Taylor Made

Have you ever said something to someone and it wasn’t a secret necessarily, but you end up regretting that you said anything to them at all? Well, it all started on a Friday afternoon, 4th period class had just ended, and I was walking down the hallway with my friend Gail, which was kind of a ritual for us. We would stop by a corridor of lockers where we had tons of private conversations, just between the two of us, so it was beyond me what possessed her to do what she did and why she did it. We were talking about things that we usually talk about: some folks in school, family, tests, shopping, etc. One thing in particular that we tend to talk about, what all girls talk about mostly when they get together: Boys.

This is where I began to see her for who she really was.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you, what do you think about the boys in our class this year?” She asked me.

“Well, I haven’t paid much attention to most of them so far, except…,” For whatever reason, I stopped from there, hesitant to tell her more.

“What? Come on, girl,” she urges. “Someone caught your eye?”

“Well, there is this one particular guy.” I said.

“Not Melvin, the ugly boy with the big head?”

“Oh no, not him, I’m talking about the one that sits up front; he’s usually in the first seat when you walk in the class.”

Gail thought about it for a second, “Oh, you’re talking Terrence Jones? Wow, he’s really handsome, kind of looks like Michael B. Jordan, he’s very smart too. Yeah, I can definitely see the two of you together.”

“Well, maybe, but right now, I’m trying to stay focused on my studies.”

“I think you’re just using that as a cover-up.” She said, with a huge grin on her face.

“No, I’m following my parents’ advice on staying focused and following priorities.”

“Come to think of it, I’ve known you since the 9th grade, and you were more education-oriented back then, a bit of a nerd.” She said, to which I replied, “Whatever.”

“Girl, I’m messing with you. Really, I think that’s good that your head’s on straight, we can’t say that about a lot of people our age. She looked at her watch. “Well, it’s getting late; I have to get home before my parents kill me.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” I agreed. “I need to hurry up to the bus stop to catch the 3:45, that’s the last one on this route until 5:15. My mom will kill me if I’m not home by 6:00.”

“Your parents aren’t coming for you?” She asked.

“Normally, my mom would come for me, but she had some errands to run, so I’m bussing it today.”

“Ebony, in case you forgot, I have a car, I can bring you home.”

“No thanks, I’m fine.”

“Girl, what’s wrong with you? You don’t trust me or something?”

“No, it’s not that—”

“Well come on, Ebb, I’ll bring you home.”

Finally, I gave in and let her bring me home. To fast forward, throughout most of the ride, we talked some more about boys and she brought me up to speed on the guys in our class. When she pulled up to my house, we said our good-byes and “See you Mondays.” I know that some people say, “Expect the unexpected,” but there was no way I could possibly have an inkling of the bomb that was dropped when I got to class first thing Monday morning. As soon as I walked in the room, all I could see was these silly grins on people faces, people whispering and talking, looking dead at me the whole time. Naturally, there was a part of me wondering what was going on, but generally, I just paid it no mind. Everybody gets quiet when Mr. Washington, my 1st period teacher, walks in.

“Good morning, class,” he says. Then he glanced at me, and with a mischievous smirk on his face said, “Normally, as you know, I’d start with a preview concerning our lesson for the day, but this time, I’m going to do something a little different.”

Immediately, I felt something in me starting to unsettle, but I was doing everything I could to maintain my composure and not let it show on my face or in my body language.

“I just found out that love is in the air and apparently, it’s right in this classroom,” he says. “We have someone in here, with a crush on someone else in here.” The more he talked, the more uneasy I felt. And that feeling was being replaced with anger more and more.

“So, before we start today,” he says, now turning his attention to Terrence. “I just would like to tell you Terrence, that Ebony Taylor has a crush on you.”

Of course, everybody was laughing, and “woooing.” I think everything in me just shut down; I was looking around at everybody in the class, but I honestly don’t believe I was there consciously. When I came to, I saw Gail sitting next to me, smiling, and all I could think was, “You!” When the bell rang, I grabbed my book bag and walked out of the class as fast as I could. I could faintly hear some people saying, “Ebony, you’re not mad, are you?” I’m sure Gail was probably one of those people, but I really didn’t care. I was trying so hard not to show it, but I was steamed the entire day.

After school, my mom picked me up and she knew something was bothering me, no matter how much I tried to put on a poker face. It was really quiet for about the first five minutes of the drive, then… “Ebony what’s bothering you?”

