Hoodie Read Free Page A

sensitivity. He turned around to see if she was still there. He caught sight of her walking swiftly to the bathroom, head down. He stopped laughing even though the laughter around him was ripe and loud.
     
    ***
     
    Dr. Thompson gave the students the last twenty minutes of the period to meet and discuss their projects. He noticed that Emma stayed in her seat pretending to write things in her notebook. He was tempted to call her to his desk and ask how things were going with her partner, but he refrained. They could work it out, he decided. They would have to.
    Anton watched her. He thought that the right thing to do would be to approach her and apologize. It also helped that his friends weren’t around to give him shit about it. Her hair hung down shielding most of her face, but he could still see her eye. He watched her staring at the page. She wasn’t writing. Her eye would be moving if she were writing.
    He licked his lips in contemplation. He wanted to apologize. He didn’t talk to women like that. His mama would smack the shit out of him if she knew he called a girl a bitch. He was raised to be respectful. But he was just so angry. She decided to dislike him before even getting to know him. He could sense it in her body language when she walked over to his desk yesterday. She was arrogant, he decided. He was certain of it, ignoring the possibility that he completely misread her.
    The truth was that he was uncomfortable around her. He thought she was beautiful, and he didn’t like that. She wasn’t from his world as evident by the address on the piece of paper she gave him. He snorted slightly. Five-sixty Avondale Drive, he thought. Rich ass girl. And not black. He didn’t want to be attracted to her. He knew he could never date her or else he’d have to explain that to his friends, his mama. Maybe Mama wouldn’t care, but his friends would. And it pissed him off that he couldn’t control his attraction. There were plenty of fine black girls at school, but he only wanted to look at her. When did that happen? It was last year. He could see the moment clearly though he wasn’t sure if it happened earlier or later in the year. She said something clever in class, and everyone laughed. He watched her shrug her shoulders and smirk, and since then, all he wanted to do was keep looking at her.
    Maybe he was completely to blame for creating the animosity between them. But then, she did go to their teacher like a little whiny brat. Perhaps that was his fault, though. After all, he did act like he didn’t care. And he couldn’t understand that. Was he trying to look cool in front of her? Did he think that would make her like him? He shook his head.
    He thought he would never get the chance to speak to her, but the opportunity finally presented itself. He couldn’t believe his luck at being paired with her. He got his chance, but he played it all wrong, and then to top it off he called her a bitch. How could he ever recover from that? And then she asked for an apology. Well, in her own way. She was trying to be a tough girl. He laughed at her act because he knew it wasn’t her. But he should have apologized. He would have apologized if not for his stupid friends. Why did he care so much about what they thought?
    He shouldn’t have pinned her to those lockers. He knew it was wrong. He wanted to humiliate her. He didn’t know why he wanted to do that when it would probably make her cry. He didn’t want to make her cry.
    “Anton? Get out of my classroom.” Dr. Thompson was standing over him. “I’ve got another class coming in.”
    He didn’t say a word but left in a hurry. When did the bell ring?
    He walked down the hall searching for her. He resolved to apologize and try to start things over regardless of what his friends thought. She wasn’t at her locker. He knew she had Calculus next; he’d seen her going into Mrs. Hartsford’s classroom across from Dr. Thompson’s room. He peeked inside the room and