After their date on Saturday, Lucas and Kennedy agreed to meet early in the courtyard at school on Monday. Lucas was already there by the time Kennedy arrived. She was running late because she had taken too much time flat-ironing her hair. Saturday night she didn’t mind wearing her hair wild, since her outfit was so fly, but today she wanted to compensate for the boring uniform.
“Hey there,” Lucas said, as Kennedy approached him. He gave her an appraising stare. “Your hair is different today.”
“Yeah, it is.” She smiled, glad that he’d noticed.
“I like it. Not that I didn’t like how you rocked your natural look Saturday night. What did you do differently?” Lucas asked, out of curiosity.
“I flat ironed it.”
“What’s a flatiron?”
“It’s like a curling iron, but instead of a round barrel, it’s flat so that it can straighten the hair better.”
“Man, I can’t believe you just explained that. Most girls would never reveal that type of insider information.”
“It’s not like this is some top secret information straight from the Pentagon.” Kennedy put her hand on her hip. “Besides, how many times do I have to tell you that I’m not like most girls?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” He playfully poked her in the side. “I heard that before.”
Kennedy poked him back with her elbow. “Well, act like it, and stop trying to group me with those other losers you date.”
“You’re the only loser I date.” He laughed, and then grabbed her and put her in a mock headlock.
As they were fooling around with each other, Reagan, Madison, Ian and PG were standing in their usual spot eyeballing Lucas and Kennedy.
“My, my, aren’t they acting buddy, buddy?” Madison said.
“Yeah, they’re buddy, buddy alright. They went out on a date Saturday night,” Reagan told them.
“How did that happen? Didn’t they just meet?” PG asked.
“I guess losers gravitate toward each other,” Reagan added.
They all broke out laughing at the snide remark.
“Look at them over there. I’d bet good money that they are getting their kicks off of us,” Kennedy said, glaring at Reagan and her friends.
“They can laugh all they want. Trust me, when my record drops, they won’t be laughing for long,” Lucas said, with confidence.
“At that point, they’ll be too busy trying to be your friend to make fun of you.”
“Friends like that I don’t need. Anyway, enough about them; what are you doing after school?”
“I’m going uptown for my Green Gardens meeting.”
“I’m going uptown, too. Meet me here by the gate and we can ride the subway together.”
Just then, the morning bell rang.
“Okay,” Kennedy said, as they made their way inside.
Even though they were only riding the train together, Kennedy couldn’t wait until school let out, so that she could spend more time with Lucas. Though she saw him in class, it wasn’t the same. At least on the train they would have a chance to talk without nosey Reese and Sid listening to their every word. When the final bell of the day rang, Kennedy went straight to the girls’ bathroom to change out of her uniform, comb her hair, and dab on some lip gloss. She then hurried outside, but Lucas wasn’t there, so she waited at the designated spot.
Five minutes later, he came strolling up. “Sorry I’m late, but I had to take off that monkey suit.”
Kennedy took one look at him and bit her bottom lip. Lucas looked so good in his jeans and a T-shirt that stretched across his chest showing off his muscles. Underneath the baggy uniform, his physique was lost, but the street clothes defined his toned body perfectly. She decided not to comment on how good he looked. She didn’t want to blow his head up, so she simply said, “I hate those uniforms, too; they’re so boring.”
“Now that’s another thing we have in common.” He smiled.
“You keeping score?” she joked.
“Yeah, and lucky for you, your marks are acceptable.”
“Whatever,” she said, and flipped her hair in a dramatic gesture.
“Come on, girl, let’s get to the train.”
As they walked to the subway, Kennedy felt totally happy. Not only had she found a boy who liked her, he was fun to be with, and wasn’t pretentious like most of the other kids who went to Walburton. Even though Lucas was a rising star, he was as down to earth as she was.
The train was packed, and they had to push their way on. Lucas led the way and found a tiny spot for them to stand near the back of the train.
“My manager texted me earlier and said that the release party for my new CD is Friday night,” Lucas said, as he held onto the overhead pole.
“Oh, that’s great! Are you excited?”
“Yeah, I am. I can’t wait until the single starts playing on the radio, and the video is in constant rotation on BET. Uh…”—he looked down at his feet for a second, and looked back up—“you wanna go to the party with me?” he asked, totally changing the subject.
Kennedy felt her knees buckle. She knew it wasn’t from the bumpy train ride, but from being asked to attend a record industry event with the boy of her dreams. She was speechless.
“You wanna go or not?” Lucas asked again, since she hadn’t answered him yet.
“I would love to go!” Kennedy blurted.
“Good. I’ll be riding in style that night, instead of on a crowded train, so I’ll pick you up around seven.”
“Okay,” was all Kennedy managed to say, since she was still in a state of semi-shock.
A few stops later, they were in Harlem. Lucas grabbed her hand, and led the way off the train. When they reached street level, he was still holding her hand, and Kennedy didn’t object. Even though Lucas hadn’t officially asked her to be his girlfriend, she felt as if they were in a relationship. Especially since he had asked her to go to an important event with him, whether they were officially or unofficially dating, Kennedy really didn’t care as long as he wanted to spend time with her.
“Hey, guys, wait up!” It was Ro, yelling from behind.
Kennedy and Lucas both turned around, and waited for her to catch up.
Ro took one look at their locked hands, and said, without hesitation, “What? So y’all a couple now?”
“What’s it to you?” Lucas said, still holding onto Kennedy’s hand.
“Don’t get all huffy with me. I’m simply asking, that’s all.”
“So, Ro, what’s been going on?” Kennedy asked, changing the subject. She didn’t want to take the chance and hear Lucas say, “No, we’re not dating.”
Ro looked at their hand-lock once again, but didn’t press any further; it was obvious that they were digging each other, so she let it go. “I got the best news over the weekend!” she said excitedly.
“Really, what?” Kennedy asked.
“I got a letter from the admissions department at Walburton, and guess what?” she asked, but didn’t wait for an answer. “I finally got in! I’ll be going there when the new school year starts!” she said, completely overjoyed.
“Wow, Ro, that’s fantastic! I know how much you’ve wanted to get in,” Kennedy said.
“Now we’ll all be at the same school, and I can’t wait!” Ro said.
Suddenly Kennedy thought about Reagan and her crew, and how shitty they were going to treat Roshonda. They would no doubt shun her like they did everyone who didn’t live up to their pretentious standards. But Kennedy wasn’t worried about Ro, since Ro could more than handle them. It then occurred to Kennedy that with Roshonda and Lucas both at Walburton, she’d have her own crew for once, and would no longer be an outsider!