I didn’t want to lie and say nothing was bothering me, besides she knows me very well, and probably would’ve detected it anyway. I just told her that I didn’t want to talk about it at the moment. My mom just relaxed, repositioned herself in the seat and said, “Okay Ebb, whenever you’re ready to talk about it, you know I’m here.”

“I know mom.” I just didn’t want to be bothered at all at the time.

When I made it home, I just went upstairs to my room, closed the door and I just…sat there. I was emotionless and speechless. Believe it or not, everything in me wanted to cry, but I just couldn’t. A myriad of thoughts ran through my mind, but the one constant thought was: “How could she do this?” 30 minutes later, I heard a knock at the door; it was my mom checking on me again.

“Ebony, are you alright in there?”

“Not really mom,” I said. “But I’ll be okay.”

“Okay. Like I said, whenever you’re ready to talk, I’m here.” She said, walking away afterwards. Later on the next school day, Gail caught up with me while I was on my way to 4th period class.

“Girl, are you alright? Is everything good? I mean, you don’t talk to me anymore, we used to hang out, and you don’t wanna do that. What’s wrong?” You know, it’s really amazing how she’s playing dumb with this whole thing.

“Yeah girl, I’m fine.” I told her, trying to brush her off.

“Well, I can’t tell, I’ve been trying to call you and you haven’t returned any of them.”

“I have to go; I’m going to be late for class.” I told her. As I was walking away, I could hear her say, “If I did something, you know we can talk about it, right?”

“Yeah, I know.”

It’s true, we could’ve talked it over, but at that point, I honestly had nothing to say to her. A couple of days went by, it was Thursday to be exact, and this is the night mom likes to put total concentration on whatever book she’s working on; she likes little next to no interruptions until she’s done. Of course, this would be the night I would pick to finally open up to her (not intentionally, it was just one of those things). Besides, she left the door cracked open. She was sitting at her desk writing when I entered the room.

“Once I finish this chapter, I’ll get dinner started,” she said. “What are you in the mood for?”

“Revenge.” I said.

“I see you’re ready to talk.”

“Mom, do you remember Gail?”

“You mean Gail Peterson?” I told her yes. “Yeah, the two of you are pretty tight. I remember you met her in the 9th grade. You girls have been inseparable since.” She slightly glanced over at me while making that last statement.

“I don’t know about that anymore.” I said. She looked over again and saw the long, frustrated look on my face.

“What happened, Ebb?”

“Mom, have you ever said something to someone and although it wasn’t really a secret, yet you didn’t expect the person to put it out there and especially in the manner that they did it?”

“Oh yes,” she said. “Now tell me what happened.”

“On Friday, I was talking to Gail about, you know, typical girl talk type of things. Well, the subject of boys in our class came up and — although I didn’t quite realize it at the time — I made the mistake of telling Gail about a boy that I was interested in.”

“Uh-huh.” She said.

“When I went to school Monday, apparently she, for whatever reason, took it upon herself to tell the teacher and it was put out before the entire class.”

One of the things about my mom that I’ve always found interesting is that no matter the situation, even if it is obstacles of her own she’s dealing with, she doesn’t panic or break. She calmly listened to me while continuing to write and said, “Well dear, unfortunately, people aren’t always what they seem. Someone who you thought was your best friend can turn out to be your worst enemy.”

At that moment, I sprung up out of the chair; all of the hurt and anger I had hidden just came out, not towards my mom, of course.

And I said, “You know, you think you know somebody. What I can’t understand is that after all the things we’ve talked about, things that were a lot more personal than that and she decides to put me out there on this one?! Why didn’t she just tell that too? Just tell it all for that matter!” After my rant, I sat back down again, tears started to stream down my face.

“Look Ebony, I know you’re upset, I know you’re hurt,” Mom tells me in a soothing manner. “But you’re a Taylor, and you must learn to operate more in a Taylor-like fashion.”

“What’s that?”

She stopped writing, looked at me and said, “I don’t get mad, I get even.” I smiled; I didn’t plan to do it, and the way I was feeling, smiling was the farthest thing from my mind.

“Are you okay, now?”

“Yeah, I’m good now. Thanks mom.”

“No problem, sweetie. That’s what I’m here for.” She winked at me.

