Trinity

"I'm doing you a favor,"He said as he stared into my eyes.

I felt myself getting angry. My fist formed a ball, and figurative steam pushed out of my ears. My crying stage was over, and now I was angry.

"You have some real nerve!"I whispered yelled. "I try to help you find your way around this school, and you just fucked me over!"

"It was a Instagram post. It's not like I fucked your boyfriend or something. Chill out, shawty."

"Shawty?"I questioned. "I'm not your fucking shawty. I don't know what kind of twisted shit you have going on in that head of yo-"

He chuckled softly, "Trinity, you had a whole panic attack over your friend getting sent to the office. I don't know you well, but you got some twisted shit going on in-"He put his finger to my forehead, "there."

I sat there quietly. He knew. No one knew about my anxieties except Nya, and usually she's there to calm me down.

He pulled his finger away slowly. The tears in my eyes came to a halt as I watched him stare at him. His eyes focused on everything I was doing, very intently.

"You hide it well,"He said out of the blue. "You gotta have that shit for a long time to learn how to mask it."

I nodded slowly. I didn't say anything though. I didn't know what to say.

"I know we just met, but I'm going to tell you something I don't normally tell people. I feel like you need to here it,"He said softly.

Once again, I didn't say anything. I just watched as he played with the watch on his wrist. Obviously this was a touchy topic for him.

"Same shit happened to my younger sister...she was only thirteen,"He started. "She was caught up in that being perfect shit. She had to get thousands of likes. She had to be the president of every club. She had to play every sport. She had to get everybody to like her."

He sighed as he broke his gaze with me. He looked towards the floor as he kept going on with his story.

"Sad part 'bout it, my family thought that shit was normal. She's just being a girl everybody would say. Amir come home one day, and he's screaming my name.

'Warren! Warren! Fuck Warren!'

"I had been home for the longest. I skipped school that day and everything. She told mama she wasn't feeling good, so mama let her stay home. I didn't want her to tell mama I was skipping, so I ain't go to her room."

He shuffled in his seat a little. He mumbled something under his breath, that I couldn't make out. For a few seconds, we sat in silence. He sucked his teeth, signaling he was going to continue.

"I run up the stairs. Amir holding her lifeless body in his hands. I lean down, trying to help her. She's gone...the whole time I'm thinking of how I should've went to her fucking room. I could've saved her. We all could've saved her, but we thought what she was going through was normal."

I reached across the table and placed my hand on his. He looked me in my eyes once again. I could see the hurt behind his words, but it was hidden very well.

"Depression, anxiety, suicide...that shit real. That shit kills people, and the last thing I want is to feel guilty again."

"You don't have to worry about that with me, Warren. I'm f-"

"She used to say that same bullshit,"He interrupted. "You don't gotta tell me you're hurting. I can see it."

The bell rang loudly once again. We both sat there, looking at each other. Finally he pulled his hand away.

He slung his book bag over his shoulder, and stood up. I gave him pleading eyes. I just wanted him to talk to me. I wanted to know more about his sister. I wanted to know more about who he was on the inside.

"Wait,"I said as I tried to catch up to him. "Warren!"

He turned around and looked at me. His face was emotionless. He was hurting, but he didn't show it. He couldn't show it. He had to be strong.

"Figure you're life out. Once you come to terms with it, then we can talk about it."

I watched as he walked into the crowd of teenagers that looked exactly like him. I found myself staring, trying to find him.

But he was gone.

***

"That's all for today ladies!"Coach yelled. "If y'all bring that nasty ass attitude to my practice again, we're going to run around this gym from here on out."

We all stopped in our tracks, trying to catch our breath. No one was really in the mood for cheer today. Everyone stumbled into practice annoyed, late, and tired.

I had my reasons, but I didn't know what the problem was for the other girls. As team captain, I had to get the team back into shape. I'd call team bonding or something over the weekend, hoping that'd resolve our issues.

"Moore, dismiss them. Come see me in my office when you're done,"Coach yelled to me.

I nodded my head. The girls and I walked back to our respective meeting place. Everyone was breathing hard. We ran the whole two hours and thirty minutes of practice.

As everyone began to pack up, I looked over at Nya. She was sitting on the floor looking at the ceiling. She didn't do to well with punishment, and she was not liking this.

"Okay, I know it's been a rough day for us. That's still no excuse for half of the team to show up ten minutes late."

"It's the first day back from fucking break,"One of the girls mumbled.

"Just be on time on Wednesday. I'm calling team bonding on Saturday, but if you little miss it's first day back keeps it up, we'll be practicing,"I said smartly. "You guys are free to go."

Everyone packed up their things, and quickly left. Nya stayed behind because she knew I was her ride.

I walked into Coach's office. It was spotless as always. She was the only female coach to have a office, and it really showed.

I sat down on the couch in front of her desk. She continued to type things into her computer. She didn't even acknowledge I had walked in.

"It came to my knowledge today that you're behind two payments. You know I have a very strict pol-"

"The money should be coming directly out of Eli's account. He said he would take care of it this year."

She peeked over the top of her laptop to see me, "Your boyfriend?"She asked. "Why are your parents not paying?"

"Income is slow right now, and only Eli knows this. I tried to get a job, but with all of my extracurriculars, I just couldn't. Eli got a job for me, and he's willing to pay for everything."

She didn't say anything. She continued to type as we sat there in silence. I crossed my legs and leaned back in my chair.

"Alright, you're dismissed,"She said softly.

As I reached for the door handle, she called out my name.

"I know that's your boyfriend, but don't take hand outs. You have to figure out what you love, and put the rest aside."

I nodded slowly. I opened the door and walked back into the gym. Nya sat on the ground typing on her phone.

When she saw me, she looked up. She rolled her eyes at me. I was assuming it was about practice.

"Royal,"She mumbled.

Nya and Royal had been on and off for years now. Nya talked to multiple guys, but she never called quits with Royal. Royal did the same, but he was bisexual.

When Nya first found out, it really bothered her. As their relationship progressed, she found herself not caring. She was deeply in love with him.

They went through their phases. Some days they couldn't stay away from each other. Other days they wanted nothing to do with one another.

"He fucking with this new nigga named Amir or something,"Nya said angrily.

I grabbed my things as she grabbed her. We walked out the door together. She continued her rant about Royal.

"He told me, I really like him, and I don't think this is gonna work. I told that nigga that he do this shit every single time, and they leave him crying. They don't care for him like I do."

I sighed, "He tells you the exact same thing when you talk to other guys Nya."

"At least I don't fucking cry when they tell other people they're not gay."

"Nya, you're not a bisexual black man. You don't know what he's going through. You should be his friend right now, not his critic."

She immediately stopped talking, because she knew I was right. I unlocked my car doors, and put my things in the back seat. Nya did the same.

As we got into the car, I turned on the radio. I tried connecting my phone to the Bluetooth, but i couldn't find my phone. Nya helped look, but it was no where in my car.

"Did you leave it inside the school?"Nya asked.

"I swear I put it in my bag,"I mumbled. "I'll go look though."

I got out of the car and started towards the school. The whole time I'm walking, I'm trying to figure out where I could've placed my phone. I swear I had it in my hands.

That's when I saw him.