The Way We Were

The Way We Study

Mercedes waited for Puck to sit down before turning. "Hey."

"Sup, Mama?" He stretched out.

"Can you come over tonight?"

A salacious grin spread across his face. "Sure."

"I only have one lesson after school so you can come by at four thirty."

"Where do you live?"

She wrote her address on a sheet of paper and gave it to him.

"Class! I have a special surprise for you all! Langston Hughes!" The teacher burst through the door.

Mercedes smiled as she turned to face front. He was totally her favorite teacher.

W.W.W.

Mercedes shut the door behind herself and went to see if anyone was home. "Marc?! Marcy?! Mal?! Mrs. Parks?!"

"Ms. Mercedes Catherine." Mrs. Parks came from the kitchen. "How was your day?"

"Good. I'm having a friend over."

"Will you still be studying in the dining room?"

"Yes. Do you know if anyone is home?" The door slammed. "That must be somebody."

The two went into the front hall and saw Marcy heading up the stairs.

"Hey!"

Marcy turned. "Hey! I didn't know anybody was home."

"Yeah. I have a friend coming over."

"Is it Brittany or Santana? I've been aching to mess with her."

"Stop it." Mercedes grinned. "No, it's a new friend. I'll tell you about it."

"Well I'm going to check on the twins. Did they have a good day, Mrs. Parks?"

"Yes, they did. They ate all of the milk you left and a bit of cereal." The nanny said.

"I should probably pump then."

Mercedes followed her sister up the stairs. "What does it mean if they eat so much?"

"That they're fat." Marcy joked as she opened her door. She threw her stuff on the bed and went to the cribs.

"Why are you home so early? Don't you have lessons?"

"I already approved my absence for today at my dojo. I wanted a day to get caught up on stuff. So I don't get behind? It's only November. I don't want to have to drop out of school."

"What are you behind in?" She frowned as Marcy soothed a fussy Mickey.

"Nothing yet but I have a history project due soon and I haven't even started."

"What is it on?"

"Magellan."

"Do you need help?"

"No. I know what I want to do but I just need some uninterrupted times. So you were talking about your friend?"

"Remember my study date last week?"

"Yeah." Marcy put Mickey down.

"It's him."

Marcy's jaw dropped. "You invited a boy over?"

Mercedes nodded. "I know."

"But why?"

"I like him. I really like him."

Marcy wiped the confused look off her face. "Okay. What do you want me to do?"

"What do you mean?"