Big Girls Don't Cry

Two Tears...Gone!

I knew he was not good for me. Yet I couldn't resist his smile. Gerald Trevel was tall and jet black. His slender and toned body was eye catching to say the least. Whether or not he was handsome was in the eye of the beholder. And in the beginning, I thought he was. Now I wonder how I was even attracted to those big oversized lips and pimple infested face. I guess I just loved me some chocolate. But everyone knows too much of a good thing is bad for you.
At sixteen I loved bad boys because I was a good girl. And I fell in love with first good piece I got. I was a plump, round faced, caramel toned, certified nerd. I loved reading. I was at the neighborhood park with my younger twin brothers. At fourteen years old they stood six feet two and towered over my five foot five frame. While they played basketball with their friends I lost myself in my book. Suddenly my book was snatched out of my hand.
"Whatcha reading big slim?" I heard a deep voice ask. I looked up to see him, Gerald Trevel, the boy I would love for 20 years.
Snatching my book out of his hand, "A damn book asshole, " I mumbled as I gathered my water bottle so I could leave. I wasn't really into boys and this one made me realize why.
"I'm sorry," he said. "Don't leave so soon."
I eyed him warily and glanced at the basketball court. I could see Jamal and Jeremiah looking in my direction. These two muscular boys thought they were my personal body guards. I held up there water bottles as a signal for them to come rescue me. They headed my way.
"You know them?" Gerald asked.
"Sure. Why? Do you?"
Waiting on his response I glanced at my brothers. I smiled at them as they wiped sweat from their smooth brown faces and drained their water bottles.
"What's up twins?" Gerald said acknowledging my brothers.
"What's good GT?" Jamal responded.
Jeremiah, the more quiet one of the two, just nodded his head. "Let's go Jenesis," he said. I could tell by the tone of his voice he didn't like GT, as Jamal had called him.
Joining him to walk home I reminded him, "OK little brother, but remember who's the boss!" We both laughed and started walking towards home. Jamal would soon join us after talking with GT a for a few more minutes.
"You know he likes you, right?"
"Who?" Jeremiah and I asked at the same time.
Jamal laughed, "You two act more like twins than we do! GT that's who. He was asking me if you had a man."
"And what did you say?" I asked suspiciously.
"I told him no." I gasped. "And that you weren't interested in guys."
"You made me sound gay," I laughed.
"I told him you were into books," Jamal said.
"Books are better than girls!" Jeremiah added.
"Not in our case," Jamal insisted.
"Who cares," I said. "Let's go home and eat. I know momma cooked something good!"
The boys started racing home and I started thinking about boys. But it was just one boy in particular, Gerald Trevel.

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It was spring break and my brothers loved being in the park on the basketball court. They had that same dream that most black teenage boys had...to make it to the NBA. I felt like they actually had a chance. The pediatrician said they would probably grow to be at least 6'7. And they had skills. Something my mother said they got from our deceased father.
Our father, Jakobe Cotrell, was killed when the twins were a month old and I was almost two. He stopped to help a lady with a flat tire. He was that type of gentleman, or so I heard. He was hit by a car because the driver didn't see him in the heavy down pour. He didn't make home for his surprise 30th birthday party. His death did something to my momma. She never remarried or dated for that matter. She said, Kobe, as he was often called, was the only man she ever loved and it would always be like that. So at 27, Takeisha "Keisha" Donaldson Cotrell, became a single mother. She made sure that we knew what a good man our father was.
She shared our father's love of basketball with the twins. Although he was an engineer for GE, he coached basketball at the local YMCA. He played ball in high school and got a basketball scholarship to Duke University. That's were he met our mother. She was studying to be nurse.
I was walking around the track where my brothers played ball. I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around to see GT coming up behind me.
"Hey how you doing good looking," he said grinning. I blushed as much as a black girl could.
"Good," I said as I turned around and continued walking. He started walking beside me.
"You're pretty to be-"
"What?" I said harshly. "I'm pretty to be fat? Yeah I know!" I started walking faster.
"I'm sorry," he stammered. "I didn't mean anything by it!"
As soon as I heard the gun shots I looked toward the basketball court. Everything began to happen in slow motion. I could hear GT screaming at me to get down but I couldn't move. I had to make sure my brothers were okay. I saw Jeremiah hit the pavement. His head bounced off the cement and the basketball rolled out of his hand. Jamal's body fell on top of Jeremiah's. Suddenly I felt my body hitting the ground and I heard myself screaming. I struggled to breathe. GT had pushed me to the ground and shield me with his body.
     Once he thought it was safe, GT got off of me and helped me off the ground. I struggled to get my feet to take me to the court where the twins' bodies lay in a pool of blood. When I finally reached them I let out a blood curdling scream. They were my life and my heartbeats and now they were dead. I heard the sirens. Then I fainted.