SO I DECIDED TO DO 2 THIS WEEK MOONBEAMS! ENJOY!

DON'T FORGET TO COMMENT AND VOTE!

"Hide me!"

"What?" Kenney turned around in circles like a puppy chasing its tail as he tried to catch a glimpse of me ducking and dodging behind him.

"Kenney stop moving. No questions. Just hide me!"

"Ok..." he suddenly stopped and stood there, hands out to his sides and, true to form, tried to be as dramatically immobile as possible, until he could no longer hold in the laughter. "C'mon gul. Hell you doin'?"

"Ssh! I just saw somebody I know..." I whispered hoarsely. "Don't want to talk to him."

"Who? Not ol' dude walkin' over here..."

"What?" I straightened up just in time to catch the eye of Collin Stewart and what I could only assume was his new girlfriend.

"Well, well," I said casually, trying to slow down my speeding heart. "Collin Stewart, as I live and breathe..."

Kenney looked over at me, thoroughly amused. Of course he knew I didn't talk like that.

So did Collin.

"Natasha Marie Berry," Collin replied, almost sounding happy to see me. "What brings you all the way down here?"

"Uh, school." My response was sarcastic, but only his girl seemed to notice.

"What's up, man." Collin turned to Kenney and extended his hand. "Collin."

"Kenney," he leaned forward and shook Collin's hand, then the girl's.

"Shaunta," she said wispily and batted her eyes at Kenney. Then she gave me a silent once over and grabbed Collin's arm. "Baby, we have to finish registering." Again, she looked down her nose at me.

Kenney also looked over at me and put his hand on my back. His eyes told me to just "be easy." I knew that's what he was thinking because that's what he was always telling me to do.

"Well, it was nice seeing you again," Collin said, eyeing Kenney and then letting his "Shaunta" pull him in the opposite direction.

I was all for letting the subject drop, but Kenney never was the type to let an encounter go unnoticed.

Nevertheless, I tried. Turning back to the registrar's table, I busied myself with reading and rereading the incomplete class schedule until I could no longer stand the silence.

When I looked over at Kenney, I was surprised to see a more serious look on his face than a teasing one.

"So that was lemons and sugar, huh?"

I choked on my gum. "What?"

"You heard me."

I smiled and looked away. For some reason, he seemed angry when I looked back at him.

"Is that also 'push you up against the locker' dude?"

Quickly I looked around to see if anyone had heard him, namely Collin. I didn't want Collin to think that I still gave a crap about all that high school stuff after all this time. Why was Kenney being such a butthole all of a sudden?

"I thought so." Kenney looked across the room at Collin when I didn't answer.

"Don't start muggin' him Kenney. That was a long time ago. Come on." I got behind him and pushed him along. "Let's go so I can pay my money and these fools can give me the rest of my classes. I don't know why the hell they didn't tell me in the beginning that I still owed money before I went and stood in that ten mile long line..."

My voice trailed off. Kenney was busy grinning at some chick across the room. He wasn't even listening to me!

Unacceptable.

"Bud!"

"What?!" It was funny how, by then, I had him answering to that name, just like Rudy Huxtable and the real Bud.

"Are you listening to me?"

"Of course," he answered easily and put his arm around my shoulder. "Don't I always?"

I crinkled my nose at him and thought about it. "You know...half the time, I really can't tell."

"That's because I'm effortless in my ways, Tashi. I hear you even when I don't want to."

"You're stupid." I laughed and pushed him away.

"Oh wait. I knew I forgot something." He patted his pockets and pulled out some Malcolm X smarty glasses. "Better?"

He looked over at me as he pushed the round black frames up his nose and flashed his everything you have belongs to me now smile.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Are you serious with those things?" I exclaimed and squinted, moving in for a closer look. "Are they even real?"

He only flashed me another smile and looked the other way when the cashier called, "Sir, you're next."

"See that?" he asked me, whipping out a financial aid letter. "Works every time. What you need to do is get you a pair of these. You'd be surprised..."

I shook my head in disbelief. He really did think those ridiculous looking things were magic! Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Collin watching us. My smile immediately faded and I looked away abruptly.

"Ma'am, you're next," the cashier said, waving me up.

"...and I saw that," Kenney said as he stepped out of the way. "Excellent peripherals, babe. Excellent peripherals."

"Give me a break Kenney."

"Not until you give me one," he answered matter-of-factly. "Bet you end up wit' that fool before you end up with me."

"What?" I whipped around to face him as the woman handed me my receipt. "Where did that come from?"

"Just an observation," he said nonchalantly. "I can see it in your eyes Tashi. You still love him."

"No, I don't."

"Yes you do. What was all that muggin' his girl about then?"

"She was trying to stare me down first!"

"Yes, but had she been with any other man, you would have said something about it."

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yes! Tell me, if one of my...many...very beautiful ...upperclassman... women..."

"Whatever Kenney." I rolled my eyes and started to walk away. He caught my hand.

"...had tried to pull that," he continued like he didn't even hear me, "tell me you wouldn't have said something about it."

"Of course I would. Who the hell are they? I knew you before every one a them hoes."

"Ok," Kenney began. "First of all, you're gonna have to stop calling all other women bitches and hoes."

"I don't..."

"Yes you do." He chuckled briefly. "Worse than Snoop. And second of all, you would have said something to them because you know where you stand with me. But dude still got you on a string after I don't know how long, working your every move. I could tell it by the way he looked at me. I don't know what kind of relationship y'all had back in the day, but he knows he still got you, babe. The question is...what are you going to do about that?"

"Nothing. Because he doesn't have me."

"Ok." He nodded and hid his expression.

"He doesn't!"

"Ok. But back to my original point, you didn't say anything to her because you don't know where you stand with him and don't know if you have the right to say anything at all about anyone he's around. But with me, even as my friend, you'll always know where you stand, and you'll always know that you have the right to speak your mind."

"Aw, Kenney!" I piled on the sugar and wrapped my arms around him, but he wasn't having it.

"You can sweet talk me all you want, suga, but I see what I see and I know what I know. With me you'll always feel important. With him you'll always feel like a second stringer."

Who did this kid think he was? He just met Collin and knew absolutely nothing about what Collin and I had...before I ever even knew Kenney existed.

"What a hater!" I laughed and gave him a friendly nudge.

Kenney laughed, too. "I'm just sayin'." He shrugged. "Mark my words. You'll end up with him first." Then he gave me a devilish grin. "But I'll be your forever and last, Tashi. Bet."

"Anyway..." I copped a fake attitude and started walking towards the door.

He followed me. "Bet. Word is bond, son. Na-mean ked?"

I turned around and scrunched up my nose at him. "Uh-uh! That's New York. People do not talk like that in Baltimore."

"Yes y'all do talk like that up top...son" he chuckled, knowing that I hated when he tried to sound like he was from up north. "I been to Baltimore, son. And that's how you's guys talk, son."

"Shut up," I laughed. "You always think you know everything!"

"I do know...more than you think, darlin'." He looked over at me. "You'll learn." He gave my shoulders a squeeze. "Stick wit' me kid. One day, you'll learn..."