Sierra came over to where I was sitting on the bus. “Can I sit here for a minute?” she asked Tony, the forward on the team who was sitting next to me. Tony laughed and got up. Sierra sat next to me. Usually the cheerleaders sat in the back of the bus but Sierra acted like she made her own rules. She did whatever Sierra wanted to do.
“You played good tonight, Nyl,”
“Thanks, but we still lost the game so I don’t think I played hard enough,” I said looking around to see if Coach was watching me; but he was talking to the assistant coaches, which was good. I caught a couple of the other players pointing and laughing, but I bet they wished they were in my shoes right about now.
“So, will you call me tonight?” she asked.
“I don’t have your phone number. I told you, I lost all of my contacts when I lost my old phone and I’m not in a good mood anyway. It doesn’t feel good to lose, Sierra.” Ugh, how long was I going to be able to keep this up? “And anyway, I don’t know. I have a lot…a lot of homework.” Another lie. I did most of my homework during my free period because once I left school there was no guarantee I would be able to get on the computer at the library. And if I did, there were days where there was a long line of people waiting to get on the library computers.
“So you’re saying homework is more important than talking to me?”
I looked at her and boy it was like every time I saw her I could picture Rihanna and hear her singing to me. I liked her Rude Boy video. I sometimes imagined that I was next to her being her rude boy, you know. Enough of talking about Rihanna. I had to make Sierra understand that I really wanted to talk to her, but I couldn’t make a move until things got right with my life.
“If I don’t want to get in trouble at home and with Coach then I have to keep my grades up. You know that,” I explained to Sierra.
“You won’t get in any trouble, Nyl and you know it. If you don’t want to call me, just say it,” she said sounding like she was sad.
“Look, Sierra, you know wassup. And I do wanna get with you, but I can’t stay on the team if I don’t maintain at least a C average, but then again by you being so smart, I guess you don’t worry about stuff like that, huh?” It was the best I could come up with. She sure felt good sitting next to me. I hoped I wasn’t sweaty, but then again if I was, she sure didn’t act like I was. “And…” I kept on lying. “This phone I got now, I have to share the minutes with my dad, so I can’t be calling and texting like I used to. He breathes down my neck like a vampire or something.”
“Still, you can text me. That is if you really want to talk to me. Don’t you like me anymore, Nyl?”
Like her? Was she crazy? Of course, I liked her. What boy in his right mind wouldn’t like Sierra James? “Yeah, I like you. It’s not that. Look, give me your number and I’ll hit you up when I get home.” Pops would have to be mad because somehow someway I was going to text Sierra tonight. My reputation was at stake; and if Pops didn’t want anybody knowing about our situation, he needed to realize that I had to do what I had to do to keep my friends from getting suspicious about me.
Sierra reached inside her purse and pulled out her cell phone. “Okay, what’s your number?” she asked.
Here goes, I thought. What was I going to do? “Uh, give me your number, and when I get home, I’ll put it in my phone. Write it down on something.”
Sierra opened her purse and took out a pen and a piece of paper, and wrote her number on it.
“Don’t lose it this time, Nyl.”
“Girl, I’m not going to lose it.” Pops would just have to be mad because I was gone text Sierra. I was not about to miss out on hooking up with her again. I would have to deal with the trouble I was getting myself into later.
“Good, you got it, she said. Then she leaned in and whispered in my ear, “I’ll talk to you later.” I thought I was going to pass out. Her breath smelled like strawberry bubble gum and it was warm against my ear. She got up and went back to join the rest of the cheerleaders. I turned around because I heard my teammate Marcus who was sitting behind me, laughing. I nodded at him like I was the man. I guess to them I was, but if only they knew.
∞
I got off the bus and went straight to the gym to take a hot shower. It was one of the ways I was able to keep clean, and none of my teammates was suspicious because it wasn’t unusual for some of the players to shower before putting their school clothes back on. There were other times when me, Pops and Nyla had to take showers whenever we were fortunate enough to get a room at a cheap hotel. If we missed out on that, we snuck inside hotel bathrooms and even a time or two we washed up inside of a Wal-Mart. It was a trip the way we thought of ways to live.
After I got through showering and getting dressed, I walked outside the gym to see if I could spot Pops but he was nowhere to be found. There were still plenty of people on the school parking lot standing around and some were sitting inside cars.
Forget it. I sat on some side steps out of sight of Coach and the rest of the kids because I didn’t want to be bothered with questions about how I was going to get home, or if I needed a ride, and on and on. And since we lost the game - again, I wasn’t in the best of moods, not to mention that I was still hungry.
