Free Caught Up by Amir Abrams Page A

he’s going into his senior year. And that he plays basketball for his high school. That he’s their star point guard. And he plans to go away to college.
    I’m impressed.
    â€œWhere do plan on attending?” I ask, genuinely interested.
    â€œI don’t know. NYU, Georgetown, and Duke universities want me real bad.”
    Oh, wow,” I say, excitedly. “That’s great! Which one will you choose?”
    He shrugs. “I don’t know. My mom wants me to go get out of Jersey. But I ain’t really tryna leave her, feel me?”
    â€œYeah. But where would you like to go if you had a choice?”
    He thinks for a moment then says, “On some real, I’d like to go to either Howard, Hampton, Fisk, or North Carolina A & T University.”
    I give him a quizzical look. “Really? Wow. Why those schools? I mean, I know they’re historically black universities and all, but why them when Georgetown, NYU, and Duke already have their eyes on you—why wouldn’t you go to one of them? They’re really good schools.”
    He gives me a funny look. “Why not those schools? They’re just as good as Georgetown, Duke, NYU, Princeton, Harvard, Yale, or any other prestigious Ivy League school, feel me? Besides, they’re listed among Forbes’s top colleges and universities to attend.”
    â€œForbes?” I say. “What you know about Forbes?”
    â€œSee,” he says, smirking. “I know more than you think, yo. Don’t sleep on ya future man, yo.”
    I laugh. “Oh, is that what you’re going to be, my man?”
    â€œYeah. One day.”
    I raise a brow. “Oh, really?”
    â€œYeah. When you ready for me.”
    â€œOhmygod! You are so full of yourself. What makes you think I’m not ready for you?”
    â€œDon’t worry about all dat. I can tell.”
    I tsk. “ Annnny way, moving on. Sounds like you have a promising future ahead of you.”
    â€œTrue indeed. Every black boy from da hood ain’t a dropout, or out slingin’ packs, yo. Yeah, I dress hood ’n’ I talk dat talk, but I ain’t a derelict or destined for a prison cell.”
    I smile at him. “I know not to judge a book by its cover.”
    â€œExactly. Most of us got dreams, feel me?”
    I nod.
    â€œI bet you thought I was just some hood nucca wit’ nothin’ goin’ for himself, didn’t you?”
    â€œNo. I didn’t think that.”
    He laughs. “C’mon. Don’t front. Yes, you did.”
    â€œHonestly. I didn’t.”
    He gives me a “yeah right” look.
    â€œOhmygod! I’m serious. I really didn’t know what to think when I first saw you.”
    â€œYeah, right. You know you thought I looked good, yo. I saw you eyein’ my swag.”
    I feign insult. “O-M-G! I was not eyeing your swag.” I bust out laughing. “Okay, okay. Maybe I was; just a little.”
    â€œHahaha. Yeah, that’s what I thought.” He pauses, moving his face up into his computer screen. “I’m sayin’, though. I wanna see you, yo.”
    I smile. “I want to see you, too.”
    He pulls in his bottom lip. “A’ight then. So what’s good?”
    I glance at the time in the upper right corner of my MacBook. It’s almost one in the morning. Already waaaay past my curfew. “I can’t,” I say. “My mom will kill me.”
    â€œOh, a’ight, it’s cool,” he says without even trying to convince me to come out.
    I won’t pretend that I’m not a little taken aback for some reason that he isn’t pressing me to sneak out to see him. I guess I kind of wanted him to. So, okay, okay, I’m disappointed.
    â€œWell, alright then. I guess I’ll go to sleep.”
    He laughs. “What, you want me to tell you to sneak outta ya crib to come chill wit’ me?”
    â€œNo,” I lie.
    He