"Hey," he replied, then covered the length of her room in two steps and swept her up into a melting kiss.
"Reyna," he whispered, staring into her eyes. "This thing between us ... this is real. This isn't some high school crush."
Reyna closed her eyes and nodded. She knew what he was saying was true.
"Look at me, Rey." She lifted her lids and stared into his gorgeous soulful blue eyes. "I'm not going to let you throw this away just because some stupid cheerleaders give you the stink eye or because you don't want to disappoint your MSA friends."
She smiled guiltily. "How did you know?"
"I know you." He gave her a peck on the lips. "You can't hide anything from me. I know you better than I know myself."
The kissing resumed. And though with each touch of their lips the passion intensified, a peaceful calm befell them both as if they could live and die in each other's embrace and be equally as happy. He led her to the bed then removed his shirt. Reyna traced the muscular landscape of this bare chest until she reached the tufts of hair peaking out of his low-lying khakis. A desire welled in her that she had never felt before. She wanted him. She wanted him badly, but she felt there was something he needed to know.
"I'm a virgin, Scott."
"I know."
"How?"
"I told you, you can't hide anything from me." He kissed her forehead. "We'll take it slow."
As he kissed her neck, he slowly unbuttoned her shirt and caressed the smooth skin underneath it. His warm hands cast a spell on her that rendered her utterly relaxed yet poignantly excited at the same time. He was able to keep her in this same state of tortured bliss as he expertly worked off all her clothing.
After easing her head to the pillow, he kissed down the center of her body lingering at her belly button. Giving special attention to this seemingly unimportant part of her stomach excited her in ways she didn't know possible. Scott's warm hands had begun to massage the insides of her thighs when loud screams and cheers startled them both.
It took Reyna a moment to orient herself and remember that she was in her bedroom upstairs while her father was hosting an election night watch party downstairs. Scott and Reyna eyed each other, and then burst out laughing. It somehow seemed odd to be having such a special and sensuous moment while people were partying just feet away. Reyna wondered how her classmates were able to ‘hook up' all the time under similar circumstances. She stared into Scott's eyes as he rested his chin on her stomach and stared back at her and realized something. Those other people were just having sex. She and Scott were about to share something deeper.
Scott rolled over and reached for his shirt.
"We can continue this later. I think something important is happening downstairs."
After dressing, they walked hand in hand into a celebration.
"What's going on?" Reyna asked.
"Obama won!" Her father said through tears of joy. "I never thought I'd see this day in my lifetime. We have a black president."
Overwhelmed with emotion, she hugged her father. Looking over at Scott, she could tell he didn't understand the true importance of the moment so her father decided to explain.
"Scott, do you realize that only forty-five years ago we weren't allowed to vote? We weren't even allowed to share the same drinking fountain with a white person. Before then, we weren't even considered full human beings, only three-fifths of a person. There was a time when what you and my daughter have would have not only been unacceptable, but punishable by death." Walter put his hand on Scott's shoulder and said, "Son, this is change. This is true change."
Scott smiled at Reyna and said, "Change is good."
Chapter 17
“Did I ever tell you about your grandfather?” Sam asked as I walked past the trophy room toward my room. I peeked inside the darkened room. Sam sat on the floor in a darkened corner, her silver medal in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other.
Of course she had told me of my grandfather. Several times actually. Whenever the whiskey came out, stories of my grandfather were soon to follow.
“He was my trainer, you know? Every morning since my tenth birthday we would run five miles together. He came to every single one of my games. Even if it meant missing work, he was there. He lost two jobs because of me.” Sam took a long swig of whiskey. “That gold medal was supposed to be for him. I was supposed to win it for him and I failed. I told everyone I would win it for him. I’m so ashamed.”
My grandfather died of a heart attack in South Korea just a week before her event. It turned into the human interest story of the Olympics. I looked up the headlines from local and national newspapers and most of them were some variation of “Eighteen-Year-Old Samantha Kincaid Vows to Win Gold for Her Father.” The press ate it up. She was America’s darling until the day she had to compete. She came in fourth in long jump, high jump, and 800 meter. Then in her last event, the 5000 meter, she finally medaled. But it was silver. She was devastated and has been ever since.
I knew how much pain she was in. I think that’s why I gave her so much latitude with how hard she pushed me. She needed me to win that gold medal for her father. Only now, I wasn’t sure that would ever happen. It was amazing how quickly my priorities changed. I didn’t care about Sam’s plans anymore. All I cared about was Reyna.
“You know, you and Reyna have so much in common. You’re both strong and determined. You both lost a parent tragically. I bet you’d really get along with her if you gave her a chance.”
Sam rolled her eyes. “Give her a chance to what? Ruin your life?”
“How exactly would she ruin my life?”
She glared at me. Then she struggled to her feet. She wobbled from side to side and finally leaned against the wall for support. I resisted the urge to lend her a hand.
“You listen to me, Scott Kincaid. We’ve worked too hard for you to get distracted. I’ve given up too much for you. I’ve let you have your way on a lot of things. You owe me.” She stumbled toward me in the dark.
