“This is Angela,” her mother said when she answered the phone.
“Ma, hi,” Kenya said.
“Hey, baby. Is everything all right?”
“I can’t just call and say hello?”
“Not when you should be in class, and not when I’m at work.”
“You’re the editor, Ma. You don’t get busy until later.”
Angela sighed into the phone. “And I know when my daughter has something she wants to ask but is afraid to do so.”
“Uh, well, I kinda got into a little trouble.”
“Hold on,” Angela said.
Kenya heard her mother close the door to her office. She knew this wasn’t going to be pretty.
“Kenya Denise Taylor, are you pregnant?”
“No. Ju-just suspended,” Kenya said, formulating the lie in her head.
“What! What happened?”
“Uh, I-I got into a fight.”
“Kenya, what in the hell is wrong with you? You’re a senior about to graduate. Do I need to come up there and talk to the chancellor? I can’t believe you did something so stupid as to get into a fight. Tell me that it didn’t have anything to do with Maurice.”
“Ma, I’m sorry. Okay, I’m not going to lie to you. Maurice and I broke up, and this campus is too small for me to see his face every day, and it was really nasty, and I just want to get away.”
For the first time since she’d caught Maurice and Lauryn, Kenya sobbed uncontrollably. She told her mother the entire story about catching Maurice having sex with Lauryn and the rumors.
“You can’t run from them, baby,” Angela said.
“Ma, you wanted me to go to Clark Atlanta, and now I want to go there. I don’t see the problem.”
“The problem is, I don’t want you to think that you can cut and run when you face some adversity. I know he was your first love, but you will get over it.”
“Easy for you to say. You married your first love. Ma, please, I can’t stay here and be subjected to seeing him with her and hearing all the rumors. Please, I’ll do anything.”
“Let me talk to your father, and we’ll get back to you tomorrow. Go to class, and ignore all the talk.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Kenya said, all the while thinking, Easier said than done.
Maurice rushed to the infirmary when he heard that Lauryn was there. He hoped that the reason behind her being there was another rumor. There was no way Kenya would have pushed her down a hill. That wasn’t in her nature. Then again, Kenya was mad as hell, and there was no telling what she was capable of.
God, I hope Lauryn isn’t hurt and Kenya doesn’t get into trouble for this, he thought as he opened the door to the infirmary. Maurice found Lauryn sitting on a bench, with a sling on her arm.
“Mo, Kenya tried to kill me,” Lauryn said.
“What happened?” he asked as he sat down beside her.
“That fat sow pushed me down the hill beside the student union.”
Maurice pulled her into his arms. “I’ll talk to her.”
“No, don’t. Just ignore her. I’m going to press charges with campus police.”
“Don’t do that. Kenya is upset about us, and you really can’t blame her.”
Lauryn pushed away from him. “Hello! I’m your woman now, and my arm was nearly broken.”
“You want her to get kicked out of school? Come on, Lauryn. Your arm isn’t broken. Just let it go.”
“Okay, who do you want? Me or her fat ass?”
“I’m with you, but you don’t have to bad-mouth Kenya.”
Lauryn pushed her hair back with her unbandaged hand. “Fine, but you’d better keep her away from me.”
“Forget about Kenya. Come on. Let me pamper you until I have to go to practice,” he said as he scooped her up into his arms.
Maurice couldn’t help but wonder if he’d made a mistake letting Kenya go.
Two weeks later, Kenya got the okay from her parents to come home to Atlanta. Though she’d have to start over at Clark Atlanta as a junior, it was well worth it. Watching the romance of Maurice and Lauryn was sickening. And to add insult to injury, Lauryn now had the entire campus believing Kenya was out to get her. She was happy to go home.
The day she packed her things, Maurice showed up at her dorm room. “Kenya?”
“What do you want?” she said, not looking up at him.
“What are you doing?”
“Minding my business.”
“Are you leaving school?”
She slammed her clothes into her suitcase, then looked up at him. “Maurice, get away from me. You gave up the right to know what I’m doing when you put that girl on top of you.”
“You fought so hard to come to school here, and I don’t want you to leave because of me,” he said. Maurice timidly stepped inside the room.
“Aren’t you just full of yourself,” she snapped. “Who cares what you think?”
“I still care about you, Kenya. Are you going back to Atlanta?” What he wanted to do was reach out to her, but the fiery anger in her eyes pushed that thought out of his head.
“Get out. Don’t worry about where I’m going. Just know I won’t be around you and your little tramp anymore. You win, Maurice. You and Lauryn drove me away. You broke my heart beyond repair, and I’ll never forgive you for that. I hate you as much as I loved you. Now, get out of my way before I do something that I will regret. Enjoy, but regret.”
“Kenya—”
“Out!” she said. She knew that she was using anger to mask her pain, and though she wanted to hate him, she couldn’t and didn’t.
“So, this is how it’s going to be? We’re not even going to try and be friends?”
She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. “Friends? Let me put it like this, if you were on fire, I wouldn’t spit on you unless I had gasoline in my mouth. You snuck around behind my back to be with her. Would a friend do that? Would a friend lie to my face over and over again? Hell no, we’re not friends, and we never will be again. Now get out of my face.”
A wave of sadness washed across his face. “I still have love for you, Kenya, and if you ever need anything. . .”
She picked up a broken shoe and threw it in his direction. Quickly, Maurice ducked out of the way.
“I need you to get out of my room and out of my life!”
Maurice walked away from the door, and Kenya thought that would be the last time she ever saw him.
DAFINA BOOKS are published by
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Copyright © 2009 by Cheris Hodges
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ISBN: 978-0-7582-8179-1
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