7

RODNEY

“Rodney, I don’t want to talk with you no more about this,” Aaliyah says. Rodney waited until the end of the school day when he knew Antonio would head straight to football practice. He’s got Aaliyah cornered near her locker. No one else is around. “I told you everything in that letter.”

“That was cold, breaking up with me in a letter when I was inside,” Rodney says.

“It was only a matter of time.”

“Before we broke up?”

“No, before you got popped.” She pushes Rodney hard in the chest, but he doesn’t flinch.

“First off, I ain’t like that no more.” Rodney leans in, his face against hers. “And second, you used to like that about me. You didn’t think nothing about it when I was buying you all kinds of—”

“Just a bunch of boys thinking they’re men,” Aaliyah mumbles. “I got no time for it now.”

“And somehow Antonio is—”

“You ain’t listening! This ain’t about him, and it ain’t even about you.” Aaliyah begins to tear up. Rodney wonders if she’s faking. “This is about the person I want to be, who I want to be with. It ain’t you.”

“I told you, I’ve changed. Ask around.”

“Well, I saw that thing with the Somali chick, but one good deed don’t—”

“It’s not just one good deed, it’s who I am.”

Aaliyah laughs, not in a tone suggesting something’s funny, but something’s stupid. “You know why brothers like you and Marquese do all that thug nonsense?”

Rodney stares at Aaliyah. He thinks it’s wrong that she won’t believe that he’s changed. “Same reason fish swim. It’s what they do.”

Rodney’s been punched, kicked, and even shot, but these words hurt worse. He drops his arms, backs up, and lets Aaliyah free.

Rodney stands tall, even though he feels like he just picked himself off the floor. He gathers his books and heads for the media center to study. He’s got a future too, one without Aaliyah. Now that he’s seen who she really is and what she really thinks, Rodney feels like a dark cloud just lifted from his sky.