Evan's POV

Beep, beep, beep

My loud ass phone went off. After I hit the snooze I still hear ringing in my ears. I think I drank a little too much at Eric's house.

"Evan! You know what time it is. Basketball practice starts at 7 this morning!" my mom yelled.

"I know!" I yelled back at her.

I got up from bed and walked to my bathroom. I grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste and started brushing. While I was brushing my teeth I got a FaceTime call from my sister.

I answered.

"Hi Evan!" She screamed.

"Hey Lynn! What's up?" I used the same tone she had.

"I made it on my junior varsity soccer team!" She smiled.

"Ay that's great! See I knew you would make it"

"Evan, when are you coming to visit? I haven't seen you since last summer."

My mom and dad are divorced. Long story short, my mom cheated on my dad and now he and my sister live in North Carolina. I was gonna live with them, but because of everything at school— basketball, my friends, not to mention she's the headmaster, everything would've been hard, not just on me, but on her as well. I told my friends that my dad is on a long work trip and my sister is in boarding school to prevent any further questions. The only person that knows the truth is Leo.

"I know. Don't worry I'll make time to see you"

"Okay, dad misses you" She beamed.

"Marilynn, who are you talking to?" A deep voice chimed in.

"Hey Dad." I chuckled.

"Evan, how's it going?" He chuckled.

"Good. Man what are they feeding you over in North Carolina? I laughed.

He saw what I was taking about and grabbed his belly.

"Oh this?" He chuckled.

"I mean Marilynn always said she wanted a baby sister, I see you in the process of making that happen" I laughed.

"Jasmine's been cooking lately" Marilynn smiled.

Jasmine is my dad's girlfriend. Jasmine is a black women. I met her for the first time two years ago. I was nervous, the moment I heard he had a new girlfriend, I knew the chances of him getting back with mom were slim. I was also nervous because I was thinking what if I wasn't what she expected. All sorts of dumb ass shit. When I saw her I was shocked. She was so beautiful—like Victoria secret model. Once I got to know her she was very cool. She liked basketball, which was something we would often talk about whenever I visited. When I told my mom about her she seemed upset. I don't know if she was upset that dad got a new girlfriend or if it was because she was black.

"How is Jasmine by the way?"

"She's good. She just left for work she had the morning shift at the hospital"

"She's out there saving lives while you stuff your self with food.

"I know right I love my life" he chuckled.

"Oh shit" I mumbled to myself after checking the time.

"Dad, I gotta go practice starts in 45 minutes and I'm not close to getting ready"

"Alright son, tell your mother I said hi"

"Alright talk to you guys later" I waved at the camera.

They waved back and ended the chat.

After that I got dressed in my horrible ass uniform. I packed all my basketball stuff. Then I rushed downstairs to grab something to eat. I saw my mom drinking her coffee and on her phone.

"Dad said hi." I blurted out.

"Oh. That's nice. How's Marilynn?" Her face unfazed.

"She made her junior varsity team. I mean you would know if you called her." I said as poured Frosted Flakes into the bowl.

"Evan." She whispered as she put her phone down.

"What? I mean you ruined the dynamic of this family the least you could do is pick up the phone and call your daughter. You act like you don't care. You know how sad it is for her to call me wondering the next time she's gonna see me? Anytime I talk to you about seeing Marilynn and dad , you pull the I'm so lonely card— the my family hates me card. I pity you so I stay. I'm done with this after I graduate I'm moving out." I yelled as I made my way out the door.

She doesn't know this but I applied for the scholarship. She wants me to go to college here, so I can be close to her. I plan to go to University of North Carolina. That way I can be close to my dad, Marilynn, and Jasmine.

Once I get that scholarship, I'm done with her.

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"Man Coach was on our asses this morning" Eric panted.

"Up our asses? He made us do killers for 21 minutes straight. The same amount of time it took for JT to finally show up to practice" Leo said as he shook his head.

"JT. Why you always gotta come to practice late as hell man? What's up?" I asked.

"I already told y'all. I overslept." He smiled.

"Why does it feel like there's more to the story?" I shook my head.

"Well Nia called me last night and told me her parents were gone for two weeks and that I should pull up. So I did and one thing led to another I ended up leaving her house at 7:19" he chuckled.

JT has no sense of self control when it comes to females. He has always been that way even when we were in middle school. He can get any girl without even trying. I thought he was the luckiest guy in Fendale Middle School. Now I think he's the dumbest guy at Lexington. He's a senior and he's still not committed to a school yet. We're almost done with the season! Instead of playing ball he's playing the hell outta these females.

"I thought you weren't gone let a female tie you down" Leo scoffed.

" I wasn't til Imani. She got me caught up. Nia was just one time type thing. That's all" JT reassured us.

"Right." I nodded.

"But y'know who I really been feeling lately..." JT said.

Here we go again.

"Who?" Eric asked.

"Taylor." JT smiled.

Leo turned his whole body around to face JT.

"Taylor? What you want with Taylor?" Leo muttered.

"I was partners with Pillar Hawkins and she told me that Taylor was feeling me back in middle school."

"Okay? That was in middle school. What makes you think she likes you now?" I scoffed.

"You're right. I don't know. Imma find out later today" He smiled.

"I dunno man. Taylor's different from all the other females you've messed with." Leo said.

"That's good. Cause I like different" JT smiled as he left the locker room.

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"Man just tell her you like her" I whispered.

"What for? she already told me that she's feelin' JT" He whispered back.

Leo's liked Taylor since middle school. He always got friendzoned. I just think it's because he never told her how he felt. I've known Leo for a long time and he always keeps his shit to himself.

"You never know. She might feel the same way."

"Who might feel the same way Mr. Lexington?" A obnoxious voice chimed in.

"Mr.Pixly. We were just talking about... a girl." I smiled.

"Yep." Leo nodded.

"Oh? What about this girl?" He chuckled.

"Uh—"

"I mean, this young lady must be special for you both to be interrupting class."

"Well Leo here was talking about how much he loves Sofia the first and how he hopes that she feels the same way that he does about the show." I smiled at Mr.Pixly

Everybody in class started chuckling.

Leo nodded and went along with the story. I said Sofia the first because one time I came over to help him babysit his sister and all we would watch is Sofia the first. That show low key snaps not gonna lie.

"It's true. Clover is the best character on that show, just had to put that out there." Leo smiled.

"I know all about that show, my niece watches it. I didn't know you were such a fan Mr. Fletcher. Let's carry on with class shall we?"

We both nodded.

After spending 50 minutes in that class, it was time for forensics. My favorite class this year. As I walk to my class I see Amiyah at her locker. I walked over to her locker.

"What's going on Amiyah" I asked.

She turned around and stared at me with a blank stare on her face. I didn't know if she was tired or day dreaming.

"Amiyah?"

"Uh, yeah sorry. I'm good how about you?" She snapped out of her trance.

I wanted to hangout with her, only her. Every time we hangout it's with the rest of the crew. I want know her little more.

"Yea I'm good. I was wondering if you wanted to get some food after school" I smiled.

"Oh. I don't know.... I'll see what I got going on cause I have plans after school." She smiled at me.

Of course she has plans after school. She seems like the busy type. I'm hungry as fuck and I do want to get some food after school. I'll ask Leo if he wanna go with me.

"Alright, that's cool. Maybe next time." I turned around and walked to my psych class.

As I walked to my class I texted Leo if they wanted to get some food after school.

He called me 2 secs later and told me that Eric saw the text. If Eric saw it he's about to make it into a whole get together.

Great.

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