Sun & Shyne 2: School Daze

by Sa'id Salaam

  “Hell yeah! I hit that over the summer,” he lied before he could stop himself. It was out now and was going to get them both fucked up.

  The brown skinned girl from the bus entered the class and looked around. The only empty seats were the one next to the boys and the one next to Shyne. She took the one next to Shyne. She sat and stared straight ahead as if Shyne wasn’t there. It was rude even though she didn’t mean for it to be. Her own single mom had attended this very same school and had given birth to her before she graduated. Her mother had gotten stuck here but she was determined to make it out. Shyne wasn’t there to make friends but she didn’t like being ignored, either.

  “I’m Shyne,” she offered along with her hand.

  The girl looked into her eyes before accepting her hand. “Bryonna,” the other girl said with a soft smile.

  By the end of class, they’d gleaned enough about each other to become buddies.

  “That must be the no perm section!” Ella joked as she passed by.

  “The Afro Puffs!” Shanika cosigned and cackled like the wicked witch of Wyandanch. That set off a round of insults and snaps that Shyne wasn’t taking.

  “Excuse me,” Shyne said politely and began to stand. She planned on politely removing the girl’s front teeth but Bryonna stopped her.

  “Don’t stoop to their level. Those girls will hurt themselves way more than you can hurt them!” she said, grabbing her new friend’s hand.

  “Oh, I doubt that,” Shyne laughed.

  “They ain’t worth it. In a year or two, they’ll all be pregnant or sick. Meanwhile, we’ll be living our dreams…marriage, children, houses…”

  “That’s what I thought!” Ella chided when she saw Shyne sit back down. “Fuck around and get some lumps on yo’ head!”

  ****

  Sun had gym first period with the pretty girl who’d gotten jumped at the bus stop. She was still pretty despite having a fat lip and a couple of knots on her head. He noticed her but he noticed the loud ratchet girls even more. All of them wore their school issued gym shorts a size too small to show off their thick thighs and fat asses. All the boys watched them as they twerked and loud talked. That is, until a basketball came out.

  Being a freshman meant Sun didn’t get picked for the first game. Instead, he called next and waited his turn. When it came, he showed out, scoring six of the seven points to win the game.

  “Who is that?” the basketball coach asked as he came out of his office. His assistant shrugged his shoulders since he didn’t know and continued watching the show. By the end of the next game, they had seen enough and approached him. “What’s your name son?”

  “Sun,” Sun replied and prepared for a ‘who’s on first’ debate.

  “Well, son, shoot again. Again. Back up, now shoot again. Again. Damn it, man, this kid can shoot!” the coach cheered. “You’re my new shooting guard!”

  “Okay,” Sun shrugged nonchalantly.

  The old shooting guard glared at Sun jealously. Sun had beef and didn’t even know it.

  ****

  Shyne and her new friend, Bryonna, were both honor students in honor classes, which gave them identical class assignments, so both girls had gym next period. Neither girl had nearly as much fun in PE as Sun had had.

  “Okay, girls, grab a pair of shorts out of the bin and get changed!” the girl’s gym instructor shouted while clapping her hands. Most of the girls rushed to the bin to comply.

  “Picture that!” Bryonna frowned at the notion of using used gym shorts. Shyne actually covered her mouth with her hands and wretched at the thought. Both girls had brought their own shorts from home and quickly changed into them.

  “Wow!” Shyne grimaced at the ghetto girls with used shorts pulled so tight into their used crotches that their ass cheeks were hanging out the bottom.

  They moved from the dressing room to the gym where the boys were.

  The ratchet girls immediately began to put on for the boys. They shook, popped, locked and dropped it low to a lukewarm audience. Most of the boys had already had sex with most of the girls and so they didn’t have much interest. In fact, Shyne and Bryonna got more attention sitting on bleachers. Once again, a bouncing basketball stole the attention of the boys in the class and they hit the floor.

  “Excuse me, young ladies,” Coach Jan said, smiling at the rarely used phrase to describe students.

  “Yes, ma’am?” the two girls sang, proving they were worthy of the title.

