Chapter 9
570 Words
After paying the bill, Rachel and I rushed over to Max’s house. I was on fire. Ready to rip his head off. How could he do this to me?! As I was sitting in the passenger seat of Rachel’s car, I thought long and hard about me and Max.
It was many years ago, all the way back to when my parents were still married. We just moved into this town. I remember it so well.
Father was taking the boxes out of the truck. Mother was holding my hand at the foot of the stairs. I was wearing ripped jean pants and a black tank top. My hair was longer than it is now. I looked over across the street and saw a group of boys playing street basketball. I wandered over there when Mother started arguing with Father about the fine china. I walked over and was greeted by a boy named George. He looked me over as I approached. The boys stopped playing when George called out to me.
George was an African boy without a shirt and wearing black basketball shorts. His black crewcut hair dripped with sweat as his green eyes met mine. He smiled big and shouted at me.
“Hey! Welcome to the hood!”
I sheepishly waved and spoke softly, “Hi, can I play?”
“Sure! But you’ll have to be on Max’s team, alright? Hey Max, come here!”
Max rushed over in his black basketball shorts and red tank top. He wore his brown hair under his red baseball cap pulled backward. “Yeah?”
“Got you a backup for Carl? What’s your name, kid?”
“Jean-Antoine Dupre.”
The other boys started laughing and Max stared at me. George looked like I spoke something alien to him.
I asked, “Is something wrong?”
Max spoke up, “That is long, girl! Got anything shorter?”
“GIRL?!!!”
I lost my temper and jumped Max. It took George and a couple of boys to separate us. My father rushed over to me.
“Jean!! Knock it off!!”
Max scrambled to his feet laughing. He reached out his hand to me as I sat on my ass on the hot pavement.
“Sorry man, your hair threw me as well as your name. Name’s Max.”
I grabbed Max’s hand, wiping blood off my face. My father looked me over and I asked if I could play with Max and George. He agreed reluctantly.
After that, Max and I became good friends. Max was there when my parents got divorced. Max was there when I would run away. George moved when we were all in middle school. In the end, it was just me and Max. Then Rachel came into the picture in our final year of middle school. Max fell hard for Rachel and eventually, so did I. Which strained our friendship in the first year of high school. High school hormones hit us badly. I was finally able to cut my hair and look like a normal boy. I began using the nickname Jan or Jean.
Max and Rachel are the only ones who knew my full name. It made my anger burn thinking about where our friendship ended up today.
As I looked out the car window, I saw police and ambulance lights. They were parked in front of Max’s house.
- Writer
