In Virginia, high school football is a way of life. It's bigger than Christmas day.
Up until 1971, in Alexandria, there was no race-mixing. Then the school board forced us to integrate. They combined the white school and the black school into one ca...
The next day at school, word got around about what happened because a lot of people kept coming up to me to ask how I was doing. At lunch, it got pretty overwhelming when guys constantly kept coming up to me to try and hit on me through sympathy. Thankfully I eat lunch with Petey and Rev every day, so they were there to get people to back off.
I was walking with Rev to our English class, which was in another building when we saw a crowd of reporters by the athletic building. In the middle was Coach Boone and Yoast surrounded by state troopers.
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"Like I said, we will not be intimidated. We're going to play football games. Hatred, violence will not intimidate us." Coach Boone said as he pushed through the reporters.
"Is that why you need the state troopers, Coach?" A reporter asked. Coach Boone gave him an unimpressed look.
"Look, I don't need no John Brown state troopers. And you can tell whoever threw this brick through my window and hit Grace Bertier in the back of the neck that they can come visit me anytime. I'll be at home." He said before turning around, walking through the door of the athletic building, with Coach Yoast following.
"How is Grace?" The reporter asked but they got no answer from the Coaches. I looked at the ground as I felt anxiety rise in me thinking about what happened last night.
"You alright?" Rev asked softly, stopping to check on me. I looked up at him and saw his face full of concern.
"Yeah, it's just a little stressful to think about," I say trying to shake the anxious feeling off. Rev nodded his head in understanding.
"So, how are your college applications going?" He asked, changing the subject as we started walking again.
"It's going I guess. I've sent some in but haven't heard back yet." I respond.
"Any college you want to hear back from in particular?" He asked, nudging me. I laugh
"C'mon Rev, you know I wanna get into Ohio State," I say nudging him back. Rev chuckled a bit.
"Yeah yeah. Criminal justice right?" He asked. I nod.
"Yeah, and you wanna go into Theology at Howard." I state, "heard anything back yet?" I continue. Rev shakes his head as he opens the door to the building,
"Not yet, but to be fair I sent my application in last week, so I still have a chance." He said smiling. I nod my head.
We reached our classroom just as the tardy bell went off. Rev and I took our seats and pulled out our notebooks as the teacher began today's lesson.
~ Julius' POV ~
I barely got to see Grace today because so many guys kept trying to talk her up once they found out what happened to her last night. I was sitting in the back of my math class, daydreaming when I noticed Grace walk past the door. I raised my hand and pointed to the door signaling to the teacher that I needed to leave. She nodded her head as she continued with the lesson. I quickly slipped out of the classroom and looked down the hall.
"Grace!" I called out. She turned around and smiled once she made eye contact with me.
"Hey, you." She said, stopping so that I could catch up to her. "Haven't seen you all day, have you've been hiding from me?" She asked. I shook my head.
"Nah, I would never want to hide from you," I said smiling. Grace let out a small laugh that was music to my ears.
"Well good, cause I would never hide from you either." She quipped back, "so what is the Big Julius Campbell doing in the hallway anyway?" She asked smugly. I laughed.
"Trying to talk to the girl I'm sweet on" I say as I brush my hand down her face, "What's the studious Grace Bertier doing out of her class?" I ask. Grace tilted her head before looking away.
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"Going to the library to check out a book." She said. I laughed.
"Mind if I join you?" I ask. Grace's beautiful smile returned to her face.
"Not at all." She said as we began to make our way to the library.
