A Whole New Me Read online

  Chapter 3

  Azalea was beyond surprised when Trey had showed up at around 5.

  “Hey Trey!”

  “Hey baby sis, do you think you can do me a favor?” It’s always something with him, Azalea hasn’t seen this nugget for like three months and he comes back already wanting something from her.

  “What is it now Trey?”

  “Well I met this girl at college—”

  “Wait, clarify this for me. Do you and this girl both go to the same college or were you lurking outside of the college that she just so happens to attend?” He rolled his eyes already knowing which one she thought happened. Trey’s not stupid; he’s actually a genius… when it comes to technology. But he hates school so Azalea knew dang well he didn’t enroll himself in to any community colleges.

  “Any ways, I met this girl and I really like her… and…” he stalled.

  “And?” she asked getting a bit impatient.

  “And… umm…”

  “Come on Trey!”

  “And… she kind of has nowhere to go…”

  “And so you told her?” she asked knowing exactly where this conversation was going.

  “So I told her she could stay here for the weekend,” he said without taking a single breath.

  “And let me guess you forgot to mention that this is not your house?”

  “Kind of” he said shyly.

  “But on top of that you told her…” she said prompting him to say the rest.

  “I told her that I live here alone.”

  “Oh heck no! I’m not… where the heck do you expect me to go?”

  “I don’t know, but please Azalea I need this.”

  “Oh so you need a girlfriend that you’re probably going to get rid of in like 2 weeks tops more than I need shelter?” There was a long pause, and Azalea could have told you right then and there what he was thinking.

  “No Trey! No! I AM NOT GOING BACK THERE!”

  “Azalea please?”

  “I’d rather sleep on the streets,” she said between tightly clenched teeth. “You know what…I’ll think about lending you the place for the weekend but only the weekend if she’s not gone by then…” she said leaving the rest unsaid.”

  “Really?”

  “Really, just give me by Friday to give you an answer.”

  “But that’s tomorrow.”

  “I know, so that gives me one day to find somewhere to crash until then.” On that note he tensely left the door frame of her room. Azalea sprawled out on her bed. ‘Where in the world will I go while Trey plays house?’ she thought to herself. Before she could think any more about it she went down stairs to her patio, Trey was in his room at the time so she went to go take care of her garden.

  The moment she stepped foot on to the pavement, the memory of what happened Monday slowly flooded her mind. She had laid out fresh new dirt around the Narcissus and filled it with flowers, but she could still see the damage as if nothing had changed. She could see the vine sticking its way out of the ground; it wound its way around her ankle temporarily calming her. She parted her mental clouds and let it rain down over her garden. She thanked the rain and cloud before it parted and let the sun do its job while it was still out. Azalea walked back onto her patio and grabbed the tapes out of the cameras and stuck them into her pockets. She walked into the kitchen and dinner was already laid out for them.

  “What have you been doing, takin cooking classes why you were out?” she asked Trey as she took a seat in front of one of the plates of chicken, rice and asparagus.

  “Actually I have, I want to really impress Natasha.”

  “Oh so is that the lucky girls name?” she teased.

  “I believe the lucky one in this relationship would be me,” he said taking the seat across from her. They ate their food in silence, it gave them time to actually think, they enjoyed their silence over dinner. Once Azalea had finished her food she had wished Trey a good night, brushed her teeth, changed her clothes, and walked over toward her computer. She stuck the SD chips into her computer and watched the deserted garden for over 30 minutes until a man came into view. He had on a black hoodie and pants with dirt smeared on them. Azalea watched as he knelt down over the newly planted flowers that she had positioned over the grave that had been there. He stood there for quite some time before getting up. Azalea had popped the other tape in, hoping to get him at a better angle. This time she could see him digging his hands into the part of her garden that she had just fixed pulling something that glinted in the night.

  “What the heck?” she whispered as she watched closely as he walked over to her mailbox, removed an envelope from his pocket and placing it into her mailbox. Azalea shut off the computers after pulling the SD’s out of it. She put the computer away and sat the SD’s on her night stand. Something weird was going on here first Llorel and now some other strangers, what was their connection to her garden and why did they always have to kill her flowers when they touched them? She questioned to herself before slowly falling asleep.

