Hey, girl,” I said with excitement as Rain answered her phone.
“Is that you, Payton?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“What are you doin’ callin’ me on a Thursday night?”
“I can’t call you now that you’re in college?”
“Yeah, it’s just that I haven’t heard from you in a while. I can barely hear you now. Where are you?”
“Girl, I’m outside walkin’ to a meeting. It’s dark, and I don’t need to be alone. I just thought I would check in on you.”
“That’s good, but I should be askin’ how you are. I just lost a stupid boyfriend, but you lost your grandfather. Are you all right? How are you holdin’ up?”
“Actually I’m all right.”
“That’s good. And your family?”
“Everybody’s good, but I haven’t heard from them. You know how that goes.”
“So Rain, what’s up with you? Are you able to survive without Tyson?”
“It was hard at first, but then my Morehouse brother started being really nice to me.”
“Your Morehouse brother? What’s that?”
“When you first come to Spelman they match you up with a brother at Morehouse. You’re supposed to help each other get adjusted and stuff. Anyway, mine is so cute. He’s from Dallas and he likes me. We’re takin’ it slow, but he let me know that Tyson is not the only brother out there. How come I’m doin’ a Payton Skky?”
“What are you talkin’ about?” I questioned.
“He plays basketball just like Tyson. All your men play football. Why all my men gotta play basketball?”
“That’s ’cause you tall, girl. Not that your boyfriend has to be taller than you, but you know you like them tall and skinny.”
“Oh, you got jokes, huh?”
“Girl, I miss you.”
“Yeah, I miss you, too, Payton. Have you talked to Dymond or Lynzi?”
“No, not yet. Maybe we should do a three-way soon.”
“What are you doin’ for spring break?” she asked.
“I don’t have any plans. What about you?”
“I don’t have any plans either. We’re goin’ to have to road trip somewhere,” Rain suggested.
“Sounds good to me. I can’t wait to meet this guy. I might have to stop down in Atlanta soon.”
“Yeah, I want you to. I’ll let you know when the basketball games start so you can come down with me.”
“Cool. Well, I’m gonna let you go now. I’m almost to the building. You kept me safe,” I said.
“Like I’d be able to do anything all the way in Atlanta.”
“Just hearin’ your voice made me feel safe. Big hug through the phone!”
“Big hug back!” Rain exclaimed.
“See ya, Rain.”
“’Bye,” she said as I hung up the phone.
“Boo!” a familiar voice said all of a sudden, nearly scaring me to death.
“Dakari Graham!” I screamed, hitting him over the head with my purse. “You know you wrong!”
“You know you wrong, girl. Out here by yourself. I thought that was you walkin’, swingin’ them hips. I was supposed to be headin’ back to the dorm, but you made me follow.”
“Boy, I got this long coat on. You know you can’t see nothin’.”
He chuckled. “That’s what you think.”
“Move from in front of me.”
It had been a while since I had talked to Dakari. I hadn’t seen him since the bowl game, but we didn’t speak then. I hadn’t missed him one bit.
“What have you been up to, Payton?” he asked.
“Nothin’ much.”
“Where are you headin’ to?”
“I’m goin’ to a SGA meeting.”
“Dang! You gettin’ involved in politics?”
“You know I did it in high school,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, but it’s really political on this level.”
“I know. Actually Hayli’s the one who suggested I get involved.”
“Hayli? That girl is takin’ my brother through all kinds of changes. That’s probably why y’all get along.”
“Why you say that?”
“Don’t trip. You know you took me through a whole bunch of changes.”
“Whatever, Dakari!”
“Don’t get mad. I’m just tellin’ the truth.”
“From what I hear, your brother can’t even respect the fact that he’s engaged.”
I didn’t want to go into serious detail with Dakari. My conversation with Hayli was strictly between us. Dakari had a big mouth anyway. He would probably go back and tell Drake.
“What you talkin’ about? What do you know?” he asked, getting really defensive.
