Keep Jumping / No Hating

  “Mom!” I yelled with more urgency.

  “See, no one’s coming,” she looked around and said. “Why are you making this so difficult, Amir? I want to be with you. I want to make you feel good like I did before. Like if we reconnect, you won’t push me away, and I won’t have to show you what you’re missing and make you regret leaving me. You understand what I’m saying?”

  “Are you saying you slashed my tires?”

  She took her hand and grabbed right between my legs. I wanted to punch her. For real, she was loony.

  “Mom!” I shouted as loud as I could after stepping back.

  Finally my mom came from around the corner. “What is going on? It’s the middle of the night. Hello, young lady. Can I help you?”

  “Mom, she needs to go. I’ve asked her to leave and she won’t.”

  “Oh,” my mom said, clearly taken aback.

  “Why would you treat me like this? You invite me over and then you tell me to leave. I want to meet your mom. I want her to know that I’m a wonderful young lady,” Lexus said, trying to hold in her tears, which I presumed to be completely fake.

  “What’s going on here, Amir?” my mom said. I knew that my mom must be anxious to know what was going on.

  “Let me introduce myself. I’m Lexus Stanley. I’m Amir’s girlfriend.”

  My ears were popping from the high pitch of the tale she told. I started choking at that moment. My mom hit my back.

  “Amir, are you okay?” my mother asked.

  Clearing my throat I said, “What is this? I can’t believe you’re telling my mom that you’re my girlfriend.”

  “Well, I was until you broke up with me last week,” Lexus blurted out.

  “If my son is saying that you’re not his girlfriend, sweetheart, I’m sure you respect that,” my mom said, thinking Lexus was a rational girl with self-respect.

  “Yes, ma’am, but actions speak louder than words,” Lexus said, as she looked at my mom and insinuated that we had been physical.

  “Okay, that’s enough. See you later. Thank you so much. Amir can’t have any company. It’s the middle of the night. Your parents must be worried about you,” my mom said with a thin smile. “You need to go home now. Thank you, dear.”

  My mom kept walking forward, and Lexus had to back up. When Lexus was out the door, my mom shut it and looked at me. She was not happy, and neither was I.

  “This is the kind of foolishness your dad was talking about. You open up your pants, think you’re grown, get with any little girl, and you find somebody who’s crazy. She could be trying to get pregnant. I hope you used something.”

  “Yeah, Mom, I did, dang. I don’t want to talk about this.”

  “Well, obviously we are going to have to talk about this because the young lady—and I do use the term loosely—who just left here was irrational.”

  “I know, Mom. I know she’s the one who slashed my tires. She slapped me. She shows up at my house saying she’s my girl. I don’t know what to do. I ended it, but she won’t accept it.”

  “If it continues, we’re going to go to her house and talk to her parents. Just keep your distance from her and learn from this. Don’t get involved with any girl until you get to know more about her. I hope you see every opportunity isn’t a door you should open.”

  I woke up to a knife at my throat, a gun to my head, and a rope around my neck. Thankfully it was just a nightmare, but Lexus had me all messed up. She had seeped into my dreams. From the quiet in the house I guessed that my dad was still on duty at the hospital and my mom had gone by herself to the Saturday church service. After the drama of last night, it was nice of her to let me sleep in. But then I smelled breakfast cooking. Who was in the house?

  “You can’t let these chicks keep you up,” Anthony said as he scrambled some eggs.

  He winked, as he saw I was surprised he was cooking. College obviously served him well. He also was in sync with me. He knew exactly what I had been going through in the last six hours.

  “How’d you know I could not sleep?”

  “Man, I came in there one time and you were screaming. Mom came in my room earlier and told me what happened with the girl earlier today. Chicks can sometimes be crazy.”

  “I don’t know what to do. I told her we were through.”

  “That’s why I tell brothers all the time at school . . . everything that glitters is not gold. We get caught up in the bodies, the pretty faces, and letting what’s between our legs dictate—”

  “Should’ve told me that,” I said, grabbing the plate to eat some of his French toast.

