My Brothers Keeper

Part 5: The Stranger

Summer break was finally over, and we were heading back to school today. Kyle and I had not done anything since that night in the garden. I would say everything had returned back to normal between the two of us. By normal I meant a platonic sibling relationship.

"I'm done! Let's go I don't want to be late" Kyle yells as he bursts into my room. By this time i'm already done so I follow him downstairs, we each give mom a kiss on the cheek and run out the door like something was chasing us.

When pull into a parking spot in the school parking lot and as I turn off the car, Kyle looks at me. He looked nervous. " Where is that kid from 20 minutes ago that couldn't wait to get here" I joke to try and ease the situation. He throws me a chuckle. " They are all going to be judging me for breaking his nose" he says after. "Then ill break their noses, all of them, anybody who even looks at you sideways" I say huffing my chest up and putting on a superhero pose. Kyle breaks into laughter again, he seemed to have eased down, he goes for the door and gets out. He quickly runs over to his friends.

Classes went by as painful and slow as you could imagine. It wasn't until 3rd period when something interesting happened. Mr Norman is going on and on about how Hemingway use to drink all night then come up with the greatest pieces of literature this world has ever seen. When there's a knock on the door. In walks this big black dude and when I say big I mean big. This dude must have been 6,4 and buff built. He had long thick dreadlocks that fell down his back in a low ponytail and he was dressed in an oversize cotton plead shirt, a black t shirt in the inside. The t-shirt was so tight you could see the outlines of his abs. The dude was without a doubt a professional athlete just judging by his size.

When he walked in, the room fell to a standstill. Everything about his presence commanded attention. He greets and hands Mr Norman a piece of paper. " class this is Jamari. He is new and will be joining us for the rest of the school year, please make him feel welcome" Mr Norman announced out loud. I found myself still staring at him. I was so captivated by his size, his hair, his skin tone, his urban clothes. I'm not even sure why that would ever captivate me but at this moment it seems it was happening against my will. And I was not alone, the whole class was staring at him too.

He sat down two rows ahead of me, Mr Norman continued teaching like he didn't see how distracted the whole class was, i have to admit, i too kept stealing glances at him. he was something straight out of a Tv show where they cast these hot 20 something year old's as 17 year old boys, he looked unreal, but i kept my cool. As one of the most popular guys in this school i couldn't let anyone see that this Jamari person had me shook. 

it was lunch time at the cafeteria and i had just gotten my tray of food. seeing as i was so mad at most of my friend for the fact that nobody had had the decency to tell me about Mayce and Tommy, I was not in the mood to go sit at my usual table. I searched for my brother with my eyes till I landed him at a table close to the door sitting with his sophomore friends. 'What the hell' I thought to myself as I convinced myself nonchalantly to just go join him instead. 

" Hey Monster" I reached out a fist bump as I sat down across from him. 

" No, go away, you can't use me to avoid your friends" he said in all seriousness. 

" Come on, just for today man, I'm really not in the mood for all that shit" i pleaded with him. i look around the table to see a couple of nerdy looking kids looking up at me from their seats. i sighed loudly, he was right, sitting here would be social suicide, i might as well just nut up and go face my fires. 

commotion insured as the room erupted in whispers and all eyes were directed at the cafeteria entrance. it was him...that Jamari guy. as soon as he entered everyone was whispering to each other about him. i had been ignoring the chatter all day but i had heard some bits here and there. the girls were already head over heels for him, the boys had an ongoing bet of which sports team he was going to join, the rumors of where he came from and if he was really a teenager, i even heard a rumor he was 26.

 I rolled my eyes hard and looked back at my brother, what I saw in his eyes shook me. 

Kyle's eyes lit up as he saw Jamari, Kyle then jumped out of his seat and ran towards him. " No fucking way" Kyle screamed at the top of his lungs as he opened his arms for a hug towards Jamari. i couldn't believe my eyes, Jamari picked him up in a bear hug and they embraced each other, laughing and then a I felt heat building up in my chest when i saw them do some kind of special handshake.

"Little Monster" Jamari said, with a wide smile on his face and hearing that nickname he called him really fucked with me, I thought I was the only one who got to call him that. Who the fuck was this guy. before i knew what i was doing my feet were carrying me in their direction.

 " How the fuck do you know my brother" the words escaped my lips louder and angrier than i intended them to. Kyle shot me a puzzled look and then looked back at him. 

" Mari this is my brother, Keenan...and his rude ass was just about to calm down and fix his face" he said, this time looking me in the eyes giving me that ' you are embarrassing me' look.

" Keenan, Jamari was my mentor at the Boxing gym, he taught me literally everything i know about the game" Kyle said with a big smile plastered on his face. i was hearing him but i was not digesting his words, all i could hear was the heartbeat in my throat. 

" come, sit down, catch me up on your ever so wild escapades and how the hell you ended up here" Kyle said, inviting Jamari to his table. Any thoughts i had of going to face my former friends at their table vanished. like a brute i followed them, sat down at that table and just studied what the fuck i was seeing. Kyle was so exited, he was smiling all over the place, talking to this guy like they were so close, it was driving me insane. 

" fag" Bobby said as she passed by the table we were sitting. " WHAT THE FUCK YOU SAY?" Jamari erupted from his seat before i could even respond myself. Bobby stops on his tracks, turned around and said loud enough for people around to hear " you are giving us a bad name you know, he is a faggot * points at Kyle* why are you hanging out with his ass?" 

" Nigga you so corny as fuck with that shit, fuck outa hear, its 2023 and you still pressed about who niggas is fucking?" his thick urban accent came through and caught me off guard. " and if by us you mean black people then Nigga you best never step to me again cos i sure as fuck never want to be associated with your homophobic bald headed crackhead Dave Chapelle looking ass" he continues as he steps in front of Kyle.

i watch as Kyle grabs his Bicep and pulls him back down to his seat next to him. " Mari let it go man, honestly i've faced worse, i'm not even phased." Jamari stares Bobby down then sucks his teeth and sits down. the minute his eyes land back on Kyle his facial expression softens up again and he says " I'm sorry, i just cant standing a hatting ass nigga" he says and Kyle smiles. still not letting go of his bicep, i watch as Jamari smiles back at my brother.

The room was filled with excitement and laughter as everyone enjoyed seeing Bobby being put in his place. everyone had their eyes on them. i was out of my mind with anger. this guy just stood up for my brother, in font of everyone, he just defended his honor, that was my job. and the way Kyle was looking at him was the worst part about all this. i looked around and people had their phones out, they had filmed the altercation and his 'heroic' efforts. he was for sure going to be the only topic at school, he had been here 5 minutes and already he was popular, i didn't even know what to do i just got up and left. i was so infuriated i could not see the road as i was driving home, luckily some how, some way i made it. i went straight to my room, got out my backpack of Vodka's and just let it flow down my throat till it hurts.  i hated him. i could not stop seeing the image of Kyle's hand on his bicep, Kyle smiling at him, his tough urban accent throwing the N-word around and the smart off the top of his head insults he spewed at Bobby.i hated him so much. that was the only though in my head, on repeat and getting louder and louder....

NB: AUTHORS NOTE

hello everyone, thank you so much for reading my story so far, this is my first original story, i usually only write fan fiction. i just wanted to say please follow my profile and comment and let me know what you think of the story so far. 

more chapters are coming your way soon! stay tuned!