After spending the first five or ten minutes explaining all of that, they talk about the loss of Ovaughn. She feels so bad for Mike losing a best friend that she is nearly in tears on the phone. He doesn’t want her to feel bad or to be sad about it again himself, so he changes the subject to how things have been for her. They catch up on the last year of life for them both and how the school year is going so far. She is not surprised to hear he is on track to graduate on time that year. She is a year younger so she still has one more year before she will be done but she is already thinking about job hunting for her first job post-graduation. It reminds him to get on top of that for himself. She is always forward thinking and he loves that about her because she keeps him doing the same. Silly even had some relationship stuff to tell Mike about, even though he didn’t bring up his own drama. He just tells her that he’s not lucky when it comes to relationships and she encourages him to be patient and what’s meant for him will be for him. She is even more open and confident now then she was when they originally met and back then they talked a lot. Mike realizes how much he misses those conversations as they talk. They end up staying on the phone for over two hours. Mike was sitting in his room with the door closed so Jairus and Duc just assumed he was studying the entire time once they returned. He had no idea if he would ever actually speak to her again, so it is a pleasant surprise. They promise to make sure it isn’t another year before they talk to each other again and end the conversation.
By the time they are done talking Mike doesn’t have much time before he plans to head over to his mom’s house. Either he is going to skip studying that day or it was going to be a late night. He still doesn’t regret it though. He chats with Jairus and Duc for a few minutes to let them know about the surprise call and see how lunch was and then heads out. They both have some last-minute work to get done and need to prepare for class the next day.
That week starts off no different than the other weeks so far in the semester. They have a rhythm to the commute now. How early to get to campus so no one is late to class. The ideal parking lot central to anywhere you may be walking on campus. The time to meet at the end of the day to head back to the apartment. The only thing that is still being figured out after three weeks of school is lunch. They still can’t seem to get on the same page about whether to stay on campus and figure it out or find time to meet up and run off campus to grab something. That Monday they decided to finally try going to the caf with Chris, if he can get them in. The only time that seems to work for everyone is 2:00 P.M. They all agree that is way too late but they’re giving it a try this week just to see. They all meet up outside of the cafeteria and mingle in the sea of people. There’s just as many leaving from lunch as there are going inside and they are shocked there are so many people there at one time. It almost feels like an event is going on. They all miss that atmosphere now that they are disconnected from campus life. But the best thing about the late lunch is that it’s also when most of the practicing sports teams are arriving so they get the chance to see a lot of the athletes they know. Most importantly of them all they see Kennedy for the first time this semester. All three of them have been so consumed with the things they have going on that none of them had checked on her since school started.
Kennedy walks up to their small group and is greeted with a roaring response from the guys and hugs all around. As far as they’re concerned, she’s their sister now like Ovaughn was their brother and they had been slacking. Kennedy is just as excited to see them all and blurts out all her questions at once. “How was everyone’s summer? What’s been going on? Y’all going in to eat? We gotta catch up.” She’s used to knowing what’s going on with everyone through Ovaughn, but even though the friendships are still strong the dynamic will never be the same. They all understand and accept that, but it doesn’t stop them from enjoying lunch together, talking and joking like they were all just hanging out all the time these last few months. This is their new dynamic. Life must go on, but they have a bond that will always be there whether they talk weekly or just catch up annually. Mike is the only one who is likely to try to talk to Kennedy all the time simply because they were actually cool with each other before she dated Ovaughn and that just made them even tighter. In the midst of the group interaction Mike takes a moment to authentically check on her leaning to the side of the table they sit at. “K, be real with me…You been doing a’ight?”
She pauses at the question but is not surprised that it’s coming from Mike. “I’m as good as any of us can be after that. It takes time, right? But, yeah, I’m good Mike.” She cracks a smile, and he knows that she really has been doing better, which makes him smile, as well.
Mike is caught off guard with the next thing she says. “Oh, there’s Shante.” She waives so Shante can see them at the table and Mike turns to see her start to head their way. As she gets to the table, Kennedy notices the awkward looks on the faces of everyone but her and her teammates also sitting at the table. She knows that something is wrong and just tries to stay out of it feeling like she is close with both Shante and Mike at this point. Shante greets everyone and ends with Mike softly saying, “Hey, Artie. How you been?” She is just as confused in this situation as he is. She was faced with a very awkward situation as a college freshman and simply did what she thinks is best to handle it. She doesn’t like them being so distant and doesn’t want him to feel hurt, but she doesn’t know what else to do. He replies to her with a simple “Hey,” and she realizes that what she feared is the case. He saw her with the basketball player and felt some kinda way about it. “The other week when you saw me with the guy. We were just…” Mike interjects immediately, cutting her off. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me Shante. I’m just your ‘cousin.’ I’m not your father.”
