Lovers & Haters (21 page)

I
t was Friday evening. Xavier had finally made it through what, arguably, could've been one of the worst school weeks in his entire history of attending Detroit public school. It was out all over the school that Xavier had snitched on Romello and was single-handedly responsible for sinking Slick Eddie's entire operation. Nobody wanted to be in his shoes. Retaliation was inevitable and students didn't want to get caught standing next to Xavier when it happened. The entire week saw Xavier walking through the hallways by his lonesome. His fellow students—those who he'd vowed to protect at one time—were now keeping their distance. The threats Romello had made were real. Not to mention the dustup he had in the parking lot with Dylan and Westwood. Things had started looking ugly for him and Dex. Thank God for Felix Hoover, Second Street, and the football team. They had come to his defense.

Xavier was back home with Ne Ne. Alfonso had been convinced that he had been hearing strange noises in the middle of the night outside of the house. Every day after Alfonso came home from school, there was a different story about Apollo. So much so that Ne Ne had called Xavier and told him about his brother's behavior. Xavier still hadn't said much to his mother. But because Alfonso needed him, he had gone back to stay with Ne Ne.

Xavier was in his bedroom going over some homework when his cell phone rang. It was Samantha.

“Are you busy, Xavier?” she asked, the anxiety in her voice clearly noticeable.

“Are you okay, Samantha?”

“The prank phone calls have gotten worse,” she relayed. “I've been trying to do homework and whoever it is keeps blowing up my phone”—her other line clicked—“see this is them calling anonymous right now.”

“Why don't you cut your phone off so that you can get some work done, baby?”

“Cause I don't want to miss your phone call, Xavier.”

“You haven't seen that black van around anymore, have you?”

“No, thank God! My parents went to file a police report. But the Birmingham police said they couldn't do anything without a license plate number. All they can do is put a description of the van out to patrol.”

“So you mean to tell me that you can be stalked and five-o can't do anything?”

Samantha's other line clicked again.

“I'm really getting tired of this. I don't want to change my phone number but it looks like I have no choice.”

Ne Ne walked by his bedroom door and looked in.

“I'm sorry, son, do you have a minute?”

He told Samantha, “I'm gonna have to hit you back.”

He hung up with Samantha and looked over at his mother. “What is it?”

“I really tried to be a good mother to you and Alfonso. Please don't be mad at me anymore. I love you, son.”

“You don't love me, you love what I can do for you,” Xavier bluntly stated.

“That's not fair.”

“Neither was tricking me into believing that I had a father who didn't care about me.”

“I'm gonna make it so that we stay family, you'll see. I'll make good.”

Xavier dismissed his mother by picking up a notebook and thumbing through it.

“Good night, son,” she said.

“Good night, Ne Ne.”

“Xavier, it's okay to call me Mom.”

“I'll keep that in mind,
Ne Ne
.”

“You and that girl still going to that dance together?”

That girl,
Xavier thought. Ne Ne was never going to change. Xavier just sat there with a blank stare on his face.

Ne Ne got the hint and walked away with her head down.

Xavier started in on his own work. He'd gone so hard that when he looked up it was almost eleven o'clock at night. Xavier thought about writing his old man. So much had gone down, he just didn't know where to start.

Excuses,
he thought.

Not knowing if his father would reject his letters to get back at his mother was the real reason why he didn't want to go down that road. He didn't want to leave himself vulnerable to adults playing petty mind games with each other. It was a headache that Xavier could do without.

He cleared his mind of the clutter by stepping outside to inspect around the house. He didn't know what to believe about Apollo. Alfonso was sure convinced that he was being stalked by him. There was no way the kid could've found them. Nobody in the old hood knew where they had moved.

Xavier walked back inside, locked the door, and checked the rest of the house.

He didn't want to believe that these measures of security were feeding his brother's paranoia. Matter of fact, Xavier didn't know what to believe. But he was willing to be safe rather than sorry. Opening Alfonso's bedroom door, Xavier peeked in on him. The boy was sound asleep with a nightlight on. After checking the windows and Alfonso's room, Xavier went back into his own room and got ready for bed. Before going to sleep he sent Samantha a text.

Samantha texted back: Good night, Xavier! Love you more!