“Nothin’. I don’t know a thing.”
He kept persisting because he’s stubborn, but I didn’t have time for his foolishness.
“Dakari, get out of my way. I have a meeting to go to.”
“You should thank me for makin’ sure you got here safely. You know we got crazy people roamin’ the campus.”
“That’s nice, scare me.”
“I’m just tryin’ to tell you to be smart. Go ahead and be hardheaded.”
“No, you’re right. Thanks, Dakari.”
“So are we gonna get together soon? You know you missed me. You didn’t even say nothin’ about my Kobe Bryant hairstyle.”
“It’s cute.”
“You like it, don’t you?”
“Dakari.” I sighed with aggravation.
“All right, I’ma call you though,” he said before he quickly kissed me on the cheek and dashed around the corner.
He was so slick.
I must have gotten the meeting time wrong because when I got inside the building Karlton was already presiding over the meeting. He smiled at me and motioned for me to have a seat.
Karlton Kincaid was a junior at Georgia. He was director of minority recruitment and head of the newspaper on campus. “We’ve got to make sure we do something exciting. This will be the best time to persuade most of the students to come here. I want to open up the floor for ideas of what we can do. Does anybody have any ideas?” Karlton scanned the room.
There were about fifteen people in attendance and everyone had their mouths tightly shut. I thought about many things, but I didn’t want to come late and then open my big mouth. When no one said anything I slowly raised my hand.
Karlton acknowledged me. “Guys, I want to introduce you to Payton Skky. She’s a freshman here and she’s a very bright and lovely student from Augusta, Georgia. I asked her to join us because I felt her energy would improve our committee a great deal.”
“Welcome,” “Hey,” and “What’s up” came from different people around me.
I smiled and waved back. “Hey, I don’t know if I have a lot to offer, but I definitely have some ideas. I decided to come to Georgia when I came to a recruiting visit here last year. A lot of the things you did, I would definitely say repeat. Last year when I came, it was during the fall and we got to go to a free football game, so maybe now it should be a basketball game.
“Yeah, that’s a great idea,” a guy replied.
“The one thing I thought was missing was maybe a Greek step show. Maybe that could be at the mixer so people can watch the show and then talk and dance and stuff.”
“That would be cool,” someone replied.
“Anything else, Payton?” Karlton asked.
“Well, I think we should come up with a theme and then send information to the recruits in the mail to get them hyped up about it. Everything we do should touch on the theme. That’s all,” I said as I quickly sat down.
“That’s good stuff,” he replied. “Anyone else?”
Different people started to piggyback off my ideas. I was really excited that they liked them. Before the meeting ended the committee came up with the theme “Building on History.” Since it was Black History Month we wanted to let the black students know that by coming to Georgia they could still maintain a part of who they are. I was excited about the two new organizations I had joined.
Before I could leave, Karlton offered to walk me to my car. Based on what Dakari and Rain had told me about safety, I quickly took him up on his offer.
“I’m glad you made it,” he said.
“I must have gotten the time wrong.”
“I didn’t think you were going to show up.”
“I told you I would be here when you called me last week.”
“I’m glad you came. You got us going in the right direction.”
“I appreciate that,” I told him honestly.
“There was something I wanted to talk to you about,” Karlton said.
“What?”
“I need a freshman writer for the newspaper. You interested?”
“Keep talkin’,” I told him. “Why do you think I would be good?”
“You like to journal and you do good papers. Though you are a business major you said you wanted to be a sports broadcaster. I don’t believe all that stuff just comes together in the end. You gotta work for it. That’s what college is all about. I see potential in you and I wanna get that out. What can I say?”
“Well, how can I turn you down?”
“Don’t.”
“I won’t.”
Before I got into my car he told me a few things about the position and told me to come by the journalism office next week. Karlton told me he was very excited I was going to try out his offer. I told him I couldn’t make him any promises, but I let him know that I appreciated that he believed in me enough to ask me about the job.
