Juke Jam

Chapter Two

"Well, I'll be damned." Charlie murmured as he looked out the window of the bus.

There was a crowd of people, from kids to adults, shouting profanities at the colored kids who were entering the high school. Some people were holding up signs that had derogatory terms on them. Other people even had the effrontery to spit on the black students that walked by. Charlie watched as someone pulled a black girl's ponytail, trying to intentionally harm her. The girl managed to pry away from the person who pulled her hair, and she practically sprinted into the school with a terrified look on her face.

"Man, if only my dad was here. He would love this!" Peter exclaimed from beside Charlie.

Charlie turned his head and looked at Peter oddly. Peter was really enjoying this—the black students being tormented. Charlie didn't feel any type of way about this whole situation, which was weird, considering his father was very much a racist. His mother disliked black people too, but she had a better way of keeping her thoughts about them to herself and inside their home. His father would go out in public and shout out to the world that he hated colored people if he could. Charlie just steered away from black people because that meant less problems for everyone.

"My dad would too. He's not here. Ain't that a bite?" Charlie nodded his head.

"Are you mocking me, Charlie?" Peter snickered.

"Not at all, buddy." Charlie chuckled.

Students started filing off the bus.

"Come on, let's go." Peter said, running his hand through his brunette hair. 

Charlie followed Peter and the rest of the students off the bus, still eyeing the large crowd. He knew the crowd wasn't going to hurt him, so he wasn't afraid to walk straight through it. However, a teacher was outside and steered them towards another direction. They would have to enter the school through another door because the teachers didn't want to risk their students getting hurt. It was ironic how they chose to tell the white students to enter the school from a different entrance, but they didn't care about the black students walking through the crowd. 

Charlie was glad that they ended up entering through the back gymnasium doors because his first period was gym class. He didn't like his first period being gym class because he got all sweaty and he just didn't feel fresh the rest of the day. Peter also had gym first period, so it was never a boring class. Between playing sports and Peter cracking jokes, Charlie would say he actually tolerated gym class. He didn't bother going to his locker because he always went straight to it after gym class. Instead, he went into the boys' locker room to change into his gym clothes: a white shirt, red shorts that stopped mid thigh, and a pair of black Converse.

When he walked back into the gym, he noticed that there were two groups divided up. It was a group of white kids on one side and a small amount—maybe ten—of black kids on the other side. The white kids were glaring at the black students as if they were the dirtiest people on earth. He even heard a few degradable comments. People could really be cruel when they wanted to.

He looked at the black people and was surprised to see the girl he saw earlier—the one who got her hair pulled. She was tall, very lean, had a nice rack, and she looked uncomfortable. If he was in a room full of black people, he would be uncomfortable, so he completely understood why she was feeling like that.

"Why are you staring at that nigger?" Peter shoved his shoulder playfully.

"Just trying to figure out how someone could be so ugly." Charlie shrugged his shoulders. For some reason, he felt so wrong saying that. Very wrong. He didn't know why he was staring. He just had to find a quick solution for being caught. 

"Yeah, she's ugly. I bet she would be wild in bed." Peter smirked, eyeing the black girl from head to toe. "I know a guy who plugged a negro, said it was the most exciting thing. You think she'll put out? They tend to put out 'cuz nobody wants 'em."

"No." Charlie shook his head and scrunched his face up in disgust. The way his friend was talking right now was completely crazy. "You don't even like black people, why would you plug her?"

"That's just my point. They don't matter, might as well have a little fun too." Peter waved him off.

"Alright, class. As you can see we have new students. We are playing basketball. Everyone must be on a team. You two are captains." The gym teacher pointed to two students.

Every white student in the gym class got picked on a team, and none of the black students got picked.

"I still see students." The teacher said. "I said everyone must be on a team."

"I ain't putting no nigger on my team!" A student shouted.

"Who said that?" The teacher looked around at the students.

All of the students remained quiet, so no one would get disciplined. They didn't want the black students to be on their team. They didn't even want the black people to be at their school, so there was no chance that they would accept them in school activities, such as gym class. The black students stood awkwardly in the middle of the gym floor, waiting to be picked.

"I will fail you all, if you don't pick the rest of the students." The teacher threatened.

"You can fail me. I ain't playing with niggers." A student said, walking away from the group. He sat down on the bleachers and rolled his eyes at the teacher.

"Fine, no one wants to pick?" The teacher raised his hands in defense. "I'll pick for you."

Then, he demanded the black students to join a team.

That's how how Peter, Charlie, and the black girl who Charlie was looking at earlier, ended up on the same team.

"Hey nigger, ready to play basketball?" Peter winked at the black girl. "Or you could play with something else."

The black girl looked hurt, but she did not say anything to him. Charlie knew that Peter just wanted a reaction from her, so he would have a reason to be even more rude.

"Peter, don't you think that's a bit too much?" Charlie tried to calm his friend down.

"No, I'll say whatever I want." Peter glared at him. Then, he smacked the black girl's behind. "Let me get a piece of that."

"Peter, stop." Charlie lightly shoved Peter back. "She's still a girl."

Peter didn't get a chance to respond because the teacher blew his whistle and said, "stop horsing around. Let's play some basketball."

Charlie looked at the black girl for a split second because he was thinking about apologizing for his friend, but he thought that it was better if he didn't say anything to her at all.

•••

Here's the second chapter. I hope you enjoyed it! Now remember, each character have their own thoughts and feelings. Also remember what time period this is based in, and how they often spoke with or about each other. 

Slang in the 1950's:

•ain't that a bite: that's too bad
•plug: to have sexual relations with
•put out: to give oneself up