Little Miami Girl: Antonia and Jahiem's Love Story

by Diamond Johnson

  Right before the bell rang was when I saw Antonia walk into the auditorium, but this wasn’t the dirty Antonia, this was a new and improved one. She wasn’t wearing the normal dirty blue shirt that she always wears. In fact, she had on a gold collared shirt, with our school emblem on it and a pair of khaki skinny leg uniform pants. On her feet were a pair of brown Michael Kors sneakers and she didn’t have her hair in a ponytail like she usually does. In fact, she had a gold head band, with her hair pushed back, flowing down her back.

  She wasn’t even wearing the big ass book bag that she normally wears, it had been replaced by a brown Michael Kors book bag that matched her shoes. She wore it on one shoulder because her other shoulder was in a sling. And was that a damn hickie on her neck? It sure was, I said to myself as I watched her take her seat in the third row of the auditorium. I kid you not, myself and every other senior was staring at her as she made her way to her seat.

  “Are y’all seeing this shit?” Meccah asked me and we all nodded our heads yes.

  I always knew that Antonia was pretty, but damn, now her ass was giving me and all of my friends a run for our money. During the whole presentation, I couldn’t keep my eyes of off Antonia, not to mention she had a phone now and she was texting someone the entire time that we were in the auditorium. Once the presentation was over, everybody who wanted to attend grad bash stayed, and the others who didn’t want to go left, going back to class. Of course we stayed, but I did notice Antonia get up to leave.

  “She in all of this designer, but can’t afford to go to grad bash,” Patrice said, causing all of us to laugh.

  Once the presentation was over, we all left the auditorium and I discussed with my friends where we would meet once lunch started. Thankfully, since we had the presentation this morning, we didn’t have to go to our first and second period class, leaving us to only go to one class and then it was time to go to lunch. I met my girls in front of the math building and we all walked into the cafeteria together.

  Right when we walked in, I saw Antonia sitting off to the side with her lunch tray on the table and her textbook open beside it. She was eating lunch and most likely studying at the same time. This is what the fuck Jah was attracted to? This bitch was just so damn lame and corny. Literally as I looked around, everybody was just in the cafeteria chilling with their friends and eating, but Antonia always had to be extra with her shit.

  “We should walk over there and say something,” Kelsey said.

  I shrugged like it didn’t matter to me and we all walked over to her. She was so busy highlighting something in the book that she didn’t even see us coming her way, but once we were standing directly in front of her, she looked up at me and smiled.

  “How much dick did you have to suck to get you some new clothes?” Meccah asked, getting straight to the point.

  I smirked at the comment and Antonia ignored us and continued to do her studying. She was never really a confrontational person, so I wasn’t shocked when she didn’t respond to what Meccah had said to her.

  “You only suffered from an arm sprain? I just knew that your aunt would try to do more damage once she found out about you skipping school and hanging out with Jah,” I said to her.

  Antonia put her highlighter down and looked up at me.

  “How do you know about that?” she asked me, and all of a sudden, it was like it registered in her brain. “You were the one that told my aunt about me being with Jah last week Friday? What the fuck did I ever do you, Tacarra, but try to be your friend?” she asked as tears formed in her eyes.

  I waved her dramatic ass off because she was really doing the most right now.

  “That’s what your ass gets for trying to be grown! You think you all that and you deserved that ass whopping!” I told her and laughed.

  Antonia stood up, and with her good arm, she pulled up her shirt. Instantly, I saw all of the bruises that she had on her stomach. “This is fuckin’ funny to you? Because of you, I got my ass dragged out of the damn shower and the reason why I’m wearing this sling is because my shoulder is sprained! You were that mad at me that you would run and tell my aunt some fucked up shit like that and you know the type of shit that she does to me! What was the fuckin’ purpose of you even inviting me on this trip if you were going to go out your way to make sure that you hurt me in the end? I considered you to be a friend, Tacarra. I had no one else at home, but I had you, or so I thought! Thank you for showing me your true colors. It took me all these years for me to realize that you were never my friend,” she said.

