"I pick Chris."
Chris let out a moan, why does she always pick me first?
"Catch, poindexter," Cindy passed the basketball to Chris. Chris hastily caught it, and gradually dribbled it onto the playing field.
It was Cindy and Chris, verses Dean and Carlos. They shared the half court while other teams played around the gymnasium. "You ready for this, rich boy?" Cindy stuck her tongue out at Dean, "because you're ass is about to get steamrolled."
Dean couldn't help but chuckle. Since they day Cindy had met him, she'd constantly pester him about his family's wealth. It was like her personal mission to pester him into being angry, but of course he never fell for the bait.
I see, calmness, and happiness over her head, Dean read with his powers. No matter how angry or spontaneous she seemed, Cindy's emotions acted like a flare. She was constantly excited for the things around her, especially when it came to sports.
Dean looked over at Chris: Nervousness, hot read with embarrassment… Romance? He obviously had a crush on Cindy. Cindy pretty much invoked that from everyone. For some reason or another, Cindy seemed to go out of her way to befriend Chris since the moment they'd first met.
Carlos said, "go!"
Carlos sprinted passed Chris, Chris actually backed away from the charge, the opposite to how a basketball was supposed to be played. Dean passed the ball to Charlos, and Cindy jolted towards Carlos to intercept the ball.
Upon grabbing the ball, she rounded around the half court, and almost made a shot. But she paused for a moment, and passed it to Chris instead. "You're ball, freak!"
Chris hastily caught the ball. Both Dean and Carlos froze when it landed in his hands. Chris paused, not knowing what to do. "What? Why me?" He yelled at her.
"Go for the shot motherfucker!"
Most of the gym had heard that. Chris shot for the basketball hoop…. And he missed. He didn't even hit the backboard. It swooped by the board like he wasn't even aiming at it. With everyone in the gym facing Chris and Cindy, half the class couldn't help but laugh aloud at Chris's missed shot.
Carlos were the first to frown. Although it was easy to laugh at Chris's ineptitude towards sports, he himself had been bullied as a kid. He knew the pressure like this wasn't good for him. Before Carlos could say something, Cindy ran up to Chris and put her arm around him.
"See? And this is why we ought to play after school."
She poked at his chest, taking attention away from his missed shot. "What?" Chris said.
"I'm telling you," Cindy said confidently, "you're a tall skinny white boy, all you gotta do is practice some more, and bitches will be surrounding you like Lebron James."
Chri's face was hot red. Her arm is over my shoulder. Cindy was undoubtedly pretty, she was either known for her looks, attitude, or athleticism. Having a friend like that freaked the hell out of Chris.
"I, uh-"
"He's busy after school, Cindy." Dean grabbed the ball from off court, and passed it to Cindy for her to catch. Again, Dean saw the flares of romantic attitudes around Chris's head. It was mixed with Cindy's excitement and pleasure from the whole ordeal. "He studies a lot."
Cindy sighed, "special ed?" She said quietly.
Chris blinked at her, "yeah, I go to that."
Cindy put her hands in her pockets. "I had a special kid who was on my basketball team as a kid, great player. He should've gone pro. Don't sell yourself short, poindexter. You've got a lot more to you than you think."
Chris chuckled, "yeah, I guess so."
XXX
Theo couldn't help but stare at Jazmine laying on her desk. How does a person who sleeps in every class have perfect grades?
He did his best to hide Jazmine's sleeping. He opened a book stood up in front of her so that the teacher couldn't notice her head faced down on the desk.
Jazmine was smart, kind, and considerate to everything Theo spoke to her about. He wasn't used to that sort of warmth, especially from the household he'd grown up in.Which was probably why he liked spending time with her so much.
Theo poked at her shoulder, "Jazmine, class is almost over," he whispered sneakily to her.
Jazmine murmured in her sleep, "Communist… Manifesto…"
Theo squinted at her, "what?"
The teacher finally wised up to her sleeping, and walked to her desk to smash a heavy weight of papers in front of her face.
Jazmine eeped as she sat up quickly. The teacher, a middle aged woman who might as well have been a nun, glared at her with heavy eyes.
"Jazmine," the middle aged teacher said, "if you're going to sleep, the least you can do is not snore while I'm teaching."
Jazmine wiped the drool from her mouth, "sorry," she said whimply.
The teach turned around and returned to the chalkboard. Theo whispered, "studying all night again?"
"Yeah," Jazmine said guiltily.
"It might be worth it, but you're grades won't matter if teachers strike off points for snoring in class."
Jazmine blushed at him, which only inflamed his crush towards her. She couldn't tell him what she'd actually done the night before. Jazmine only thought to herself, How are those other guys never tired?