She tries to ignore his comment. “I just wanna make sure we are good. I don’t like how things went either.”
“You’re good.”
She stands there for a second and when she accepts that she isn’t going to get much of anything from him, she tells Kennedy she will see her later and says bye to everyone else then walks away.
Kennedy watches as Shante walks away and notices how her body language looks like she just lost a race. She turns to Mike. “What the hell did I miss?” Mike spends the next 15 minutes telling her all the details about what happened at the end of the semester and answering her questions. Chris, being nosey, even jumped in the conversation and finally got answers to his questions from that day at the restaurant. Always knowing how to break the tension, Chris says, “Damn, so now Simone won’t be around for me to holla at.” Kennedy and all the guys start laughing at his joke because they all knew he had a thing for her but would never make a move for some reason. Kennedy keeps the jokes coming. “You think you feel bad. That’s the baddest chick Mike has ever had a chance with. Please watch after my bro.” They spend the rest of lunch cracking jokes to lighten the mood and try to help Mike get past it. But if nothing else came out of the late lunch it is the guys deciding that the late time may be good if no other times work for lunch. Worst case scenario they can check up on Kennedy and make sure she is straight.
The next day the class load is much lighter for the guys, so the Tuesday/Thursday routine is pretty set in place. They get to campus a little later and leave a little earlier on those days. Mike and Duc generally get to work at Jazzy Belles a bit earlier as well. More time to earn tips for Mike and Duc likes to be there for set up and sound check for Open Mic Night every week. Today is no different. That left Jairus at the apartment alone that evening. He tries to take advantage of so much free time by catching up on schoolwork but finds himself struggling to focus and feeling restless. He starts up the video game to pass time and gets bored with it quickly. Just before 5 o’clock he gets a phone call from an Atlanta number he doesn’t recognize. He quickly answers the phone thinking it may be a response from one of the places he put in a job application, and he is correct. In fact, it is the one airline he wants to work for the most with all the college students as employees. It is his lucky day as they were impressed with him and let him know that he has the job and can start as soon as next week. He is extremely excited. He doesn’t even know why he feels so excited. Maybe it’s the feeling of things going his way this school year after the previous year feeling so full of negatives. He appreciates the wins even more now and since he is home alone, he is free to express that excitement as much as he wants without embarrassment.
After he has some time to calm down all Jairus wants to do is share his good news with someone. Instead of staying in and being productive like he intends, those plans change to attending the Open Mic Night at Jazzy Belles that evening. He arrives at Jazzy Belles early enough to get a seat in the performance area before they all fill up. Mike makes sure they get him the best seat available in his section after being surprised to see him pop up for the Open Mic. As soon as Mike comes back to see if he wants to order anything before the performances start, Jairus just blurts out, “Young, I got the job!” He tells Mike how much he wants to get one of the good paying jobs and specifically the one with the other college students he saw.
“The one you told me ‘bout? Oh, we celebrating! I’m getting a tip tonight!” Jairus just bursts into laughter at his response. In part because his friend is crazy and in part because there’s some truth to the joke.
The show starts and the performances are going well. Eventually Duc comes out and sits at the table with Jairus once he knows everything is running smoothly between the DJ and the host. He asks what all the commotion was about between him and Mike before the show and Jairus lets him know that he got the job he wants. Duc begins to congratulate him and is suddenly interrupted by Quad, who just quietly walks up to the table without them noticing. He is asking to talk to Duc once again and all Duc can think is damn this dude always pops up when I’m talking to someone. He respects his persistence though, so he responds positively. “Quad! What’s up, slim?”
“What’s up, man? I wanted to know if I could get another shot at performing one of my songs for you?” Duc reminds him that anyone can perform as long as they sign up before the sheet is full. That is the problem. The sign-up sheet fills up pretty early this evening and he is asking for a helping hand to get up. Duc is reluctant to help since Quad wasn’t prepared when he asked him before but for some reason, he likes him. Or at least he sympathizes with him. He doesn’t guarantee anything, but he has the host put him at the end of the list and in the case the performances go quicker than estimated. It will leave time for him at the end.
Quad is more than happy with that. He can’t ask for anything more. He goes to the back of the room and just quietly observes everyone else who comes up to perform. He is clearly concerned with how long some of the performances are taking because every time Duc looks back there at him Quad is checking his watch to see how much time is left. Duc is now trying not to be obvious but is interested to see if he is still nervous or if it’s changed to excitement. Does he look intimidated when he hears someone who is really good? Duc wants to find other artists to manage but he isn’t trying to waste his time. He’s already busy enough. As Quad hopes, the host makes it through the entire list of performers and it’s just a few minutes left. Enough time for the host to ask him if he has something he can do before the time they are scheduled to end. Of course, Quad says yes. Even if it isn’t enough time, he is going to say yes and just cut it short if he has to.