I
t was Wednesday, two days before the big dance, and Samantha and Xavier wanted to kick back and enjoy each other after school. Dex was tagging along with them, while all three looked to buy new outfits to get it in at the last dance of the school year. The trio was having fun being silly and shopping at Great Lakes Crossing Outlets in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Black Lurch had been given specific orders by Samantha's parents not to let their daughter out of his sight. With the emergence of the strange black van and the constant prank phone calls Samantha had been receiving, the Foxes had elevated security measures around her.

The teenagers had been shopping for three straight hours and were now posted up at a table in front of McDonald's in the food court. Shopping bags from many different designer stores lay around their feet. Lurch was two tables down and keeping an eye on the crowd.

Samantha was eating a salad and drinking spring water. She asked, “So, Dex, who are you taking to the dance?”

“The blow-up doll he keeps under his bed named Marilyn,” Xavier butted in. He then stuffed the remaining piece of Big Mac in his mouth.

Samantha said to Xavier, “Be nice to Dex.”

Dex said, “Samantha, you don't have to take up for me. Where do you think I got the blow-up doll from? He used to date her before he started dating you.”

Samantha cracked up. “Xavier, baby, you didn't tell me that you used to date somebody named Marilyn.”

Xavier laughed. He was still chewing on food when he snapped, “All right. I see both of you chumps want to gang up on me. It's cool though.”

They all laughed.

Dex had already smashed two double cheeseburgers, large fries, and chocolate milkshake. “I don't know which lucky girl is going to have the pleasure of escorting me to the dance.”

Xavier cracked, “You only have two choices—the four-eyed girl who smells like pee in your English class or the old lunch aide who flirts with you every time you are in line.”

Samantha said, giggling, “Dex, so your date is either going to smell like pee or green rubbing alcohol.”

Xavier burst out laughing. “Samantha, you are stupid for that one. That's why I love you. Now kiss me before I change my mind.”

Samantha leaned over and kissed Xavier on the lips.

“Do y'all have to do that out in the open where everybody can see?” Dex asked. “Y'all remind me of two bullfrogs trying to get their croak on.” Dex almost cracked his side laughing at his own joke. “Get it, y'all? Gettin' their
croak on.
”

“Don't tell that joke again,” Samantha advised Dex, looking mildly disturbed.

“I smell a hater in the house,” Xavier said. “Samantha, boo, don't worry about him telling bad jokes. Because as soon as he puts on that colorful circus clown outfit he just bought to go to the dance Dex is gonna be a walking punch line.”

Samantha said, “With the outfits that we bought, Xavier, we are going to be the hottest couple at the dance.”

Xavier cosigned, “You already know, girlfriend. There's gonna be some haters in the joint.”

“Y'all two make me sick,” Dex said, smiling. “X, I almost liked it better when Samantha was dissing you.”

Samantha's phone rang. The caller was anonymous, so she passed her cell to Xavier.

He answered it aggressively, “Hello, who dis?”

Whoever the caller was hung up abruptly.

Samantha said, “You see when I answer it, there's nothing but freaky breathing on the other end. But when Xavier answered it, the coward hung right up.”

Xavier said, “Come on, it's getting late. We have to get Hamster Boy over there back to the zoo.”

“Whatever,” Dex said. “I'm sick of the both of y'all, too.”

The three gathered up their bags and bounced.

 

A clap of thunder woke Xavier up around two in the morning. The rain was coming down ferociously, pitter pattering on the roof. When he'd come home from the Great Lakes Crossing Outlet, he'd completely forgotten to perform his usual security sweep of the house. He'd been too exhausted to do it and had fallen asleep in his clothes and hadn't stirred until now.

Yawning, Xavier scooted out of his bed and stood up, scratching himself. He couldn't believe he was about to make his rounds in the dead of night. Alfonso was probably asleep and there was no need. He was pretty sure Ne Ne had made sure everything was locked up. Alfonso was making such a big fuss these days the boy wouldn't lay down and go to sleep at night until all the windows and doors were checked.

Now that he thought about it, he'd forgotten to send Samantha his nightly text message.
She'd get over it
, Xavier thought as he walked through the darkness and went inside the bathroom. He clicked the lights on and closed the door behind him. As he stood in front of the toilet he could hear a thumping noise coming from somewhere in the house. Xavier finished up, washed his hands, and went to go investigate. He thought it was Alfonso at first until he looked inside his little brother's room. The boy was knocked out cold, sleeping with his nightlight on. A check of Ne Ne's bedroom door proved that it wasn't her. Her door was locked from the inside like she usually kept it while sleeping at night.