  “Well, from now on remember if she’s showing herself crazy and won’t take no for an answer, I don’t care if she’s nice and pretty, leave her alone because she’s foolish,” my brother said.

  I nodded. “So what can I do now?”

  We sat to eat, and he said, “When I have girls who are really stalker types, I date somebody else. I’ve found that somewhere in their warped little minds, when they see you’re still single, they think you’re holding out for them. When they see you with somebody else, nine times out of ten, they’ll move on. But if you got one of those one out of ten who are insane, ain’t nothing really that you can do except call the police if it gets more physical. Slashing tires today, slashing body parts tomorrow. And that ain’t cool. Speaking of which, go ahead and eat up. Mom said she wants me to take you by the tire place.”

  Normally, I’d have eaten a lot more of my brother’s tasty French toast, but I couldn’t get my mind off of Lexus and her unstable behavior. I hoped she would get herself under control. For sure, I was going to be staying away.

  My brother saw me deep in thought. “But you probably ain’t looking for nobody else right about now. You probably want a break from women, huh?”

  A big smile came across my face.

  “Oh snap, tell me about this one. What’s up?”

  “It’s nothing.”

  “Oh yeah, it’s something. You can’t even hold in your excitement, but tell me you have learned and researched this new girl.”

  I bowed my head. “Not really.”

  “So you ain’t learned anything?”

  “Well, I haven’t hit it yet, that’s for sure.”

  “Okay, that’s good. Don’t go there until you’re sure.”

  “That’s the thing, that’s not even why I like her. I mean, I’m definitely attracted to her, but I don’t know . . . there’s something about her. She’s beautiful. She’s outgoing, and she’s like no other girl I’ve ever met. I saw her cheering at the game, and I didn’t want to take my eyes off of her.”

  “Did you introduce yourself? Come on, I know you got game, what’s up?” my brother said, stunning me that he was cooler than I realized.

  “You know I got game, huh?” I laughed. “I started talking to her but I had to walk away because the psycho was calling me.” What you doing over in school? I thought you had your head way stuck in the books so that you didn’t know what a girl was,” I said, putting him in a head lock.

  “Oh, I study, little brother, but there’s a lot more to college than books. Now you? Stressed about Dad, freaked out over a stalker chick, and now you think you can tackle me because you’ve got a few more muscles. Don’t forget I know karate,” Anthony said as he elbowed me in the gut.

  When I keeled over, he kicked me in the chest and made me fall to one knee.

  “All right, you got me. You got me.”

  “That’s what I thought,” Anthony teased before we hugged.

  When I got to the gym, I wanted to call in sick because I saw Lexus’s car. If she was in there, then that was the last place I wanted to be. However, I knew I got in trouble last time for being late. If I was a no-show, I probably would not have a job. And at this point, I really needed it because I was going to have to pay for new tires. Though my mom bought them, I knew my Dad would be making sure that I paid her back.

  Thankfully, I had a job that could give me dollars. I
stumbled into teaching tumbling. It was actually a stress-free job. I was dealing with little girls who usually whined because they were scared to trust their training to flip. When I worked with them, I had a knack for getting them to loosen up and enjoy it. Before they knew it, they were doing so much more than they thought they could. I called it flying.

  As soon as I walked in the gym, a crowd of over fifty girls ran my way like I was Santa Claus. Then I saw a beautiful sight. Hallie Ray from Friday was there. I smiled on the inside, knowing she had taken my advice to come to the gym to learn how to tumble. How cool was that?

  Lexus was her instructor, but all the noise made her look my way. When our eyes met, it was like Hallie was asking to be rescued. She did not have to say any more. I knew what was up. Without even having to manipulate a way to change places with her, our boss called Lexus into his office, and he yelled for me to teach our new student.

  “Hey, you,” I said to her.

  “I didn’t know what happened. You had me come here to learn how to tumble, and you weren’t even here. What’s up with that?”

  “You should’ve called me and let me know you were coming.”