  “How would you two like to join the junior varsity cheerleading squad?” she cheered like a cheerleader herself.

  “A cheerleader?” Shyne asked to be sure she heard her correctly. “Like, in tiny skirts, kicking my legs and doing flips and splits?”

  “In front of men?” Bryonna tossed in. She loved to dance but putting for a bunch of men was out of the question.

  “Yes!” she cheered and clapped happily that they got it. “I would like it to be classy this year.”

  “NOT!” the two new friends announced in unison and high-fived.

  Coach Jan slinked away over to the ratchet girls. They wore short skirts and kicked their legs open for men daily, so why not do it with some pom-poms.

  ****

  It wasn’t until lunch that Sun and Shyne finally met back up. Sort of, since both were with new friends. Sun and the school’s point guard James had linked up. Sun immediately looked up to the seventeen-year-old junior. Shyne and Bryonna were joined at the hip. Both girls bypassed the cafeteria line since they’d both packed their lunches.

  “Them bitches think they all that!” Shanika pouted when Shyne pulled a thick turkey sandwich from her lunch bag. The chips, pudding and soda that followed only made things worse.

  “Bitch got lettuce, cheese, and tomato! She trying me!” Ella said as she grabbed her tray with the cardboard cutout fish plank.

  Bryonna added even more fuel to the hate when she removed a tuna sandwich with all the extras from her bag. To make matters even worse, neither girl ate all of their food. The bread ends and chip crumbs they threw away were a slap in the face to the hungry girls watching.

  “Yo, that’s a pretty little bitch right there!” James cheered when Shyne and her friend walked by.

  “Who?” Sun wondered, looking past his sister. James couldn’t have been referring to his sister as a bitch or pretty. He’d never considered his sister as being pretty since she was his sister. She was just Shyne.

  “In the white,” he said, staring at the back of Shyne’s loose fitting pants in search of her booty.

  “Yo, that’s my sister!” Sun said hotly. He wanted to hang out with the cool kid but Shyne came before anything and anyone else.

  “My bad. She cute, though,” James said, saving the friendship for now.

  ****

  Sun and Shyne shared a fifth period health class. She and Bryonna were already seated when he came in. He saw them and made his way over to check on her.

  “Sup, Shyne?” Sun asked instead of greeted. He’d already seen several fights and a robbery and wanted to make sure his sister was cool. He’d assumed that she was since he didn’t smell any smoke.

  “I’m good. This is my friend, Bryonna,” Shyne replied.

  Bryonna perked up and smiled at her friend’s handsome brother. How cool would it be if they all hung out together and one day got married?

  “Sup?” Sun said and then walked away without waiting for a response or taking a second look.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Bryonna reeled from the snub.

  “He stupid! Your pants aren’t tight and your chest isn’t out, so he don’t even see you,” Shyne said, twisting her face at her brother like he stank as he headed back to the back with the rest of the cool kids.

  “Anyway, you have a boyfriend?” Bryonna asked.

  Shyne’s face changed immediately along with the subject. “No, I’m engaged,” Shyne smiled, holding up her left hand as if she had a ring on it. “How about you?”

  “I jus
t turned fifteen, what I need with a boyfriend? The only thing a boy has to offer is something I don’t want. Won’t have me stuck in this town forever. Most of these boys will be dead or in prison before we graduate,” Bryonna explained. “What I need a bad rep or a baby daddy for?”

  Shyne nodded along as Bryonna preached to the choir. Bryonna was repeating all the same things that Yolo and Christi had already drummed into Shyne’s head. Memories of her mother put a smile on her face and muted her friend’s tirade.

  Good parenting made the girls content to be kids as well as look forward to the future. They had their whole lives ahead of them and wouldn’t mess it up now. Most of the other girls would have at least one baby before they graduated. Some wouldn’t even graduate. Instead, they’d drop out and settle for being on welfare, food stamps and living in subsidized housing. Having an apartment and food would give them a party place where they’d drink, smoke and fuck themselves to even more problems. More drugs and dicks would lead to more problems in the form of more kids, addiction and diseases. Some would graduate from forties and blunts to lines and crack pipes. A few would even end up selling heads and tails on Straight Path alongside mothers and aunts who’d also gone that route.

