Chapter 10 Chapter 10 WHO’S PLAYING WHO?

Nine years ago

DETROIT, MICHIGAN

The Past . . . and its lies.

A U R E L I A N O

Shit!

I'm being pranked.

I'm most definitely being pranked.

Yup! That must be it. She's definitely pranking me.

She obviously just wants to be left alone for some time, that's why I haven't heard from her today.

I keep telling myself that as the days roll by into two, three . . . and then a week passes, with the truth staring me bleakly in the face -- she's not coming back to me.

She won't do that to me now, would she?

Well, Roxy does have a little bitch in her, so . . .

Okay . . . she's got a lot of bitch in her, but that's okay, right?

I think it's perfectly okay for a girl to have some bitch in her, the kind that makes her sass stand out, and that -- Roxy has lots of.

I mean, that's what got me all hot and bothered about her in the first damn place. Same reason that makes me keep shadowing her.

Come to think of it, I can't help but think I'm being gamed, after all, this thing between us started out as a game. It started with Roxy.

That was what intrigued me. That air of mystery surrounding her.

After sidling up to her at the club where I first saw her with Dipo, I was only going to flirt harmlessly with her, but then she'd opened her mouth and . . . whoa!

Immediately Dipo leaves to clean himself up afer she mistakenly pours her drink on him, she turns to me, looking deadly serious.

"Ready to play a game? Heads I win, tails you loose." Bringing out a gold crescent coin, she flicks it onto her wrist like a pro. And before I can even get a chance to open my mouth, she tosses it into the air.

Now I don't know how she does it, but that coin doesn't look it wants to come down, and all the while, she keeps smiling like she's nursing a secret and doesn't want to share.

The coin comes down eventually, and lands neatly on her wrist. Can you believe that? Either she's into magic, or some shit is going down that I don't understand.

"Called it! Heads - I win, and now you have to do whatever I tell you to." She lifts an eyebrow, and that's when I notice some flecks of blonde mixed into the black, making it look like a . . . dye job? I think nothing more of it when I realise she's waiting for me to say something.

"Uh huh! What kind of game do you have in mind, hot stuff?" I put on my best 'game' face and lean towards her, expecting her to move backwards, but she doesn't, instead, her eyes drop to my lips and stay there as she licks her's.

With her eyes still on my lips, she replies me. "It's called Do you have what it takes."

When I ask what she means, she shrugs mysteriously. "You'll see."

Unfortunately she doesn't stay for long, because she pleads a headache immediately Dipo comes out of the toilet, so he decides to take her home, while I stay back. I try catching the eye of brown-skinned girl once more, but she totally ignores me, and it just isn't fun anymore, plus I'm not able to get Roxy out of my mind, so I bounce. Later on, while slipping out of my jeans, a piece of paper falls out of it. It's a phone number with a name as accompaniment -- Roxy.

And that's how whatever it is we have, started.

From the way my heart's been quivering and the sad coma that's hovered around me ever since she told me to 'reign it in,' I've been a complete mess.

So now what?

She just gonna dump me after having her fill of me?

As I stand in the corridor just outside her class door waiting for her one'o clock class to end, I snap my fingers in time to an imaginary beat. Best to keep them working, otherwise I'd do something crazy. Something like punch a hole in the wall. Judging from what happened the last time, that wouldn't sit very well with coach, so I stop myself and continue acting like a dolt that I'm not, as my hands swish the air --- erratically, aggressively.

Some girl passes me, giving me an odd look in the process. I ignore her and continue air tapping.

I catch movement inside the classroom from the corner of my eye. The lecturer is packing up his books, ready to leave. I decide I can't wait for him to come out, so I dash inside, looking around wildly for Roxy.

At first I don't see her, because some group of guys stand around chatting in front of the spiral - styled tables. When they move away, I see Roxy tucked into a corner, animatedly talking with a guy I call jerk face. Already had a face off with him once, when I confronted him about always sniffing around Roxy. He'd told me she was nobody's girl, so he was free to do whatever he liked with her.

Now it looks like I might have to put him in his place for good. I sincerely hope he liked the black eye I gave him that day, 'cause I'm about to lay another one on him right about now as I see him leaning in trying to give her a kiss on the lips. She seems to welcome it too, as she doesn't even make a move to back off, instead puckering her lips the same way she used to do for me.

Ah, hell naw!

I push aside some stragglers who're still chatting amongst themselves, jump onto the table -- Batman style, and launch my fists at jerk face, splitting open his lips.

Chants of 'fight-fight,' rent the air suddenly. Trust me when I tell you I don't give jerk face a minute to recoup. I go for the jugular as I keep punching him, the words 'never beat a man when he's down,' flashing into my mind. Still, I can't stop --- won't stop.

