Around the Way Girls 9 (20 page)

 

Breezy kept her word and didn't go back home and things in her life were finally looking up. She was holding down her job at Angel's Salon, after school and on the weekends. Her appearance had changed drastically as well. She now kept her hair and nails done and her gear stayed fresh. All of a sudden every nigga in school was trying to holla at her. Even Sean and Jalen were seeing her differently. She'd also put on a few pounds, which made her look a lot healthier. She still didn't have a banging body like Vita's but she was holding her own. The thing that made her even more beautiful than she'd become over the past few months, was that with all the attention she was getting now she still stayed to herself. The only two people she dealt with were King and her new boyfriend, Montez.

Montez went to school with them. He was a nice-looking guy, five feet nine inches, about 198 pounds, brown skin, with dreads and an iced-out grill. He drove a money green Range Rover with twenty-sixes on it and played football for their school. He was one of the starting quarterbacks.

King didn't care for Breezy dealing with Montez because he felt like Montez wouldn't have taken a second look at her a few months ago and he was right. Montez only noticed Breezy now because she looked different but he really was feeling her and she was feeling him as well.

As for King, he'd recently gotten a job working at McDonald's after school and Vita and him were still together. She'd dropped a bomb on him a little over a week ago, informing him that she was four and a half weeks pregnant. He'd been pissed but had no one to blame but himself for believing that she was on the shot.

Annette was so upset when he told her that she hadn't had much to say to him since then. Curtis had seen it coming a mile away. Instead of fussing, getting upset, or not speaking to him, he simply sat him down and talked to him, letting him know that he needed to work and save up his money so that he could take care of his responsibility once the baby was born.

 

 

King walked in the house around 3:30 on Tuesday to get something to eat before it was time for him to head to work. Breezy was sitting at the table eating a bowl of Lucky Charms and talking on the phone. “Are you gonna take me to work . . . I ain't gonna give you nothing . . . Oh it's like that? I gotta pay you to take me to work now?” She giggled into the phone. King could tell that she was talking to Montez by all the giggling she was doing. “Tez, you are so silly.” Giggle. “Bae, stop playing.” Giggle.

“Ain't shit that damn funny,” King mumbled as he took a bowl from the cabinet to make some cereal and then walked over and got the milk out of the refrigerator.

Breezy didn't hear him because she was too busy giggling at everything Montez said. “I have to be there by four. You know if I'm late Kendra and Tamara are gon' get in my ass. They cool but they don't be playing that late shit.”

King sat down at the table to eat his cereal. There was a magazine lying on the table. It was an
Urban Lit
magazine. He picked it up and started flipping through it. There were a bunch of authors in it and poets. He knew that Breezy loved that magazine so much because she wanted to be an author one day. For the past two months, she'd been writing short stories sending them into the magazine hoping that one of them would get picked to be featured in the magazine. He thumbed through the pages and could imagine flipping through it and seeing an article written by her one day or one of her short stories, or even her face gracing the cover as the featured author of the month. He smiled as he envisioned her on the front of the magazine. He placed the magazine back down on the table and noticed the notebook that she wrote in lying next to it. He slid it over and began reading a poem that she'd been working on:

King sat staring down at the notebook in shock. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the poem was about him but seeing it in writing and the words that she'd chosen to express her feelings was indescribable. He looked over at Breezy, who was still giggling like a damn airhead at Montez and totally oblivious to the fact that he'd just read her poem. He slid the notebook back to where it previously sat and said, “Nice poem.”

That got her attention. “Huh?” She looked at the notebook and then back at King. Her heart fell to her stomach at the realization of what he'd just said. “Hold on, Tez,” she said covering the phone and looking at King through squinted eyes. “King, did you read my poem?”

“Yes, I did and it was really sweet.” He laughed while putting his bowl in the sink and then walked out of the kitchen feeling himself.

Breezy hurriedly picked up the phone and told Montez she'd see him when he arrived to pick her up for work. She didn't know how to feel about King reading her poem; there was a mixture of emotions flowing through her at that moment. She was upset because he'd read her personal thoughts and feelings without her permission and embarrassed because she wasn't sure of how he'd taken it. Seeing him laugh made her feel as if he'd taken her feelings as a joke; that hurt and made her feel silly. She stomped down the hall to King's room, pushed his door open and walked in. He was in the middle of changing his clothes for work and had already taken off his shirt.

“Why did you read what was in my notebook?” Breezy asked with her hands on her hips.

King laughed because it was funny to him how she was trying to act like she was so upset. He'd already heard her say she loved him in her sleep a couple of months ago. He decided to mess with her. “Breezy, what's the big deal? Why does it matter if I read it or not?”

“Because you shouldn't be reading my stuff!” she snapped.

He realized that she really was upset but what he couldn't understand was why. If that was truly how she felt he couldn't understand what the big deal was. “Damn are you seriously mad?”

“Yes, I am because you have no right reading my stuff!”

“Stop trippin'. I've read your stuff before and you ain't trip like that.” He continued to laugh. “You're only trippin' because you're afraid that I will guess who it is about and your secret obsession will be out in the open.”

“Obsession?” Breezy asked offended by his choice of words and the fact that he was still laughing like her feelings were a joke. “Boy, bye. There is nothing to guess about; that poem is about Montez. Remember him? My boyfriend! So please tell me where the obsession comes in at when I've already bagged that?”

