Blood is thicker than water- a phrase many have heard and implemented in their everyday lives. For the Knighton brothers, it was more than just a phrase. For them it was a motto, their creed. It meant that nobody, friend or love interest, was above...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Mr. Knighton, another A of course." My English teacher handed me my essay with a smile on her face. "Well done." She said as she passed my desk. Ms. Winters was a nerdy ass, middle aged black woman who was half my damn size— I honestly didn't know people could be that short until I met her my junior year of high school. She was the type of teacher who only wore vans and always smelled like coffee for some reason. She was weird as hell— but I liked her. She was the only teacher I had who didn't give a damn about me being this big time athlete or the most popular kid at Bartlett High. She saw me as just another student— without all the labels— and that's exactly what I needed.
"Nigga, how the fuck did you manage to get an A? Shit, I barely lucked out with this C." My teammate, Sammy, said balling up his essay and tossing the paper ball into the trash can across the class.
He asked me the same question any time we got assignments back and I ended up doing well— which was damn near every class. The truth was, I really didn't know how I managed to get A's. I'd always been pretty good academically, so for the most part school was a breeze for me. I didn't know where my smarts or my passion for learning came from though. Neither of my parents made it to high school and Kendrick dropped out during his sophomore year. Ky got expelled when he was a freshman for stabbing another student and since no other school in Memphis would take him, he never went back. If everything went as planned in May, I'd be the first person in my family to graduate high school— an achievement that I wasn't taking lightly.
"I just know how to write, fool." I told Sammy as I stuffed my essay into my overcrowded binder. "You figure out how to finally spell necessary and you might get an A one of these days too."
"Aye, fuck you." Sammy flipped me off. "That's a hard ass word to spell and you know it, nigga."
"Language, Sam." Ms. Winters made her way back through our aisle while giving Sammy the side eye.
I was shaking my head at this fool when a piece of paper slid right underneath my foot. I looked up and saw this fine brown skin shorty, Selah Blaire, winking at me. I picked the paper up just as she turned back around in her seat.
Party tonight @ my house. Please cum for me ;))
I smirked to myself at the double meaning behind her words. She looked back at me and I gave her a slight head nod to let her know I'd be there. I didn't know anybody in their right mind who would throw a party on a Tuesday, but if she invited me personally then I was definitely gonna show face.
I'd been trying to get at Selah since we were sophomores but she was dating our school's star basketball player, Redd Thompson, at the time. Word around town was that Redd was currently serving time for trying to sell weed to an undercover cop. With him gone, I guess she finally decided to show little ole me some attention. I knew her type though— hop from one baller to the next to see which one will get you pregnant first. I wasn't a dummy. Selah was a baddie, but she had baller babymama written all over her and I damn sure wasn't gonna be the one to give her that title.