I don’t know where she came from, but next thing I know Sierra is standing in front of me with a curious smile on her face. I looked around to see if her little female posse was with her but she was alone. “Why are you over here in the cut by yourself?”
“Whuzzup, Sierra? What you still doing here? Where your friends at?”
“I’m waiting on my brother. He’s over there somewhere talking to his girlfriend,” she said and pointed toward the front of the school. “So whuzzup with you?”
“I’m waiting on my Pops to get here. I don’t wanna be bothered right now. I feel lousy about the game. I already told you.”
“And I told you that you did good.”
“Yeah,” I shrugged. “Whateva.”
“Tell me something?” she said.
“What?”
“Are you really going to call me?”
“Didn’t I tell you I would? Soon as I get home and finish my homework. Anyway, we talking now.” I sort of raised my voice at her, but dang, she was pushing me, and my stomach was growling, it was cold outside, and I wanted to be somewhere where I could sleep.
“See, that’s what I’m talking about.”
“See what?” I asked her.
“You yelling at me.”
“I’m sorry, okay?”
“It’s just that sometimes you act like you like me and then the next minute you act like, well you act just like you’re acting now. Like you don’t want to be bothered.”
I didn’t wanna hear what Sierra was talking about, not now. Of course, I liked her, but I bet she wouldn’t feel the same about me if she found out about me living in a Yukon. Anyway, she was getting on my nerves. I told her I was going to call her and now she was back in my face asking a million and one questions. She was definitely not a shy girl; not like Daisha. Daisha would never be caught acting as bold as Sierra. I stood up and looked around to see if Pops had drove up, but I still didn’t see him.
“Look, Sierra, You know how it is. Losing a game isn’t a good feeling.”
“But I told you, you played good tonight. It isn’t your fault we lost. You can’t do it by yourself you know.”
She had a point. The whole team needed to be focused and tonight we just weren’t gelling as a team. I looked at Sierra real hard. Dang, I can’t help it; the girl looks like Rihanna. I couldn’t get it out of my mind. Rihanna is my girl. “Thanks, Sierra, but shouldn’t you be going?” I looked past her again and that’s when I saw Pops from a short distance driving up on the lot. “Where you say your peeps at?”
“Up at the front of the school somewhere,” she answered.
“Well, I see my Pops is about to pull up, so I’m out.”
“Kiss me before you go,” she said and then moved in front of me, blocking my way.
“What did you say?” I had to be sure I had heard her right. She wanted me to kiss her?
“I said, kiss me, that is if you aren’t gay,” Sierra said putting one hand on her hip.
Did she just call me gay? “What did you just say?” I asked her because I had to be sure this girl didn’t just try to check me by calling me gay. She better watch out ‘cause she was really trying me by calling me gay. Now, I was really tripping.
Dang, where was Pops? I looked over Sierra’s head and saw my Pops. He was stuck behind a line of cars still trying to get on the parking lot.
“I said, you must be gay cause you’re just standing there looking all around like you scared,” she repeated.
“Girl, that’s effed up.” She had me furious, calling me gay. “I can show you betta than I can tell you. Ain’t nothing gay about me.”
I wasn’t scared of nothing and nobody, specially some girl. So I stepped up to her, leaned over, and gave her a kiss on her lips. Sierra wasn’t having it, though because she wrapped her arms around me and then pressed her lips against mine, and put her tongue inside my mouth. Now, I ain’t gone lie, I haven’t had much experience when it comes to kissing. To be honest, the only time I had kissed a girl was back in seventh grade, and that was just a peck on the lips like I tried to give Sierra. But this kiss was way different. Sierra’s lips tasted sweet and they were soft like cotton candy. I imagined I was kissing Rihanna. Her tongue moved around inside my mouth and that’s when I felt my body reacting to her, and I kissed her back like I’d been doing this all my life.
We kissed until Sierra stopped, stepped back, and looked at me. Her face had turned bright red and mine probably was too. She smiled and then turned away and said in a sweet soft voice, “See you, Nyl,” and with that, she walked off.
I smiled from ear to ear. I could still feel her lips on mine; and they felt soooo good. I watched Sierra until she got inside her brother’s car and they drove off. She looked back at me and waved. I waved back. I could get used to this real fast. I thought about Rihanna’s other video that I liked; the Stay video. I pictured me being the guy singing in the video, and Sierra being Rihanna. Something in the way you move…I want you to stay….I sung to myself.
Pops finally pulled up and I walked to the ride with a smile on my face. I wasn’t so hungry anymore.