C.O.D.E : chapter 2
/“ It’s already past 6 pm. We should be on our way.”
Vinnie looks up at the clock on the wall, quickly shoves his dirty clothes in his gym bag. He looks back in the locker room, double-checking for anything he could’ve forgotten. Vinnie swings his all black valentino duffle bag over his shoulder and heads out. Vinnie and Marcus make their way out of the gym to the Vector Gym parking lot.
“Send the address and I'll meet you there”, Marcus says as he enters his car. The hot air blows on his face as he connects his phone to the car. The CarPlay mode pops up on the main screen and Marcus types the address in. “Turn Right on Delaney street and slight right on Dana Boulevard”, he hears as he backs out of the parking spot. 13 minutes till your destination, arrival time 6:35 pm, lights up the screen. Vinnie stands by his car awaiting Marcus' arrival. “Finally,” Vinnie shakes his head tapping on his watch signaling Marcus.
“ Yeah I know, I'm late. My bad.” Marcus says as he quickly jumps out of the car.
They walk into the lounge, Tae being his usual vibrant self they can hear him from the entrance. Terry and Tae slide out the booth and they dap each other up.
“ I see yall started before us” Vinnie says calling a waitress over
“ First round on Tae! ” Marcus says, “ can we get shots of brandy for the table and one double Johnnie Walker black neat”
“ Yes of course. Anything else for the rest of you?” The waitress ask
“ No that’s all, thanks.”
“What the…” Tae attempts to object.
“ Did you get the chance to do it?” Marcus quickly interrupts
“ Yes I did. I apologized like I said I would.” Tae answers
“Terry...Did he really?” Vinnie jumps in the exchange.
“ He hugged me and offered to pay the bill for tonight. So I had to accept that.”
“ Wait...When did I say that?” Tae says.
The waitress comes back with the drinks. They completely ignore Tae as they raise their shot glasses.
“To Tae...showing so much love today.” The boys cheer
“ To me...You assholes.” Tae adds.
Next day:
“ You better get up or you’ll be late,” Chelle yells, scaring Marcus out of his sleep. “I’m up, i’m up”. He checks his phone and sees 7:20 am staring back at him. “Shit, f…”, Marcus screams, stumbling out of bed rushing to the bathroom. After a quick shower, he puts on the clothes that Chelle laid out for him. “ It’s 7:35 am. You’re going to be late.” Chelle yells. “ I’m out the door.” Marcus rushes out and gets into his car. Racing down his street, zig-zagging through the highway he sees Mafelda’s name pops up on the dash. An incoming call from her was never good.
“ Where are you?” Mafelda asks.
“5 minutes away i swear. This traffic is crazy.” Marcus answers.
“ Traffic huh?” She questions.
“ It’s insane,” Marcus honks, faking as he waits at the light, “ The lane is open. Go.”
“ Just get here.”
Call ends.
Marcus runs into his office dropping himself in his chair. Tired and hungover, he lays his head on the desk. He reaches for the bottom drawer pulling out some Tylenol, saliva should be enough he thinks gulping down three pills. He hears a knock at the door and a voice follows.
“ Are you busy, Mr. Jakes? ”
“ Come in ”, a low whimper invites the young lady in. “ What can I do for you? ”
“ I need someone to talk to about sex? “
Marcus chokes and quickly sits up. “ About What? ”
“ Sexuality actually, I need someone to talk to about that.”
Marcus gets up gestures for her to grab a seat. He walks over to the door and cracks it open. Grabs two water bottles out the mini fridge as he walks back to his seat.
“ Water ? ”
“ Thank You ”
“ I’m sorry, could you remind me your name please ”
“ Oh, yes of course, I’m Ava-Maria Guti ”
“ Nice to meet you Ava. ” Marcus kept wondering where he’d heard the name. And with the pounding on his temporal lobes that answer was fleeting.