  It didn’t take Azalea long to get ready this morning, so she had quite a bit of time to check out what was in her mailbox. When she had stepped out onto her patio she had thought that it wouldn’t hurt to water her plants since she probably wouldn’t be able to over the weekend but what she wasn’t prepared for was the shiny black Mercedes that had stopped in front of her house, or for Llorel to be the one stepping out from behind the wheel.

  Azalea hurried and met him at the front door.

  “What are you doing here?” she didn’t even tell him where she lived but then again she didn’t have to.

  “I thought I’d be nice and give you a ride to school” he said. Azalea stood there a little caught off guard.

  “Ummm… ok I guess.”

  “Are you all ready and set to go?” he said walking over toward his car and opening the passenger side door.

  “Uh yea” she said as she slid in to the passenger side and strapped up with clear hesitation and reluctance. What if he tried to kill her? He was stranger and he looked like a killer, she thought as she watched him slide in, buckle up and start the car. It’s a good thing she didn’t have anyone she wished to say goodbye to before accepting the ride.

  They rode all the way to school in silence but it wasn’t as uncomfortable as Azalea thought it would be. He parked his car in the school parking lot and when they got out of the car it was still silent until they got into class. I know I’m new to this whole friend thing but I’m pretty sure friends usually have conversations when they’re together, at least I’m still alive, she thought.

  Azalea took her seat in between Lea and Mialynn and right across from Llorel.

  “Hey girl” Lea said as Azalea took her seat.

  “Hey Lea.”

  “Hey… Azalea right?”

  “Right” she said nodding her head.

  “I love your name, my names Mialynn.”

  “Hey” Azalea said giving her a really genuine smile. Mialynn’s about Azalea’s height (short) and has a natural olive skin tone very much like her own but everything else about her was different. Her hair was a naturally curly brown that stopped mid-way down her back. She has deep blue eyes and she dresses like she’s fresh out of 17 Magazine.

  “I like your shoes” Azalea told her. Azalea had thought about buying a pair just like them but she was saving her money for college.

  “Thanks! I’m a shopaholic; it’s kind of my guilty pleasure. Yall should come shopping with me sometime.”

  “I’d love to go shopping” Lea blurted.

  “Azalea?”

  “Umm… sure just give me a time and a date” Azalea smiled a not so genuine smile.

  “Cool how about this Saturday?”

  “I guess that works for me, my brothers having a girl over this weekend and he kind of wants to be alone, so I can tell him I’ll be out for half of Saturday.”

  “You can spend the weekend with me Azalea—”

  “Then yal
l can come to my house on Saturday and we can go shopping.”

  “Well I guess our weekend’s planned” Lea said eagerly.

  “Hey I’m having a party on Saturday if yall want to add that to the list of things yall have planned for the weekend,” Dorian said.

  “I guess that’ll give our shopping trip some purpose,” Mialynn agreed.

  “So does that mean I’ll see yall there?” he asked.

  “You think we can squeeze a party in girls?” Mialynn asked.

  “I guess we can,” Lea agreed.

  “Azalea will you be there?” Dorian asked.

  “Yea I guess I’ll be there.” This was the first time she actually had something to do over the weekends besides watching the Twilight saga over and over again. This will also be her very first party.

  “Hey are you going to be there bro? If it makes you feel any better I want invite Kayla or Shawnee” he smiled.

  “Well in that case we have a deal,” Llorel said.

  “Who’s Kayla or Shawnee?” Lea asked.

  “They’re apart of Llorel’s fan club. They have a huge crush on him.”

  “Who doesn’t?” Mialynn asked. If most men heard a girl compliment them like that they usually smiled or looked happy about it but not Llorel. But Mialynn was right. All he had to do was keep being his mysterious bad boy self and the girls constantly lined up. Girls liked Dorian too, he was your typical football hottie but more girls seemed to be attracted to Llorel.