I don’t know why, but I actually felt better, a whole lot better. I left mom’s study as if the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders. I was finally able to vent and get rid of all the hurt and anger that was bottled up inside me. So from here, I went back to my room for homework, studying, and everything. After a few hours of taking on English V, Political Studies, and Calculus (mostly Calculus), I went downstairs for dinner.

After eating and talking with mom and Curtis, I washed the dishes (it was my night to do them) it was back upstairs, this time for bed — and strategy. As I lie there on my bed, thoughts of some good times I’ve shared with Gail ran through my mind; I don’t know why, I guess for closure. Then suddenly, I remembered something about her that I’ve always kept between us, and I don’t think she considered it when she did what she did to me.

To Gail’s credit, she’s always been good at multi-tasking; she has the ability to balance life with friends and family, hanging out, and still maintain good grades. She has been balancing relationships as well, and now it’s about to come back to bite her. She’s been dating Gary Walker, a senior and star player on Wesker’s basketball team, someone she’s known since the 5th grade, and they have been dating since the 7th grade. Although she’s known him a lot longer than me, and I know of this because she told me; however, she’s also been seeing this guy Ryan Culver, one of the star players on Carrington’s basketball team (who is the rival school of Wesker), on the side this year. I know about it, and although she never told me to keep it a secret, come on, some things are obvious. I concealed her, kept her clean, so to speak, until now.

But I’m going to keep this one hidden up my sleeves; I’m going to wait until I feel the time is right. It’s now mid-October and homecoming is approaching. Being the quote, unquote, “nerd,” “bookworm,” and “party pooper” that I am, I wasn’t going to buy a dress to attend the festivities, but… I intended to make a cameo appearance.

Since the incident with Gail last month, she was still acting as if nothing happened. I would still speak to her at school, but I left it at that, it was pretty much small talk concerning classwork. It’s Friday afternoon and school is over; I grabbed my things and headed out. As I walked down the hallway, it was filled with excitement about homecoming and all of its events next week. I was making my way down the locker corridors where Gail and I used to have our after school talks and ironically enough, she was there on the phone talking to Ryan, her other “significant other,” with the phone on speaker mode. From what I overheard, I assumed they were making plans for or maybe after the homecoming events. Then suddenly I heard, “Hey, what’s up, Ebb?” It was Gail, who making her way towards me. She had just got off the phone with Ryan.

“Not much.” I said.

“How are you doing?” She asked. I told her I was fine. “Are you sure? I’d like to know what’s going on because you’ve been acting very strange lately. The only time you talk to me is when we’re in class, and you hardly say anything then. You don’t wanna hang out; you’re not returning any of my calls. Basically, you’re avoiding me. I don’t understand Ebony; did I do something to you? Come on girl, talk to me.” She pleads.

You know, it’s amazing how a person can swerve you and play dumb about it, but it’s cool. I had a plan of payback on my mind and I didn’t want to give myself away, so I just went with the flow.

“Girl, I’ve had a lot on my mind lately, and I didn’t want to be bothered with much,” I said. “But I’m good now.”

“Oh okay. I was really worried about you, Ebb.” Now she wanted to try to smooth things over. “You know, we’ve had so many talks right here in this very hallway.”

“Yeah, I know,” I agreed. “We would stand here for hours running our mouths, talking about pretty much any and everything.”

“So what are you doing for homecoming?” She asked. “Wait a minute, let me guess, nothing.”

“You know me very well,” I said. “I know it’s not “normal” for a teenager not wanting to get involved in all that stuff but—”

“It’s all good, Ebb. I figured maybe just this once you would surprise me. I mean, can’t you just show up? You don’t have to stay, just come and say ‘Hi and bye,’ or something.”

It was as if this heifer had telepathy or something, because that’s exactly what I had in mind. Homecoming is all week next week, so she didn’t know when I was going to make my move exactly. But still, I didn’t want to blow my cover, so I played it off with a laugh and just told her that I would consider it.

“Oh okay. Well, it was nice talking to you.”

“Okay, bye.” I said.

I took the bus home today; my parents are working with me to get me a car. The plan is that they will put down half, but I have to come up with the other half. All of this is contingent on me keeping my grades up. When I made it home, I was heading upstairs, I suddenly saw this blur of a blob jump out before me yelling and my heart almost jumped out of my chest. It was my fat-head little brother Curtis.

“Ah-ha, I scared you!” He said.

“Curtis, I thought mom told you not to do that.”