“What things? When do I ever get to make decisions about my life?”
“I let you give up track in exchange for football all during high school.”
“Oh, big whoop! And you still made me swear to go back to track in college and try for the Olympics senior year.”
“Exactly! You swore you’d focus on track. What’s gonna happen when you get that horny little gold digger pregnant? You’d give up everything to support her wouldn’t you?”
“In a second,” I said without even thinking. I suddenly realized how true those words were. If it came down to a choice between sports and Reyna, I’d choose Reyna every day of the week and twice on Sunday. The thought didn’t scare me, it excited me. I wanted my life to be with Reyna. I wanted to spend my life with her. “That’s what you’re really afraid of isn’t it? You know I would give up everything for her.”
“Everything down the toilet,” my mother continued as if she didn’t hear me. “Gone. Everything we worked for gone. My father’s memory gone!”
“Your father’s memory is not my responsibility!”
Sam reached out and slapped me. She had never hit me before. Ever. She might drive me to exhaustion day in and day out, but in eighteen years, she had never ever laid a hand on me.
She dropped the whiskey and gasped into her hands. “I’m sorry, Scott. I didn’t mean that.” She reached for me, but I stepped away.
“Maybe you should start caring about the family you have that’s still alive,” I said before storming off to my room.
Chapter 18
Reyna and I held hands as we entered Charleston Prep the next day. We wanted to put up a united front. We thought that together we would be strong enough to overcome the staring and the whispers. But as we entered the main building, staring was the least of our worries. I didn't know whether we would be strong enough for what awaited us.
A crowd had formed just through the front entrance. Two janitors struggled to take down a large banner that draped from the
second floor stairwell railing down to the first. They didn't move fast enough. Reyna got a full glimpse of the picture of a monkey in a suit holding a banana in each hand. The caption read: There's a monkey in the white house. Bananas for everyone.
Reyna's suddenly cold hand slipped from my grasp. She stood with her mouth agape and eyes wide, staring as the huge banner was finally released and sailed to the floor.
I tried to wrap my arms around her. I knew this had to be upsetting to her. She probably saw it as a racial attack. It was upsetting to me and I wasn't black. It was a disrespectful and outrageous stunt and I hoped the people responsible were soon brought to justice.
She was shaking in my arms. I knew she wanted to cry, but pride prevented the tears from falling.
"Reyna, we're having an emergency MSA meeting in the junior lounge," a black girl that I didn't recognize said. It was pretty sad that I didn't know her name, considering there were only ten or eleven black kids in the entire school. When I thought about it, I only knew the names of the black guys because they happened to play sports with me.
Two other girls stood in the corner crying. Reyna walked over to them and placed reassuring hands on their shoulders as she led them toward the junior lounge. I wondered what they would be meeting about. I so wanted to go in there and find out, but I couldn't. I was white.
"I can't believe they elected a black person," Amber said, sidling up to me as if nothing had happened and we were still boyfriend and girlfriend. "The whole country's gonna be on welfare soon." She tried to entwine her fingers into mine, but I shook her loose.
"What are you talking about?"
"Obama. I bet the number of people on welfare is going to triple. Even rich black people will go on welfare. Even Reyna's gonna line up for handouts." She giggled.
I looked at her like the completely insane lunatic that she was. "Don't talk about my girlfriend like that."
"Girlfriend? But ... what about us?"
I shook my head and walked away. I couldn't talk to her anymore. After a few steps, a thought entered my mind.
"Amber, did you have anything to do with this?" I asked, stepping toward her.
Amber shrugged. "What's the big deal? It's just a joke."
"What's the big deal?" I wanted to throttle her. But then again I wouldn't have completely understood it either if I didn't have Reyna. Amber would never understand what Reyna's life was like.
Once in ninth grade, Reyna had a fight with Sam. She was over at my house playing video games with Stu and me. It was perfectly innocent, but Sam called her a nappy-headed hoochie who was just trying to get into my pants. Reyna held her own in the verbal altercation that followed and didn't let Sam see her pain, but later, while she cried in my arms, she explained how those words affected her.
Reyna studied day and night, read books constantly, volunteered to help people in her spare time and basically worked her butt off in every area of her life, but it didn't matter. When people looked at her they still saw a "hoochie," as my mother so eloquently put it. Even in her village in Puerto Rico, some people wouldn't talk to her because they thought she was too dark and her hair was too curly. They thought she was beneath them. Her friendship with La Cienega got her through some of those tough times.
And now, in the year 2008, a black man —the future president of the United States — was called a monkey just because of the color of his skin. I wondered how much things had really changed.
***
Principal Woods called a school wide assembly to discuss the banner and its implications. He invited a youth minister from a local church to come and speak about acceptance and tolerance. Then he asked for a representative of the MSA to come to stage. As president, I expected Reyna to go; what I didn't expect was for the entire club to go up. All the black students, two Asians, and one Spanish girl. They stood together as a united organization as the principal offered an apology for any discomfort the banner may have caused.
