Fast Life (12 page)

She tiptoed over to him and gently shook his arm to see his eyes slowly open. He looked at Kyra and then jumped up to wipe his chin.

“It's okay.” She let out a small giggle.

“Good morning,” His voice was groggy.

“Good morning. So, um…if you don't mind me askin', how did you get in my room last night?”

“You don't remember
anything
from last night?”

“I remember a little about your birthday party, but I'm still at loss as to how you got here.” She sat down on her bed and rubbed her temples.

“I brought you home last night from my party. You were drunk off ya ass, and Angel and Q had already dipped out. So I brought you here, and I was so tired I just crashed right here. Plus I wanted to make sure you were a'ight.” He half lied, covering up the true reason for their current situation.

“Oh, damn. I hope I didn't ruin your birthday or anythin'.”

“Not at all,” he reassured her as he sat next to her on the bed. “You want me to get you some Advil or something?” He would've had to be blind not to notice the painful expression on her face.

“Please?”

“A'ight, where do you keep it?”

“In the medicine cabinet in the bathroom.”

Justin came back into the room to find Kyra finishing up changing clothes. She turned to him, tying a knot in her silk robe as she carefully strutted over to where he stood captivated.

“Thanks, Dr. Hartwell,” She smiled at him as she slid the bottle of capsules from his hand.

Her smile suddenly froze and her face changed to a serious expression when she noticed him staring at her silk-wrapped figure. Justin placed his hand on her chin, cupping it with his fingers, and brought her face steadily toward his lips.

“Kyra?” her mother called as she entered the house.

“Oh shit!” Kyra whispered in fear. Justin bit his lip and huffed in frustration.

They stood there with panic in their eyes.

“Shit! Here. Get in the closet!” Her voice didn't pass the volume of a whisper as she shoved him toward the door to the storage place of her clothing.

“I'm not getting in a damn closet!”

“Get in the damn closet!” she ordered, finally pushing him in and shutting the door.

She could hear her mother's footsteps making their way to her room as she darted under her covers, closed her eyes and faked being asleep.

“Kyra!” her mother yelled again, but then stopped when she saw Kyra asleep in her bed. She didn't disturb her before retiring to her own room.

Kyra waited for a moment. She barely breathed as she peeked out from under her blanket. She scrambled to the closet and freed Justin only after she heard the door to her mother's room shut.

“Shh! We have to get you out of here,” she whispered.

Kyra shut the front door quietly after giving Justin a quick hug goodbye before he ran across the lawn and into the street. His sloppy plan had miraculously worked. It was only when she was in the kitchen pouring a glass of water to take her medicine that her mother startled her.

“What was that noise? I thought you were asleep. You scared me half to death,” she asked her daughter, standing in the hallway decked out in her heart-print pajamas.

“Nothin'. I just came to get some water, that's all,” Kyra lied, taking a sip to relax her frenzied nerves. She was sure she was caught.

“Well, just to let you know, I just got in, so I'm probably going to be out of it for the rest of the day.”

“Did you have fun?”

“Yeah, it was fun. I had a really good time.” Her mother yawned before leaving the room. Kyra sighed in relief when she heard her mother's bedroom door close again. She fell back against the counter with her heart pounding for more reasons than one.

“Y
our mobile device is currently out of service. Please contact your service provider to reactivate your device. Thank you.”

That was the automated voice Kyra heard when she dialed Natasha's number on her cell phone. She even tried to call Makai, but she got the same annoying, robotic voice. He'd had her service disconnected. After all, he paid for it. He paid for everything.

“Bitch!” She quietly voiced her anger through her clenched teeth.

This nigga done went and disconnected my phone! Damn, it's been what? Only a few weeks after I told him that I was pregnant, and he had it disconnected. I bet it was done even earlier but I just didn't know since I haven't used it in a hot minute. It's all good, though, 'cause I don't need him to do shit for me anymore. I can activate my cell later if I get a job or somethin'. Damn, listen to me, “If I get a job.” Whateva. All I know is that I'm single, which suits me just fine. Fuck Makai, fuck Mercedes and, matter of fact, fuck Chicago, too.

 

It was Sunday night, and Kyra was fresh out the shower when the phone started ringing off the hook. Her mother didn't even budge to get it.

“I got it!” Kyra said, sarcastically rolling her eyes. She hurried to her room to answer the line, picking up on the last ring. “Hello?”

“Hi. Is Kyra there?”

“Yeah, this is her.”

“Hey Kyra, it's Tasha.”

“What's wrong?” Kyra was concerned as she fixed her towel around her dripping body after detecting the melancholy in her friend's voice.

