Choosing | Teen Ink

Choosing

December 21, 2007
By Anonymous

He stood in the snack line with Terrell and Antoine as usual. Although it was a typical winter Friday at John Adams High, Garret Brown sensed something was different. Garret was an African-American 16 year old, about 6 feet tall, slim/athletic, yellow skinned, a perfect haircut, and a perfect pearly smile. He was a definite ladies man. Terrell turned and looked at his best friend behind him, “Huh boy?” with a “hello, anyone there?” face. “Uh yeah, I guess” Garret replied. Obnoxious Antoine chimed in, “You GUESS?! Man, the Packers are your favorite team! He said THE PACKERS ARE RAW HUH BOY?” Toine got irritated easily. “Oh! Yeah they’re raw” Garret said stupidly, “Real raw”. Terrell was curious, “Man why are you acting all…” Garret cut him off, “I don’t know… I feel like somebody is watching me or something. It’s the snow, man.” It’d been snowing for the past month, but maybe the weather did bring a little friend along.
As Garret walked into Ms.Reilley’s seventh period geography class, he noticed a really pretty, unfamiliar girl sitting in the corner of the classroom, staring out of the window. She was skinny, with light complected skin, long neat black hair, and a Marilyn Monroe mole. His scrawny, pale skinned teacher clumsily walked over to him, stack after stack of paper at hand, “Oh! Garret this is our new classmate, Robyne, she just transferred from Mr.Smith’s room. Please make her feel welcome”. “Hey”, Garret mumbled sleepily, but tried to play it off as “smooth”. “Huh? Hey”, Robyne seemed a little under the weather too. Garret sluggishly walked to his desk and stared at the clock, at times glancing over at the new girl, until the last bell rang.
On the way home Terrell and Antoine pointed at cute girls out of the subway window. “Garret look! There goes Jessica!” they shouted so loudly all the old people in the front of the train turned around. Garret simply shrugged his shoulders. “Look, I’m tired of you today! Just yesterday you were talking about how cute she was and now… Well, now you’re not!” Antoine was REALLY irritated. “No man, I don’t like Jessica, I mean she’s pretty and everything… There’s this new girl named Robyne, she’s in my geography class. She looks better than Jessica, there’s something about her… I don’t know, she just looks better than Jessica” Garret smiled and revealed his perfect pearly whites. “HE’S BACK!!!” Terrell and Toine shouted disturbing the old folks once more. They all laughed, and continued being loud and inconsiderate.
It was 5 o’clock in the afternoon and Gary sat in the living room watching Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, as his mom prepared home-made pizza for dinner. “So, how was school honey?” she asked, wiping pizza sauce on her floral print apron. “It was alright, I guess… There’s a new girl in my seventh period”. “Oh, really? What’s her name?” more and more questions. “Yeah, her name is Robyne”, Garret replied brashly, trying to focus on the new episode of his favorite show. “Robyne... Robyne... You know your dad has a second cousin twice removed, named Robyne? Did you know that?” trying to make small talk, since she had finished in the kitchen. Garret’s mother, Diane Brown, a short caramel skinned woman, with thick chestnut hair, a smile so radiant it lightened up the room (just like her sons), and a high-pitched voice. She sat down next to her son on the brown sofa, let out a big sigh and said, “Well, do you like this Robyne girl Gary?” “I’m not sure Ma, I don’t know a thing about her, except she’s pretty and her name is Robyne” Garret said, becoming slightly agitated. Diane got the point; she stopped asking questions and paid attention to the big screen television. There was a Geico commercial on; she despised those taunting advertisements, always reminding her of how high her car insurance bill was. “Hey, it’s the new episode!” she adjusted herself with a pillow, being that she was a Fresh Prince fan too. Garret smiled and shook his head, realizing how cool his mom was compared to others.
Who calls from private numbers at 1 o’clock in the morning he thought, “Hello?!”
“Hi Garret, this is Romie” she was a friend of his since kindergarten.
Romie, light skinned, tall, green eyes, ethnic features, and so many waves in her silky hair she made people sea sick. Many had trouble identifying her race because she looked like a little bit of everything, nobody ever guessed African-American and Irish.
“Oh, what’s up?” Garret rarely sounded interested in anything when he was tired.
“Nothing, what are you doing?” she asked cheerfully.
“It’s 1 o’clock Romie, I was sleeping!”
This girl is not normal, he thought.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you’d be up, considering that it’s a Friday night and you’re usually up at vampire hours on Mondays”
“Yeah you’re right. What’s up though?”
“Well… I know you have this thing for Jenifer or whatever her name is…”
“You mean Jessica, and I do not like her!” the subway incident flashed into his head.
“Like I said, whatever her name is. So, you don’t like her?”
“It’s not….” he was cut off.
“Okay so I know you need a girlfriend or something” Romie never really let people express themselves, she was never finished.
“I guess Rome” Garret decided to let her take over.
“So, I have this friend named Robyne. She was sort of following your every move at lunch today…”
“Robyne? I think she’s the new girl in my geography class!”
“Yeah, that’s right, Ms.Reilley’s”
“I knew someone was watching me”
“Anyway, she likes you”
“Um, okay. I guess?”
“Bye” Romie hung up.