XXX
Riley was snoring in class. Mr. Gladly didn't say anything, as long as no one was bothered by his sleeping, he didn't feel the need to disturb the adolescent boy.
The bell rang, and Mr. Gladly quietly stood up after the rest of the students left the classroom. "Riley," Mr. Gladly said softly.
He kept snoring. "Riley!"
"Wa nigga-" Riley rubbed at his eyes. "Aye nigga, why you wake me?"
Mr. Gladly chuckled, "the bell rang."
"Aw man, the bell rang and I slept all class? You're not gonna write me up, are you?"
"No Riley, you're fine."
Riley shot a rock hand gesture at his teacher, "thanks Mr. Glad, you're a cool ass nigga, you know that?"
Mr. Gladly chuckled at Riley's obscene language. "Anytime Riley, now get to class before your next teacher marks you tardy."
As soon as Riley stepped out, Huey stepped into the classroom. They fist bumped as they walked passed each other. Although they were in different grades, Huey and Riley both shared the same civics teacher at different class times.
Huey was was a quieter student in than his brother. He had an aura of calm around him. It was almost like nothing could bother him, a stark contrast to Riley's rambunctious behaviour.
A small beetle was on his afro-styled hair. Wide eyed, Mr. Gladly said, "um, Huey. There's a beetle on top of your head."
"I know," Huey said stoically.
Mr. Gladly stared at him. "Aren't you… Going to get it off?"
"No."
Mr. Gladly blinked at him. He only shook his head, what a strange kid.
Riley sprinted back into the classroom, "Huey, the black popo, we gotta go, now!"
Without missing a beat, Huey sprinted out of the classroom before saying another word. They ran across the hallways like they were being chased by something. Mr. Gladly stared with a raised eyebrow as they left his sight.
"Okay, I'm probably going to have to write up that part of today," he finally admitted to himself.
After he returned to his desk to leave a note for his future self, another man stepped into the classroom. He was the new security guard. Obese, a stink eye with a balding scalp, Mr. Ruckus still needed to be acquainted with the school's layout and staffs people.
"Scuse me, Mr. nice white man," the black security guard was nearly bowing to him. Like Mr. Gladly was some otherworldly figure that needed to be praised. "I'm looking for two negroes that might've passed through your classroom, I would tell you what they look like, but I know all shit skins look alike."
Mr. Gladly stared at him. "Excuse me?"
"The coon brothers," Mr. Ruckus said. "I need help finding the shit flinging monkeys, because them niggas need to know their place... As all niggas do."
Mr. Gladly's face fell blank. He could barely fathom the words he was hearing. "Excuse me?"
"You see, Mr. White man."
'Mr. White man?'
Ruckus continued. "I know all niggas are just a bunch of shit stinking monkeys that deserve to be locked up in cages, but these two niggas are the most rancid of the rancid. The filth of the filth, and they deserve a heavy nigga beating to put these animals in their place.
I'm sure you could recognize them by their welfare smell, but these two criminals smell worse than your average nigga beast, so I just need help finding them to enact the slave beating that they so justly deserve. Now I know it's hard to tell niggas apart, so why don't you just tell me all the filthy niggas you seen today, and I'll just give them all the ass whoopin they deserve just to be safe."
Mr. Gladly looked at him for a full minute. He couldn't fathom what he'd just heard. Mr. Gladly asked, "are… You real?"
XXX
Mr. Gladly yelled, "how could you let that guy be security!?"
Despite his willingness tolerate most things in school, the things he heard from Mr. Ruckus were things no one should possibly tolerate.
"Believe it or not," Principal Blackwell said with her arms crossed, "he was the best option I had."
"The best option you had?" He said in front of her desk. "The best option you had? How bad were the other options that you had to hire him?"
"It's not that the other options were worse, it's that he was the only option we had. No one wants to associate with this school, he was the only independent contractor that could work for us that didn't have a criminal record. He was willing to work 12 hours a day, for minimum wage without overtime. He's even offered to pick up litter and clean graffiti for free off duty. Before even starting, he donated shelves and desks to the school, and even though he was vocal about who should use them, he's actually been a helping hand to anyone who asked from him."
"Have you heard what he's said!?" Mr. Gladly emphasized, "how does this person even exist?"
"I don't know…" The principal sighed, almost like she'd been defeated somehow. "The reality of the situation is, we've needed security for a long time. It doesn't help that we've been below our racial quota in staff, and Mr. Ruckus helps fill that requirement."
"You can't be serious."
The Principal shook her head, "yes, I know exactly what I just said."
Mr. Gladly yelled, "you hired him because he's black!?"