Reyna asked if she could speak, then stepped to the podium. She paused for a moment before letting her eyes scan the audience. She looked calm, composed, almost regal. Like her name implied, she looked like a queen.
"The fact that we have to have this discussion is disheartening to say the least. To think that in the year 2008 we are still fighting the same battles that an entire race of people have struggled with for centuries is a tragedy. Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Mary McLeod Bethune, Linda Brown, and Ruby Bridges are people that you may only think of in February. I think of them every day. They dedicated their life to changing the world so that I, Reyna Lewis, could even have the opportunity to sit next to you in such a prestigious school. But now I know that when I'm sitting next to you in English class sharing my notes, or when Lawrence is running in the winning touchdown, or when Andrea is singing next to you in the choir, that all you see are monkeys. Do you know how that feels?"
Whispers came from the audience. Some protested her words saying, "That's not true." or "It was just a joke." Others just cried.
Reyna paused and let crowd settle again.
"Now I know all of you don't feel that way. I also know that some of you know who is responsible for that ... that disgrace that hung from the banister this morning. An apology is not enough. Until the guilty party is brought to justice, I no longer feel safe or welcome in this community. Someone needs to be punished for this hateful act." Reyna left the podium and hugged a couple of the other members of MSA.
Derek, Lawrence, A.J. and Tyrone stepped forward. One by one they handed their football jerseys to Principal Woods. Then Derek said into the microphone, "You can win the championship without these monkeys."
The audience erupted in anger. Coach Reed jumped out of his seat. "Wait a goddamn minute. You can't do this," he said. The boys just turned and walked off the stage. "Martin, tell them they can't do that," he said to Principal Woods. "That's nearly my entire defensive line. And Lawrence plays both sides. He's my best wide receiver! We can't win without four of my best players." Principal Woods was at a loss for words. He tried to calm the audience down by offering words of reassurance, but his calm monotone voice just seemed patronizing.
"I'm sure we can work something out. Lawrence, you’re endangering your athletic scholarship to USC," he said.
Another MSA member, someone else I didn't know, grabbed the mike of the podium and said, "We'll work something out when the bastards that made that sign get expelled. Until then you've got your great white hope in Scott Kincaid. Let's hope he can save you on his own!" Reyna snatched the microphone away from her and led her off the stage. I could tell from the look on Reyna’s face that she didn’t approve of such a comment.
Why was I getting brought into this? A heat rushed into my neck as I thought about the repercussions of losing Derek, Lawrence, A.J. and Tyrone. Of course, we still had Andrew, Ben, Harry, and Freddie. They were seniors as well and had played with me throughout my high school career, but they were nowhere near as fast as the black guys. I’m not being stereotypical when I say that the black guys were the best on the team. They were. What was I gonna do? I would have to run in every play in order to secure this victory. Coach might even have to put me on defense as well. And the way my body was behaving, I didn't know if I could take a night of playing both sides. It was getting difficult just getting out of bed. How would I ever handle winning a state championship practically on my own?
Chapter 19
Reyna knew nearly every Charleston Prep high school student by name. With only about one hundred kids per grade, it wasn't that difficult of a task. She was even pretty close to some of the white students, hanging out with them at parties or going to the movies with them on weekends when it didn't interfere with her studying. She considered a lot of Charleston Prep students her friends. But now she wasn't so sure. Walking down the hall, she couldn’t tell who was really her friend and who thought she was a monkey. The feelings of uncertainty and insecurity scared her.
"OMG, Reyna, that was such a great sp
eech," Maggie O’Shaughnessy said through tears. She hugged Reyna then added, "I just want you to know that I don't think you're a monkey. I'm going to do everything in my power to find the people who did this and get them expelled."
"Thanks, Mags," Reyna said. Maggie wasn't the first white student to tell her this, but she still wasn't comfortable. How was she to know what was really in people's hearts or what they said behind closed doors?
Reyna tried not to get emotional. She didn't want people to see her break down. Instead, she focused on righting the situation. During lunch, she sat at her computer and started writing a letter to the editor for the local newspaper. She needed to get the word out about this in order to put pressure on the school to do something. She could imagine the school trying to sweep this under the rug, hoping it would go away.
As she typed, A.J. came barging into the office. "Reyna, you gotta get outside. Reporters are here. They want to talk to you."
"What?" Reyna leapt from her seat and followed him to the front of the building. A Channel 2 news truck was parked and local reporter Stella Newman was interviewing Julie Randazzo. Apparently, Julie had taken a photo of the banner with her cell phone before it was taken down and sent it to the news station.
As soon as Reyna stepped outside, all eyes turned to her. Stella Newman approached her and asked, "Are you Reyna Lewis?" Reyna nodded. "Well, as president of the MSA, what is your position on the situation?"
***
I watched as Reyna spoke to the reporter, the epitome of grace and intelligence. I wouldn't be surprised if her interview made national headlines. It was that moving.
"Can you believe what a big deal they're making of this?" Carson Manning asked. He was a white player on the football team, but he spent more time on the bench than anything else.
"Who's they?"
"The black kids. I can't believe they're letting down their team and their school over a joke."
"A joke?"
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