“I had to scare you,” He said. “It was either that, or tell mom to pay for you a make-over. It would take a miracle to make you pretty, so I figured scaring you would be easier.”

One thing about this boy is that he has the uncanny ability to get under my skin. While I’m usually able to ignore folks most of the time when they’re trying to work my nerves, he always finds a way to push my buttons. The moment he said that, I could feel myself going to the moon. He knew what he did because he looked at me with this huge smirk, a look of total satisfaction on his face, which really set me off.

“Boy!” I reached out to grab him.

I’m amazed at how a person that chubby, could be so nimble. Just when I was about to get my hands on him, he, with such subtlety, ducked and kind of wavered his way past me and down the stairs. When he tripped over the leg of the coffee table, he was mine. I went over there while he was on the ground, and started pounding his legs. As hard as it is to upset mom, and to get her to move when she’s in her study, putting your hands on her “baby” is one of those rare moments. Apparently, the screaming and crying from her “baby” made its way to her study and her radar picked it up. I don’t think I’ve ever seen mom move so fast. She almost caught me off guard, I’ve never seen her coming at me with such aggression before; I think it was just sheer instinct because I immediately took off upstairs.

“What I did tell you about hitting your brother? Go to room and don’t come out, ever.” She says, not really yelling, but I could tell in her tone that she was ticked.

“But mom, he started with me.” I tried to explain, but she wasn’t hearing it.

“I don’t care! You’re the oldest, you should know better. Look, just…just go somewhere before you get hurt.”

So I went up to my room, which was where I was trying to go in the first place. Now don’t get me wrong, that’s my brother and I love him dearly, but it felt good to get him back. Usually, he’s able to do his dirty deeds and go hide behind mom before I’m able to get to him. Speaking of revenge — plus the fact that I’ve been banished to my room — I have plenty of time to figure out how I can surprise my best friend, at least I thought she was my best friend, Gail.

Monday’s here, and throughout most of the 1st period, I was asked a bunch of questions by a bunch of idiots trying to be funny. This was to be expected since that blabbermouth Gail put me out there like she did. Danny Collins, one of the football jocks, asked me what I was doing for homecoming.

I told him, “Not much, to be honest with you.”

“Wow, really? I thought maybe you’d rendezvous with your boyfriend, Terrence.” He said laughing.

I didn’t pay it any attention because: One, I doubt if he can spell “rendezvous.” Two, I have bigger fish to fry, so focusing on that allowed me to bypass other foolishness.

“Alright class, I have an announcement to make, well, actually two,” Mr. Washington says. “I know what’s taking place this week, but today we’re going to have a pop quiz.” Of course, there was some groaning by most of the students. “Okay, listen. To pass this quiz, all you have to do is answer one question. Who will be Terrence’s date for the homecoming dance this weekend?” He asked, to which they all replied, “Ebony,” followed by a bunch of grinning and laughing. I had no idea Mr. Wash had such a sense of humor. “Nah, I’m just kidding,” He said. “You will have an open book test tomorrow, so come prepared. Don’t get too caught up in all of the excitement, you guys still need to stay focused.”

“Don’t worry Mr. Washington; I’m more focused than I’ve ever been.” I’m thinking to myself. Not only in preparation for the test but my surprise for Gail, who wasn’t there that day to enjoy all the fun the class was having at my expense. Lunch time rolls around, and I’m meeting mom for lunch. She’s running some errands today, and she had some free time, so she’s coming to pick me up. That’s one of the great privileges of being a senior, we can go out and eat, we’re not obligated to stay and eat school lunch. Anyway, when I was on my way out of the gate, I heard someone calling my name. It was Terrence.

“Look, I know you’re pretty embarrassed about what happened.”

“I was more upset than anything.” I replied.

“I know what you mean. I’ve been there,” He said. “You think you know somebody, you tell them something, and the next thing you know, it’s all over the place for the whole world to know. A pail of water can contain more than them.” We both laughed on his last comment. Then he hit me with a shocking revelation. “I say that to say this, I’m not sure if it’s true or just a rumor, but I just want you to know that I feel the same way. You know, it’s funny how all of this came out, because I’ve always liked you, I’ve just been gathering up the nerve to approach you. I also want to apologize to you because I could’ve spoken up when all of this came out, but I was too afraid to say anything. I don’t know, maybe because I feared that you really didn’t like me and people were just teasing, you know how it goes.”

