Read Online Everything by Jeri Williams - Free Book Online Page A

another look for interrupting the class with my lateness. But today, I didn’t care. I pulled out my cellphone and sent a text to Trevor.
    Babe
    What’s up?
    Ugh, Tina’s dad got transferred, they r moving to Miami.
    Wow really?!
    Don’t sound so happy
    Sorry?
    She’s my BF babe
    I am sorry baby, really
    R u ok?
    Sigh
    Is that a NO?
    It’s a sigh
    A sigh?
    A sigh
    ?
    I’ll B fine
    Call me l8r?
    OK
    I tried to focus on the rest of my class and what the professor was saying, but my mind wasn’t there. I kept replaying me and Justina’s greatest moments in my head like a movie montage. She was the only girlfriend I had befriended, or rather the only one who wanted to become my friend. It wasn’t that I wasn’t likable, but people thought crazy was a disease that could rub off, and since I was related to Opal, I was crazy by relation and anyone who dared be friends with me would be crazy by association. Justina never cared, though; that was why she and I clicked. Deep down, I cared too much about what people thought about me and my family, and she didn’t. We balanced each other out. Without her here to balance me, I didn’t know what I would do to keep my equilibrium.
    Class let out, and I made my way to my next class. I passed Riley in the hall with the other students, and he made a U-turn and caught up with me.
    “Hey. Uh-oh.” Riley frowned, noticing the sullen look on my face. “Was there another muumuu incident I wasn’t aware of?” he joked.
    “No,” I sighed heavily. “Justina’s father got transferred to Miami, so she is moving, as of next week.”
    “Oooh,” he said with raised eyebrows.
    “Yeah, I’m just a little...I don’t know.” I shrugged.
    “Hey, man, I get it. You two were like Bert and Ernie. Sesame Street friendship.”
    “In your scenario, I’m Ernie right?” I asked, cracking my first real smile since I got to school.
    “Sure.” He leaned in closer to fake-whisper. “But you should know they were both boys.”
    “I know, which makes me wonder why you chose them to associate with me and Tina,” I asked, with raised eyebrows.
    “Totally for comedic purposes,” he said with a smile. “Not insinuating anything.”
    “Umm huumm. Be careful, buddy. If Tina heard you comparing her to a puppet-man, she’d turn you into a puppet-man,” I warned.
    “Well, it’s a good thing she’s moving then, right?” he said gingerly.
    “Riley...” I laughed. “Thanks, I needed that.”
    “Anytime,” he said, and he turned around and headed back the way he’d been going.  
    I got a text from Aria telling me she heard about Justina moving away. Remember what I said about news getting around? Aria asked if I wanted to talk. I told her I was fine, but if she wanted to, she could come by my dorm later. I also got a text from Tina telling me she was officially a transfer student, as she’d just gotten her student records transferred to a college in Miami. This was all happening so fast. Her parents moved like a flash flood. Shit! But with the semester just starting, I could understand them not wanting her to fall too far behind. I was surprised when I got to my dorm hall and saw Trevor’s truck in the parking lot and him sitting in it. When he saw me, he got out and came over to my car.
    “What are you doing here?” I asked him, stunned.
    “Okay, not the welcome I was expecting,” he said, his smile faltering.
    “No, I mean, I thought you didn’t get off work until later,” I corrected.
    “I got off early. I thought you might need me.”
    “I always need you.”
    “That’s what I love to hear,” he said as he engulfed me in a hug.
    He took my book bag from my shoulder, and we made our way up to my dorm room. My floor was in party mode with doors open and people hanging out in the hallways. A few people Trevor knew invited him to hang out, and he declined.  
    Once inside my room, I collapsed on the bed. I was drained from the day. Trevor put my book bag in my closet and