“We don’t help one another enough,” Karlton commented. “We need to make sure we’re there for other people. I want my life to count for more than doing things for myself. I want to help people achieve their goals.”
“I did that last year. I helped my brother’s girlfriend prepare for cheerleading tryouts and she made it.”
“Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about. God put us here for more than ourselves. He said what we do to the least we do to Him.”
“I didn’t know you where a religious brother.”
“Yep. I’ve known you for six months and if you didn’t know that then I’m not doin’ my job.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not talking about the Lord enough. Everywhere I go He should be on my lips and on my tongue. There are too many unsaved folks out there for me to remain silent. We can’t see our future, but we can look to our past and tell folks about our experiences. The same miracles He performed in the Bible He is performing now.”
“I’m sure all the college kids would love to hear how He turned water into wine,” I joked.
“Naw, but when one day they don’t have any money for food and the next day they are eating, that’s a blessing. They can relate to that. God is truly awesome.”
“I hear ya,” I told him.
Karlton was a brother who had it goin’ on. Not because he was cute or smart but because Christ was the center of his life. I didn’t know that at first. We dated once, but I was too far into Tad and Dakari to check him out. Having him as a friend was going to be truly good for me.
We said our good-byes, he shut my car door, and I headed back to the dorm.
“Thanks, Lord,” I said as I walked inside. “Thanks for helping me see my purpose at Georgia. You’ve educated me in more ways than one. May I continue to be open to whatever it is that You want me to see. I love You and I thank You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
“Payton! What do we have to wear?” Robyn yelled from across the bathroom.
We were getting ready for our first recruiting visit. It seemed weird. It was only a year ago that I was a recruit. Now it was my turn to recruit someone else.
“Did you hear me, Payton? What are we wearin’?”
“Not the uniform, Robyn. Just a sweatshirt and some jeans. Weren’t you listening at the meeting?”
“What do I need to listen for? You were there. I knew you were going to know.”
“Girl, you are so wrong!”
We could yell because Laurel and Jewels were at their sorority meeting. We had the music blasting. It was a totally black vibe going on when they weren’t around, and Robyn and I were loving it. It was cool to be us sometimes.
“Let me in, y’all!” Cammie yelled as she banged on the door.
I danced my way over to the knob and turned it.
“Look at you guys. Y’all are supposed to be ready and y’all are partyin’.”
“I’m ready. I’m waitin’ on Robyn.”
“OK, here I come. Here I come,” she said, dashing through the bathroom with her pants undone, lipstick crooked, and hair mangled.
“We got a second,” I said to her, seeing she obviously needed more time.
“No, we can’t be late,” Cammie said. “Don’t we still have to pick up Shanay and Blake? You know it takes them forever to get ready.”
“OK, Cammie, call them. Robyn, you finish getting dressed and I’ll pull the car around.”
After all of that, when we got to Shanay and Blake’s, they still weren’t ready. We were late for our first official Georgia Girls function. A girl I didn’t see at the first meeting was standing at the door of the athletic facility, tapping her foot and looking at her watch. She looked very familiar and she stared at me as if I did too.
“Where have you ladies been?” she said. “Georgia Girls are not on CP time. I’m the president of this organization and I don’t tolerate the black chicks doing less than their job. You know what I’m saying, home girls?”
“Girl, we don’t know you,” Shanay told her, saying what I was thinking.
It was Shari Rice, the head hostess who was all over Dakari. From what Hayli said she was all over Drake too. Shari was now the president. If I would have known that, I wouldn’t have signed up.
“Well, go on in. The football players are waiting for the recruits to show up. There is a sign for each Georgia Girl, with her football player, and her assigned recruit. Most of the football players are the freshmen and sophomore guys, so don’t think you’re gonna get hooked up with a big-time football player.”
“What in the world is she talkin’ about?” Robyn whispered in my ear.
“She’s crazy. I’ll tell you later,” I told her.