Thunder boomed and the lightning temporarily brightened the front room as Xavier walked through to examine the front door. Everything was in place. A thorough glance out of the window next to the door revealed nothing out of the ordinary, just heavy rainfall. The thumping had been downgraded to a barely audible clinking sound. The noise seemed to be coming from the basement. So as not to arouse any suspicion, Xavier didn't turn on any lights when he walked into the kitchen. Nothing was happening on the other side of the kitchen window.

Clink, clink
, the sound continued. The only weapon he could think about grabbing was the Louisville Slugger out of a small closet near the basement stairs. Xavier gripped the thing with both hands down by his side as he slowly took one step after another one. The adrenaline coursing through his body left him feeling cold and tingly. His heart was pounding so fast it seemed like he could hear it beating in his ears.

Clink, clink, clink
, the sound seemed louder once Xavier reached the bottom. He swallowed hard and moved through the darkness, headed in the direction of the noise. Xavier didn't need any light. He solely depended on memory. He knew the layout of the house and could walk it blindfolded. As he walked, the wash room and the small room that housed a nice sized deep freezer were clear, but the room where they entertained company was the proverbial jackpot. Xavier readied the bat, walking in and raring it back behind his head like he was waiting on a pitch.

The clap of thunder was deafening. The lightning brightened up the skies just enough for Xavier to make out a figure. He couldn't see the head, only the figure's torso kneeling on the ground and working away at the window.

Xavier waited with nervous patience for the intruder to break through. Finally, there was a
pop
and the figure slowly, carefully held on to the glass as he pushed in the window until it was suspended by its hinges.

Xavier stood in the shadows and let whoever it was come into the house. The silhouette of the intruder getting to his feet left Xavier chilled to the bone. But he didn't have time to fear because the thunder boomed again—and the lightning gave Xavier enough light to see. He swung for the intruder's head.

Clump!

The guy dropped instantly. Xavier made sure whoever it was didn't have any partners outside waiting for him before turning the light on. He looked down at Apollo as he lay twisted on the floor with a steadily growing knot inching its way out of the right side of his skull.

Xavier couldn't do anything but laugh and breathe out a sigh of relief.

“I guess Alfonso was right,” he said to himself.

He didn't know how Apollo had found them, nor did he care. Xavier checked the boy for weapons, and this time, instead of a BB gun, he found a real one in Apollo's possession. Xavier took the gun, left the boy lying unconscious, and went upstairs to dial 911.

T
he lights were down low inside the gymnasium and teenaged bodies were pressed against each other while dancing to a slow tempo hit by Janelle Monáe.

Xavier was struggling, trying to stay on beat.

“See, I told you I can't dance—I told you,” he whispered to Samantha.

Samantha sweetly smiled and urged, “Sweetheart, can you relax and get off my feet.”

“You mean get off your corns,” Xavier joked. “I saw when you took your shoes off in the back of the car.”

Samantha folded in her lips and whispered, “Would you behave yourself, Xavier?”

Xavier couldn't seem to get his steps together. “I knew it. I knew you were too pretty. You had to have a flaw somewhere—your feet look like gopher claws.”

Samantha was trying her best not to laugh or pop him. She put her head on his shoulder and exhaled. Both of them had been through a tough stretch. She was sure glad—she hoped—that all the drama was behind them.

“Samantha, can I ask you a question?” Xavier said, turning awkwardly on his feet.

“Is it anything silly that's going to get you slapped?” she asked, straightening up to look at him suspiciously.

He answered, “Dear God I hope not. Lord knows I've seen enough violence to last my junior and senior year.” He pulled her into him. “I want to discuss this friendship thing. Or do I have to go get a corny Valentine's Day card to ask you if you'll be mine on a more permanent basis?”

Samantha smiled up at him. “Are you asking me to be your girlfriend, Xavier?”

“Samantha, girl, did you just get off the short yellow bus?”

Xavier winked at Samantha and she broke out into a smile. She had the prettiest smile in the room. Xavier had noticed that her eyes sparkled every time she smiled. She bit down on her bottom lip and leaned her head back on his shoulder.

