All Pink Everything

8 - Choose Teams

IMANI STARED DULLY at the half drawn flower in front of her. She didn't know if it was because of the anxiousness building up inside of her or if it was because she was simply uninspired to finish what she had started. She knew that if she didn't get her colored pencil moving that Ms. Collins would have something to say about it, but Ms. Collins was past sixty and never married, so her opinion was about as valuable to Imani as a tube of melted lipstick.

Imani dropped her pencil and picked up her cell phone, using Mo's finely sculpted shoulder to hide it. "Are you sure I'm doing the right thing?" she typed and sent.

Buzz. Candy's response came through like lightning. "Yes. You've got something good. Hold onto it."

Imani rolled her eyes as she read it. "You said the best thing about Ralph was the bracelet he bought me," she replied back.

"I misjudged. Ralph is more than just an ATM. I think he lucidly loves and cares about you."

Imani stared blankly at the screen in front of her. Candy was serious when she had talked about wanting to broaden her vocabulary. Imani was just about to google that mess when Mo found the nerve to turn back to look at her as if the low vibration of her cell phone was a disturbance to his creative genius. "Can I help you?" she said as menacingly as she could through a whisper.

He continued to look her up and down with disdain. For the first time, she wanted to knock him senseless. "You can't do a thing to help me."

She held her finger up to his face and traced a semi-circular arrow in the air to show him his next move. "Then turn your head right on back around and stop looking back here like you're waiting for me to do something for you, Mr. Jefferson." He clicked his tongue, much to her agitation, before turning around. He had grown so used to her advances, that he looked over his shoulder repeatedly and jerked and squirmed whenever her shadow made the slightest movement. It was a wake-up call for her. She had been making an honest effort to keep away from him, with Jada and Sydney's warnings ringing clear in her ears. Mo was a taken man, and after two full years of pursuing him to no end, it was time to break free of the hold he had on her and push on...with Ralph Carter.

He had been honest with her about his feelings from the beginning, but she continued to blow him off when he wasn't needed and cozy up to him whenever it was convenient. It was wrong and she knew it, but her mental had always found a way to pin it on him. I never did anything to make him to pine after me, she would say to herself. He wouldn't be so in love with me if he would just learn to take a hint. Then she would figure Mo to be thinking the same thing about her, and quickly erase those thoughts from her mind in an effort to avoid the truth. She was a hypocrite. Mo didn't want her, Ralph did. It was finally time to live by the Ghetto Barbie motto and make the best of her youth because those days weren't going to be around forever.

When the bell sounded, she slipped right past Mo and right past Crystal, not even caring to stare her down like she had made a faithful habit of doing. Ralph stood leaning against the front wall of the modular, waiting for her. She noticed for the first time, the soft sincerity in his eyes. The energy buzzing at his fingertips as he anticipated embracing her. He adored her. "We need to talk," she said to him.

"Uh-oh." He nervously scratched behind his ear, anticipating the worst.

"No, it's not like that," she assured him, and led him to one of the lunch tables, offering him a seat. "You and I have known each other for a long time, and I know how much you care about me, but you and I both know that I haven't been straightforward and honest with you."

He threw his head down and laughed dryly. "It's really no secret, Imani. You like me because I buy you a whole bunch of fancy getup, and that's about all I'm good for, right?"