Hoodie (33 page)

“Nate,” she said quietly.

Anton’s heart sank. He felt his hands ball into fists.

“What did he say to you?” he asked, trying with difficulty to control his temper.

“I don’t know. He said hello, but he wasn’t being nice about it. He wanted to know why I wasn’t friendly with him, that I was friendly with other black guys. Although he didn’t say black guys. He said the “n” word. He was really nasty about the way he said it. And then he touched me.”

Anton was already across the courtyard in search of Nate. Emma ran to him and grabbed his arm.

“Please don’t, Anton. I’m begging,” she pleaded, pulling on his arm.

“Emma, you lost yo’ mind if you think I’m’ll let that little bitch talk to you like that,” Anton said, stopping his search to look at his girlfriend. “Where’d he touch you?”

“Nowhere,” she said.

He bent low until his face was even with hers. He tried for patience.

“Emma, you just said he touched you. Now you gonna tell me he didn’t?”

“Please Anton,” Emma said.

“Where did he touch you?” Anton tried again, this time his temper getting the better of him.

“On my hip,” she whispered.

“Anywhere else?” he asked. He thought it an absurd question. Nate touching his girlfriend’s hip was enough to drive him insane. He would kill him. He knew he would.

“No,” Emma replied.

Anton searched her face. He knew she was lying.

“Where else did he touch you, Emma?”

The tears were spilling over. She couldn’t say it. She felt humiliated and afraid of what Anton would do.

“Where else, Emma?” he asked impatiently, and then the horrifying thought occurred to him. “Did he touch yo’ ass?”

Emma nodded.

“Muthafuckin’ bitch. I’m’ll kill him,” Anton said, and he proceeded with his ruthless search.

Emma followed behind him, pleading with him to stop, telling him that it would only make things worse. She told him she was fine, that it wasn’t a big deal, that he should be the better man and let it go. Anton ignored her. The better man, he thought incredibly. The better man was going to beat the shit out of Nate.

He searched the entire school building until he spotted Nate at the end of a hallway on the upper level floor. Nate saw him and knew why he had come. He pushed past the people he was talking to and headed for the stairwell. Anton was gone in a flash, and Emma couldn’t hope to keep up with him.

“Why you runnin’, nigga?” Anton shouted at the top of the stairs. “You afraid of me?”

“I ain’t afraid of yo’ ass, muthafucka,” Nate spat. He was at the bottom of the stairs looking up at Anton.

“Then get yo’self up here so we can have a little chat,” Anton ordered.

“I got nothin’ to say to you, you fuckin’ sell-out,” Nate replied.

“Well I got plenty to say to you. How the fuck you think you gonna treat my girl like that?” Anton asked. He felt as though he were spitting the words.

“So the bitch told you, huh?” Nate asked scathingly.

“Don’t call her a bitch, you stupid muthafucka,” Anton yelled.

“By the way, Anton, she gotta nice ass,” Nate said. “Thanks for sharin’.”

People were gathering in the stairwell, charged for a fight. Emma came in just as Anton was headed down the stairs. She watched from above as Nate stood his ground when Anton reached the landing.

“You wanna say that again?” Anton asked advancing on Nate.

Emma thought that he had grown another four feet. He looked frightening and menacing the way he towered over Nate, balled fists ready for the assault. His face portrayed pure hatred, and Emma was certain that he could kill Nate with his bare hands if he wanted.

“I said yo’ little ho up there gotta nice ass. We should tag team sometime.”

Anton’s fist was swift and accurate. It crashed into Nate’s jaw, sending him spiraling to the floor. He lay there for a moment, massaging his throbbing cheek, then jumped up from the floor and ran into Anton wrapping his arms around him in a bear hug and slamming him into the wall. He drew back his fist to hit Anton, but he was too slow. Anton punched him hard in the stomach making him stumble backwards then again to his face making him hit the concrete landing with a sickening smack. Nate tried once more to get up, but the pain in his stomach was too great. He lay breathing heavily, knowing he was badly beaten and humiliated for it.

“That’s right, nigga,” Anton taunted. “Don’t you fuckin’ talk to Emma ever again. Don’t you fuckin’ talk to me ever again. We through. I don’t even know you.”

He walked back up the steps avoiding the stares of the several students lining the walls of the stairwell. He took Emma’s hand and led her out.

***

“You’ll probably get suspended, you know,” Emma said.

She was sitting at his desk that afternoon editing their paper. They were nearly through and had only a few pages left to write.

“No teachers were there,” Anton pointed out. He was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling.

“There are cameras everywhere,” Emma reminded him. She made a note in the margin of one of the pages as she spoke.

“So? Somebody in charge gotta see it in person,” Anton argued.

“I’m not sure it works that way,” Emma replied.

“What the hell, Emma? Do you want me to get suspended? I’m already in enough trouble as it is. Ain’t no way my mama won’t find out about this.”