  Mr. Dean settled the class down before giving them some busy work and stepping back out to take a call. Their small group worked together on the assignment, they all shared any answers that they had found which caused them to get done with it rather quickly.

  “I love your tattoo Mia,” Lea said immediately capturing everyone’s attention.

  “Thanks Lea.”

  “When’d you get it?” Dorian asked.

  “This summer. I went with my cousin, and we decided to get the same tattoo.”

  “Really?” Lea asked.

  “Whose idea was it?” Azalea asked joining the conversation.

  “It was her design but it was my idea to get it tatted on me. She agreed to come with me while I got it done.”

  “Is it exactly the same?” Llorel asked.

  “No, my tiger is pink and black and hers is blue and black. I got mine tattooed on my shoulder where as she got hers tattooed near her collarbone, but we both have the paw prints. There’s one on our necks and the other’s behind our ears,” she said sweeping her hair up so that they could see it.

  “I wanted a tattoo, but I had to choose between a tattoo or a piercing and as you can all see I chose the piercings, besides I thought it would hurt worse than a piercing would have,” Lea said.

  “How many piercings did you get?” Azalea asked seeing only about 4.

  “I have 10 piercings in all. 4 in each ear,” she said tucking her hair behind her ear in order to show them. “And a nose ring and an eyebrow piercing. Do you have anything Zale?” Lea asked.

  “Umm yea I have a couple of piercings and tattoos.” Everyone looked stunned by that.

  “You have a tattoo?” Llorel asked. Azalea just nodded her head.

  “What do you have a tattoo of?” Lea asked.

  “Is it a tramp stamp?” Dorian asked. Azalea didn’t even bother to answer Dorian.

  Well then what is it?” Mialynn asked.

  “Wait why do yall seem so shocked?” Azalea asked.

  “Well because you seem too… pure to have a tattoo,” Llorel answered and everyone shook their head in agreement.

  “Well my first tattoo—”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa, first tattoo? Meaning you have more than one?” Lea asked.

  “Yes.”

  “How many do you have?” Mialynn asked.

  “2” Everyone seemed to be waiting patiently for her to explain. “The only reason I got the first tattoo was because Rose didn’t want me to. She kept saying that I shouldn’t have people draw all over my skin with permanent ink, she thinks that it is an immoral act.”

  “Who’s Rose?” Llorel asked.

  “Well for 16 years I thought she was my mother, so truthfully I have no clue.”

  “What’s an immoral act?” Lea asked.

  “It basically means to sin,” Llorel answered. “So what did you get a tattoo of?” Mialynn asked.

  “And where?” Dorian asked seeming more interested in the placement.

  “I got a tattoo of a butterfly my first go around, it’s blue and black and it’s right here,” she said turning around and showing them the butterfly tattooed on the back of her neck. She always wore her hair in a bun on top of her head so she was surprised no one’s noticed.

  “How long have you had that?” Llorel asked.

  “Umm almost 4 years now, I got it when I was 14.”

  “What’s your other one of?” Mialynn asked.

  “The other one is of an Azalea, it’s blue and green and it’s on my rib. It has the words always and forever over it.”

  “You said you have a piercing too right? Is that all of them in your ear?” Lea asked.

  “No I have 5 piercings in each ear and my belly button pierced. I also got my tongue pierced right around the time I got my first tattoo.” Everyone’s jaw just about fell open once she said that.

  “You had your tongue pierced, what happened to it?” Lea asked.

  “Aint nothing happen to it, I just don’t wear it in school.”

  “You gonna wear it to my party?” Dorian asked very enthused.

  “Sure” she said rolling her eyes and picking up her book and work sheet just as the bell rang. Their group put their worksheets on Mr. Dean’s desk (who came back to the classroom upset by the way. Apparently his wife and daughter had been in a car accident, poor guy) and they went to their next classes.

  “Hey I’m really excited for Dorian’s party, aren’t you?” Lea asked as they walked to Spanish.

