Justin
"Alisa!" I am shocked. No, I can't describe what I am feeling. "Alisa?" I feel like I've seen a ghost.
"Hey, Just, long... time... no see," she said with a smile. "I wanted to say ...hi... and ah ...mmm...if maybe you've seen ..ah.. Brad?"
I'm still in shock....I can't believe she's talking to me...
"Justin..."
I think to myself that she looks good.
"Justin?"
First Alex and Brad get together, now Alisa is...
"JUSTIN!!!" she screams while smiling .
Suddenly, just like that, I'm brought back to reality, "What? You don't have to scream."
"Well I wouldn't have to if you didn't zone out on me. Gee. I know it's been a while since we've talked," she said starting to smile.
"A while, try three years," I say mockingly.
"What, was your phone broken, or did you just forget my number" she asked sarcastically.
"Oh so, I guess you're using a different form of communication device at your house." I said getting slightly irritated.
"Whatever, Look I only wanted to ask if you have seen or talked to Brad lately?"
"Since when has he become Mr. Popular?" I say with a slightly jealous tone.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she huffs back.
"Nothing, Lets just say you're not the only one who's taken an interest in Brad. So what do you want with him?"
"I just wanted to talk to him."
"What about?"
"Nothing."
"Yeah, right. What do you want to talk to him about?" I ask, now irritated that in three years she hasn't wanted to talk to me.
"I said nothing"
"So let me get this straight, after three years of not talking to him, me, or Alex, you suddenly come out of the blue and start talking to me only to find out if I have talked to Brad. And you just want to talk to Brad about nothing?"
"It's about something, but it's between old friends."
"Oh, so it is about something...well tell me, I'm an old friend." Now really wanting to know what she wanted.
"I'd rather ask ...I mean tell Brad."
"Oh, so you're going to ask him something. I wonder want you want to ask him."
"Nothing. Forget it."
"Oh come on, you can ask me."
"No."
"Ah come on, I thought we were old friends. After 14 years shouldn't you be able to ask me anything?"
"No Justin."
"Come on Alisa. Is it about me?"
Alisa
"No Justin. You're starting to act like a child now, so...so I'm leaving." I turn to leave.
"Oh, so I'm acting like a child now. Is that why you left the first time ...because we were acting like children?"
That stopped me dead in my tracks, and I turned around because he sounded hurt and angry. I don't want this to turn into a fight. After three years I do want to be friends again, but this is not how I wanted to start off renewing our friendship.
"That's not what I meant." I said as I walked back over to him.
" So what did you mean when you abandoned your friends?" he now sounded really upset, and I could see tears welling up in his eyes.
"You know what? I see that I am making you mad, and I remember how bad a temper you had when you where little. I'll talk to you later." As I turned around to leave, then he said something that made my blood boil.
"All grown up Alisa? You didn't want to hang out with the little boys anymore. Is that why you left us?. We had used up our usefulness, right Alisa? We were just playthings for you to practice with, Right Alisa?"
That did it. I turned and he had a smirk on his face, like he was enjoying pissing me off and saying those thing to hurt me. "Fuck you, Justin." I said and saw that a crowd was starting to gather around us. I started to quickly walk away, but then he started following me along with a small crowd.
He was yelling. "Come on Alisa! Tell us, tell us what 's like." We entered the hall outside of the lunchroom. He was still following me.
"So tell us Alisa! Tell us what it felt like to walk away from your friends, to stab us in the heart?"
I started to run. "That's it!"
He ran after me, still shouting. "That's it. That's the Alisa I know and Love." There was a small group following us. I started to cry, which caused me to slow down and then stop.
"Shut up." I yelled at him.
"That's it! Go on and run away, just like you do every time things don't go you're way!" He was now yelling in my face.
"Shut up!" I yelled back at him, now with tears flowing out of my eyes.
"Go on, do it! Go and do the only thing you're good at."
"SHUT UP! I WASN'T THE ONLY ONE WHO WALK AWAY!" I scream
"No, but you were the first one to."
"Fuck you! I didn't do anything to hurt our friendship"
"No, Alisa that's where you're wrong. You did by walking away, and by not standing up to your dumb friends when they said we weren't cool enough."
"I can't believe you're saying this to me."
"Or rich enough!"
"Your such an asshole," I said.
"Or what ever your friends were telling you!"
I had enough. I pushed him. "Oh and what about you, Justin. You're the biggest hypocrite!"
"What about me?"
"What about you? Look at what you did to Brad!"
"What I did? I wasn't the one who walked away. That was you, Alex and Brad!"
