Still Waters

Chapter 24

                    STRONG LANGUAGE AND SENSITIVE SUBJECT MATTER AHEAD

The next day Collin saw me talking to a fairly young professor outside on a park bench about what I needed to do to bring my grade up. I knew that Collin was there, watching us, but I tried to ignore him and focus in on what the professor was saying. I had missed yet another test the previous week and needed to make it up to keep the bottom of my GPA from dropping all the way out. The only reason that we were even sitting out there in the first place was because I saw the professor walking across campus and, having not been able to catch him in his office, decided to chase him down and see if he would discuss the missed test with me right there. However, as soon as we sat down, I saw Collin watching us from a distance and immediately knew what he was thinking.

The professor was young, handsome and, well, from all the way over on the other side of the yard, why wouldn't Collin think his girl was just out there in the open kickin' it with some other dude in the middle of campus? Before he walked away, the professor squeezed my arm, gave me a warm smile and told me not to stress so much.

Easy for you to say, I thought quietly to myself and stole a glance over to where I knew Collin was still sitting. Then I gave the professor a grateful smile and watched him walk away. When I looked back at Collin, I saw him shake his head and say something to one of his boys, then nod his head my way. The guy looked over at me, then shook his head and walked off. I stared after his friend, and suddenly wondered when I had lost the guts to stand up to Collin. I decided it was probably somewhere around the time that he started dealing weapons out of his apartment.

Collin glanced around quickly to see if anyone was looking, then ran up on me and jerked me roughly to him by the arm.

"Ouch Collin," I said coolly, trying to pull away and play it off for anyone who may have been watching at the same time.

"Oh, you think that hurts?" he laughed and moved his hand down to my wrist, bending it backwards and squeezing as hard as he could.

Out of nowhere, I started to cry. Just as the tears started to fall, we both heard a loud pop and looked at each other in surprise. Then Collin let go and pierced my eyes with his own.

"Remember that," was the only thing he said before storming off.

Again, I wondered why I wasn't smart enough to leave that fool and ducked into the cafeteria to avoid Drama, who I saw walking across campus in the distance. He didn't see me, though, and I thought I had gotten away scot-free until I bumped right smack into Kenney.

"Wassup gul?" he asked casually and looked at me for way too long. "You alright?"

I just nodded and ducked back through the door before he could say anything else. Of course he followed me out.

"Aye, I heard you saw my aunt last night."

This made my feet screech to a halt and the rest of my body jerked to a stop after them. When I slowly turned around, I looked at Kenney and braced myself, getting ready for him to go off on me, too.

But he didn't. "She...she told me I should look after you."

"Oh yeah?" I turned and started walking.

"Yeah." He smiled at me and tugged on my hand. I inwardly screamed in pain, but didn't let him see it. "Yeah," he repeated again." Drama told me the same thing...and that I was a sucker for not speaking up sooner about...how I feel about you." Then trying to play it off, he added quickly, "You know, I mean back in the day...when I was too busy hatin' on your boy." He looked around like he was watching his words float out into the atmosphere, and then suddenly shook his head, as if clearing it. "But that was a long time ago. Aunt Jasmine's ...suggestion...was more recent."