Chapter 1 He stood in front of the mirror with his head hanging down as he hovered over the bathroom sink with both arms stretched out against the wall. He had been positioned that way for a little bit over a half hour. He was fully dressed in his usual attire-black hoodie, baggie blue jeans and boots. It was another first day and another new school with a brand new group of potential tormentors. Julius had been dreading this day for months-three to be exact-ever since the day him, his mother, and his good for nothing stepfather moved into this new place. Although his mom provided her best efforts to talk up the new school, there was no hiding the fact that Washington High was known for being one of the worst schools in the entire district, and possibly the whole state. But the rent here was good and his mother was hopeful that this school would be different for him than all the rest. The neighbors told her many positive changes had come to the troubled institution near the end of the previous school year resulting from the successful basketball program there. They also told her that the school board had brought in a mostly new staff and a hardnosed veteran principal that didn’t take any shit and that he was calling all the shots. It made Julius no difference because he didn’t play any sports, and he did his best to stay out of peoples way, more specifically school staff. This was his senior year, and as with every school year, he was determined to do what he had to do to make it go by as quickly and as smoothly as possible. Of course, with his looks, he often found that task extremely difficult to accomplish. He slowly lifted his head and gazed into the mirror. He had hoped when his eyes returned to the reflection in that spotty old bathroom mirror another face would appear. A handsome face. A likeable face. Any face but his. Big nose, huge lips, jet black skin and a bumpy forehead. He knew he was stuck with three out of four of those features for life, but even a complete surrender on drinking sodas and eating sweets did nothing to smoothen out his rough skin. He swiped a towel hanging from the shower rack and began dampening it. He gently applied the cloth to his face and then began to violently scrub his face with it. His intention was to wipe his face completely off of his head, but he was unsuccessful again. He tossed the towel across the shower rack and sorrowfully stared at himself in the mirror once more. Why me? ************* Vince sat at the table with his legs crossed and a newspaper hanging over his lap in the center of the small kitchen. The hair on his bronzed colored head and face looked like an army of buck shots was etched onto it as he hadnt done anything with himself in the past two weeks. Most days he didn’t even make an effort to slip out of his wife-beater and jogging pants-his normal around the house attire. “They say Michael Jordan is gonna redeem himself this season. His ass shouldnt have left in the first place,” he said as he flipped to the next page in the sports section of the paper. “Talkin about he wanna go play baseball. I guess he found out quick that shit wasnt for him.” “You know he was going through some things with his fathers death and all. He just needed some time to sort things out,” Felicia said. She was posted at the sink, scrubbing a frying pan amongst the pile of unwashed dishes that were spread out across the counter. It wasnt unusual for her to be the last one to get to bed and the first one up in the morning, just in time to have Vince his morning ham and cheese omelet ready so he could stretch out and read his morning newspaper. In addition to making Vince his breakfast every morning, the middle aged, brown skinned woman was responsible for doing the previous nights dishes and all the housekeeping duties also. Despite Vince being home all day, every day, he did absolutely nothing but wait for her to come home and get supper ready. The petite woman was clearly a fox in her day, with her slanted eyes, full lips and flawless brown skin, but working a full time job and taking care of the house was beginning to take its tiresome toll on her. A few days ago she began noticing small clumps of her hair falling out. She simply blew it off as a result of aging and the stress from the extra burden of having to take care of all the bills while Vince was out of work. “Hell, I need some time to sort things out,” he said while closing the paper and slinging it across the table. “Like what am I gonna do if these people dont call me back for some more hours on this damn job? Tucker nor none of them niggas called me about working any routes since we moved here.” “Theyll call. They always do.” “How the hell they gonna call if the phone get cut off? We keep going this direction they gonna get cut