“C’mon. Let’s go see who we got,” Robyn said as she tugged on my arm.
A smile came over me when I confirmed that Tad and I were going to be paired up. Our recruit was from South Carolina.
“Look at you! You got Tad! Who am I paired up with?” Robyn went to look on the list.
I scanned the room for Mr. Taylor. My eyes stopped roaming when I saw him in a heated debate with Vonda. I could almost read their lips.
“Why do you have to be paired up with her? Can’t we just switch?”
“No, we don’t have to go through all that trouble. It’ll be cool. Payton and I are just friends.”
“Dakari? What kind of name is that?” Robyn said, interrupting my thoughts.
“You’re with Dakari?” I questioned.
“That’s what it says. Do you know him?”
“Of course she knows me,” he said, coming between us. “Dakari Ross Graham. Hey, beautiful lady,” he said to Robyn.
“My name is Robyn Williams. Please use it.”
“Dang. You’re on the attack.”
“No, I just like my name to be used.”
“Well, c’mon. Let’s get to know each other, Miss Robyn,” he said, pulling her away.
“’Bye, Payton,” she said, leaving me with a smile on her face.
I didn’t even get to tell her that Dakari was my ex-boyfriend. If she knew that I’m sure she wouldn’t get feelings for him and that’s the way I liked it. When you want lemonade sometimes life just keeps on dealing out lemons. You’ve got to find water and sugar to make it all good.
I kept eyeing Tad and though he was talking to Vonda he was looking for someone. Since the recruits weren’t there he had to be looking for me, but I wasn’t about to get into all that. When Vonda walked away I would make sure he found me quickly. Pretty shortly, however, the recruits arrived and she hadn’t walked away.
This is going to be interesting, I said to myself.
I walked up to the two of them and said, “Hey, I’m sorry to interrupt, but the recruits are here. Are you ready to go, Tad?”
Vonda didn’t even speak. She gave him a look that was anything but happy. It was so awkward I didn’t know what to do next.
Thankfully Tad stepped in and said, “Hey, we’ll talk about this later. Right now I’ve got to go to work.”
He walked away from both of us and went over to where the recruits were standing. He looked back at me to tell me to come on.
I walked as slowly as I could. Though I couldn’t see behind me, I could feel Vonda staring at me. There was a part of the equation that I was missing. She had the guy. She had no reason to trip. If only she knew how jealous I was of her.
“Rocky Hill, this is Payton Skky,” Tad said. “She will be with us tonight.”
“Rocky? Is that your real name?” I asked while extending my hand.
I could tell by his gold tooth, sagging pants, and the pick stuck in the back of his head that he thought he had it going on way more than he did. The dark-skinned brother with dreads made me chuckle inside.
“Randy is my real name, but I’m a fullback and if someone gets behind me, I’m like a rock. I can’t be moved. You know what I’m sayin’, Miss Payton?” He took my hand and kissed it.
I quickly pulled my hand back, looked at Tad, and said, “So what’s the plan? What are we doing?”
“Well, it’s seven now and we have to get this guy back by eleven. It’s all fun tonight. Rocky, what do you want to do?”
“Dang, you gotta excuse me, Miss Payton. I didn’t know chicks at Georgia had it goin’ on like this.”
If that was a compliment I must have missed it. He then started walking all up on me.
Tad stepped between us and pushed him back a little bit. “Yeah, the girls at Georgia are tight, but that’s not the only reason you want to come here.”
“Who said I wanted to come here?” Rocky called him out.
“Dang, looks like I got my work cut out for me.”
“Yeah, you do if you tryin’ to get me to come here. I’m the top fullback in South Carolina.”
“This year,” Tad confirmed. “High school is one thing, but college is on a whole other level. Attitude is one of the first things to get checked at the door.”
We piled into Tad’s car. I had forgotten about my friends, but then I thought about Robyn being with Dakari. Though it wasn’t a date, it bothered me slightly.
