Being here at school I felt completely in my element, I could be the person I really was without consequence; I could walk down the hall and with my boys without the constant security following me around, I could play basketball without in the gym without worrying about getting nervous about every single car that drove by and I could talk to my girlfriend without our parents hovering over us like hawks. Don't get me wrong I understood perfectly what was going on with my parents and I knew it was necessary but that still didn't change the act that I wanted to have a somewhat normal life..... I walked down the hall getting hugs from a lot of the older female students who thought I was the cutest thing ever, I talked to some of the other football players who knew what I was capable of on the football field and knew who my dad was...... then I saw something that pissed me off entirely, that bitch as dude Mario was smiling up in Jade's face. Even though we squashed our beef, I still didn't like him and I didn't want him smiling up in my girls face........
"Wassup Jade." I said putting my arm around her shoulder and staring into Mario's eyes.
"See you around Jade...... Noah I'll see you at practice." Mario said walking away and I knew he was trying to be funny.
"Noah...... you know Mario is friends with Jose and he was just telling me that he'll be staying the night this weekend and I was telling him that I was going to be over Monique's house." Jade said grabbing my hand and leading me down the hall.
"Okay..... you know I'm going to be over Saint's house this weekend." I asked smiling and Jade nodded.
"What happened between you and Mario? Y'all used to be best friends then I moved away and when I came back y'all act like y'all hate each other." She asked and I shrugged. "I guess Noah, come on or we'll be late for class."
The whole time I was in class I kept thinking about dad number one, it's like outta nowhere that he wanted to spend time with me and get to know me and that's what I've always wanted but the thing is it was hard for me to talk to him because I was afraid of letting him down or only getting half answers. With my uncles I knew they'd give me real answers as opposed to the dad answers that I normally got from him, maybe Id talk to him tonight after these dumb ass Parent Teacher Conferences......... finally after sitting in boring classes all day it was time for football practice.
"What's Uncle Khalil doing here?" Saint asked and my eyes shot over to my coach standing there in completely awe of my dad. "Oh this is going to be classic, how much you wanna bet he puts you in just to impress your dad?' Saint asked, I decided to ignore him thankfully it had stopped raining but now it was humid as fuck.
"What are you doing here dad?" I asked noticing the security guards placed all over the place.
"Cunningham I was just telling your father that I was thinking about letting the freshmen and sophomores take the field today to switch things up a little since y'all have been doing so good." Coach Mills said lying his ass off, just yesterday he said that he's never seen a more sorry group of freshmen in all his years of coaching. My dad pulled me over to the side and I could tell he was trying hard not to smile.
"It's been a while since I've come to one of your practices, you know if you get knocked on your ass I'm going to laugh at you right? But no pressure." He said smacking my helmet, great just what I needed........ I took the field and noticed Mario's punk ass in the cornerback position. The first play I got the ball and got laid out by Mario.
"You know I plan on taking your girl right?" He said smirking as I stood up, I could've beat his ass right there but I had something for his ass....
I didn't get the ball again until towards the end of practice but I was determined to prove a point, I took off running and saw Mario running towards me full speed just like I figured he'd do, I lowered my shoulder and started running faster. I didn't stay to watch Mario hit the ground but judging from the laughter coming from the sidelines it was pretty bad.
"What did he say to you?" My dad asked as I walked over to the sideline, I told him and he started laughing. "I could tell you were mad by the way you were standing, it's just like me whenever somebody would say something to me on the field that pissed me off. But I'll let y'all finish up and I'll be waiting for you inside." He said walking away. After listening to my teachers praise my preformance in class and being embarassed we decided to go out to eat since dad numer two was still with Cori at his parent teacher conferences
"Why'd you decide to bring me to school today?" I asked picking at my lasagna.
"Because I wanted to talk to you...... it seems like you can talk to everyone but me, I gotta hear stuff about you from other people like how come you didn't ask me if you could stay at Saint's this weekend? Not that I'm complaining but you had just talk to me on the phone yet you asked him......" He said looking in my eyes.
"I don't know...... maybe it's because it's weird talking to you....." I said quietly.
"Noah you can talk to me about anything," He said, aight I'm going to put that to the test.
"Aight then why is it that I can't go to the basketball court without being followed? Or why can't Cori play with his friends unless he's got a bodyguard with him? Why is it that I can't go to the mall on the weekends with my friends?" I asked as my anger started boiling over.
"Noah....." My dad said and I saw a flicker of anger in his eyes. "Noah you were almost snatched up by people who were willing to hurt you to prove a point to me....... and I'm sorry for putting y'll through this but there's is nothing I wouldn't do in order to insure the safety of my family." My dad said calmly.
"I get that dad but that doesn't mean we have to be treated like prisoners." I said looking at him.
"Noah I promise this will all be over soon...... you just have to trust that everything I'm doing is for y'all." He said looking in my eyes. We sat there quietly for a couple minutes until out of nowhere he started laughing.
"What's so funny?" I asked hoping he wasn't laughing at me.
"I just remembered something...... I remember when you first came to live with us and you decided to get suspended from school, I brought you to this very restaurant and you 'accidentally' spilled your juice all over Vic." He said smiling.
"That seemed like so long ago." I said smiling.
"Yeah when you actually talked to me about what was going on with you, now you go to your dad leaving me out of the loop." He said.
"Well we can try to work on our communication...... if you promise not to tell me stuff from a dad's perspective sometimes I'd rather hear what's real instead of what's easiest for you......" I said.
"Aight but don't get all mad when I hurt your feelings No' I've been around a lot longer than you so there's really not too much you can say that'll surprise me or that I can't help you with." He said as we started walking out the restaurant. It felt good being able to talk to my dad as we walked to the car he stopped abruptly causing me to run into him.
"Dad what's......" I didn't finish because he pushed me behind him quickly, I tried to see what he was looking at but all I saw was a white car in front of us. I managed to see who was inside and it was some dark skinned dude, I've never seen before but I could tell my dad was ready to kill him. The dude waved once before speeding off quickly and my dad pulled out is phone and started barking orders most of what he was saying got lost in his yelling but as we got in the car I was able to make out a name...... Julius..............................................