"Bull Shit!" I said, "I don't know why I came to you to talk about Brad," I said as I started to walk away again. Then I stopped and turned around, still with tears in my eyes.
"You know what? You talk a good game. You want to talk about me walking away from people, how I can't handle difficulty? Well let's talk about you and how you changed, how you hurt people. What you did to Brad was worse than me walking away from him. I can't believe I thought that Brad would even talk to you. God, I'm so stupid."
Suddenly his mood changed and he looked at the ground. "I never did anything to Brad."
"You did do something to Brad. Yyou told everyone he was gay."
"WHO TOLD YOU THAT?" he screamed, as he grabbed me by both arms and started shaking me.
Brad
RING, RING
!Finally! Lunch! I head out to my normal spot to eat, Washington Park. It's a small park next to our school. Before I go I have to make one call. I stop at the phones again.
As I dial I am expecting the answering machine. Ring...Ring...After 2 more rings the answering machine clicks on.
"Yo! Talk to Me...Beep," it says in his voice.
God, he hasn't changed in all this time. You'd think you would change your answering machine after all this time, I've only got 30 seconds, so I'll make this quick ...Alex ...thanks...I thought those guys were going to kill me. I'm sorry I got you into this. I am really, really sorry. Well that's all I wanted to say tha..." the answering machine beeped before I could finish. As I hang up my eyes start to well up. I look around and I am alone again. Then I start to walk to the park.
Alex
I still can't believe Mike is teaching here. Shit, after his dad died and he left for school he was down in the dumps. As a matter of fact I was too. I think we both picked each other up those two years, then he went to play overseas and we just lost touch. I am lost in thought and not paying attention to where I am going until I hear "What's up, O...I mean Alex." Derrick says with a smile. "Whatcha doin over here?"
As I look up I realize where I am. "Wrong turn man," I say smiling back.
"I don't think JC has seen you yet. He got back today...like you I guess?"
"Yea, I don't see him... I'd better leave before..."
"O!" someone screamed across the court..
Have you ever been driving and taken a wrong turn and ended up in the wrong part of town? Well that is how I felt when I snapped out of my trance. I had walked right into the court, not my favorite place. Hell, I tried to stay away from it is best as I could, because of one person JC Butler."
"What the Fuck is you doin here?" he asks as he gets in my face.
"Ah fuck!" I say under my breath as I turn to start to walk away.
"Stop runnin like a bitch and face me, punk, O." He says.
I turn around and there he is with his friends.
"For the last time, don't ...call...me...O!"
"I'll call you what ever I want to. O"
"You know what why don't I just leave... I don't have time for this."
"I do not have time for this," he says, trying to mimic me and getting to crowd to laugh.
"You know what? You can play your games with someone else. I'm ghost."
"Yep, that's one thing you are is "WHITE" as a ghost, O."
"Well, JC, you're an asshole."
"What's the matter O? Run out of wisecracks and now you're resorting to name calling?"
"Wow JC! You used a big word and mommy didn't even have to help." He stopped smiling when everyone laughed. "To answer your question, no. I can think of a few wisecracks and names to call you. But unlike you, my grades and school have started to become important. I don't feel like being left back a few years like you and your clowns. I'm not getting kicked out of school." Shit, why I am I letting him get to me? It's only going to start a fight. I turn to leave.
"I'm sorry, Alex. Don't leave yet. Since you don't like O, how about I call you something else? How about something that someone told me to call you this morning?" he says as I slowly turn around. Then it hits me. I remember Tony and his warning. JC sees the panic forming on my face. "Oh Alex, did I just strike a nerve?"
"I think this name fits you better than O, so instead of calling you that I'll just start calling you, FAG, like your boyfriend Brad." He says with a laugh.
At that point I have reached my boiling point "Fuck School!" Dropping my books, I charge at him yelling, "How about I make you my new bitch and knock you the fuck out like I did the last time!"
JC starts to smile when I charge him. Then suddenly he looks surprised as I am pulled back and everyone hears a voice. "You young men and ladies, and I use that term lightly, have five seconds to get the hell out of this courtyard. 5...4...3...2...1."
I have never seen kids move so fast. "Let me go!" I demand.
Suddenly I am dropped right down on my chest. Bbefore I can turn over I hear him say, "You know what, I'm tired of saving your ass. That's number three." As he leaves. I turn over and see Mike walk away from me.
" I'm sorry. Mike, I'm Sorry MAGIC!"
Now it's his turn to ignore me and walk away. I slowly get up and start to collect my book and go to my next class.