Before going to the mic, Quad goes over what beat he wants to use with the DJ. They maintain a list of instrumentals for the singers and rappers who want to perform to pick from. He then walks up to the microphone after being introduced as the final performance of the night. Some of the patrons already start exiting but a few stop to listen when they hear the announcement. Standing in front of the room he notices all the moving parts—from those still leaving or staying to the staff trying to start cleaning up their area. The most important thing he notices is Duc standing up from his seat to get a clearer view and pay attention to his performance. He starts to feel his nerves in his stomach as the hairs stand up on the back of his neck and he just takes a deep breath. “What’s up everyone? I appreciate y’all sticking around for me. Be easy with me cause it’s my first time. I go by Quad.” He then gives a head nod to the DJ to start the music and it’s a faster rap beat. Quad attempts to start his song after the first 4-count of the beat but he doesn’t time it right and stops. He then tries again after the next 4-count but when he starts, he fumbles his words and quickly stops again. Once again, he tries after the following 4-count, but his words are not in sync with the beat. He looks over at the DJ and makes a gesture as if he wants him to stop the beat, but it’s met by an awkward look and him shrugging his shoulders as if to say what am I supposed to do?
Quad is now visibly frustrated and some of the crowd that is listening starts to make their way to the exits. Duc, wanting to hear something, looks over at the DJ and shakes his hand with the cutthroat movement and mouths for him to cut the beat. He is trying to help Quad one last time to see if he can get it together. The music stops and then Quad composes himself one last time and begins. He begins to recite the song he memorized for the open mic but as he reads it a cappella it sounds less like a song and more like a poem. He’s slow and methodical as he reads it going much slower than the fast-paced beat he had playing before. He isn’t really engaging the crowd as you would expect in a rap performance, but you can hear the emotion in his voice. It is clearly a piece about his personal life struggles. He speaks about a relationship with his brother and missing his presence. Duc isn’t blown away by it, but he does notice it is touching to the crowd and even though it doesn’t sound like rap, there are a couple of lines that made him raise an eyebrow. What impresses Duc is his speaking voice and how well he projects. He sounds like he can do voice work. Duc even wonders if he can sing for a moment. He is surprised he didn’t hear that when they were talking because it’s clearly evident now.
When Quad’s performance is over a few of the people in the crowd give him some claps for the performance, but it is far from a standing ovation. He is happy with what he can get. It is a victory for him, especially since he’s never performed before. He walks over to Duc. “So, what did you think?”
“Young, how old are you?”
“Umm…I just turned 18 this summer” he responds.
Duc knows he is younger than him but is shocked to hear he just turned 18. “And you wrote something like that? With that content?”
Quad smiles at the positive reception to his material.
“I mean, your actual performance was weak as shit but what you talking about is like that,” Duc continues. “If you write like that you can learn how to perform.”
Even with the criticism Quad is excited about the feedback and inspired.
“Go practice on them performance skills and come back with something new for us.”
“Say no more,” he grabs his stuff, and heads to the exit yelling “THANKS” across the room as he runs out of Jazzy Belles. Duc didn’t realize it at the moment, but this would motivate Quad to become a regular at the Open Mic Night whether he is performing or not.
That next week Jairus starts his new job. He is so excited to get a job with some decent pay that he didn’t even give much thought to what to expect working at a call center. He just knows it looks very laid back and there are a lot of college students there. He is correct about the college students but after the first few days he realizes just how volatile the call center job can be. He is shocked by how rude and vulgar some of the customers are and how the coworkers he is shadowing seem to just let it roll off their shoulders. He isn’t sure he has the patience on the phone while someone calls him every disrespectful name they can think of, especially knowing they’re only doing it over the phone and would never say it to his face. That along with the fact that the environment isn’t nearly as social as he expected has him questioning his decision. After shadowing more experienced team members for his first couple of weeks he is ready to start taking calls on his own. He is apprehensive because outside of the scripted responses he has for specific scenarios, he still doesn’t feel like he knows what he’s doing. It doesn’t help that most of his coworkers still don’t speak to him much. He sits on the floor with about 50 other people but feels alone outside of the two or three that trained him greeting him as he comes and goes.