  “You never gave me your number,” she said, batting her eyelashes at me. She had such warm, friendly eyes.

  “Well, let’s fix that right now.”

  We both reached for our phones, but neither of us had them. It was just natural for teens to have a cell glued to our hips. We both laughed, remembering the cells were in the locker rooms.

  With frustration Hallie said, “Amir, I’ve been working on this for about thirty minutes with Lexus, but I can’t do this.”

  “Oh no you don’t,” I said and put my hands on her shoulders. “None of that talk in my gym. The word can’t is not allowed here.”

  “And what are you going to do if I say that word again? Spank me?” she teased.

  “I don’t think you want to try me.” I smiled, unable to hide the fact that I was digging this girl.

  She allowed me to help her tumble. Somehow we fell and I ended up on top. Not trying to be presumptuous but it seemed she liked our position. As she could not stop smiling, I knew the door was definitely open for the two of us. I was for sure going to explore the chance.

  “Hey, guy, what’s up? I’m Brenton,” this guy on the football team introduced himself to me during gym class. “You’re Amir Knight. We had PE together last year. You can flat out run. We also played little league football years ago.”

  “Hey yeah. What’s up, man?” I said as we slapped hands.

  “Do you have Coach Strong or Coach Woods?” Brenton asked, carrying on our conversation.

  Skeptical but cool, I said, “I’m in Coach Strong’s class.”

  “Yeah, me too. From what I hear, we’re going to be playing flag football,” Brenton said as if this was right up his alley.

  “Coach Strong is your uncle, right?” I asked Brenton, remembering he had clout with the in crowd.

  “Yeah, he’s my mother’s brother. We’re supposed to be competing even though it’s just a PE class. My uncle thinks you should give one hundred percent. He’s a diehard coach—x’s and o’s are all that’s in his blood. He even wants the girls to hit hard and it’s flag football,” Brenton said while looking at Coach Strong.

  We both laughed. I wasn’t a loner, but I did not hang out with popular kids or feel the need to make myself be in the in crowd. However, I found it interesting that Brenton initiated a conversation with me, and he wasn’t hanging out with some of the loudmouthed football players a few feet away talking trash.

  “I’m gonna pick you for my team,” Brenton said, seeing his teammates were strategizing. “We’re going to kill ’em.”

  Someone tapped my shoulder and when I turned around, I felt like I swallowed a weight. Figuratively, I sunk to the ground. I did not even want to say hello. I knew I could not be rude. However, I did not want to get Lexus started because I did not know which Lexus had shown up to greet me.

  “Yes?” I said in the calmest voice I could muster up.

  “I just came here to tell you that the little cheerleader girl you like—”

  “Okay, hold up, Lexus. Just mind your own business.”

  Brenton squinted and said, “Oh, sounds like somebody’s jealous.”

  Lexus barked, “I’m not even talking to you, dumb jock.”

  “I’ll catch up to you in a minute,” Brenton said to me and walked away.

  “You wanted to tell me something?” I asked.

  “Your girl, she was in the locker room talking about you,” Lexus said sarcastically.

  I found it hard to believe what she was saying so I asked, “Hallie was confiding in you?”

  “I overheard it. Look, there’s no need to get an attitude with me, Amir. I’m trying to help you. You’re the best tumbling coach in the whole gym, yet you fell on top of her while you were teaching her yesterday. I saw the way y’all’s eyes were glued to each other. Before you get your heart broken, I just want you to know what she really thinks about you.”

  The whole conversation was ironic. I could not even sleep the other night when Lexus filled my brain with nightmares. But I slept like a baby the next night because the moment with Hallie when we were in each other’s arms messed me up in a good way.

  Lexus continued, “Basically, her friends told her that you were nobody. You’re not in any sports, and nobody knows who you are. Since they’re so high on themselves, they told her that she’s too good to talk to someone with no stats.”