“How would your mother find out?” Emma asked.

“She just will. She got these magic ways of always knowing what’s goin’ on with me. She knew we was havin’ sex long before that embarrassin’ conversation. She knew when I took that kid’s video game even though he never told a soul ‘cause I told him I’d beat the shit outta him. I swore to her that he gave it to me. She knew I was lyin’ right through my teeth. The woman knows.”

Emma smirked. “You were such a bad kid.”

“I know it. And I’m tryin’ to be better. Look how good I am with you. You know I ain’t even smoked up since we got together?”

“I didn’t know you smoked weed to begin with,” Emma said.

“Girl, you so naïve,” Anton said. “You met my friends?”

Emma grunted.

“Anyway, I’m tryin’ to be good but what choice did I have? That little muthafucka. I couldn’t let him talk to you like that, do what he did to you. What kinda boyfriend would I be if I let little bitches like Nate talk to you like that?”

“I appreciate you wanting to protect me or fight for my honor or whatever, but I can handle my own,” Emma said.

“Girl, please. You know you need me.”

He didn’t say it teasingly. He said it with all the seriousness of a black man who knows he’s dating a white woman in the uncertain world of high school.

Emma sat quietly for a time. She pretended to edit their paper when she was really running the words he just said over and over in her mind. Did she need him, she wondered? She wanted him; that she knew. But did she need him? And if she did, did that make her weak? Did that put her in a vulnerable position? What if one day he went away? Where would her need go? Would she transfer it to another boy, the next one to come along and tell her he loved her and would love her forever? An alarming feeling crept into her heart, and she tried hard to ignore it.

“I can’t believe no one went to the administration. How did you make it the rest of the day without being called to the office?” she asked. “I mean, didn’t somebody see Nate?”

“That little shit prolly left school. That’s what I’d of done if I was humiliated like that,” Anton replied.

“But still, no one went to the office?” Emma said.

“Jesus, Emma, can we talk about somethin’ else?”

Emma bristled. Anton noticed and rolled his eyes.

“I’m just tired of talkin’ about it. What’s done is done. Monday mornin’ come and I get in trouble, then I get in trouble. There ain’t nothin’ I can do about any of it right now, so I don’t wanna worry about it,” he said.

“I just don’t want you to get suspended on account of me. I mean, finals start next week,” she said. “And you should care about that.”

“Baby, I do care. They not gonna say I can’t graduate. I don’t want you worryin’ about me,” Anton said holding his arms out for her.

She put down her pen and went to him. She let him snuggle her against his body, running his hands up and down her back.

“Now this make me feel better,” he said contented.

Emma, however, did not feel better. She couldn’t lie there with him silent when a million thoughts and questions were running through her mind. She sat up abruptly.

“He lives in this neighborhood, Anton,” she said.

“Who live here?”

“Nate. Nate, Anton. You know who I’m talking about,” she snapped.

“And?”

“I just think you went about it all the wrong way. You two were best friends. You should have tried to talk to him and—”

“Emma, you need to stop right there,” Anton interrupted. “Did he not harass you at school? Did he not put his hands on you?”

“Well, yeah but—”

“Enough. Nobody gonna get a talkin’ to about somethin’ like that. They gonna get the shit beat out of ‘em. I can’t believe you sittin’ here worryin’ about my friendship with Nate. He killed that when he touched you.”

“I just thought that—”

“Well, stop thinkin’ then,” Anton interrupted.

“Excuse me?” she asked.

“Emma, you was a victim and I stuck up for you,” he said.

“Well, maybe I don’t want to be a victim. Maybe I could have handled it myself. But I didn’t get a chance to because you took care of it for me. You know, you can’t do that all the time.”

“I’m sorry. Did you say you was gonna handle it? Because I remember you cryin’ yo’ eyes out to me in the courtyard,” Anton said. “And anyway, what’s wrong with beatin’ the shit outta some punk who’s messin’ with my girl?”

“What if you’re not there one day? Huh? I have to be able to deal with things on my own,” Emma said.

“You actin’ like I’m goin’ somewhere. I ain’t goin’ nowhere.”

“I know that, Anton. I know. It just makes me feel weak and helpless,” Emma said quietly.

Anton thought for a moment.

“Emma, I don’t mean to make you feel that way. But I’m yo’ boyfriend and it’s my job to protect you. And don’t say it ain’t ‘cause it is. And I want to. And Nate? He just a mean guy. He losin’ it, I really think he is. And I don’t want you to feel like you gotta go up against him alone. He crazy. I don’t know what he do. You understand I was just doin’ what I thought was right?”

Emma nodded.

“I still think you scrappy,” he said trying for lightness.

She smiled and bent to kiss his lips. He pulled her down on top of him and let her kiss him thoroughly.

“You so tiny,” he said feeling the full weight of her body on his. She felt like a blanket to him, warm and light.