“Burger King done messed with my check and I don't have enough money to make it down there this summer.”

“Oh….”

“I'm so sorry. I really wanted to come down,” Natasha said sincerely.

“It's okay. I really wanted you to come, too, but I understand.” But Kyra was still disappointed.

“There's always winter break or something. Maybe I could make it then.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“I'm sorry to call you with this bullshit.”

“It's cool.”

“So…how have you been?”

“I've been a'ight,” Kyra lied.

“That's good. I just wanted to hit you up right quick to see how you were doing, but I gotta go. I wish I could talk longer, but I gotta hop in the shower.”

“Fa sho.”

“And Kyra?” she added.

“Yeah?”

“You know your cell phone is off?”

“Yeah, I know. Kai's punk ass disconnected it.”

“Damn. He knows he's messed up. But ey, I'll hit you back then.”

“One.”

Kyra was feeling down as she slipped on her pajamas and prepared for bed. She was getting tired of things going wrong in her life. It seemed like nothing went right. She'd moved here from a comfortable life in Chicago, her relationship with Makai had gone up in flames and her relationship with her mom was shaky. To top things off, Natasha coming to see her wasn't happening, either.

 

It was lunchtime on Monday at school. Kyra and Angel were strolling and conversing, when Veronica purposely bumped into Angel and made the few papers in her hands go flying. Angel watched helplessly as her assignments scattered all over the rain-soaked ground.

“Ooops. My bad.” Veronica snickered with her hand over her mouth.

Angel moved to pick up the papers, but Kyra stopped her.

“No, Angel, don't touch them.”

“But…”

“Don't touch them! Let this bitch pick them up,” she snapped.

“I wish I would pick up shit for your ass. Fuck you.”

“I
said
pick them up!” Kyra snarled, shoving her adversary to the ground.

 

“So what happened when you took her home? You hit that?” Michael asked.

“Yeah, you didn't get in till the next day. You're lucky Dad didn't find out,” Quentin stated.

“No, I didn't ‘hit it.' She was all out of it, drunk and shit. I did stay the night, though.”

“So you stayed the night and you didn't even hit it?” Michael was shocked and disappointed.

“Pretty much.”

“Well, I don't know about you two, but I got some Friday night,” Quentin proudly added.

“Yeah, Angel was looking real good.”

“Hey, nigga, back off my girl,” he joked with his friend while Justin turned his attention to a rowdy crowd forming not too far away from their table.

“Hey, y'all, what's going on over there?”

Veronica stood back up and pushed Kyra. Kyra then punched her in the jaw. Veronica grabbed a handful of Kyra's hair and tried to hit her, but Kyra wrestled her down to the muddy ground and began to go to work. She was clawing, slapping and punching anything she could see. Veronica reached up and got in one good hit: a punch to the mouth that caused Kyra's lip to bust open and start to bleed. Still, Kyra was an unstoppable force. The two continued to fight and the crowd cheered them on until Justin and his boys came and split them up.

Justin picked Kyra up off Veronica and held her back while his former girlfriend stood back, disheveled and bleeding.

“I told you to stay away from my man!” Veronica hollered as she held her now-dirty and ripped-open cardigan sweater. She sobbed in defeat.

“Fuck you! He's not your man!” Kyra screamed. She had streaks of mud on her face and her hair was wild, adding to her temporarily crazed persona.

“Veronica, you trippin'. Me and you have
been
over and you know it,” Justin added.

“We see how hard you are when your crew ain't here to back your bitch ass up! Just be grateful I couldn't get my razors on the plane, bitch!” Kyra continued to rage as she spit blood from her mouth toward where her enemy stood.

“What is going on here? You two! Inside! Now!” shouted a short, old, bald man in a gray suit. He was Mr. McKnight, the school principal.

The girls were led to the main office and seated in front of the principal's desk. Kyra moved her seat as far as possible from Veronica's and shot a look of utter hatred in her direction. The room was thick with tension. The principal shut the door and closed the blinds before finally taking a seat at his desk.

“As I'm sure both of you know, we don't tolerate foolish quarrels here at Prince Paul Academy. Especially when they escalate to a physical confrontation. So, ladies, what prompted this confrontation in the first place?”

“I'm not sayin' nothing. Just know that she was askin' for it, and as you can see, I gave it to her ass. Ever since I got here, she's been givin' me looks, sayin' unnecessary shit, and then today she had the balls to put her fuckin' hands on me. It was curtains from there.” Kyra's explanation was given with folded arms, and adrenaline prevented her from cleaning up her speech.