It was King's turn to catch an attitude. “That bitch-ass nigga ain't gone catch no fucking charge for you! Get real! And besides that, if I remember correctly the poem said, ‘Though I'm with him and you with her, we both know there's no denying what's obviously out of our control.' Like you just said, you've already bagged that so that wouldn't make sense. The entire thing doesn't make sense if it's to him.”

“How do you know what he will and won't do? He would catch a charge for me.” Breezy defended her man, purposely ignoring the last part of what he'd said because she didn't have an explanation. “And why are you so worried about who it's to? You act like you are jealous!”

Her last statement had been a blow to his pride. “Bit . . . Breezy, get the fuck out of my room!” he roared, trying to catch himself because he knew that he was about to say something he may regret later. “King Collins isn't jealous of any nigga walking, believe that. I been fuckin' bad bitches and can get more bitches than Montez lame ass will ever get in his lifetime. Please. I'm supposed to be jealous because he's fucking with you? Are you serious? We are talking about the same nigga who didn't even know your ass existed until just recently! I was the only nigga who was kickin it with you when your hair was nappy and your gear was all fucked up! Don't let a perm and some weave blow yo' fuckin head up!”

The look that covered her face reflected the hurt but he didn't care because he felt like she shouldn't have come out of her mouth like that, accusing him of being jealous of Montez.

“You know what? Forget you, King. And for the record you been fuckin' nasty bitches! FYI Vita ain't the definition of bad because she got a fat ass and she will open her legs for any nigga who buys her ho ass a ninety-nine cent hamburger. A bad bitch don't need no nigga to do for them because they will do for themselves. Every time I turn around she begging you to get her nails done or her hair done and in return she lying on her back. Not to mention her thirsty ass lied so that she could baby-trap you. A bad bitch don't do shit like that because they don't have to. It seems more like she's a needy, insecure bitch.”

“Man, whatever.” He smacked his lips, waving her off.

She wasn't done yet though. “And, another thing, Montez may not have noticed me before but at least I ain't gotta lie on my back and trick off my pussy to keep him and to get him to do shit for me.” She waved her wrist and showed off the gold bracelet that Montez had given her for their one month anniversary. “And no, I still haven't slept with him. I don't know what your definition of a bad bitch is but, hmmm, if you ask me I am way more deserving of that title than that trick you dealing with! Look at the things I have been through and the way that I have refused to allow those things to keep me down! I don't need you to throw in my face what I used to be or what I used to look like because, trust me, I haven't forgotten. The fact that I haven't forgotten is what motivates me every day to continue to strive to become better and not go back to that.”

“Breezy, if you don't take your ass down the hall and out of my face, you are going to be wearing that cheap-ass bracelet around your neck.”

“Whatever!” She stormed out of his room, slamming the door behind her.

King stood in the middle of his floor after she'd walked out, confused as to how things had taken such a messed-up turn just because he'd read a poem in her notebook. She could lie all she wanted but he knew in his heart that poem was for him.

No sooner had Breezy walked into the living room than the doorbell rang. She walked over and answered the door. When she opened it Vita was standing on the other side. “Hey.”

Vita looked Breezy up and down and then tried to brush past her to walk in but Breezy blocked her.

“Ummm, excuse you, rudeness, but you don't just be busting up in people's house. Not only that but is something wrong with your mouth?”

Vita smacked her lips and held her hand up in Breezy's face. “Girl, please! You better move the hell outta my way!” She tried brushing past Breezy again and again she blocked her.

“I said you don't be—”

The palm of Vita's right hand connected with the right side of Breezy's face as she smacked her.

Without hesitation Breezy drew back and returned the favor. From there the two of them went at it.

King came running from the back. He couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing. Breezy and Vita were on the living room floor going at it. Vita was on top of Breezy so he snatched her up. “Both of y'all chill the fuck out!” he shouted at them both.

Just as he got that out of his mouth Annette came through the door. She looked from Breezy to Vita and then at King standing in between them. “What the hell is going on? Are y'all fighting in my house?”

“Yes, ma'am, and I apologize but she ain't got no respect. She just gone bust up in here like her name is on the lease or something. I told her when you come to the door, you speak and ask for somebody or something. You just don't brush past me with your nasty attitude and walk on through the house! Then she gon' slap me!” Breezy rattled off without taking a breath.

“Vita, do you have anything to say? It's two sides to every story.” Even though Annette was playing it cool she looked like she was about to explode at any second.

Vita began being extra animated, waving her arms and popping her mouth as she told her side of the story. “Ms. Annette, she's right I didn't speak to her but I don't like her so why be fake and grin all up in her face? She knew that I was here to see King so why make a big deal about it like she pay bills or something up in here! This ain't her house! This is your house!” She clapped her hands together with each word. “She is lucky that King broke it up when he did because I was about to choke her ass out! These little broads gon' get enough of running up on me like I am to be played with or something! They better stop letting the cute face fool them.”

Breezy rolled her eyes.

“Are you both finished?” Annette asked becoming more annoyed after listening to Vita's side of the story. Both girls nodded their heads. “Okay, first of all, Vita, chill out with all that extra mess that you are doing because I am home now and there will be no more fighting in my house. Number one, I don't appreciate y'all fighting in my house because it's very disrespectful. Number two, Vita, whether or not Breezy pays bills here is irrelevant. She lives here so she is at home and you should respect her like this is her home. If she came to your house she should give you that same respect. Number three, you are pregnant with my grandchild and so that means that you will be around for a very long time. Which also means that even if you don't like Breezy, you are going to have to deal with her because she ain't going nowhere. She's family. If you don't mind me asking, why don't you like her?”