Page 3 of Halo: Tales Of A Hitman

“A girlfriend is a fun fact. Thank you for adding that, Darius. I see you are someone I’ll have to keep an eye on. My little motor mouth.” Mrs. Toll looked at him with the same smile she had given me earlier.

It made me jealous and I turned my nose up at him. The rest of the class continued introducing themselves and it pulled me from my anger to Darius. Mrs. Toll started teaching and she was better than Mr. Benton. The hour went by faster than normally and it was time for us to go to our last class.

Anna and I had the same last class which was English. When I got there, she was seated so I sat next to her. I opened my pencil box and gave her two sharp pencils with purple erasers on them. It made me feel like a man taking care of his woman, just like daddy taught me to.

English went by slow but eventually it came to an end. The bell rang and it was finally time to go home.

“I have to go to my locker first. But my brothers will be outside with their girlfriends.” I told Anna when we got in the hallway.

“Okay, I will have my sister, and we will be waiting with them.”

Anna left her way and I went mine. I forgot to put my history book in my bookbag so I could take it home with me. The sound of lockers slamming, loud talking, laughter and running. The end of the day was the only time teachers did not catch us running. It’s because they run just as fast as we do when the bell rings.

After I grabbed my book and zipped my book bag up. I put it on and headed towards the exit. As I walked, I spotted Darius and Mrs. Toll in her classroom. He was helping her clean up and put the art supplies away. The door was open and he was making her laugh as they cleaned up.

“Oh, hi Halo. Did you enjoy your last class?” She asked when she saw me.

“Yup, sure did. I can’t believe Darius is cleaning up. His locker is the messiest, I thought he hated being clean.” I shot shade at him.

“My locker is full of A+ papers dufus!”

“Shut up---”

“Boy. Boys. Let’s not argue or name call. Halo, I could always use more help if you’d like to join us.”

“He can’t because he has a girlfriend. The rules are, you have to walk her home if she lives close by. Anna’s house is two blocks before his, so he must walk her home.” Darius was annoyingly proud to tell her that.

I stood in the doorway ready to fight him. Mrs. Toll just gave me a nice smile and spoke.

“What a sweet gentleman you are Halo. Better not keep her waiting, I’m sure I’ll need you for something else another time. See you tomorrow in class.”

“Bye Mrs. Toll, drop dead Darius!” I yelled at him then ran down the hall and out the door before he could respond.

The sun hit my face when I stepped outside. School had only started three weeks ago. It was still hot outside like summer. My brothers, their girlfriends, Anna, and her sister Mina were waiting for me. As soon as I got with them, just like a typical ten-year-old, my brain forgot about today.

We played around while walking home. Greek wanted to stop by the candy lady house. It was sugar to our teeth, and we all ran in the direction of the house. Our parents always made sure we had money for school In case we wanted more to eat at lunch.

The school was selling something, or we wanted to go to the candy lady. We each got $5.00 a day unless it was bookfair day. Then we’d get $50.00. We got to her house and Greek knocked on the colorful door.

The rule was to make sure the ‘Open’ sign was on, knock once then walk inside. As soon as we did it was like stepping inside Candyland. Candy lady had it all, you name it and she had it. Juices, flavored pickles, chips, and snow cones as well. I could taste what I wanted already.

“Ooo, she has watermelon suckers and Nerds rope!” Anna was excited to point that out.

I went and picked them both up so I could get it for her. The sucker was fifty cents, and the Nerd rope was the same price. That was only a dollar, and I had more than that. I got Vitner’s hot chips, a green ring pop and two Slim Jim’s.

My brothers got them and their girls something too. I felt bad because Mena did not have anyone to get her something. So, I gave her my last seventy-five cents. We left candy lady’s house and continued walking home. When we arrived at Anna’s block I gave her a hug, she kissed my cheek and went off with her sister.

The only time you kissed on the lips was when you made it official, those were the rules. Golden’s girlfriend lived on Anna’s block too, so he said goodbye to her. The next block was Greek’s girlfriend’s then it was finally our block.

We lived in a big house on W. Seven Mile where other big houses were as well. Ours was light brown brick, big driveway, backyard and six bedrooms. It was the fifth house from the corner we turned down. As soon as we reached our block, we would take off running.

“I’m about to whoop some ass!!” Mommy yelled her usual from the kitchen.

“Hi mommy!!” The three of us spoke together.

Golden and Greek ran up the stairs.

“Hey! What y’all mama say!” Daddy’s voice made everything stop.