Chapter 4: the Aftermath - Spin

I wake early, dress, and head out the door. It’s five minutes to seven when I send a text that I’m outside. Meme is warming her car and she waves at me as she waits… Well, at least someone wants me around Loyalty, even if it’s for the wrong reasons!

Loyalty steps out of the house with her long pink hair loose down her back, a white low-cut shirt showing cleavage, low-cut dark blue skinny jeans, gray Ugg boots, and a black bubble coat she has left open revealing her clothes underneath. Her pink book bag is slung over one shoulder! She doesn’t really go to school like this, does she?! Meme blows a kiss at her, and she blows one back as Meme pulls out of the driveway.

Loyalty watches her pull away before getting in the car. “Morning beautiful”, I tell her and she rolls her eyes before laying the seat back slightly. “Tired”?!

She nods her head as I start to drive and says, “I need caffeine”! I pull into the drive-thru Starbucks and she leans over me to make her order of some mango fruity something or other… Her butt is all in my face! I thought she said she needed caffeine. I looked at the digital board for the thing she just named to see its caffeine level is as high as my Americano. How’s that work?!

She sits back and when we get to the window I’m handed a bright purply pinkish drink… Shit! She even drinks pink! She takes the drink from me and murmurs, “thanks”! Then she gulps it down, and sighs. I grab the drink back from her and take a sip, and she looks at me like I’ve sprouted a tail from my forehead!

“Pretty good”, I tell her as I hand it back, but she just rolls her eyes at me. I texted the four asshats from my crew that go to high school with her before driving again, so when we pull up they’re waiting in the parking lot. I got out and opened the car door for her. The lot grows quiet and everyone stares in our direction. I put my arm over Loyalty as Meme bounces over and they loop their arms on the other side. Her boyfriend has a look of shock and disgust all rolled into one, as he watches us stroll by. Loyalty doesn’t even offer him a second glance as my lower crew members swarm around us. I wonder what’s happened between them literally overnight! Did she break things off with him already?!

When we got to the door and I couldn’t go any further, I grabbed her chin and tilted her head toward me. “What time are you out of here?” I asked her.

“Four, I have cheer practice after school”, she says.

“If I’m not here, Gabe drives you home”, I told her, pointing to my brother who was standing next to her.

She rolls her eyes again and says, “Meme can take me”!

“I take care of what’s mine”, I tell her before pecking her lips. I hear oooh's and awww’s in the background but I can’t be bothered with this high school drama. I’m only here because my girl is here! She pushes my hand away as she rolls her eyes for the third time, then storms inside with Meme still attached to her and my crew around them like a human barrier!

The boyfriend approaches as I head back to my car. “I don’t know what you're playing at, but that’s my girl you were just hanging all over”, he says to me angrily.

“Are you sure about that kid?” I asked him. When he looks at me puzzled, I say to him, “I’m just saying, no girl of mine would be locking lips with another man or sleeping in his bed, for that matter. But Loyalty and I have done both”.

“You’re lying”, he says.

“Am I?” I challenged him. “Maybe she’s found out something about you she doesn’t like, or maybe she’s just decided to upgrade to a real man and not a little bitch like you”!

The kids in the parking lot have gathered around, and the boyfriend has grown uncomfortable. “Stay away from her, Lala is my girl”, he orders.

I just laughed at him, “see! That’s where you’re wrong, kid. She’s not your girl anymore, because Loyalty is my woman! And I take care of what’s mine. So step off! And if you don’t believe me about the whole sleeping in my bed thing, ask her where she was Friday night… That’s if you can get her to even talk to you”! Knowing my crew, he wouldn’t even get close enough!

I get back in my car, which now smells of Loyalty, and drive off with the boyfriend standing in the parking lot looking dumbfounded! I head for the garage to check the progress of some things and sign off on the ordering of parts. Dan is there, and I feel like I haven’t seen him in forever.

“Hey Spin, Brenda said she had an interesting chat with you last night”, he says.

“Did she now?” I replied without giving anything away.

“What’s going through that head of yours man?”, he says.

“I dunno, what’d she tell you?” I asked.

“That you are chasing a youngin’ and like her with me, the girl doesn’t want you”, he says.

“Funny thing is, I dunno if she does or she doesn’t! I just dropped her off at school, and she walked by her boyfriend like she could give two shits about him! But then she acts like she can give two shits about me too, so!” I blurt out.

“School?” he asks.

“Yeah, she’s a fucking senior in high school”, I admitted quietly.