I know it have must a lot for him to come to me, even at this point, so I felt that I could meet him halfway. “Since you had the courage to come to me, I can do the same and tell you that the feeling is mutual.” Then I heard a car horn honking. When I turned around, it was mom, so I had to wrap up the conversation. “That’s my ride, I have to go.”

“Well, it was nice talking to you. Hopefully, we can talk some more sometime,” He said. “See you tomorrow.”

“Okay, bye.” I said. When I got in the car, I noticed a grin on my mom’s face.

“What?” I asked, smiling myself.

“Is that the young man Gail said you liked in front of everybody?”

“Yeah, something like that.” I said. We pulled up to a spot called Chastity’s, an indoor/outdoor restaurant. It’s a nice, low-key place, it’s pretty cool.

“Well, what do you think?” She asks me.

“Think about what?”

She gave me this “don’t play dumb with me” look. “You know who I’m talking about. The young man you were talking to before I pulled up.”

“I mean, I think he’s very handsome and he seems nice. This is the first time we’ve actually spoke, so there’s not a lot going on right now.”

“What’s his name?”

“His name’s Terrence. Terrence Jones.”

“So what was his reaction after Gail blabbered out everything?”

“It’s funny you asked, because honestly, until today, he didn’t have anything to say about it.”

“What did he tell you?”

“Well, it was concerning Gail and her big mouth. He basically said that he’s glad that it turned out the way it did because he’s felt same way about me, he always has, and it gave him a chance to finally approach me.”

“You mean to tell me he has had feelings for you all this time, long before “blabbermouth”, and this is what it took for him to approach you?”

“Well mom, everything happens for a reason.”

She shook her head and said, “He’s shy. He’s shy or scary.”

“Come on, mom, I don’t think he’s scary, a little shy maybe, but not scary.”

As we continued our conversation, we ordered our food, we ate and she brought me back to school. Back on school ground, as I’m on my way to 3rd period, a parade of buffoons serenaded me with the childish song, “Terrence and Ebony sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G…” Well, I think you know how the rest of the song goes. Keep in mind, these were high school seniors — at least from what I saw — doing this. Again, it would have been foolish of me not to be aware that this was going to happen, but that’s okay. I’ll endure it for a while, and eventually I’ll have my revenge.

We’re only four days away from the homecoming fun, which is exactly what I’m going to have. Later on in my Political Studies class, my last class of the day, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around, and it was Terrence; this was a surprise because I didn’t remember seeing him in there before.

“Hi Ebony, I see you’re taking this class too.”

“I’m taking this one to earn early college credit,” I said. “What brings you here, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“I wasn’t interested in chemistry so I switched my electives.”

“You mean you weren’t doing so well in chemistry?” I said, joking with him.

“Sort of,” He said. “I was able to maintain about a C average, but I just wasn’t into the subject. It bored the crap out of me.” We talked a little more until class started.

After class, he caught up with me and said, “I just want you to know that I honestly wasn’t sure if I wanted to take this as an elective, but now that I know you’re here, I’m glad that I did it.”

“Okay, be careful,” I told him. “I wouldn’t want you to get distracted.”

“Oh no, you wouldn’t distract me, you would motivate me.”

“Motivate you in what way?”

“Well, if I’m ever tempted to quit, being around someone dedicated and focused like you will help me to stay focused.” I have to admit, that made me blush a little.

“I’ll be happy to be your muse.” I said jokingly.

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He said.

“Okay. See you later.”

The next day during 1st period, I could see Terrence every now and then smiling, peeking back at me. Of course, I was wondering what was going on. After class, he told me he was doing that because he was considering sitting next to me since Gail wasn’t there, but he didn’t want to risk stirring up the class with their foolishness, which is understandable. It looks like Terrence is gradually getting out of his shell. Speaking of Gail, I wondered where the big mouth witch was. This was the second straight day she wasn’t in school, and that’s not like her. Later on that evening, I went to the mall with my folks, another unpopular move for a teen, but I don’t follow the masses.

“I’m going to the food mart with Curtis, and then I’m going pick out some clothes for him.” Mom tells me.

“Okay, I’m going to go to Forever 21 and check out some shoes.” I said.

“Okay, we’ll meet back at the front of the mall at 8:00.” She said.

“Gotcha. I’ll be back by then.”

