“I tried, but I ain’t got enough rizz to pull a senior cheerleader.” He chuckled. “Gianna, huh? So, you’re taking the Hollywood route?”
AJ snickered. “Whatever, bruh.”
“But seriously man… you might want to reconsider. You know there’s people talking about Hollywood’s mindset because he like his girls big?”
“Nah, I ain’t hear that.”
“Yeah. So the girl you choose to pop out with matters, bruh.” He paused. “You know everybody’s saying it’s Ms. Payne in that picture.”
“I know. But what football player you know has a girl that teaches high school English? Maybe Ms. Payne has a sister,” AJ speculated.
“Maybe. Because I ain’t never seen Ms. Payne wear a dress like that. Have you?”
“Nah. She dresses like a teacher.”
“You know, for an old lady, Ms. Payne is kinda bad. No cap! I mean she’s big, but that’s what happens when you hit middle age.”
Middle age? I’m thirty!
I’d heard enough.
With my phone in one hand and my water bottle in the other, I got up from the chair.
“Aye yo, Ms. Payne could be back any minute,” AJ warned with a laugh. “You’re going to feel funny if she comes around that corner while you’re talking shit.”
“I’m not talking shit! I’m just saying she look good for her age. And—hey, Ms. Payne,” the boy squeaked with wide eyes.
AJ spun around; his eyes were also wide. “I wanted to come talk to you about the test on Monday. Are you, um, were you in there the whole time?”
“Yes.”
The other boy, Derrick, was a football player in the tenth grade. He was in Alexa’s English class, so I didn’t recognize his voice. He made a face. “Did you, um… did you hear us?”
“Hear what?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.
Derrick shook his head. “Nothing. I should get going.” He turned and jogged away.
“Slow down!” I called after him. Shifting my attention to my actual student, I beckoned for him to follow me. “What did you need, AJ?”
“You know what? It can wait.” He started backing away. Before he turned to jog after his friend, he cocked his head to the side. “Do you have a sister?”
I went back and forth for a second because I knew why he was asking. “No.”
His smile grew. “Oh okay.”
I made it through the rest of the workday with composure, but the minute I got into my car, I researched the Defensive Player of the Month controversy. There was a popular comment on a video that mentioned it, but I hadn’t heard anyone else really talking about it. My eyes widened as I saw at least five videos claiming that Lamar wasn’t worthy of a leadership award because he was making “bad decisions.”
How does dating me have any bearing on his performance on the field?
I drove home and couldn’t stop thinking about how they were essentially trying to punish him for dating me—and they didn’t even know for sure that we were dating.
Stresseddidn’t even begin to describe how I felt. When I’d seen thecomment before, I’d known it was an issue. But after going down the rabbit hole, five videos led me to ten more, I felt sick. Seeing people damn near campaigning to not vote for him because of me gave me anxiety.
“This is fucked-up,” I muttered as I got home.
I knew I needed to talk to Lamar about it, but I was nervous. I thought it would come across better hearing it from me, but since the situation was so problematic, nothing could really make it better.
Jazmyn Payne:Can we get together tomorrow and talk?