I prayed silently as I strapped myself in. Lord, bless all of my friends tonight. We are doing something different. We put ourselves in the hands of Georgia’s athletic department. Bless us all and watch over Dakari and Robyn. You know what I’m thinking before I even say it. Thanks for hearing my prayer. Amen.
We didn’t have much time. When we got to the mall it was 7:30, an hour and a half before closing. It didn’t have much to offer, but Rocky wanted to see what Athens was all about.
We were sitting in the food court when Rocky started bombarding us with questions. “Do y’all really like it up here at this white school?”
“It’s cool,” I replied.
“The football program is outstanding. Where are you thinking about going?” Tad asked.
“South Carolina State.”
“Why there?” I asked.
“Their football program is good too. And they have some players that go pro. They got all the honeys there too.”
“OK,” I said, “looks like you’re choosing college for the wrong reasons. You said nothing about education.”
“Education? I’m a ballplayer.”
“What if that doesn’t work out?” Tad cut in, helping me out.
“It’s gonna work out ’cause I believe in my skills. Tad, you know you don’t want me to go with you anyway. You know I’m gonna take your spot.”
“Well, whether you come here or not, I’m gonna be number one, if the Lord allows. Plus, you’re a fullback; if anything, you’ll be blocking for me.”
“Oh, you one of those religious brothers. God? Please, you better do it yourself.”
Where in the world did this kid come from?
“Oh, wait, y’all,” Rocky said. “There’s a record store and there’s this new rap CD I have been dying to get. Hold up.”
Tad and I were left alone. We stared at each other, and in our deep gaze we were communicating on a whole different level.
My eyes were saying, Dang, boy, you look good.
My body language was saying, Though I am standing five feet from you, I wish I was in your arms.
My heart said, Why aren’t you mine?
Tad broke the silence as he came toward me. “Rocky’s a little crazy brother, ain’t he?”
“Yeah, he definitely has a lot of energy. Tad, you’ve been quiet tonight. I noticed some tension between you and Vonda. Is everything cool?”
“Yeah, it’s straight. There he is,” Tad said, turning his attention back to Rocky.
Next we headed to the bowling alley. I beat both of them and we were having fun. It was almost eleven so Tad and I took Rocky back to the hotel.
Rocky grabbed my hand and tried to pull me up to his hotel room with him.
“What are you doin’?”
“I know what Georgia Girls are for. C’mon, don’t you wanna help me make up my mind that I’m coming to Georgia?”
“Boy, are you stupid? Get off me.”
“C’mon,” he said, getting a little rougher.
All of a sudden Tad jacked him up against the wall.
“I’m gonna tell you this one time, Rocky. Payton’s job is done for tonight. If you don’t want to come to Georgia then that’s on you, but don’t you ever touch this girl or any other Georgia Girl and expect them to get with your crazy self. I don’t know what you heard about the old system, but the new coach don’t play that.”
“It’s cool, man. It’s cool.”
Tad let him down and Rocky came over to me. “I’m sorry. I apologize.”
“Rocky, how dare you think so little of me? I’m concerned about your soul. You didn’t have to play me like that.”
“I’m sorry. You’re fine. I just wanted to—”
“Save it,” Tad told him.
“All right, Tad, man. Don’t hold it against me.”
Tad opened the car door and helped me inside. “Are you all right?” he asked as we drove back to the football complex.
“Yeah. I appreciate you for handling it though. I didn’t send him any signals or anything. If anything, I was looking at you like that.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
I didn’t know if he heard me or not, but I definitely meant it. He was my knight in shining armor once again.
“Hey, Burger King is still open. Do you want anything?”
I wasn’t hungry, but I didn’t want this night to end, so I said, “Sure, I’ll get a milk shake.”
We went in the drive-thru, which took thirty minutes. Though we were spending more time alone than we thought we would, we weren’t really talking about much of anything. He asked me how I was doing since my grandfather passed. I told him I was doing better although I missed him a lot.