“Well damn, when Bren said she was young I didn’t think that young. How are you keeping an eye on her if she’s in high school?”, he asks.

“Gabe and his knuckleheads”, I tell him and he nods.

“Keep them boys on a short leash, you don’t want feelings between them to develop”, he says. Yeah, I didn’t even think about that, but Gabe is my brother, he wouldn’t do that to me! I spent the afternoon fixing some stuff and headed out to pick Loyalty back up.

When I arrive at the school, I text Gabe asking where they are. He gave me directions to walk around back to the field. In one section, the football team is playing; on the other is the pep squad. My crew is sitting on the grass between the two. The pep squad has their backs to them, so nobody notices when I plop down next to Gabe on the field.

“How’d it go?” I asked him quietly.

“She’s like a magnet for assholes”, he says. I shake my head and laugh, and watch as a blur of pink tumbles down from a pyramid stand to two girls waiting below. I was startled when I realized it was her! A female coach blows a whistle, and the girls all dust themselves off. Loyalty turns around, I’m guessing to see if my crew is still watching her, and has a look of anger when she locks eyes with me.

She grabs her bag from the pile with all the other girls and follows in behind them. “Go wait by the locker room door”, I tell them. “Make sure she doesn’t try anything funny. She looks pissed”!

Gabe takes the boys with him and they divide into two so that both locker room exits are guarded. She comes out of the main door a short while later, back in her jeans and tee. “Let’s get this over with”, she says as she storms by me to the parking lot. Gabe and his guys all snicker behind us as we walk.

Once they’re all in the SUV, they follow behind me. “I need another shot of caffeine if I’m going to make it through my assignments tonight”, she says. “Can you stop at Ready Coffee”?

“Anything you want, beautiful”, I tell her, but she scoffs. “You doubt me”?

“Yep”, she says matter-of-factly.

“Try me”, I said to her.

“The freedom to choose whom I’m in a relationship with”, she says. Well damn, she got me on the first try!

I said nothing until we pulled up to some shit hole of a stand in the middle of a mall parking lot! When it’s our turn, I order another Americano, she orders an iced Game On energy thing, or whatever it is! “Do you even drink coffee?” I asked her!

She shrugs and says, “sometimes! But I only like the white chocolate peppermint mocha, which is a seasonal drink apparently”!

As we pull away, I ask, “care to tell me about your change of heart”?

“Nope”, she says, popping the p on the end and sipping her drink. “It was hard enough living through my life the first time around, I don’t need to rehash the pain another time around while I explain it to you”. Fair enough, I guess!

When we pull up to her house she says, “thanks for the caffeine boost”. Then she gathers up everything and opens the car door.

“Same time tomorrow beautiful”, I tell her as she waves me off before going inside. I wait until she shuts the door behind her before pulling away.

I get back to my house, and of course, the grills and fire pit are going… This will be the nightly routine until the snow falls and we’re forced indoors! I gather up Gabe and his team and sit around the fire pit with them while they tell me about her boyfriend confronting her and how the squad is split between who is right and who is wrong. It’s one thing for her to separate from a toxic relationship. They were all aware of the boyfriend’s slim ball ways. They’re just not happy that one of their own is choosing a grease monkey over a letterman! High school drama, I tell you!

Gabe also gave me some student ID number and an app to d******d, telling me how her lunch account was nearly empty and that he knows at certain times of the month she’ll skip lunch because her foster parents aren’t the wealthiest and basically need her check to make ends meet. She doesn’t complain about being abused, so I know for the most part they are good to her and I won’t hold this against them.

I downloaded the app and logged in. It tells me all sorts of shit about her! Her name is Loyalty Amory Marshal, also known as Lala Marshal. She’s five foot two inches, she weighs a hundred and six pounds and is naturally a blonde under all that pink. I can see her school pictures dating as far back as fourth-grade when she was enrolled in her current school district. She was transferred from the Bronx, a NYC borough, after her mother’s final court appearance. Her mother was found dead from suicide, and she became an official ward of the state.

She has fairly high grades, clearly an overachiever. She was in drama club and choir until this year, when she switched focus to just cheering and academics. She’s the co-cheer captain and a library monitor… What the hell is that?! I decided not to pry further and move on to her school lunch account. Her balance is barely four dollars, that’s the equivalent of a day’s worth of meals at her school! I type in my card information and fund the account fifty bucks, then set it to auto-fill fifty bucks every time it falls below ten!

It’s almost midnight when I finally headed to my room for bed. I shower, set the alarm, and sleep!