“Are you all set?” asked Juanita, wrapping her purple robe around herself at the front door.
“Yes ma’am.” replied Marbles, walking out onto the front porch.
“Well okay. I won’t get up every morning to see you off, but I trust you to get to school on time for whatever tutoring you have. See you later.”
“Okay. Bye.” said Marbles. Hearing the door close behind her, she started her walk down the block towards school.
She started to get nervous as she got closer to the school. She had looked through the homework packet and found that the work shouldn’t be too difficult to get through. The most difficult parts would be Math, Science, and surprisingly, English. She expected the English homework to be mainly about grammar and such, but there was actually a lot of work on Shakespeare, a book she hadn’t read, and poetry.
Arriving at the school, she wasn’t surprised to see that the hallways were empty. No one wanted to come to school this early, but Marbles had always been a morning person. It wasn’t often that she could stay asleep past the rising of the sun.
She headed straight for the English classroom. When she entered the classroom, Mr. Alex was sitting in his chair with his feet up on the desk, reading a book. He took a moment to look up at her, and then back down at his book. “Good. You’re here. I am going to assume that you are a capable student and just let you get to work. Let me know if you have any questions and we’ll save my classwork for last.
“Uh…yes, sir.” She muttered and walked to the seat she sat in the day before. She pulled out her homework packet and her math textbook and got to work.
While she was working, she heard a few chuckles from Mr. Alex as he read his book. There was a smirk on his mouth, and sometimes he would bite his lower lip. She wondered what he was reading, but she couldn’t see the title of the book. He caught her staring and locked eyes with her momentarily before looking back to his book and turning the page. She quickly looked back down at her work and tried to focus, ignoring the heat in her cheeks.
By the time class was starting to fill up, she had gotten through just a handful of math equations, but that was mostly because she was just figuring out the formulas. She had no doubts that she would finish the math portion by next week.
Eventually Tray walked in and took his seat next to hers. Today he was wearing a black crop top that showed his mid-section and jean shorts with black flip-flops. He slipped his book bag off of his shoulder and turned to her. “What’s up?”
“Oh, not much…”
“Hmm. You got here early. Admiring the view?”
“What view?” she asked. Tray glanced towards Mr. Alex and back to her with a sly smile on his face.
Marbles’ eyes went wide. She leaned towards him in her desk so she could whisper. “He’s a teacher!”
“A fine ass teacher. I wouldn’t blame you, don’t worry. That ass.” he said leaning in closer to her.
“Do you…like him?” She could already feel the blush overtaking her cheeks.
“Girl, don’t get me wrong, he’s cute, but I prefer coffee instead of milk.”
It took a moment of thinking for Marbles to catch on. “Oh, he’s too white?”
“For my tastes yeah, but it doesn’t matter anyways, I have a boyfriend.”
Marbles couldn’t help but smile, until she heard Chealsey pipe up from the back of the classroom.
“Yeah right, some fictional ass boyfriend that no one knows about. Get real Tray. No one wants your gay ass.” she said, rolling her eyes as her friends laughed.
Tray sent a glare her way before turning back to Marbles. “I do have a boyfriend. Those bitches are just too stupid to know who he is.
“Oh…is he not ‘out’ yet?”
“Hmm. Something like that.”
Mr. Alex turned to the classroom after glancing at the clock. “Alright, open your books, let’s talk about Shakespear.”
…..
During lunch, Marbles found a bench on the side of the cafeteria building where no one lingered and sat down. She pulled out her bologna sandwich and her lays chips. She thought she would be eating her entire lunch alone, but it wasn’t long before she saw Tray walking in her direction with a smile on his face, which was a big upgrade from his usual scowl. She wondered why he looked so happy, but was too shy to ask, so instead she just said, “Hi.”
“Hey Marbles.” He plopped down next to her on the bench and pulled out his phone, scrolling on some website. Marbles didn’t really know what to say after that, so she just continued eating her sandwich. After about five minutes, Tray nudged her in the ribs. “Check this out. Crazy right?”
He held his phone up to her face, which showed a white woman in spandex on a mat, contorting herself into some kind of pretzel. “Looks like it hurts…” That actually made Tray laugh.
“This pose is difficult. Have you done yoga before?” he asked, still scrolling through other pictures of various poses.
“Uh…no. I haven’t tried it.” Tray just shrugged his shoulders and put his phone back in his pocket. He sighed and looked at her. She silently stared back, unsure what was happening.
“Okay, look. I’m not that great at this socializing thing, alright? Most people I meet are straight-up trash. And I hate almost everyone in this town. But…my boyfriend made me promise to make a friend this year and since everyone else sucks ass, that leaves you. So let’s get some things out of the way, alright?” he looked at her expectantly.
She was happy for the directness that Tray offered her. She had a very hard time reading people and figuring out what they were trying to tell her subtly. So she just shoved the rest of her sandwich into her mouth and nodded her head, eyes wide.