  I watched as she closed her textbook and stood up with her book bag and made her way out of the cafeteria. Everybody was looking at myself and my friends as we went and took our seats. If Antonia had said anything true in her Academy Award winning speech, it was that I was never her friend. Yes, that much was indeed true.

  Chapter 16: Antonia

  Two months later

  “Something came in the mail for you,” Porsha told me as I came into the house.

  It was Friday and I was just now getting in the house from school. My aunt and Porsha were both sitting in the living room watching TV. I walked into the kitchen, went over to the table and picked up the mail. I noticed that it was mail from the University of Miami. Instantly, my hands began to shake and get sweaty. This was the moment that I had waited for damn near all of my life, and the verdict was finally about to be in. I sat down on the chair because I needed to prepare myself for this. Just in case I didn’t like the outcome, I didn’t want to pass out or anything.

  “Father God, I come to you right now with a humble heart. Lord God, you know how much this means to me if I get accepted into this school. Lord, I pray that when I open up this envelope, I will be blessed enough to be reading an acceptance letter. Lord, I have been preparing myself for this very moment since day one, and this could be the moment that changes my life for good. I know in life I suffered some downfalls and I’m been through some things, which led to me questioning you. But Lord, I apologize and I ask that you forgive me for that. This is the moment right now, so please let it be what I’ve been hoping for. In all these things we ask in your son Jesus name, amen,” I said and then opened my eyes.

  “Here it goes,” I said to myself and then used my index finger to slide inside the envelope to open it. When I had it opened, I pulled the paper out and read it out loud.

  “Dear Ms. Antonia Taylor. I, Dr. Julio Frenk, the dean of University of Miami, am glad to announce that your application for admission into our institute has been ACCEPTED!” I screamed that part and jumped up out of my seat, clutching onto the paper, jumping up and down.

  “Shut up with all of that damn noise in my house!” my aunt barked.

  I walked out of the kitchen, over to her, clutching the paper.

  “Auntie, you don’t understand! I got in! The University of Miami wants me. They want me!”

  I was so happy that tears were falling from my eyes. I had never in my life been so proud of myself. I was even more proud than when I found out that I had been recognized as number two in my graduating class.

  “Do I look like I give a fuck about any of that shit? Go sit the hell down before I get up and get my belt,” my aunt said.

  I walked out of the living room, still with the smile plastered on my face. I went back into the kitchen and sat back down at the table, noticing that I had more mail. It was three envelopes and they were all from the school.

  I sat down at the table and opened one of them.

  Dear Ms. Antonia Taylor,

  It is a great pleasure to inform you that you have been selected to receive a University of Miami excellence scholarship.

  I skimmed through the rest of it, and when I saw the amount they were giving me, I damn near passed out. “University of Miami excellence scholars receive tuition scholarship of $10,000 dollars a semester,” I read aloud.

  Wow, these people would pay for my tuition if I wanted to go as far as getting my damn doctorate degree? And people
say that there’s no such thing as God! Man, if they don’t go on with that shit! I opened up the two other envelopes and the first one was from the D.M.H. Foundation Buy a Book scholarship, in which they were awarding me with $2,000 dollars a semester to pay for my books. I opened the last one, which was from Apple Scholars. They were awarding me my own Mac laptop and IPad. I read the letter and it was saying that I should receive the items in a few weeks or so.

  It was December and I knew for a fact that I wouldn’t be receiving any Christmas gifts from anybody in this house, but this topped any tangible item that I could ever receive. This was my Christmas gift to myself, and I had worked my ass off to get it. Not only was I going to University of Miami, but I was going to go there on a full ride. I got up from the table with the letters in my hands and my phone in my pocket then made my way out the kitchen. We didn’t have Wi-Fi in the house, so I was never really able to get a good signal, so I had to step outside.

  “I’m going to step outside for a minute,” I told my auntie and she ignored me, like I knew she would.