When my anger is spent and I'm satisfied that he's not able to move, I push off from where I have him rammed into the ground as I stand up slowly and flex my wrists, checking for bruises. That's when I notice the deathly silence surrounding me.

I turn around as if in slow motion, and look up --- right into the cold, beady eyes of Mr. Brown, head of the student council. "Bravo, bravo!" He raises his hands and begins to clap. From the corner of my eyes, I see Roxy with a shit-eating grin on her face as she stares at jerk face who's still lying inert on the ground.

Something feels amiss.

And then it clicks.

I did exactly what she expected me to.

I fell right into her trap.

But what trap, exactly, I don't know yet.

She dusts her hands and makes to walk off, but I stop her with my words. "Happy you got what you wanted?" I don't give a rat's ass that there are spectators as I continue to let it all out. All the pent up anger, all the hiding, the messing around behind my best friend, all comes spilling out of my mouth. "You're just a little bitch, you know." I walk up fully to her, crowding her space. "So did you enjoy it? You enjoyed fucking two best friends, huh?!" A gasp goes up in the class, breaking the hushed silence.

She looks at me, daring me to go ahead and say the words. She should have known me better than that, she should have known that when I start something, I aim to finish it. "I'm gonna tell Dipo we've been messing around behind his back, and you'd better listen when I tell you that I don't care if it breaks up our friendship, because he deserves better than you trashy hoe."

She stands silently, assessing me, a smirk on her face. "You know what, Aureliano, I always thought you were smarter than this; turns out that I gave you too much credit, because I'm actually wayyy smarter than you." She does a pirouette, as she plays to the gallery, the crowd that's begun to gather, eating up her words. "See -- you're one week late, 'cause I already told Dipo everything you and I did, yes, every gory detail. How we did it in his bed whenever he wasn't around. Oh and remember that time he forgot his glasses and you wanted me to play nutty professor, so I wore them and you bent me over his desk and took me from behind? Well, I told him about that too." She see's the horrified look creeping up on my face and throws her head back and laughs gaily. "What?! Don't look at me that way, I already know I'm a bitch, at least I'm owning it, but you . . ." She coils her mouth in a sneer, and shakes her head from left to right. "The king, my foot. You're no king, you're trash and a downright looser. Now please go sulk out of my sight, I'm done with you." And in the presence of all the stunned students watching the whole drama play out, she waltzes off, a bounce in her step.

"Mr. Aureliano." Mr. Brown's voice pierces the cold silence of Roxy's depature, adding to the already dismal situation on ground. "I believe this is the third time of coming to fisticuffs with this same young man you just knocked out and I warned you. One more indescretion and you're out, now, no one can save you. I need you to report to my office first thing tommorow morning." And he walks off, leaving a big gaping whole of shame in my heart.

All I can think of now, is, I finally realise the reason for Dipo's cold shoulder this past week.

*

"You broke three of his ribs! Only animals behave the way you did. You know the rules, yet you chose to flout them. I'm sorry but I'm going to have to rusticate you!"

Mr. Brown's words echo dully in my head. I'd gone in early this morning to see him, thinking he'd let me off with just a warning, but there were three other men that I'd never set eyes on before, there also. They'd fixed me with baleful glares and mouthed words I didn't bother listening to. Mr. Brown brought out a white envelope and handed it to me. I'd taken it with trembling fingers and opened it.

There were two seperate pieces of paper inside. The first one I brought out, was jerk face's test result. It read that he had a couple of broken ribs, that, and a concussion from where I repeatedly hit him on the head. I started smiling but caught myself just in time when I remembered that I wouldn't be helping my case if any of the three men saw it, so I'd coughed and covered it up as I brought out the second piece of paper. There was no avoiding the look of horror I'm sure clouded my face.

When I looked up, Mr. Brown had a devious smile pasted solidly on his lips and I felt like wiping it of with my fists, but I couldn't, and now his words keep rolling round and round in my head, almost making me sick, and I can't do a damn thing to stop it.

Three years of hard work, gone with the wind.

How the fuck I'm going to explain to mama that I've been rusticated, and with no good recommendation to enter another university again, beats me. With my scholarship gone down the drain, no agency's gonna help me play ball now.

All the scrounging and saving, all the shit mama put up with, only to land myself in this position, all because I couldn't keep it in my pants.

Shit!

I skulk back home and throw my ear phones in my ears, scrolling to a random rap song and drowning my sorrows with meaningless noise.

Suddenly, a text appears on my phone, momentarily dulling the music for a bit.

My eyes almost bulge out of my sockets when I see who it's from.

If you know you want to get back into Wayne State University, come see me now.

What, now?!