“Okay good. First off, I can be a grumpy son-of-a-bitch, so don’t take it personal. Secondly, I can be bossy as hell sometimes, so if you ever feel like I’m pressuring you, just let me know. Third, this neighborhood has enough bigots in it, so if you have a problem with me being gay–and I mean like, at all–then you need to tell me right now.” It took a while for her to realize he was waiting for her to respond.
She swallowed the rest of her sandwich and said, “I don’t have a problem with it, I promise.”
“Cool. So, do you want to be my new best friend?” he said, looking at me with his leg folded one over the other, one eyebrow raised, as if he didn’t care what answer she gave him. But Marbles knew what it felt like to be lonely. She knew that no matter how much he may be acting like it wasn’t a big deal, people don’t just come out with that question so easily. He must be lonely too. Even though her heart still ached with what was happening in her life right now and she felt like pushing everyone away, she also had to admit defeat. There was no telling if she and Tray would hit it off as friends, but she was willing to try.
She sat up straighter and for the first time in a while, gave someone a genuine smile. “Yes, I would like to be your…ah, best-friend.”
Tray’s eyes went wide, and she could swear that his brown cheeks got a bit redder. He looked away and pulled out his phone again. “Uh, good. What’s your number?”
Marbles looked down at his cellphone with her brows furrowed. “Oh…I don’t have a cellphone.”
Tray looked up at her with fear and disgust on his face. “Oh, fuck no. We need to fix that.”
…
Marbles’ heart was pounding in her chest. After agreeing to be Tray’s friend and him finding out that she didn’t have a phone, he went off. Even after she explained that she had just moved in with Juanita not too long ago and hadn’t asked for one and was actually, in fact, afraid to ask for one, he continued to push. He told her there was no way she could have any kind of fulfilling teenage life without a cell phone. Although she was terrified to ask for something that she knew was probably expensive, she desperately wanted to live the life that Tray thought she deserved.
After arriving back at Juanita’s house, Marbles did her homework, finished her chores, and then helped make dinner. After dinner, she watched Juanita and Stevie playing a card game at the kitchen table. She was so incredibly nervous. She hated asking people for anything. Partly because she didn’t feel like she deserved anyone’s attention, and partly because she was always afraid they would say no.
Finally she took a deep breath. “J-Juanita?”
Juanita turned in her chair smiling back at Stevie before making eye contact. “Yes, Marbles? Do you need something?”
Marbles started to rock from foot to foot by the wall next to the dinning talbe. “Uh…well. I met a friend today…”
Juanita’s smile got bigger. “That’s wonderful! And you’re only two days into school. I’m very surprised! I thought it would take longer for you to break out of your shell.”
Marbles nodded her head, biting her lip. “Mm-hmm. Yes, ma’am. Well, this friend…well, they said it…um…being a teenager is like…ah…”
“Out with it girl. How many times do I have to tell you–if you need something, you need to ask because Juanita ain’t no mind reader.” She said, pursing her lips.
“Ah…sorry, ma’am. I was just wondering if, someday, eventually, I could maybe get a cellphone…”
Juanita’s eyes went wide and she grinned up at Marbles. She then looked over at Stevie who was staring at the both of them with wide eyes, and then back to Marbles. She got up from her chair and walked over to a drawer in the kitchen before pulling something out and walking back over to the table. She smiled as she held out her hand. “I thought you would never ask.”
Marbles’ eyes went wide as she took the box that Juanita handed her. It was a cellphone. Not the newest i-whatever, but it had a touch screen and was a sleek black color. She looked into Juanita’s smiling face. “Th-this is…for me?”
“Well who else would it be for? You’re welcome. It’s just like I told you when you got here, if you need something, ask. You can’t get by in life without asking for what you want.” And with that, she turned back to Stevie and continued to play with him while Marbles stared dumbfounded at the box in her hand.
“Thank you, Juanita.”
“You’re welcome. Don’t be up all night on that thing please.”
“I won’t, I promise!” Marbles said, racing to her room.
When she finally had the phone set up and charged, she pulled out the sheet of paper that she had in her pocket since lunch. She carefully typed in the number, and then the message.
It’s me, Marbles! It worked! I got a phone!
It wasn’t long before she saw that Tray was typing a message that came soon after.
Wow. That was actually quick! What happened?
Marbles couldn’t help but smile as she typed her response.
She was holding it for me this whole time. I guess I just needed to ask.
He typed back, Damn, aint that somethin. Ask and you shall receive. If only life were always that simple.
She rolled her eyes, trying to think of what to type next, but he ended up typing before she could.
Can you keep a secret? Of course you can. Let me tell you about my boyfriend.
After spending some time texting Tray while he gushed about his super-hot, sexy, muscled, god like boyfriend, she eventually told him she had promised not to be on the phone all night and put it under her pillow.
It took her a long time to fall asleep, but when she did, she had a small smile on her face.
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