Getting Played Read Online Free Page B

real.”
    â€”MySpace.com
    â€œKenisha. Hey, Kenisha, wait up, Kenisha. You hear me, girl.”
    â€œCrap,” I mutter under my breath. I know the voice. It’s Jerome Tyler, Li’l T to mostly everybody. He’s a tall and lean freshman with dreams of playing in the big leagues. He lives around the way and is always into something. He’s also the biggest gossip in the neighborhood. If you need information on anything going on, he’s the guy to talk to. I have no idea how he knows everybody’s business, but he does.
    He calls my name again. I seriously don’t feel like stopping and talking. All I’m thinking about is getting home, finding my dad, straightening this mess out and chilling. SoI keep walking. Li’l T comes running up beside me. “Hey, girl, you heard me calling you. What, you acting like you don’t know nobody now?”
    I look over at him and pull my earbuds pretending like I really didn’t hear him calling my name. “Oh, hey, Jerome,” I say drily, calling him by his real name, hoping that’s gonna annoy him enough to keep going. It doesn’t. You can always depend on Li’l T not to take a hint. Anyway, he stops right beside me and starts talking about what happened this morning with the fight. He was right there and saw everything, big surprise. His friends trail behind listening close. I really am not paying attention. I already heard most of this already anyway.
    â€œSo, what you up to this weekend?” he asks.
    â€œNothing,” I say, figuring I’d be getting my stuff together to transfer schools. I knew I wouldn’t have much time for anything else.
    â€œA’ight, be like that. You gonna need a brotha one day.”
    I guess he finally caught the dryness in my tone. “For real, nothing,” I said more forcibly. “There’s nothing going on this weekend. I’ll probably go to Virginia and hang with my girls.”
    â€œSee, now that’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout. So, when you gonna hook a brotha up with Diamond like you promised?” he asks. I laugh out loud. The image of my friend Diamond with Li’l T is too absurd. You just don’t even know. “What’s so funny?” he asks, as if he didn’t know.
    â€œJerome, please, you know that’s not even about to happen.”
    â€œSee, now you blocking on me. I see the way Diamond be checkin’ a brotha out. She likes what she sees. She knows what I got to offer.”
    Li’l T is a dreamer. At one time he wanted to hook up with me, my girl Jalisa and then with my ex-friend Chili. Not to mention a few others after that. “Not gonna happen,” I repeat.
    â€œWhy not?” he asks, only half serious.
    â€œFirst of all, I never promised I’d hook you up with anybody, especially one of my girls. And secondly, you know Diamond is way too old for you. And she’s seriously way out of your league.”
    â€œWhat you talkin’ ’bout?”
    â€œI’m talking about the fact that you can’t speak a full sentence in proper English, even if your life depended on it. You know Diamond doesn’t play that. Besides, she’s kind of seeing someone now.”
    â€œSeeing somebody,” he says indignantly. “Who she seeing?”
    â€œNot you,” I say, teasingly. His friends start laughing.
    â€œYeah, yeah, whatever, you know Diamond’s got a thing for me,” he boasts. I give him the in-your-dreams look. He understands and laughs, too. “A’ight, a’ight,” he says half laughing. We keep walking. Then when we are right around the corner from my house he looks back, seeing that his friends have stopped to talk to someone. “Umm, listen, I hear D might be getting out in a minute,” he says, quietly.
    I almost stumble as I turn and look at him. The black eye I’d given him by accident was just about gone, but youcould still