“ I know this might put you in an uncomfortable situation but I've heard how my parents talk about Pride and the LGBTQ community. And...errr...They’re not the best people for me to ask those questions to ”
Marcus nods in agreement but could not stop thinking about how uncomfortable and ill-prepared he was feeling. He continues to gulp down the water trying to delay this conversation. He catches his breath as he watches the bottle empty out.
“ So...Ummm, what are you questioning about yourself?”
“ I have this guy that I am seeing and I feel as though I am stringing him along. I think that I am becoming more and more attracted to women.”
“ Is it an admiration or do you feel confident that a woman is what you see yourself being in love with?”
“ I don’t know. I was hoping you could tell me”, Ava says.
“ No... This is not a decision I can make. You shouldn’t allow anyone to make it for you.” Marcus quickly interrupts.
“How would I know if I like men or women?” Ava asks.
A question that Marcus has not asked of himself in almost two decades. Marcus thought of when he first looked at a woman and ultimately came to the conclusion that he will do idiotic things for their attention. How time slowed down and his eyes could not stop staring, as if it were seeing everything for the first time. How a girl is the reason he believed in wearing deodorants. The giddy feeling that arose everytime he got near a girl.
“ It’s something that just clicks in you and you ultimately just know. You see the person and see everything you are willing to do for them. You have this urgency to be near them and hold them. All in the name of love.” Marcus says, picturing Chelle.
“ Maybe, I need to be alone for a bit. I don't want to string anyone along.”
“ Do what you feel is good for you first. Then, you can include others in those feelings.” Marcus says. “ Does that make sense?”
“ Thanks Mr.Jakes! ” Ava gets up and walks to the door.
“ I hope I was able to help. Even if it's just a little.”
Ava looks back and responds, “ You did. Thank you.” Slowly closes the door behind her.
Marcus sits back and sinks into his chair releasing a loud sigh. “ Kids shouldn’t have to be dealing with these things,” he thought to himself. “ Most kids are cheered or even coached when shown interest in these simple passions of love. Are we too busy teaching children to be attracted to the opposite sex instead of showing them how to love someone other then themselves.” All of a sudden a knock at his door and he hears a raspy voice. “ Mr. Jakes it’s Principal Den. May I come in.” “ Yes of course,” Marcus replies as he stands ready for Principal Den and her barrage of condescending spews.
“ Inside mr. Clarke, Now!”
“ How can I help?” Marcus asks as he takes a step back to analyze the moment. He understood that the boy must have done something bad.
“ This is Sebastian Clarke and Sebastian feels comfortable to say anything out of his mouth with no fear of the repercussions.”
“ I did not say anything wrong.” Sebastian says trying his hardest to not laugh.
“ Be quiet…” Principal Den sternly says.
“ I’ll take it from here Principal Den.”
“ Please do Mr.Jakes. And log it in please.”
“ Have a seat Mr.Clarke.” Marcus gestures. Marcus sits opening up the computer. Sebastian Clarke, he searches looking for the transcripts or anyone other violations. “ Why are you here exactly Mr.Clarke?”
“ I do not know...Truly.”
“ Principal Den stated that this might be for the words you chose to say.”
“ I got what I wanted. That is what I said.”
“ To whom? Principal Den?”
“ No,ew... of course not.” Sebastian answers.
“ Ok… Let’s start over. You’re coming from lunch right. So please walk me through it.”
“ There’s really nothing sir. I think Principal den is exaggerating.”
“ Please try.” Marcus insists.
Sebastian sighs
“ As I entered the cafeteria, the first thing I heard was, '' How could you do this?”
“From who?” Marcus asks.
“This girl Kyra” Tevin nonchalantly answers.
“A girl that you are involved with?” Marcus adds.
“Sure…”
“Please continue!”
“ I completely ignored her. My mind was set on these nuggets that were being served at lunch today. I walked down to the lunch line. I jumped the railing, and smiled at this freshman waiting for her to give me the okay to go ahead of her. Thank you beautiful, I appreciate it, I said to her. She smiled and I smiled back. Why wouldn’t she, right? Who else is going to call her beautiful today. She has another 6 more years before she glows up. Maybe she might remember I called her beautiful once.”
