Page 34 of This Is Law 2

Chapter Twelve

CREED CRAWFORD

“Creed, can I talk to you? Just for one second. Please,” a voice said from behind me, as I was walking out of my last period for the day.

I knew who the voice belonged to. It was Vivian.

I had my Airpods max headphones over my ear, but there wasn’t any music playing, so I could hear her, but the way that I was continuing to walk, you would really think that I wasn’t aware of shit that was taking place around me.

I sped up in my tracks, rushing to get to the door.

On one end, I was rushing to get away from her, but on the other, I was rushing because my mama was here to pick me up, and she’ll be quick to start snapping on me, if she had to wait out in the car pick up line too long for me.

Today, she was only getting me from school.

I didn’t have practice or anything today.

Legend had shit to do with his STEM club that he was in, so he was staying back, and my pops would come, and pick him up later.

“Creed, wait!” she came over on the side of me, and she grabbed my arm. The way she grabbed my arm, you would have thought that she was my parent or some shit.

I shrugged her ass off me, looking at her with a bunch of distain in my eyes.

Because school was ending, there were a bunch of kids in the hallway, so when they saw me push her off me, it’s like everyone stopped to see what was going to happen next.

By this time, everyone at school knew what happened the night that I went to Vivian’s house for the party.

I’m sure that they’ve all been soaking this shit up, waiting to see us have some kind of exchange with one another.

I didn’t want to embarrass her or anything like that because I truly did respect her for looking out and telling the truth on social media about what took place, but her and I just couldn’t be friends.

This shit was too messy, and it was best if we just went our separate ways and pretended that each other didn’t exist.

“Don’t do this shit. You about to cause a scene. Move around,” I kept my voice low, and I tried to walk around her, but she kept coming, hopping in front of me.

“I just want to talk to you,” she said.

“Talk to me about what, bruh? What the fuck we gotta talk about?” I spat. She looked at me as if she was hurt and confused. Her confusion gave away that she had no idea why I was feeling this way, or why I was talking to her in this manner.

“I just don’t get why your upset with me.

I didn’t wrong you, Creed. I defended you.

It’s been weeks, and I’m still defending you.

I used my social media platform, and I told the world the truth.

Why are you doing me like this?” she asked, her voice cracking, as if she was getting ready to start crying.

“You did what you were supposed to do. If you would have chosen to run with the narrative that your daddy put out, it would have made you just as fucked up as he is. The world not speaking bad on you. You didn’t lose in this situation.

I did. When you see me around campus, act like you don’t!

” I snapped, and a tear fell from her eye.

I quickly walked away from her, walked out of the double doors, and I did the long walk to get to the front of the school, so that I could go to where the carpool line was.

I saw my mom’s G- wagon parked all the way at the front, and her hazard lights were on.

She had to tun them on, since she had to move up further in the line, since I hadn’t come out, and now she was parked, waiting for me.

I already knew that she was going to be bitching when I got in the car, so I sighed.

I sped up my walk, and I did a quick jog once I was in the carpool area.

She had her doors locked, so when I pulled on the handle, it didn’t open.

Her tents were dark, but not too dark where I couldn’t see her inside, so I saw when she pressed the button to unlock the doors, and from there, I pulled on the handle again, this time, gaining entry, and I took my Louis Vuitton backpack off my back, so that I could sit it down on the floor.

“My bad, ma. Guess what happened?” I immediately jumped into acting, trying to fill her in, so that she didn’t curse my ass out.

I turned my head to look over at her, and something about her was off.

Shit, I wasn’t a woman, so I really couldn’t explain it, but something about her was different.

It was Thursday and she’d gotten back home Sunday from going to the D.R.

to see my granddad. When me, and Legend came back home Monday evening, she was complaining about being tired, so maybe she was still tired.

Usually, she would have been sitting up in the seat, but when I walked in, she was kind of leaned over against the car door, as if sitting up, and holding her own self up was too much.

“What happened?” she asked, pulling herself up, and she put the car in drive, and pulled out. Something was wrong with her because she didn’t curse me out about getting to the car late, and I just knew that that was coming.

“You sick?” I asked, reaching my hand over to put it on her forehead, trying to see if she had a fever or something. I touched her forehead, but she was fine. She didn’t feel warm or anything.

“I’m just tired. I have to go back to the office for a couple of hours, so you can just do your homework and stuff there. Put on your seatbelt, and what happened at school?” she asked.

“When I was coming from my last period, Vivian walked up on me, wanting to talk. Everybody in the hallway was looking. I was too busy trying to get her from out of my space, that I really didn’t pay attention if people were recording what took place, but I’m sure they were, so it’ll probably be on social media soon.

Ma, she really trying to pretend like she has no understanding as to why I’m upset, and why I’m choosing not to talk to her.

I appreciate how she looked out for me on social media, but I just feel like it’s nothing for us to talk about.

You feel me?” I asked, and turned in my seat, waiting to hear her response.

“I knew it was only a matter of time before she felt like you owed her some kind of conversation. Her looking out for you on social media, I’m sure she did it because she knew that it was the right thing to do, but I’m sure in the back of her mind, there was a piece of her that was waiting for you to thank her for it.

Whatever you do Creed, just don’t entertain that girl.

You see what it almost cost you the first time when you were sneaking around, dealing with her,” she responded.

“Yeah, you don’t have to worry about me talking to her.

I want to take my braids out tomorrow. You’ll wash it and braid it for me?

Pops said that we going to the barber shop Saturday morning, so I want to already have my braids in,” I said, changing the subject, and when I said that, she groaned, sucked her teeth, rolled her eyes, all that shit.

“Dang. Why you gotta do all that extra stuff?” I jokingly asked her.

“You don’t want to cut your hair like your brother? You’ll look even more handsome,” she tried to convince me.

Every time that I needed her to wash my hair, and braid it, she always tried to convince me to either get a curly taper like my brother, or waves like my pops.

I just think that’s how much she hated doing my hair.

My hair was long, and curly. When she washes it for me, and then blow it out, it went past my back.

A lot of work, and time would have to go into her doing my hair, and even though she would complain about it, she didn’t want me going to anyone else to get it braided because she properly treated my hair, trimmed my ends and shit, so she wanted to be the one to continue keeping up with the maintenance of it.

“I feel like the braids is what gives me my own identity from Legend. Me, and him got the same exact face. The braids is how people can tell us apart. I’ll pay you. I got money. How much you want?” I asked, and she laughed, waved me off, telling me to keep my money because she didn’t need it.

I talked her ear off the entire time that we were in the car. I told her about everything that happened in school, how excited I was for summer to come up in a few weeks, the trips that I wanted us to take for summer break, and shit like that.

Before we went to her office, she stopped at Popeye’s for me so that I could get something to eat.

It’s what I requested. She knew the order that I would get, so when we pulled up to the drive- thru, I didn’t have to tell her.

Once she paid for it, and she got the food, and when she passed it to me, her ass started gagging.

She ended up rolling all the windows down in the car, as if she was trying to air out the smell.

“What you got going on?” I asked, looking at her like she was crazy, really trying to see what was wrong with her.

“Nothing,” was all she said.

“You sick or something? You got Covid? Let me know something. Whatever you got, I’m not trying to get it.

I’m getting my braids tomorrow, and my line up, so I’m trying to be outside this weekend, so the girls could see me,” I said, going in the bag, pulling out a few fries, and putting them in my mouth.

All the shit that I was talking, she didn’t respond back to anything that I was saying.