  I saw Hallie coming into the gym. She looked more beautiful then I remembered. Only difference was she had a worried look on her face, and she was headed my way. Lexus looked like she wanted to claw Hallie’s eyes out. I was not going to let that go down.

  “If you don’t believe me, ask her yourself,” Lexus said, and she stormed off.

  The two of them exchanged some words I couldn’t hear. Hallie’s frown deepened. Then she came by me.

  “Please, don’t believe anything she just said. She took everything she heard out of context. She cornered me in the bathroom and basically told me that I’m not good enough to have any interest in you.”

  “Just so you know . . .,” I said. “I don’t let people influence my decisions, and I give people the benefit of the doubt. So we’re good. When you’re dealing with people, they always reveal their true selves.” I gave Hallie a squeeze on her shoulder.

  “I don’t understand. What are you saying? Are you waiting for me to put my foot in my mouth?”

  “Nah, you’re reading too much into it. What I’m saying is I mean it’s all good until you show me otherwise, unless you tell me right now you gonna break my heart,” I said playfully, stroking her chin.

  She started blushing but did not get a chance to respond, because Coach Strong called us all outside to begin flag football. Brenton was right. He was a drill sergeant. All of this was way serious to him. I was on Brenton’s team, and I did not want to just do well so I could get a good grade. I wanted to shut down the other football players who were talking all that junk. Brenton thought that together we could show them. I was up for the challenge and we did just that. On offense when he threw the ball to me, I scored. On defense when the ball was thrown to a receiver I was guarding, I intercepted it. When it was thrown to the girls, I intercepted it. I had a good time doing my thing, and I didn’t even realize anyone else had noticed until Coach Strong called my name to come over to the sidelines and talk to him.

  “Are you a junior, young man?” Coach asked.

  “Yes, sir. I’m a junior.”

  Impressed with me, he said, “Why aren’t you on my football field? You’re killing them.”

  “It’s just a bunch of girls, sir, and guys who do more talking than playing. It’s easy to run circles around them. I’m not doing anything special.”

  “Well, I’ve been a football coach for a long time. Let me be the judge of what’s special. You’ve got unique skills. Your ability to j
ump vertically is impressive. You’re not a short guy, but it’s like you double your size when you jump in the air. It’s crazy. And your hands—nice and big—ready to grab the ball. I don’t normally do this, but I would really like for you to come out and be a part of my team. I’ve got some holes in the secondary.”

  “You sure do,” I said, not thinking who I was talking to.

  Not mad that I stated the obvious, he asked, “You’ve seen the team play?”

  “I went to the first game Friday, but I missed the scrimmage. The guy on the right corner, I don’t know if he just has nerves, but he’s not going after the ball. Your opponent picked up on it and just kept throwing the ball to the receiver he was defending. He didn’t have poor coverage; he had no courage.”

  “So you’re saying you can do a better job?” Coach Strong asked.

  I just threw my hands up. “I’m not saying that.”

  “Well, it sounds like that’s exactly what you’re saying. What do you say? Can you stay after school for practice today? What’s your parents’ numbers? Who do I need to call to make this happen? I need you on my team.”

  Maybe I was scared. Scared to go after something that I was gifted at because I knew it would be a battle at my house. Or maybe I was scared because I knew I was good once, but maybe I wasn’t good anymore. What was going on with me? I knew I couldn’t be on his team.

  So I said, “Thanks for the offer, Coach, but I’m not interested.”

  “Well, I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that just now, and I’ll let you think about it. I’ll see you next time this class meets, and I will ask you again,” Coach said. “You’ve got swag, guts, and ability. I’m giving you an opportunity to put that where it belongs. Possible scholarship for sure if I coach you. You can’t close the door when opportunity knocks.”

  CHAPTER 3

  Yes, Man

  I lay in my bed and reflected on the fact that the last week had been a blast. That was not because I had no run-ins with my father. It was not because I was doing really well in school. It was not because in the football unit in PE I was still soaring. Though all three things were true, what had really made my week dynamic was that after school I was at the gym and Hallie came for lessons. Our time together was marvelous.