On my way to Forever 21, guess who I ran into? The coy Gail Peterson and it looked like she had an entourage with her. She had with her Tiffany Harrison, Nadia Campbell, and Skylar Matthews.

“What’s up Ebb?” says Gail.

“Buying a dress to look good for Terrence?” Tiffany asked, all of them laughing.

“That’s alright, Tiffany,” I said. “Whatever dress you wear will be off and on the floor before homecoming’s over.”

She rolled her eyes and said, “Whatever, Ebony.”

They all walked off whispering and giggling among themselves. Anyway, I kept on where I was going and that was to buy some shoes. I ended up getting more than shoes, but it’s just as well. I caught up with mom and Curtis at 7:38, before the exact time mom gave me. On the way to the car, Curtis was eating an ice cream cone and the scoop fell off of his cone on to my dress. Fortunately, it was dark outside, so it wasn’t that noticeable; of course, the chuck wagon thought it was funny.

“Wow Ebony, I like that stain, it matches your complexion.” He said.

The only reason I didn’t move on him then was because I had bags in my hands. When we got home, I sat my bags aside, and passed my hand across the back of his head. It wasn’t hard, just enough to agitate him, because doesn’t like it when I touch his head, he won’t even let me brush his hair when mom’s not around.

“Mom!” He yells. Here comes mom out of her room.

“What’s wrong, Curtis?” She asks.

“Ebony touched the back of my head again.”

I knew I was in trouble because she didn’t say or do anything to me. She just gave me glimpse and went back upstairs. Curtis’ face went from a frown to a smile.

“Uh-oh, you’re gonna get it.” He said, taunting me.

Apparently, he’s familiar with mom’s M.O. too. Anyway, I took my bags and went up to my room. When I saw Gail at school the next day, she had the nerve to criticize me about what happened. So, I decided to take a page out of her book and play dumb.

“Girl, what’s up with you?” She asked.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“You know what I’m talking about, Ebony.”

“No, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m referring to your attitude at the mall last night.” She said.

“What was wrong with my attitude?”

“That comment you made toward Tiffany, I thought it was uncalled for,” She said. “The girl was just playing with you.”

“Says you,” I responded. “She’s been making the same stupid, childish comments and jokes as everyone else about Terrence and me. Now that I’m thinking about it, you never got along with any of them, and now suddenly you all are buddies? Something’s wrong with that picture.”

“Excuse you? Unlike you, at least I take the time to make friends. You’re too self-involved to bother.”

“No, I just choose to choose my friends wisely, with one exception,” I said. “But I guess we all make mistakes.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t worry about it Gail.” I said to her, before walking away.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into you. You’re changing, Ebony.”

I didn’t even bother to answer, I just kept moving. Thursday afternoon, I was at the store and I saw Ryan, who was getting in line in front of me as I was checking out.

“What’s up, Ebb, how are you doing?” He asked.

“I’m fine and yourself?”

“Pretty good, a little tired from basketball practice, but I’m pretty good. Friday’s the big day, you know?”

“Yeah, I know,” I said. “So, what are you planning that have you so excited?”

“After the football game tomorrow night, I’m going to pick up my girl.” He said.

“You mean Gail?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“What are you going to do after the game? I’m sorry; I’m all in your business.”

“No, you’re fine,” He said. “My dad has a restaurant, so I’m going to take her over there; there’s a park nearby, so we’re going to go there, talk and everything. Hopefully, this will be a chance for me to get to know her a little better.”

If this boy only knew; he means well, looks like his heart is really into her. I hate to burst his bubble, but as far as she goes? Consider that zit popped.

“Ryan, you think you could stop by our school tomorrow?”

“I don’t think so. I go to another school, remember?”

“I’m not asking you to walk on the school grounds, just stroll by the front gate around 11:15.”

He looked at me kind of strange at first, but he agreed. Friday afternoon, I saw Gail arm-in-arm with Gary; considering that it was lunch time, plus the fact that they were leaving off the school premises I can only assume that they were heading out for something to eat. In a shocking turn of events, I saw a green ’00 Altima pulling up and I couldn’t help thinking to myself how much it looked like the car Ryan drives. I walked a little closer, and it was Ryan, he came earlier than I anticipated — a lot earlier. I happened to look over to the right and saw Gail, who was gasping, directing Gary to go in another direction.

“Hey Ebb.” Ryan said, who noticed me standing there.

“What’s up, Ryan?”