She said without any hesitation, “Yes. I will be your girlfriend.”

Xavier's eyes bulged and it looked like he was getting ready to do a happy dance around the room.

Samantha said, laughing, “You're not going to do anything crazy like try and dip me, are you?”

“Are you crazy—dip my new girlfriend and let her fall on the floor and hurt herself? Get out of here.” He looked seriously at Samantha. “Question?”

She said, “It's not going to get you slapped is it?”

“Hope not.”

“Ask.”

“Why did you wait so long to become my girlfriend?”

“You weren't ready yet.”

“Explain.”

“You weren't ready. That's it.”

“Nice explanation.”

“Not a problem.”

They both laughed.

The song abruptly stopped playing, like the DJ was experiencing technical difficulties. The house lights went on and students started grumbling, wondering what was going on. The DJ called for a five minute break, as he tried to work out the bugs in his equipment.

Xavier wore a black cashmere short sleeve shirt, slacks, and nice Gucci loafers—compliments of Samantha's taste. Girlfriend was setting it on fire, dressed in a strapless Versace dress and some gorgeous Gucci pumps that matched Xavier's outfit.

Almost everybody had turned out for the event. They were dressed to impress too—nice suits with skinny pants on the guys, and the girls were wearing long dresses and strappy heels.

Xavier was laughing as he watched Danny Buckets at the punch bowl getting something to drink, while Cheese and Danny's girlfriend Eve Ross were flirting with each other. It was funny how things turned out. Months ago Cheese and Eve were at each other's throats and now here they were behind Danny's back, sexing each other through eye contact.

Eve was never going to get enough
, Xavier thought.
And Cheese was never gonna learn until Danny beat the brakes off of him.

Sally walked pass Xavier like he didn't even exist. It was all good, though. As long as she kept walking there would be no drama. Xavier's friend Jughead was standing by the DJ booth with some of his football teammates.

Dex walked up with his date—a tall, slim, dark chick with a pretty dress, nice shoes, but her hair had to go. It was all over her head, like she had just stepped out of a windstorm. The dude had on skinny red pants, a multicolored blazer, red shoes and glasses with no lenses.

“You look like Dwayne Wayne in that outfit,” Xavier said, smirking.

Samantha slapped him on the hand. “Didn't I tell you to be nice?”

Dex shot the “talk to the hand” hand at Xavier. “Ashley, I don't know if you know her but this is Samantha. Samantha Fox, this is Ashley Murray.”

The two ladies shook hands and acknowledged each other.

He looked at Xavier. “Ashley, this jackass is my best friend.” But before Dex could say anything else, he was interrupted.

“Xavier Hunter, right? I've heard a lot about you,” Ashley said. Nobody said anything about her openly flirting.

“This man ain't no celebrity,” Dex spit.

Samantha's friends Tracy and Jennifer walked over, warmly hugging Samantha. They both were looking gorgeous in their beautiful dresses—and without dates.

Samantha introduced her girls to Ashley and everybody shook hands.

“That dress is bad, girlfriend,” Jennifer said to Samantha.

Tracy commented, “And those shoes are smoking hot.”

“You guys look lovely,” Samantha said to her friends.

“Don't y'all recognize the
Ebony
Man of the Month standing here?” Xavier asked Jennifer and Tracy.

They dismissed him with a unified sista-girl wave of the hand.

Xavier unloaded on both of them. “That's why you dizzy rats ain't got no dates.”

“Anyway, Samantha,” Tracy said, rolling her neck. “Girl, come on and take a walk to the bathroom with us. We got hot gossip.”

Jennifer said to Ashley, “Come on, girlfriend.”

Xavier and Dex watched the girls walk away.

Dex asked Xavier, “So the notorious Apollo is locked up, huh?”

Xavier rubbed a hand over his head. “Yep. And I don't even know how I feel about it either.”

“Fat end of the baseball bat, huh—like batter up,
cluck
.”

“I know this is going to sound funny, but I kinda feel sorry for homeboy.”

“Why? The boy was coming to harm you and your family. Matter fact, dude, you deserve a friggin' medal.”

“I know but that doesn't change how I feel.”

Dex shook his head. “Break me off.”

“The boy grew up in a bad environment that led him to do bad things.”

“Like put a BB gun in your brother's hand and have him go rob a store or put a real gun in his pocket, find out where y'all lived to get his revenge on you and the entire family?”