“But she pushed me on the ground first!” Veronica cried out.

“It doesn't give you the right to hit her, and now that I have you here, it is my responsibility to inform you that there
have
been many complaints made stating that you are being disrespectful to your peers.”

“They're lying!” she squealed.

“Regardless, the situation that occurred today was completely out of hand on both accounts. You are both suspended for three days and are ordered to leave the school premises immediately. Your parents will be notified as soon as possible.”

“Suspended? Do you know who my father is?”

“I am quite aware of who your father is, Ms. Pierce, but that's not going to get you out of trouble like it has so many times with your brother and the police.”

“But she hit me first! It was pure reaction, Mr. McKnight!” she continued to whine while Kyra sat silently, still fuming but accepting her punishment. She almost cracked a smile when Veronica started to cry. Any sign of her suffering was a welcome sight.

“That's enough, Ms. Pierce! Now you are both dismissed!”

 

“Are you okay?” Justin rushed to Kyra from his seat on a bench in the hallway. He had been waiting for her while she was in the principal's office. He was at her side in seconds, examining her cut lip, his hand on her cheek.

“Yeah, I'm fine. It's nothin'.” She waved her hand and moved her face away.

 

“Kyra! Come here!” her mother said, her voice sounding shrill. Kyra sat up in bed and took off her headphones in anticipation of the lecture she was about to endure.

“Why did your principal just call and tell me that you are suspended for the next three days? For fighting, no less?”

“Because I did and I am?”

“Who the hell were you fighting and why?”

“Nobody, just this girl Veronica. She's been disrespectin' me ever since I got here, and I never did nothin', but she went and put her hands on me today, so it was over.”

“Did you win?”

“Yeah, I won. Does it look like I lost?” She held her hands out to the side.

“Okay, so now that that's established, was it worth it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your ass is grounded for a week, so was your fighting her worth it?”

“Yeah, actually, it was.” Her answer was smug.

“Don't sit over there all smug on me, girl. You were doing so well since you got here. You were bringing home good grades, you have good friends, you kept out of trouble, and now this. Shit, for this
I
should beat your ass. That's what you need.”

“Well what can I say? I'm not perfect.”

“I know that, Kyra. I never said you were.”

“So then we can save the lectures. What's my punishment?”

“No phone, no TV and you can't leave the house for exactly seven days, one week. And don't tell me what
we
can do. I run this household girl, something you seem to have forgotten,” her mother scolded as she pointed her finger in Kyra's face.

“Yeah…a'ight.” She moved her head to the side.

“Now go on and get back to whatever you were doing.”

 

Justin was at his desk doing his homework. The events of the day were replaying in his mind like a movie. After the fight, Kyra made an instant transformation. She wouldn't even let him touch her. It was like one minute she was all right and the next she had changed.

He was hard at work on his final math problem when a knock on his door disrupted his whole thought process.

“Come in.” He kept his eyes on the paper as Harriet entered.

“Mr. Hartwell, your parents have sent me here to summon you. Apparently they have a few words for you,” Harriet announced while adjusting her apron.

“Do you know what this is concerning?” Justin's eyebrows arched in wonder.

“They didn't tell me. I'm sorry.”

“It's all right. I'll be down in five minutes.”

“I was told to make it known that your father has requested your presence immediately. You have five minutes.”

“Justin, have a seat,” his father's voice boomed from where he stood in front of the their marble fireplace in the dome-ceilinged den. He was silent until his son did as he was told. “Did you know someone fought with Veronica today? She went home with bruises and such. Her father called me and told me that she is suspended for three days.”

“So what does that have to do with me?”

“Well, you are dating the other girl, aren't you?”

“She's a friend. Nothing more, nothing less. What is this all about?” Justin asked again. He could sense the tension in the room.

“Son, your father and I have decided that you shouldn't see the girl who fought Veronica.” his mother chimed in. Her tone was soft as she sipped her tea. “It is bad for the image of the family. We literally cannot afford to mess things up. Besides, what ever happened to you and Veronica dating? Last I knew, she was your girlfriend, wasn't she?”

“Mother, we broke up a long time ago.”

“If you dirty the name of this family I will make sure you never inherit a penny of the business! It will all go to your brother! I will not have this family be disgraced like the Pierces!

Do you hear me? We all know what Richard has done to their name!” his father threatened.

“Dad, don't you think you're taking this too far?” Quentin interjected.

“Quentin Lamar, shut up. You speak when you are spoken to,” their father ordered firmly, silencing his oldest son.

“Son, don't be stubborn about this. Your father and I only have the best intentions,” his mother assured.