Juke Jam

Chapter Fourteen

Charlie leaned with one foot against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest, observing just about every senior at the sock hop. He saw how his friends were dancing and wiggling around to an Elvis Presley record. He also saw his date, Daisy, dancing crazily with her friends. He thought it was best to leave her alone because he didn't want to dance with her.

His eyes landed on one person in particular: Gladys. Charlie eyed the mocha skinned girl, as she danced effortlessly with one of her friends on the other side of the gymnasium. The gym was divided into a colored's section and a white's section. The white's section had much more dancing room. It even had a table full of snacks. While the white's section was more than sufficient enough, the colored's section was crowded and they did not have any snacks.

That did not seem to stop Gladys from having fun, though. Gladys was smiling and shuffling her feet to the heavily influenced rock 'n' roll music. Contrary to popular belief, Elvis Presley did not invent rock 'n' roll. In fact, Charlie was under the impression that no one person invented rock 'n' roll. Charlie thought it was ironic that Gladys was dancing to an Elvis Presley song; she wasn't too fond of Presley because she claimed Presley stole black musician's songs.

Charlie also found it ironic how he couldn't keep his eyes off Gladys when his date was literally a few feet away from him. Gladys hadn't talked to Charlie ever since she saw him asking Daisy out. If he was being completely honest with himself, he wouldn't talk to himself either if he was Gladys. He practically made her look like a fool, so he could see why she didn't want to talk to him.

"Damn, that monkey is showing out with that dress." Peter came up to Charlie with a smirk on his face. "Shell definitely put out tonight."

"Eh, I don't think she will." Charlie never took his eyes off Gladys.

"Why else would she wear something like that?"

"To look good for herself." Charlie simply stated.

"You know, lately it seems like you've been taking up for blacks. You don't even join in on the fun when we tease them." Peter cocked his head to the side.

"Bud, come on, you know I'm not that type of person. Making other people's lives miserable is not my scene—it's yours." Charlie shook his head.

"I don't care what you say. I'm making her put out tonight. I'll catch her at the bus stop."

Peter had this devious look in his eyes; he wanted to take Gladys' body and have his way with it against her free will. Charlie could not let that happen. He knew Peter was messed up in the head a bit, but he'd never thought Peter would think about having sexual relations without another person's consent.

"Peter, no." Charlie shook his head. "That's not right."

"Oh come on, like they don't imagine putting out for us." Peter rolled his eyes. "They should be lucky we even think of them in that way."

"That way?" Charlie narrowed his eyebrows. He was getting mad now. "Gladys is not an object. Stop objectifying her."

"Gladys?" Peter raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth with surprise. "You're on first name basis with the nigger girl now?"

"She is in our gym class, you fool." Charlie fuming by now.

"Well, watch me have my way with Gladys." Peter laughed, patting Charlie on the shoulder and walking away.

Peter was not about to have relations with Gladys because Charlie wouldn't let him. Charlie didn't care who found out about him being friends with Gladys; he'd rather her be sane than crazy. He just cared about Gladys too much. As far as Daisy, he could leave her and care less.

As the dance carried on, Charlie kept a close eye on Peter. Daisy kept asking him if he was okay because he seemed antsy. Every time she tried to make a move on him, he would avert his attention elsewhere. Daisy eventually gave up and walked away from him. She probably went to her friends or some other guy, but Charlie didn't really care.

Charlie saw Gladys going to the back of the gym to lean on the wall. He knew this was his perfect opportunity to spark up a conversation with her. Maybe he would start along the lines of how he was sorry and also a jerk. Girls loved it when a guy could admit that he was wrong. Well, at least his mother loved it. He wasn't sure how well it worked on other women, but he was definitely willing to try.

"Hi." He said, approaching her.

"Don't talk to me." She glared at him, crossing her arms.

"I know we haven't talked since—"

"—since you asked Daisy out to tha sock hop." She cocked her head to the side.

"Yeah, about that . . . I'm really sorry. She was bugging me and I wanted to ask you, but I knew that I couldn't." He said sorrily.

"If you think that's why I'm mad, then you crazy. I'm disappointed 'bout dat, but it ain't why I'm mad." She frowned.

He looked clueless.

"You let Peter touch up on me!" She pointed at him, accusingly. "After you told me you would stick up for me!"

"Gladys, I'm sorry!" Charlie frowned. "I swear I wanted to help and I even told him to leave you alone."

"But you didn't and he ain't leave me alone." She shook her head.

"How can I make it up to you? I just feel so bad."

"You should feel bad."

"Gladys, I'm sorry." He grabbed her arm and she looked at him like he was crazy, so he let it go. "Look, can we dance? I'd love to dance with you."

"You wanna dance with me?" She asked in a shy voice.

"There's nothing else I'd rather do." He smiled.

"How we gone dance? We separated." She looked at the rope separating them.

"You dance on one side and I dance on the other." He shrugged his shoulders. "They can't stop us from doing that."

And so they danced, causing all sorts of drama.

•••

Just a friendly reminder that this is historical fiction and not every single thing listed in this story is in actual fact. Thank you for reading. :)