March 29th, two months after the day Garret received that inconsiderate phone call from his friend Romie. He was standing at his neatly organized locker with his girlfriend Robyne, arguing as usual.
“You should just quit then! I never get the attention I need because you spend all of your time on the court, or with Terrell and Antoine!” Robyne was a nagger.
Everyone knew Garret was the star of the John Adams varsity basketball team.
“You stupid. I’m not quitting!” Garret had lost it.
“You know what; you act like this basketball is your new girl or something”
“I like it more than I like you right now. I think I might just wife Spalding” Garret smirked, sending Robyne up the wall.
“Spalding?! You mean you like that ball more than you like me?” her finger was still pointing to the ball in his arm.
“This ball is gonna’ get me a scholarship to N.Y University, and into the NBA. You’re not gonna’ give me anything but a case” Garret walked towards his coach’s classroom.
“Gary wait!” Robyne hollered.
“SHUT UP!” he hated when she tried to use his nickname as apology.

“I don’t know, all she cares about is herself. She’s never concerned about what I have to do or how I feel about anything” Garret was on the phone with Romie.
“Well are you ever concerned about how she feels?” Romie asked.
“Yeah, but I’d never let her see it”
“Well that’s the problem for both of you”
“Whatever, I don’t feel like dealing with her. All she does is yell, like I’m her kid or something! I’m not her kid! I’m sensitive and stuff, shoot. Tryna’ give me an emotional breakdown!”
“Why are you yelling at me?”
“Sorry, but you get the point”
Things fell silent, and Garret began singing in a low voice, it was a habit.
“You should sing to her” Romie said.
“Please, I’m not gay!”
“No, I’m serious you dork”
“She doesn’t deserve to be blessed with my vocals” Garret laughed.
“All I can say is be sweet and at least act like you care” Romie put all jokes aside.
“I wouldn’t expect you to say that. I thought you liked arguing and all that stuff”
“Hey! I don’t start the arguments, I finish them. Shut up before I punch you over this phone” Romie said in a harsh voice.
She is so cool Garret thought.

“Robyne is in jail for assault with a deadly weapon, and she keeps sending psycho letters to the house. Romie is dusting my trophies and burning the letters for me, and she cheers in the audience at all of my games” Garret was talking to his mother about his current situation, and then he woke up, it was all a dream, a dream he knew would come true if he didn’t do something. He contemplated on solutions as he prepared for school.

Romie ran up to Garret and hugged him, “Hi!”
“Hey Rome” he cheesed at her.
“Talked to Robyne?”
“NO! Thankfully, she won’t talk to me since our argument”
“Wow. Well I have to go to class, send me a text message” Romie ran off.
YOU PICK AN ENDING.


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