  The boys wouldn’t fare much better either. Being hip and cool was more important than staying in school. That’s why none of their favorite rappers encouraged it. Instead, they promoted reckless sex, excessive drug use and crime. The same fuck shit that had morgues and prisons filled to the rafters. Yet Sun was in the back of the class hoping to be down with them.

  Chapter 4

  “There they go!” a homely girl named Kelly shouted as she pointed out Shyne and Bryonna as they emerged from inside the school.

  The girls got in line to board the bus for the ride home. The cool kids hung back so that they could have an audience as they swagged to the back of the bus. Kinda like the Soul Train line.

  “It’s about to be on!” Ella said, punching her fist into her other hand. The girl was still hot about that turkey sandwich Shyne had eaten at lunch. Ella led the charge as the bus pulled up. When the door opened up, she shoved past Shyne to get on.

  “Bet!” Shyne laughed and accepted the challenge. She counted the six girls that followed Ella and put them on her list as well.

  “They’re going to jump us,” Bryonna groaned. The word ‘us’ proved that she was indeed a true friend. A fake one would have put some distance between herself and Shyne.

  “Ain’t enough of them,” Shyne laughed. She didn’t mind fighting but if they jumped her, she was going to kill all of them. The Plexiglas knife she had in her purse hadn’t set off the metal detectors but it was still deadly.

  “Them bitches got me fucked up!” Ella hooped and hollered on the ride home. She was trying to hype her friends as well as herself up for a battle.

  Meanwhile, Shyne, knowing what was to come, wore a sarcastic smirk. This was one of life’s be careful what you ask for moments.

  Shyne didn’t have to get ready for battle because she stayed ready for everything. Sun was near the back of the bus and heard the plans to jump his sister and her friend. Once it popped off, he would spring into action. He would fight a toddler if it fucked with his sister.

  Students bypassed their own stops hoping to see the fight. Most of the girls on the bus had been bullied or beaten up by Ella and her crew at one time so they hoped to see her finally get whipped. Today was their lucky day. The boys, on the other hand, tagged along in hopes of seeing some titties.

  “Just get behind me,” Shyne told her friend who looked confused by the order. “Trust me, I got this.”

  “Okay,” Bryonna shrugged and followed Shyne’s direction.

  “Talk…shit…now!” Ella shouted, punctuating each word with a hand clap.

  “I knew it. I just knew it,” Killa mumbled to himself when he saw his daughter in the middle of the commotion. He let out a sigh and turned on the video camera on his phone.

  “I’ll fight all y’all myself. Give me a one,” Shyne dared. “Line up, unless y’all scared.”

  “Scared! Sca- bitch!” Ella shouted and pranced around, putting on a great show. “Bitch, let’s get it!”

  Shyne smiled as Ella put her hands up and her friends lined up six deep. She knew the girl couldn’t fight by her stance and the way she held her hands. This was going to be ugly.

  “Ugh!” Ella shouted as she launched a wide, looping punch at Shyne. It was so slow that Shyne had time to giggle at it before ducking under it. She then unleashed left and right hooks to the girl’s body that caused her to lift up off her feet.

  “Shit!” Killa laughed as he filmed the brutal beating that followed.

  Shyne threw punches in bunches that left the bully lumped up and leaking. Finally, Ella tossed her hands up in surrender. Shyne had to fight the urge to really hurt the girl. She only spared her because of the line behind her.

  “One down…six to go,” she said, challenging the next in line to step up. She did and got knocked out cold by a kick to her chin. “Two down…two to go? What happened to the rest of them?”

  “They ran,” Bryonna laughed.

  The two that remained charged at Shyne. She could have and would have whooped them both but Bryonna joined in the fray. The boys finally got to see some titties when they beat the girls out of their clothes.

  “World Star!” Killa laughed and uploaded the video.

  ****

  “How in the world do you get into a fight on the first day of school?” Christi wanted to know.

  “It’s just what we do,” Shyne cackled. “For real, for real, they asked for it.”

