today so I was coo with that.

"I can't stand Mr. Fletcher... He always gotta say somethin," Asher said, lookin super irritated.

"Man, why you been so touchy lately?.. Is it that time of the month?" I joked and he cracked a smile.

"It will be that time soon enough," he said and walked away. I don't know what the heck he meant by that. Ah well. Tiffany was standin over by the benches.

"Shouldn't you be walkin.... Lazy," I teased her and she looked up at me and smiled. I think she like me, to be honest.

"Whatever Kevin... Where's your ride or die, Asher, at?" She asked, walkin up beside me. She has the most beautiful dark brown skin I ever seen and she always smells like vanilla and cocoa butter. She tried to pull her curly hair back from her face but they popped back onto her forehead.

"He stalked off somewhere.... He been actin weird lately. Anyway, what you been up to?" I asked, tryna start some type of convo... Asher would be proud.

"Babysittin my little brother and he workin my last nerve. I need a break," she said dramatically. That's my 'in' right there...

"We should get a group and hang somewhere... Maybe see a movie or somethin.... You could bring yo home girl and I'll ask Asher," I said, talkin faster than I normally do. I hate when I do that... I prolly sound stupid.

"That sounds like fun.. I'll ask her and get back to you.. See you later," she said and walked off.

Dang... I forgot to ask for her number.

     When I got home later, mom was makin dinner. "Hi sweetie," she called to me when I walked in the kitchen.

"Hey mom," I said, kissin her on the cheek. "How was your day?" She asked me as she took chicken out of the oven.

"It was ok.... Got called out by the teacher for being late to class again."

     Mom laughed and shook her head, which made her bun come loose and her dark hair fell down her back. People say I look like both of my parents but I think I favor my dad more. Mom is what people call a "dark irish"... pale skin and dark, almost black hair with brown eyes. My dad is basically the dark brown version of me.. or I'm the light version of him you could say.

     It wasn't easy growing up being mixed... I was never "black enough" or "white enough," so I just kind of stuck to myself. Sometimes I felt left out at school because the black kids would be in one clique and the white kids would be in another and I felt torn about which one I belonged to. The skaters were cool and the dudes on the basketball team were funny. It was not necessarily separated or any thing. It's just that most of the skaters at our school were white and most of the basketball players were black. They usually hung out with their team or clique. Asher had always been an outcast as well, so we kind of bonded over that and just did our own thing. And neither one of us has any brothers or sisters, so all we had was each other. He's always gonna be my bro for life, no matter what.