  I walked over and stood by the stairs and called Jah. I leaned against the wall and waited for him to answer the phone. “There you go. I ain’t hear from you all day, what’s up with that?” Jah asked me with an attitude.

  I smiled because I could tell that he was missing me. We weren’t really a couple; hell I didn’t know what we were because Jah didn’t want to put a label on whatever it was that we had going on. That day he fingered me in his bedroom was the most intense thing that we have done since. We would kiss every now and then, but he was treating me like his home girl, instead of someone he liked. It was crazy because every time we got into a heated kiss, I would always go for what was in his pants, but he kept claiming that I wasn’t ready for that yet.

  “We’re about to be on winter break soon, so we’ve been having a lot of testing before grades closed. I have some good news, where are you?” I asked him.

  “I’m at the shop now. I probably won’t be leaving forabout another hour or two. You trying to kick it with a nigga tonight?” he asked me and I smiled.

  “Yes,” I told him, with a goofy smile on my face.

  ‘Alright, when I leave here, I’ma go home and shower and shit and then I’ll come and scoop you,” he told me.

  “Okay,” I said and was about to hang up but he stopped me.

  “Wear that tight ass dress I got you the other day from BCBG,” he told me.

  I giggled and then hung up the phone on him. I knew exactly what dress he was referring to.

  Jahiem

  “Shorty, I’m out. I’ll catch up with you later,” I told this bad bitch named Winter who was lying down in her bed, knocked out after the three rounds of sex we just had.

  I met lil mama yesterday when she came into the shop to get a tattoo. She wanted this big ass butterfly on her ass, and I fell in love with how beautiful her body was. She ended up giving me her number and vice versa, and a day later, I was fuckin’ the shit out of her.

  I felt so damn bad because Antonia had just called me and I had to lie to her about where I was. At the end of the day, Antonia wasn’t my girl, so it wasn’t like I was cheating on her or no shit like that, but I knew she was feeling me and vice versa. I was scared to take that chance with her. She already had me doing shit that I didn’t normally do on a regular, and I was scared that she was going to change a nigga, which is why I was holding back some.

  “Are you going to come back over tomorrow?” Winter asked me, laying on her stomach with her hair all over her face.

  She had this innocent look about her, which drew me to her in the first place, but I knew for a fact that she and I would never be anything more than just a fuck. I didn’t care to know what was her favorite color, movie, or no shit like that. I just wanted my dick sucked from her and a couple of rounds, nothing more nothing less.

  “I’m at the shop tomorrow, but if I’m free, I’ll let you know,” I told her, slipping on my shoes and walking out of her room.

  I went home, took a shower, and found something to wear, and then I was finally pulling up to Antonia’s apartment complex. I shot her a text to let her know that I was outside because she still didn’t want me knowing where she lived, which was weird because we had been fuckin’ around for about five months now. I didn’t know if she was ashamed of her living arrangements or what, but she didn’t have shit to be ashamed about around me because I wasn’t going to judge her for anything.

  I waited for about five minutes and then I saw Antonia walking toward the car. Damn, if only this girl knew how beautiful she was. I smirked because she was wearing the tight fitting burgundy BCBCG dress that I had purchased for her. It stopped just above the middle of her thigh. A pair of light brown gladiator sandals from Steve Madden graved her feet. Her hair was straightened, with a middle part. She carried a brown off the shoulder bag. I unlocked the door for her and she climbed in.

  “What’s that big smile on your face? Who got you so happy?” I asked her as soon as she sat down in the seat.

  “This,” she said, going into her purse and handing me three envelopes.

  She watched me with this goofy smile on her face as I looked into the first one that was from the University of Miami. I pulled the paper out and read over it.

  “Wow, that’s what the fuck I’m talking about right there!” I said excitedly and then leaned over and kissed her forehead. I read through the other two, where she had received her scholarships and I was so damn happy for her. She had worked her ass off for this, and it was very much well deserved.

