After Class (Janet and Aaliyah)

Chapter 6

Acacia

  "Mama, I can't talk! Someone's about to come over here!" I was trying to balance a phone on my shoulder and a laundry basket on my hip. I loved my mother to death, but she could talk somebody's ear all the way off.

  "Acacia Lee, do you have a booty call?"

  "Goodbye, mama." I put the phone back on the hook and looked around my house. I cleaned up everything there was to be cleaned, waiting for Aaliyah's arrival. It was already pushing 8, but I had a little time. I wanted to play some music. I wanted to light some candles. But I remembered what this was. I grabbed her math test from my bag, looking at the drawing again. Whoever the woman was, she was sexy and confident, kind of like Aaliyah. I was going to ask her about it once she got here.

  I changed into ripped jeans and a college sweatshirt that I had cut the bottom half off of. I was loving a chance to be casual for once. My hair was in two buns on either side of my head, now in its natural state after I showered. I had on no makeup. I'm sure her seeing me like this would be a shock.

  "Knock knock, open up teach!" She called through the door. She didn't knock or ring a bell, which made me laugh, although my heart was pounding.

  "Alright, I'm coming."

  "I brought some more of my tapes so you can-"

I opened the door, and Aaliyah stopped dead in her tracks. She looked at me from head to toe, then straight in my face, without a word.

  "Are you gonna come in?" I asked bashfully, playing with the stud in my ear.

  "Yeah, uh, my bad." She came in slowly, looking around. She seemed so surprised; I didn't think my house was all that. And the only reason I had it was because my father spoiled me rotten and wanted to go in half on the rent. I couldn't say no. "This is really cool." She said.

  "Thank you. Uh, go ahead, sit at the table. Do you want anything? To drink? Eat?"

  "Nah, I had some McDonald's before I came here."

  "Okay. I see you brought your book. We're off to a good start already." I smiled, sitting in the seat next to hers.

  "Yeah, this thing was in the trunk of my car." She wiped all the dust off of it.

  "Well we about to put it to good use tonight. I wanna start by saying that I'm already so proud of you. For this test." I held it up.

  "Shit, did I pass?!"

  "Not exactly. But I can see you tried. And honestly, some of these problems you were headed on the right track with. We just gotta get to the finish line now."

  "Oh." Her face dropped significantly.

  "Hey, you'll be passing these things like nothing pretty soon." I smiled at her. She had this look of pure admiration on her face that made me feel kind of hot.

  "Aight."

So we got to work, starting with the first problem, and continuing through the entire test. She picked up on things pretty fast, but she was definitely the kind of student that needed one-on-one attention. I was prepared to give it to her.

  "Are you ready for a break?" I asked her after about 30 minutes.

  "Yeah."

  "So can I ask you something?" I rested my chin in my palm.

  "Go head."

  "This drawing, on the back of your test..." I flipped to the page. She hung her head down.