“Nothing much; I thought about what you were asking me yesterday, and I figured I’d swing by a little early and surprise Gail.” A huge smirk went across my face.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“I was just thinking about something.” I said.

“I don’t know you that much on a personal level, but Gail told me about that smirk,” He said. “I asked you that because I wanted to see your response. She didn’t think I saw her with Gary, but I did.”

“I’m sorry you had to find out this way.” I said.

“So, this is why you wanted me to come here.”

“Pretty much,” I said. “Are you all right? I apologize that was a stupid question, of course you’re not all right.”

He took a breath and said he’ll be fine. “Do you know how long they have been seeing each other?”

“Seven years.” I said to him.

“Seven years? So, I was just her little thing on the side.”

“Look Ryan, I know you’re upset and you have every right to be, but don’t take it out on Gary, he doesn’t even know about it — yet.”

“So you plan on telling him?”

“I sure am,” I said. “In my own way; I could use a little help, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh no, I don’t mind at all,” He said. “It’s over between us; all of the plans I had set for this weekend is done.”

“Okay. Again, I’m sorry you had to find out this way.”

“That’s all right,” He said. “Let me get out of here. She told me about you and Terrence, and I hate for him to see you talking to me and put you in an even bigger mess.”

“Wow, that girl just can’t keep her mouth shut,” I laughed. “Okay, I’ll let you get going.”

He drove off and I walked to a store not far from the school. I decided to get something to snack on instead of eating out. Later that evening, about an hour before kickoff for the football game; it’s a traditional intro to our homecoming festivities, we’re playing the Wyatt Colonels, another school rival, who is undefeated so far at 5-0, while we’re 4-1.

Anyway, I made my cameo appearance as promised. I decided to wear a dress for the occasion after all. I wore a cute beige dress, nothing too extravagant, definitely not anything with all my cleavage and legs showing, so of course I stood out for the most part. I saw Gail walking down the hallway with Gary, and I have to admit, they both looked nice. He was wearing a black suit, with a light gray dress shirt, and a black tie with some silver designs. She had on a light gray long dress with a matching pocket book. Enough with the fashion show, it was time to get down to business.

“Hey Ebb, you look nice tonight,” She said with a smirk. “I’m surprised you’re here, I didn’t think you were going to show up.”

“You look nice yourself,” I told her. “I won’t be staying; I just dropped in to say hi and bye, and…leave my regards.”

“Wait, what does that mean?” She asked.

I looked at Gary and asked him if he knew Ryan Culver.

“Oh yeah, he’s on Carrington’s basketball team. He’s their star player; he’ll get scholarship offers for sure.”

“Well, it looks like you and Ryan have more in common than just basketball.” I could see Gail’s eyes bulging, shaking her head, trying to get me to be quiet. On cue, Ryan walked in behind me.

“Gail, I have to give it to you,” Ryan said. “You’re quite the player.”

“Gail, what are they talking about?” Gary asked.

She stared at me for a couple of seconds, took a breath, tears started to roll down her face. She looked at Gary and said, “I was dating you and Ryan at the same time.”

“Really, when did this start?” He asked her.

“I started talking to him over the summer,” She said. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. Ryan was nothing more than a friend.”

“Wow, if I remember correctly, we had plans for tonight,” Ryan said. “Obviously, you can forget about them now. It’s over.”

“So that’s why you were acting so strange the other day,” Gary said to her. “You kept trying to get me to go in these different directions. Ryan must have showed up and you saw him, but didn’t want me to see him.”

Wow, Gary’s pretty smart.

Gary looked at Ryan and said, “Dude, we have one more thing in common. We were dating the same girl.”

“What?” Gail exclaimed. “Gary, don’t do this. After all we’ve been through, please, don’t throw it all away.”

“Why not? You did it to me. It’s over, find someone else to juggle.”

“So it’s like that?” She asked me. “I can’t believe you did this to me.”

“You should have thought about that when you opened your big mouth to people about what I said to you concerning Terrence,” I said. “Then you had the nerve to play dumb about it.”

“So that’s what this was all about?” She asked.

“Exactly, now you see how I felt. Enjoy the rest of your night.”

As Ryan and I were walking away, I could hear Gail crying her eyes out, but I couldn’t have cared less. When we got outside Ryan offered me a ride home, but I told him no, thanks. Mom picked me up and we went home. Mission accomplished.