  “That’s good, Antonia, for real. I’m very proud of you,” I told her.

  “Is your mom and sister home? I wanted to tell them too,” Antonia said.

  Throughout the months that Antonia and I had been kicking it together, she had grown closer to my mom and Shaniqua.

  “Yeah, we can go swing by there if you want. I’m sure Shaniqua is over there because that’s where she usually stops when she gets off from work,” I told her and pulled out of the parking lot.

  “So, how was work today?” Antonia asked me.

  “Work was straight. I only had to do a few tattoos today.” It was killing me again to lie to her.

  Truth be told, I spent the whole damn day with Winter. Well, not really the whole day because I didn’t wake up until sometime this afternoon. When I saw that Winter had hit me up with her address, I took my shower, got dressed, and let my dick lead the way to her.

  The rest of the car ride was a silent one, with the exception of the radio playing. Ten minutes later, we pulled up to my mom’s house and we both got out. I went and opened the door for us and we walked on inside. I led the way and my mom and Shaniqua were sitting on the couch in the living room watching TV.

  “Hey Antonia,” my mom said, getting out of her seat to give Antonia a hug.

  “Damn, all you see is her? You don’t see a nigga standing right here?” I asked with a fake hurt expression on my face.

  Shaniqua came around and gave Antonia a hug as well and then me. I watched as Antonia handed my mother the papers. She was so happy for her, like Antonia was one of her kids who had been accepted into one of the best colleges.

  “This is awesome, baby girl, I’m very proud of you. Plus, look at all of this money they’re giving you too. You won’t have to come out of pocket for nothing,” my mom said, still holding the papers in her hand.

  Shaniqua expressed to Antonia how proud she was of her as well. I was just about to get up to leave, but Shaniqua said something that stopped me and I wish she wouldn’t have.

  “Where were you today? I dropped by the shop and Dee told me that you weren’t coming in today,” Shaniqua said.

  Dee was one of the tattoo artists at the shop. I watched as Antonia shot daggers across the room with her eyes and boy if looks could kill, I would be one dead ass nigga right now.

  “I was handling some business today outside the shop,” I said.

  My mama shot m
e a look too because she knew that my ass was lying. It’s like women specialized in that shit. They could just look at a nigga and knew when the shit coming out of his mouth was some bullshit.

  “Let’s go, Antonia. I want to take you out to eat,” I said and she stood up.

  She gave both my mom and sister a hug. I watched as my mom whispered something in Antonia’s ear and she nodded her head.

  Once they were done, we walked back outside and got in the car. I tried to be slick and turn the radio all the way up so that we wouldn’t have to have this discussion, but Antonia turned it down and faced me with a pissed off expression on her face.

  “I understand that I’m not your girlfriend, Jah, but don’t lie to me! Because when you lie to me, you’re proving to be just like everyone else who doesn’t give a fuck about me,” she said angrily, hitting the dashboard.

  Antonia was always cool about situations, so it was a shocker to me to see her this pissed off.

  “You right, and I’m sorry for lying,” I told her.

  “So where were you then if you weren’t at work?” she asked me, folding her arms across her chest.

  Damn, was she really about to make a nigga answer that question. Normally, I didn’t feel like I owed a bitch no type of explanation about my whereabouts, but Antonia was different. I respected her and I respected her feelings, but I knew that if I told her what I was doing today that it would crush her, so I opted not to.

  “You don’t need to know where I was at, just know I’m sorry for hurting you,” I told her.

  With tears dropping down her face, she turned away from me and said, “You’re just like everybody else that comes in my life. You don’t give a fuck about me, Jah. You don’t have to take me to dinner, you can just take me home, you liar!” she cried.

  I wasn’t about to argue with Antonia over this bullshit, so if she wanted to go home, then that’s where I was going to take her. I knew that I cared about her, hell didn’t the things that I was doing for her count for something? I fucked up by lying, yes, but damn, when she called, did she want me to tell her to call me back because I was getting some pussy at the moment?