Xavier just stared out at the sea of people.

“I know you trippin'. Where you think you grew up—Disney World? I'm not buying it, guy. You did what you had to do.”

At that moment Xavier's dirty little secret walked passed him, holding the hand of one of the football players. Brenda Sanders looked decent with a navy blue gown and matching heels. Although she'd paid no attention to Xavier, he looked at her like he'd seen a ghost. The absence of a condom while they were smashing petrified him so much that he pushed the events into the back of his head.

Some dude named Julius Hopper trucked it into the gymnasium, frantically yelling for Xavier.

This couldn't be good,
Xavier thought, starting to walk in that direction.

Julius was only able to get out: “Samantha's in . . .”

Xavier took off across the floor, not really knowing in which direction to go. Dex was right on his heels, following Xavier out into the hallway. There was a crowd at the doors in the South lobby. Xavier sprinted in that direction.

His blood ran cold when he reached the doors and walked out. He started toward the scene in the parking lot. A crowd had started to form. From the distance, Xavier saw the front of a black cargo van. The headlights were shining on him, as he drew toward the chaotic scene. He held his breath, not knowing what to expect. Xavier wasn't worried about the van going anywhere. The dude behind the wheel of an old Lincoln Town Car had made sure of it. The front end of the car was crumbled, almost pushed back to the windshield, smoke bellowing from the radiator area and radiator coolant gushing to the ground.

Xavier identified the driver as a cat named Sleepy. He was a member of Second Street. Sleepy got out of the car, trying to shake away the cobwebs.

The right side of the van's rear end had been demolished. The impact from the Lincoln had caused the van to spin around a couple times, jump the curb, and take out a section of a chain-link fence. At least that's what the crowd was saying.

Xavier didn't see Samantha until he traveled around to the other side of the van. She was standing there with Jennifer, Tracy, and Ashley—all of them were visibly shaken and crying. As soon as Samantha saw Xavier, she ran into his arms, loudly sobbing. Felix walked up to Xavier.

“Cuz, your girl will be all right,” he said. “Man, yo' girl and her li'l partners were just standing out here in the parking lot with everybody else, you know, kickin' it and laughin'. Me and the homeys over there chillin', smokin'—you know how we do—when the driver of the van pulled your girl inside. I told Sleepy to ram the rear.” He pointed at the van. “We left the driver and the passenger inside for you, homeboy.”

A huge crowd had swelled around the mangled wreckage. The thought that somebody had tried to kidnap Samantha removed the fear and accelerated Xavier's temper to boiling. The passenger looked to be unconscious. But the driver was conscious, though dazed and disoriented. There was a good reason for it, his head had shattered the driver's-side window. Xavier wasn't even surprised when he walked up—broken glass crunching underneath his loafers—yanked open the driver's door, and pulled out a woozy Nate. But seeing an unconscious Ne Ne—his damn mother!—slumped over against the passenger-side window almost brought Xavier to tears.

Nate was weak and his legs were wobbly, but Xavier held him up by the collar. The punk was bleeding from his mouth and had a nasty gash above his left eyebrow.

The fool had a goofy look of pain on his face and a murderous bloody smile.

“What you gonna do, hero?” Nate hawked and disrespectfully spat a nasty glob of bloody saliva in Xavier's face.

All Xavier could remember was his right fist cocking back and delivering a haymaker to Nate's mouth. His teeth flew through the air as his body dropped to the ground. Everything else was a blur. When reason returned, Xavier was being restrained by a few Second Street soldiers and Samantha was being consoled by her girls, all of them still crying.

If Nate wasn't unconscious when his head had broken the driver's-side window, he damn sure was now. Homeboy was stretched out in the parking lot and bleeding from his face. Police sirens screamed in the distance.

Felix handed Xavier a set of car keys. “Homeboy, get up out of here. We got this,” he said as he pointed to a late model, metallic blue Honda Accord.

Ne Ne was still unconscious.

“Don't do anything to the female.” Xavier pointed to his mother. He didn't want anybody to know who she was.

Felix turned to the crowd and threatened, “Nobody seen nothing.”

Xavier didn't want to leave Samantha behind, but she was in good hands. He took one last look at her and ran towards the car. He jumped in, started the car, and mashed out.