The moment I take my seat on the bus, I fish through my backpack for my notebook. I either need to write a new song or find a song that I’ve already written. One that’s so dope, the record execs will lose their minds. I could go with “Unarmed and Dangerous” this time around, the song I wrote after that kid was killed. Or maybe I need another hype—high-energy song. Even in a different context, I refuse to use the word “hype” again.
I’m so busy flipping through pages that when somebody goes, “Hey,” I jump.
Curtis smirks in the seat behind me. “What’s got you all jittery, Princess?”
“Nothing. Just didn’t notice you back there.” That came out wrong. “Not that I wouldn’t notice you. I just didn’t notice you this time.”
“I know what you meant.” He’s got this almost sly look in his eyes, like he gets whenever he tells one of his little jokes. This time, it’s an inside joke between us. “So . . . how you been?”
“I’m fine.”
I don’t know what else to say. This is the part of relationships that I fail at. Okay, I don’t even know if we have a relationship. I’ve actually never been in one. But it’s like, what do you do after the kiss? What do you say? That’s the part that trips me up.
Curtis moves to the spot beside me. “I’ve been thinking ’bout you. Been thinking ’bout that kiss, too.”
“Oh.” I glance down at my notebook. I should be searching for a song right now.
“I know, it’s probably been all on your mind since it happened, huh?” he says. “I tend to have that effect.”
I look up. “What?”
“Ay, I’m just saying, my kissing game? One hundred.”
I bust out laughing. “You’re so full of it.”
“I got your attention though, and I got you smiling.” He gently pokes one of my dimples. “That’s a win to me. What’s up with you this morning, Princess?”
“I’ve got some stuff going on with this rap thing,” I say. “You heard my Hype interview, right?”
“Everybody heard your Hype interview. You really went in on dude.”
I rest my head back. “Yeah. For somebody who was once invisible, I’m definitely making up for it now.”
He frowns. “Invisible?”
“Curtis, you know damn well nobody at school noticed me until I got a little fame as a rapper.”
He looks me up and down and licks his lips. “I can’t speak for anyone else, but I definitely noticed you. Fact is, I’ve been wanting to talk to you for a minute, Princess. But you seemed so caught up in your boy Malik that I didn’t think I had a shot.”
“Wait, what?”
“I thought y’all were together,” he says. “You acted like you couldn’t hang out with anybody but him and Sonny.”
“That’s not true!”
“Yeah, it is. Name somebody else you hang out with.”
Okay, there’s nobody else. “I always figured nobody else wanted to hang out with me, to be honest,” I admit.
“And I always figured you didn’t wanna hang out with anybody else, to be honest.”
Damn.
I mean, I don’t know. I’m always weird about new people, I guess. The more people in your life, the more people who can leave your life, you know? I’ve lost enough as it is.
But right now, Curtis makes me wonder if I’ve been missing out.
“You know what? Fuck it,” he says. “You wanna go out with me tomorrow afternoon for Valentine’s Day?”
Oh, damn. I forgot that’s tomorrow. Honestly, Valentine’s Day is never on my radar. “Like out on a date?” I ask.
“Yeah. A date. You and me. We can do some romantic Valentine’s shit.”
“Um, wow. Well, one, I can’t do tomorrow. I’m going to see my aunt. Two, I’m sure it will be really romantic considering how you just asked me out.”
“What’s wrong with how I asked you out?”
“Boy, you literally said ‘fuck it.’”
“Goddamn, Princess? Can I get a break?”
“Um, no. Not if you’re asking me out.”
“What? You want me to make it a big deal?” he asks. “Because I can make it a big deal.”
The bus stops in front of Sonny’s and Malik’s houses. They climb on board just as Curtis climbs onto our seat. Seriously, he stands on the seat.
“Brianna Middle-Name-Here-’Cause-I-Don’t-Know-It Jackson,” he says, loud enough for the whole bus to hear.
“Boy, get down from there!” Mr. Watson calls.
Curtis waves him off. “Bri, even though you busy tomorrow, will you go out with me on a date at some point so