“ So not appropriate to say about someone...Do you call this playing the long game?” Marcus comments.
“ Don’t we all? School is the primary example, is it not? Learning things that you may or may not use in the future. Long game!”
“ Beauty is subjective young man, that girl could possibly not be your type.”
“ Indeed, Mr. Jakes beauty is in the eye of the beholder but society has set a standard of what beauty is. She currently does not fit any of them at the moment.” Sebastian refutes.
“Jesus... How does one so young view anything this way?” Marcus thinks to himself noting down points to the story. “What else happened?”
“ Got my lunch and I walked back to my table. As I sat down, all I could hear is; Are you going to answer my initial question? Do I not matter to you? All I wanted was to eat my nuggets in peace. What are you talking about? I answered her. I looked at her body language, one leg in front of the other and hands folded low in front of her waist. I automatically knew I should've never entertained this girl’s hysteria.”
“ Hysteria?” Marcus says.
“Who’s janice? She continued on. “Janice is a friend. Why do you ask?” i answered her. “ Why do you ask?...Don’t play with me. I know you’re fucking her.” she kept yelling. Making such a scene. So i got annoyed and i told her the truth
“What is your truth?” Marcus questions. “ Please tell me verbatim if possible.”
“Me and you are not a thing, so what are you saying.” Sebastian adds
“And, her response was?”
“That's not what you were saying those times? She said. What was I saying then? I asked. “ How you wanted to be with me and love me.” So when she said that, i was like, “Bitch what?” Then she got in her feelings asking me who i was calling a bitch. Etc.”
“Where does principal Den come into this story.” Marcus asks
“ oh yeah…” my response to all of this was, “ It doesn't matter, I already got what I wanted.” Then she slapped as Principal Den was walking in.
“Do you see any faults of your own in this situation?” Marcus questions.
“You’re right Mr.Jakes, I should've never called her bitch. I’m sorry for that.”
“ Thanks but this apology should go to someone else. Also, do you not see anything else that went wrong?”
“She should’ve never hit me.” Sebastian attempts to interrupt.
“ Insensitivity and selfishness are two of the most conniving traits. You truly do not see anything wrong with telling someone that all you wanted them for is for sexual relations.” Marcus scoots his chair up and stares at Sebastian waiting to see if any regret will sprout on his face...and indeed it did.
“I could see that I broke her. Her eyes swelled up and the tears flowed, and I felt my heart break for I knew that was cruel of me to say. The ooouuu’s and aahh's of the lunchroom did not make it any better. Embarrassed, humiliated, belittled just a few things i can only think of how she may have felt. In that moment all I could think about was how irritating I was feeling.”
Sebastian's voice seemed to crack just a little but he’s bad boy façade quickly recovered and he’s nonchalant demeanour started radiating again. Marcus sits back trying to read the boy and seeing how he could regain leverage.
“ According to your schedule you have math in 10 minute. Tomorrow at the same time. I need you back to continue this. If you can keep one thing in mind today. It’s not weak to care for another person of the opposite sex. Understand?”
Sebastian gets up and swings his bag over his shoulder, “ ‘Till tomorrow Mr.Jakes.” He says turning towards the door to head out.
“ Please stay out of trouble.” Marcus shouts loud enough for Sebastian to hear down the hall.
The door closes and Marcus drops into his chair perplexed off the syllogy of this young man. He is not a bad kid at all and yet this kid has learned and perfectly exercised some discerning ideals. He writes on his shared document with Principal Den; Mr. Sebastian Clarke seems remorseful on how he acted with the young lady. He sees the error of his actions and understands that his words have consequences. I will follow up with him to ensure that our conversation today resonated and is being put into action. He then clicks, Save and Sign off.
“ What the fuck!...These kids see the world in the most negative light. The need to promote one's self-esteem is now at the detriment of others. What have we taught our young?