  “Yea can’t wait,” Azalea said trying to feed off of her enthusiasm.

  “I didn’t know your brother was in our Spanish class,” Azalea said as they entered the classroom.

  “Well yea he wasn’t here yesterday, which is why he had detention,” she said as they made their way to their seats. “Besides even if he were here yesterday, you wouldn’t have noticed you were kind of zoned out.”

  “Yea I remember” she said sitting in her desk which just so happens to be right in front of Jaiden’s. Azalea tried to stay focused on the Spanish teacher Mrs. Saba but that was kind of hard to do, 15 minutes into class Jaiden had passed her a note.

  : Hey Azalea.

  : Hey I can’t believe you remembered my name, she wrote back. Almost immediately regretting it, knowing how lame she must sound to him.

  : How can I not? It’s super rare and extremely unique. Besides it belongs to a beautiful face, he wrote back. Beautiful face? She questioned. There was no doubt in her mind that she was beautiful she just never had someone else call her it. Azalea didn’t dedicate no time for her appearance, purposely. It’s so that she can focus on her studies and not be distracted by friends and admirers, but there are those who truly do like you for who you are.

  : Thanks Jaiden.

  : Oh and so what’s your excuse for remembering my name? He asked.

  : You’re my friend’s brother. Sorry I know that’s probably not the answer you were hoping for.

  : No need to apologize, I like that answer a lot actually because I can tell it’s the truth☺.

  : Well then you’re very welcome and I will be willing to give you the truth anytime☺. Jaiden ended up laughing out loud at her response which caused her to chuckle, Lea to be curious and Mrs. Saba to get mad—and probably hate her even more now.

  “Sorry” Jaiden whispered to those who had heard his outburst.

  : I like your tattoo by the way.

  : Thanks. It’s kind of funny that you mentioned it; we kind of just had a full conversation about it in m
y last class. Does it surprise you that I have one?

  : No not at all, why would it?

  : Well because some people think that I am too pure to have a tattoo.

  : What does that even mean? Even pure people can get tattoos right or is there some kind of law against it? What even qualifies a person to be labeled as pure?

  : I have no clue, but whatever it is I must have an abundance of it☺

  : I can tell that there was a reason behind you getting this tattoo; you don’t strike me as the kind of person who does things just because.

  : I guess you’re right but I thought that was how everyone thought; you know I didn’t realize there were people who still acted on impulse.

  : Well not everyone thinks before they do, a lot of what we do is impulse. I’m a person who relies on impulse before acting on something☺.

  : What do you mean?

  : What I mean is if I truly wanted something I’m not weighing the pros and cons I’m just hopping right on board.

  : I guess that can be both a good thing and a bad thing.

  : Ok well think of this conversation, the odds were against me.

  : What do you mean?

  : Well one of two things could have happened I could have gotten you detention for passing notes in class, or you could have ignored my note completely and decide not to talk to me.

  : Why wouldn’t I want to talk to you?

  : I don’t know maybe you have a boyfriend☹ That comment caused Azalea to look back into his direction but his face gave away nothing. She didn’t write anything for a while, she wasn’t sure if she should or shouldn’t confirm it. If he thinks I have a boyfriend then maybe he wouldn’t be too persistent with me, but he finds out that I don’t then—

  “See’s that’s my point exactly instead of just writing the first thing that comes to mind you have to think about it,” he whispered, his breath tickling the hairs on her neck. Without thinking too much about it she wrote

  : I was thinking, but that’s because the first thing that had come to mind had nothing to do with you—And that was true, the first thing that had come to her mind was the fact that she’s never really had a boyfriend before, she never really found anyone that interested in her before.

  : But to answer your question, no I don’t have a boyfriend so you don’t have anything to worry about… but that doesn’t mean I’m looking for one. She passed him the note and gathered her books in her arm as the bell rang. Then she headed toward the door where Lea stood waiting for her.

  “Hey I appreciate the honesty, but like I said when I want something I go after it not thinking twice about the consequences,” Jaiden had said before passing them up. Lea and Azalea walked to their lockers to put their Spanish books away and to grab their History books, they arrived at the classroom 5 minutes before the bell and lea thought that was the perfect time to pester Azalea.

