The tips of his shoes sat beneath my chin. “Well, tell me what I want to hear.”
Dio and I shouted in unison. “Courage, discipline, community, leadership, brotherhood!”
“Go get those other niggas,” Jesaiah said to the other brothers.
He squatted down between Dio and me. “You slime-ass niggas will pay for this, and your brothers will suffer too. NumberSeven, what are the principles, and make sure you add my name to that shit,” he gritted as his eyes became fixed on Dio.
I watched as Dio’s face became angry. “Courage, discipline, community, leadership, brotherhood! Dean Big Brother,” he paused.
“I don’t hear you, Slime!Again!” he barked in his face.
Dio’s arms shook. His eyes became focused ahead, and the veins in his face protruded. I knew he didn’t want to say it, but I also knew that Jesaiah didn’t like him for some reason, so I jumped in. “Dean Big Brother God’s Gift. I will carry my brother!”
Jesaiah turned toward me like I had lost my mind. This was a part of becoming, right? Picking up the slack for your brother. However, my best friend was turning into the enemy as his eyes narrowed in on me while speaking to Dio.
“Number Seven, give me fifty.”
With each push-up Dio completed, I could tell he grew angrier. His face shook as a deep red color fought its way through his brown skin. He didn’t look at Jessiah or me, but rather straight ahead as he pumped each push-up until he was done. Jesaiah turned to me, still speaking to Dio. “Number Seven, carry your fucking brother.”
“Nigga, what?” I mumbled, confused.
There was no way Dio was going to carry my big ass. Now I knew this nigga Jesaiah was losing his mind. He moved closer to me, damn near sizzling in the mouth. His head turned toward Dio.
“I said Number fucking Seven needs to carry his brother. Do we have a problem, Number Six?” he spat as he cut his eyes at me.
I knew Jesaiah was doing this shit on purpose. I now felt bad that I let my emotions get the best of me because even though we all should have been suffering, it was Dio who was taking the blows.
PHOEBE
I walked out toward the yard looking for Xavier, but he was nowhere to be found. I knew I was a little late meeting up with him, but Percy kept begging to see me, and I wanted to end it. I pulled out my phone to call him, and he didn’t pick up. I waited a few minutes to see if he would call me back, but he didn’t.
“Whatever,” I mumbled, annoyed.
I walked toward my car but chose to detour to his dorm instead. There was no way he could dodge the fact that I was waiting for him and he failed to show or answer his phone. I wandered through the campus, observing a few students hanging out randomly on the lawn. As I neared Avery Hall, someone stopped me.
“You hang with them Zoo niggas or what?”
My lips curled up as I stared at the guy in front of me. “What are you talking about?”
He rubbed his hands together. “I saw you with that nigga Xavier. Come over to the blue side. It’s fun over here. I’m Papi, and you are?”
I rolled my eyes. “A girl who isn’t interested,” I hissed and walked off.
“It’s like that?” I heard him yell.
Ithrew up the middle finger as I jogged up the steps until I was inside. The hall was oddly quiet, making me feel like the loud one. When I reached his door, I knocked and waited for him to answer. It took a minute, but when the door opened, he stood there with basketball shorts on and no shirt.
“Hey. I tried calling you,” I said with a weak smile.
“I know. You didn’t show up.”
“Damn. I was late, but it wasn’t by—”
Then I saw Miss Toussaint behind him, sliding on a shirt. He slowly glanced over his shoulder and back at me. For the first time, I felt dumb. I knew I couldn’t get mad because I had my own thing going on, but deep inside, a piece of me broke. I knew I made the decision to cut him off, but seeing him with her made me feel some type of way.
“I-I didn’t know you had company.”
“Something like that. I’ll get up with you, though.” He paused.