Despite how anxious he is that first week on his own, he doesn’t have any issues on the few days he works until the end of the week on his last day working that week. He answers a call and feels like the customer is intentionally talking to him in circles trying to get him to mistakenly commit to something he isn’t sure about. He begins to get flustered at his lack of knowledge of how to handle it and begins to look around for help with no one in sight for him to ask. Out of nowhere, he feels a tap on his shoulder from behind. He turns and looks to see a petite young lady about his age with a light-skin complexion and big hazel eyes behind a very fashionable pair of glass frames. She is mouthing for him to tell them to hold and hit mute. He does as instructed, and she asks what’s going on with the call. He breaks down everything they are saying and what he’s said so far. Luckily, she’s seen the situation before and she tells him to inform the customer that he will transfer them to a manager and then has him send the call over to her. He goes over to her cube, directly behind him, and gets a quick lesson on how to handle the situation as she talks to the customer.
After the call is over, he is very thankful to her for helping him with the situation and she assures him it’s cool. Now that he finally has the attention of someone new, he jumps at the opportunity to have somebody to talk to and tries to continue the conversation. “So how are you a manager? You look like a college student just like me.”
She giggles at his naivete. “I’m not, crazy. That’s just what you tell them so they won’t question what you’re telling them.”
He is embarrassed at the fact that he didn’t pick up on the ruse and has a bashful look on his face feeling humbled. He isn’t accustomed to not feeling like the one that has it all together and he is out of his depths right now. “So what’s your name? You look familiar to me for some reason.”
“Yeah, we go to the same school. I’ve seen you around before. I think I saw you in church last weekend, too. I’m Angel.” She extends her hand out to him to shake.
He shakes her hands. “You were definitely my guardian angel today. I’m Jairus.”
“I’m no angel. I just know they leave people ‘on an island’ when they first start. It can be tough. I understand. I have messed up a lot. God knows how I figured it all out.”
Jairus shakes his head in agreement. “Yeah, you are one of the first people here to actually talk to me.” That is probably the thing that has been the hardest on him so far. She is empathetic. She knows the environment there can be a culture shock to some and she tries to explain. “These jobs tend to have a lot of turnover. A lot of people quit within the first two weeks of being on their own. So people around here tend to wait to make sure you will stick around before they start making friends.” That explanation is almost a relief for Jairus. It gives him hope the job gets easier with time and that he will eventually get to know his coworkers starting with Angel.
The next couple of weeks Jairus spends his free time at work getting to know Angel more and she in turn introduces him to some of the other students from their school at the job. It makes the job much easier to deal with once he has others who are dealing with the same thing. He remains closest with Angel above everyone else though, even finding her at church one Sunday and sitting with her. That’s the week he discovered just how religious she is. She isn’t the type to force her religion on others outside of church, but while there she is locked into full praise. It reminds him of his mother when he was a child. He discovers she is a psychology major and minoring in social work, hoping to go into a field where she can directly help people and be of service. People are her passion, which is why she was so willing to help Jairus the day they met. That passion is on full display with her volunteer efforts at their church. After getting to know her and how compassionate she is, he begins to think she is the nicest person he knows. Since he still can’t get his friends to go to church with him on a regular basis, he starts to view Angel as his church companion even though he never tells her that’s what she is.
The semester moves along and eventually basketball season begins. It’s nothing out of the ordinary for most but this is the first season after Ovaughn’s death, and for the first home game of the year the team plans to do something at the beginning of the game to honor their lost teammate. Mr. Carter makes sure the guys are aware so they can be sure to attend. The home opener falls on a Tuesday night so the guys make sure they are all off from work that evening. This is a bigger task for Duc since he generally spends every Tuesday night at Jazzy Belles for Open Mic Night. He makes the appropriate plans more than a week in advance so everyone is aware of what they have to do in his absence, and everything will still go smoothly. As the week before the game passes, the guys don’t really talk about it but they all have Ovaughn on their minds knowing they would be honoring him. They all try to bottle up and deal with any emotion that comes up on their own.
It isn’t until Sunday that any of them allows any emotions to creep to the surface. Jairus is in church sitting with Angel and a couple of her school friends who frequently attend church with her. The service that Sunday is about God giving people the ability to make it through trials and tribulations to be stronger. Jairus feels like the pastor is speaking directly to him and his emotions about Ovaughn. As he listens intently, his eyes begin to water, and Angel can’t help but notice him blinking hard trying to prevent any tears from escaping his eyes. She doesn’t say anything. As long as he isn’t breaking down, she doesn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable.
When service is over and they are standing in the parking lot saying goodbye to other church members, she waits until they have a moment alone. “Hey, are you okay? If you need to talk about something and aren’t ready to talk to the church people, I am here for you.”