off any day now. You asked them people for some more hours yet?” “Ive been asking for weeks now, but everybody is in the same crunch were in, and they aint trying to get up off their hours. I may be able to fill in for Rita today, but Lance has to call me and let me know something first.” “Well, something needs to give. Shit!” Julius walked into the kitchen toting his notebook. His notebook was like an extra arm to him, and he rarely went anywhere without it. He strolled to his mother and gave her a quick peck on her cheek. “Good morning, Ma.” “Hey, baby,” she replied as she leaned into his kiss, not removing her hands from the sudsy dish water. Vinces face transformed into one of disgust the very second Julius walked in. His eyes zeroed in on the boy as he moved from his mother to the refrigerator. Julius grabbed a carton of milk and poured himself the remaining portion from the carton. He could feel Vinces beady eyes cutting through his back as they did every morning. He made certain not to make any eye contact with the old grouch, but it didn’t matter because Vince had all eyes on him. “I saw kids walking to school about twenty minutes ago,” Vince griped. “Its not gonna be the same shit you pulled at Hampton down here. Thats a good ten minute walk to that school, so I suggest you be there on time, every morning. Aint nobody got time be talking to no teachers and no counselors this year. Your momma aint gonna do it, and Im damn sholl aint gonna do it.” Julius simply guzzled down his milk as if Vince wasnt even there. He knew the guy wanted a fight, but he decided it was best not to even follow the old man up. An argument with him would only lead to a bigger squabble between him and his mother in her efforts to keep peace between the two. He understood his mother had enough on her plate with working a full time job and cleaning up behind practically two grown men, than to have to go through another unnecessary war of words with Vince again. “You can act like you dont see me. You can even act like you dont hear me. But you better damn well remember what I say goes around this here place.” Julius sat his glass in the sink as he cut his eye at Vince. The temptation to spit fire back at his common law stepdad was there, but he reneged. “Later, Ma.” As Julius made his way towards the side door to leave, Vince shot across the room and grabbed him by his arm. “Boy!” “Vince,” Felicia called out, wanting the dispute to end as fast as it started. She grabbed a towel from off the counter to dry her hands and approached the two. “Man, whats wrong with you?” Julius questioned. “Dont you ask me whats wrong with me,” Vince grunted. “Its gonna be a lot wrong with you, you keep on playing with me, acting like you dont hear me. You gonna make me stomp a mudhole in your deformed looking ass.” “Vince, leave him alone. Please!” Felicia begged. Vince looked over to Felicia with a scowl as he continued to place his firm clutch on the boys arm. He looked back at Julius and gave him an inviting smirk, practically daring him to do something as he tightened his grip. “Get off me!” Julius yelled as he snatched his arm away. “Oh, I aint on your ass, yet,” Vince warned him, his eyes piercing through the young man like a savage lion on the brink of attacking some unexpected prey in the wilderness. Even though Vince hovered over Julius by an entire foot, the old bully was ready for certain victory. He yearned for the day that Julius would swing back at him. That would be the same day he would unleash severe pain on the teen, the day hed been attempting to trigger for years. Fortunately for Julius, he never bit. “Go ahead and head off to school, Julius,” Felicia said as she gave her son a small pat on his back directing him towards the door. Julius stood firm, contemplating smashing Vince in his grungy face a few good times with his notebook, but the chance of him swinging and missing frightened him. Vinces smirk transformed into a chuckle. He knew Julius didn’t have enough nerve to make a move, and he rejoiced in that knowledge. Julius pulled his hood over his head and reluctantly left the house, slamming the door behind himself. Vince happily looked on as Felicia stood before him infuriated. “I thought I told you to leave him alone in the morning.” “Ah, I aint did nothing to the boy,” he said as he waved her off and reclaimed his seat at the table. “He needs to be toughened up a bit anyway. Wont have to be crying about what them people at that school got to say about him all the time.” Get The Complete Novel Here: AMAZON KINDLE: amazon/dp/B00MHHXMJA Nook: bit.ly/Vc7ste iTunes: bit.ly/1t62JVt KOBO: bit.ly/1t62Yjo Scribd: bit.ly/1t639LJ
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 20:14:38 +0000
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