  “Please tell me you’re not crushing on my brother?” she had asked but Azalea didn’t say anything. Was I crushing on Jaiden? Yea he was cute; with his hazel eyes and dark hair that framed his face in a tamed cut, his deep dimples that seem to bring his smile alive and the tattoo on his forearm and that eyebrow piercing, he was nearly perfect but I wouldn’t say that I was crushing on him. “Look I’m not trying to be that over protective sister, I just wanna know. You never know you might be good for him.”

  “What’s wrong with the other girls he’s dated?” she asked as Lea succeeded in capturing her attention.

  “Truthfully I don’t know, but I can’t keep blaming the girls on this one.”

  History passed almost like it did yesterday. When History was over Azalea and Lea went their separate ways, Azalea walked into English and went straight to the back toward her seat. Mrs. Kimberly was still short, and Azalea still couldn’t hear her from where she sat in the back, but she still tried her hardest to stay focused.

  “Are you mad at me?” Llorel asked out of the blue. Azalea looked over in his direction very confused.

  “Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you?”

  “Did you read me note?” he asked without making any kind of eye contact.

  “What note?” He sighed in response before turning his icy stare toward her, there was a look on his face that was beyond anger and Azalea was hoping it wasn’t aimed toward her.

  “I put a note in your mailbox Azalea, did you get it?” he said in an agitated tone. That was him? What was with him sneaking around my house? Better yet what is with him and my garden? She thought angry.

  “No I didn’t get whatever it was that you stuck in my mailbox, I saw someone put something in my mailbox but when I went to check there was nothing in there. Is that why you came over this morning, with some excuse? Besides you were already on my dang property you could have knocked on my door and said whatever you had to, to my face. I gave you a freakin invitation to my house but instead you’d rather show up uninvited, not only that but sneaking around my fudgin house, sticking stuff in my dang mailbox. And for the record I never check my mail box, EVER! But you would have known that if you’d just asked.” He didn’t say anything pertaining to her accusations and quite frankly Azalea didn’t expect him too, what could he say? She was done biting her tongue around him, he obviously knows something important. She can’t keep pretending that she’s normal and that everything’s ok, because she’s not normal and nothing is ok.

  When class ended Azalea hurried toward her locker and put her English book away, she wasn’t surprised to see that Lea had been waiting for her.

  “Hey what’s the matter? You don’t look too happy.” She said frowning.

  “I’ll get over it,” she said reassuringly. She gave her an ‘I’m not so sure look’ and Azalea grabbed her by the arm and led her toward the cafeteria. Everyone from the day before was there including Mialynn; they grabbed their lunch and joined them.

  “Hey” Jaiden whispered from her left, she turned and gave him a brief smile.

  “Hey Z!” Azalea heard someone squeal from across the cafeteria. Azalea knew the voice it sounded mega familiar.

  “Dez?” she asked as she made her way toward them.

  “Z!” she squealed once she caught sight of her. “I didn’t know you went to school here!” she said pulling Azalea to her feet and giving her a big hug.

  “Yea I’ve been here since 9th grade.” Azalea was happy to see a familiar face in this school. She knew Desire like the back of her hand. “What are you doing here?” Azalea asked as they let go of each other.

  “Well Mrs. Lady Tyrant talked to Rose and Rose convinced her to enroll me, but Rose never mentioned you going here.”

  “Yea well don’t be surprised if my name never comes out of her mouth. When did you get back to town?”

  “Yesterday, I was going to call but we had a lot to do and Mrs. Lady Tyrant wouldn’t let me leave until it all got done. Hey are these your friends?” Azalea had totally forgotten all about them.

  “Umm yea this is Lea, Debby, Jordin, Mialynn and Jaiden.” They all waved.

  “Hi I‘m Desire” she said before taking a seat at their lunch table. Azalea couldn’t hide her excitement well enough as she watched her cousin interact with her new friends.