  “Begged for it,” Sun added. “Dang! It’s on the internet already! How’d they get it so fast?”

  “Ion know,” Killa said with his hands up as if he really didn’t know. Everyone in the room squinted at him and saw through him. “At least you guys set the tone early.”

  He was right, too, because the mean girls fell back from picking on Shyne and Bryonna. Now it was, “Hey Shyne! Love your shoes, Shyne! Tell your brother I said hello, Shyne!”

  Shyne set the tone for herself early. Knowing that she would fight and could fight prevented anyone else from picking on her. Next came Sun’s turn.

  ****

  It was the start of basketball season and Sun was making a name for himself. He made the most of the first practice and impressed the coach. The coach may have been impressed but the old shooting guard, not so much.

  “Nigga ain’t all that!” T-Dub growled form the bench where Sun’s playing had sent him. No sooner did the words leave his mouth than Sun drained a long three-pointer.

  “He’s pretty good,” Cheese blurted without thinking. He knew his partner was a hater and haters needed company–with their miserable asses.

  “Thomas! Come check Forrest,” the coach called, putting T-Dub on the spot. Sun made mincemeat out of the boy trying to check him so he called for more help. “Double team him.”

  They could’ve triple teamed him and it wouldn’t have helped. He got it honestly since Killa was a beast with a basketball back in his day. He was quite the shooter before he became a shooter. To make matters worse, the cheerleaders worked overtime to catch his attention.

  “Give me an S…” Ella moaned and gyrated her hips as she began spelling Sun’s name. She then bent over and stole his attention by jiggling her ass cheeks.

  “I’ll take that!” T-Dub laughed and stole the ball. He only got to dribble it once before Sun took it back.

  “Beep-beep,” Sun laughed like the Road Runner and took off. T-Dub made the mistake of trying to block the shot and got dunked on.

  “Oh shit!” the whole gym shouted and cheered. Sun cheesed while T-Dub turned red.

  “I want a one!” T-Dub announced, swinging as he said it.

  Sun was slow to react and got popped in the mouth. He was mad at himself for allowing himself to get hit and took it out on T-Dub.

  “And you got one,” Sun said as h
e threw up his hands. As soon as T-Dub put his up, Sun dipped low and scooped him off his feet.

  “Oh shit!” the crowd repeated when Sun slammed the boy on his head.

  “Hey!” another coach shouted as he ran over to confront Sun. “How would you like to join the wrestling team!”

  Chapter 5

  Times flies when you’re having fun and the school year was over in a blur. Shyne grew even lovelier and curvier by the day and her father hated it.

  “What are you eating?” Killa frowned as Shyne breezed through the living room. She wasn’t allowed to wear little shorts or tank tops outside but it was her daily uniform around the house.

  “Regular food,” Shyne said in her fussy little manner.

  “Well, stop!” her father demanded. “I don’t want no more food in this house!”

  “That’s the one you need to be worried about!” Shyne said when her now six foot tall brother walked into the room. “Always talking to that nasty girl Ella and hanging out with those older boys!”

  “So snitches still get stiches, or that over?” Sun asked their father.

  “I ain’t snitching! I’m just telling daddy he’s gonna be a granddaddy soon.”

  “Man, I didn’t touch that girl!” Sun declared.

  He and his sister continued to go back and forth.

  “Excuse us,” Killa said, dismissing his daughter. Shyne stuck out her tongue at Sun as she left the room. “You got some ass yet?”

  “No,” Sun giggled refreshingly.

  Killa was proud to see that his children were still children. He’d noticed the changes in Sun as he pulled towards the streets. Killa knew it was a rite of passage that he would have to go through.

  ****

  “You coming to the store with us?” Asad asked when Sun joined him and Shyne downstairs.

  “Huh?” Sun replied to stall for an excuse. He couldn’t find one so he told the truth. “James is coming to pick me up to hang out.”

  “I don’t like him,” Shyne warned of the older boy.

  “You don’t have to. He’s coming to get me, not you,” Sun shot back in defense of his friend. A horn blasted, signaling his ride’s arrival, so Sun took off before she could reply.