We also talked about the newfound strength I had found in my walk with Christ. I told Tad how I felt God leading me. I wanted to tell everyone about Jesus.
After he got his Whopper meal and I got my strawberry shake, he innocently grabbed my hand and said, “I wanna pray with you that all these things you’re feeling about Christ continue. This is so good to hear, Payton. You are growing.”
“I’d love to pray.”
“Heavenly Father, we thank You for revealing Yourself to us and speaking to us in a way that we can clearly understand. Father, You know that I have been praying to You for Payton to have a walk with You that is so personal and perfect that You fill her with joy. She now has a love for You that supersedes earthly enjoyment. I pray that You continue working in her life. I also pray for Rocky. Help him to understand that football is not eternal salvation. Thank You for all You do. In Jesus’ name we do pray.”
“Amen,” I said.
Time had gotten away from us. I had forgotten my friends were waiting for me. When we pulled into the school parking lot it was like a party outside. Everyone was having a great time. Everyone except Vonda. She had her hands on her hips.
“What’s up with this? Did you forget about me or something? Where have you been?”
“Calm down. We just went to get something to eat.”
“I thought we were getting something to eat.”
She sounded so naggy it was getting on my nerves.
“Thanks,” I told him.
I could tell he wanted to say more than good-bye to me, but Vonda wouldn’t let him focus on anything but her.
“Why didn’t you tell me your grandfather passed?” Dakari said. “I would’ve wanted to be there.”
“I can’t believe she didn’t tell me.”
“She probably did, but you weren’t paying attention.”
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah. Are y’all ready to go?” I yelled to my friends.
“Now she’s trying to hurry us after being late with Tad,” Shanay joked.
“For real,” Blake seconded.
“I’m ready to go,” Cammie said, clearly tired of the whole scene.
“Figures,” Shanay said. “You’ve been poutin’ the whole time. You better make some friends and stop actin’ so antisocial.”
“Where’s Robyn?” I asked.
“She went to the bathroom. She’ll be out in a minute.” Cammie walked with me to my car and we waited.
“What’s wrong with you? Why aren’t you having fun like everyone else?”
“I don’t know, Payton,” Cammie said in an irritated voice. “They don’t want to talk to me like they talk to y’all. Then you had me waitin’ for forty-five minutes. That was quite selfish.”
“I wasn’t tryin’ to be selfish. We were talkin’ about the Lord and—”
“Payton, please. It’s eleven-thirty on a Friday night. I’m sure the Lord was the last thing you were talkin’ about in that brother’s car.”
“Cammie, what are you trying to say?”
“You know what I’m trying to say.”
Robyn opened the car door, smiling. “Payton, you know you wrong. You didn’t tell me Dakari was your ex.”
“I wasn’t tryin’ to keep it a secret. Did he behave?”
“Did you and Tad?” Robyn asked.
“No,” Cammie replied, even though no one was talking to her.
“What is it, yes or no? Did you tell Cammie something you’re not telling me?” Robyn asked.
“No, nothing happened.”
By that time Blake and Shanay were back in the car.
“Girl, what’s up with you and Tad? Vonda was ticked,” Shanay said. “Y’all didn’t want to play pool with all of us, huh?”
“We went bowling.”
“Where have y’all been since eleven?”
“Looks like they were recapping the past,” Robyn joked.
“He has a girlfriend,” I said. “I wouldn’t do that to her.”
“If the man comes to you, he’s yours.”
“Shanay, that’s why you and I had it out last semester over Dakari.”
“What? What did I miss?” Robyn asked.
“Robyn, don’t get too close with her ex,” Shanay said.
“I’m over Dakari now.”
“Yeah, because you’re thinking about Tad,” Blake joked.
The girlfriend talk was kind of fun. I hated that Cammie was still pouting. My friends kept teasing me about Tad. Tad and I were starting a new relationship built on Christ. We were building on history.