Getting Played Read Free Page B

me,” he says.
    I roll my eyes and just keep walking. I’m so not in the mood for this right now. The thing is I know he’s kind ofseeing Sierra, so why he’s always up in my face is beyond me. Troy Carson is one of the most popular guys in school. That’s mostly because he plays football and runs track. He’s in the eleventh grade, same as me, and already he has college teams checkin’ him. Most of the girls think he’s cute and some admitted to already sleeping with him just for the props. They’d probably cut off a limb to have their locker next to his. Me, I could care less. He’s loud and obnoxious and thinks he’s the shit.
    Right now he leans back against my locker and smiles at me. I walk over and glare at him. “Excuse me,” I say, knowing it isn’t going to be that easy.
    His eyes are real dark brown, and they do this twinkle thing. His skin is milk chocolate and smooth like silk. He’s tall with wide shoulders and thick biceps. He dresses nice, really nice, and I hear his family has deep pockets. He has nice hair that he keeps cut short, and he wears a small earring in each earlobe. Okay, fine, I admit it. He’s cute and all, but he’s still an asshole.
    His smile widens as he slowly moves to the side, allowing me to get to my locker. But he’s still too close. He leans down and talks loud enough for his boys to hear. “So, Kenishiwa, what you doin’ this weekend? I know your boy D’s not around anymore and everybody knows he was tappin’ that on the regular, so why don’t you come over to my place? You and me can hang out.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œYou heard me. Don’t act like you don’t know. I can give you what you need now that your boy’s not around.” His friends start laughing, slapping hands and bumping fists.
    I sigh heavily, then spin my combination and open my locker. I know I just have to ignore him. I pivot my shoulder, and the door swings wider almost clipping his face. He jerks back quickly. His boys start laughing again, but I ignore them, too. I grab my jacket and then everything else except for the school books that I need to turn back in. It’s mostly empty anyway ’cause I thought I was leaving today.
    Troy leans against another locker looking directly at me. He keeps talking, spouting off his usual crap about going out with him. His boys, a brainless bunch of football jocks, look on laughing moronically. It’s like every stupid typical high school scene from every stupid typical high school movie ever made. It’s so old and tired. Seriously, can he really be this dumb? I can imagine in another ten years, he’ll be the guy who gets slapped with a sexual harassment lawsuit and considers it business as usual. But whatever, I just keep grabbing my stuff and say nothing.
    â€œSo what, you ain’t talking now?”
    â€œPlease, talking to you is an exercise in futility.”
    â€œWhat?” he says, apparently clueless. Seeing his expression, it hits me. He probably doesn’t know what I just said. His boys, standing behind him, start laughing at him instead of with him.
    He glares at me. His expression is completely blank, and he’s speechless. It occurs to me that saying something so obviously sarcastic might have whiplashed his brain. Still, Troy Carson speechless. I kinda like the sound of that. All of a sudden I’m feeling much better, so I keep going. “For real, your ego is unbelievable. Exactly what fragments ofyour tiny cerebrum have disconnected from your vocal cords?”
    â€œWhat did you just say to me?” he mumbles, obviously trying to figure out what I said. See, in this school, girls aren’t supposed to talk to him like this. He’s Troy Carson, football player, quarterback and the shit. We’re just supposed to jump when he says so and be happy about it. Not.
    â€œYou heard exactly what I said.”