Free Betrayal by Noire Page A

ass!”
    “Maleek is the one who started it,” Nooni muttered under her breath. Her heart felt broken as she rubbed the sore spot on her back. “He don’t love me like he says he do,” she wailed in grief. “It’s all good for him to fuck with other bitches, but he gets real stupid whenever a dude acts like he wants to fuck with me!”
    “ Uhhhh -huh,” Cheyvon pursed her lips and agreed. “I know exactly what you mean. But that’s the way these Harlem niggahs roll, girl. That’s just the way they roll.”
     
    $$$$$
     
     Even though she was heartbroken, Noni actually went to school the next day, although she didn’t stick around for long.
    “Uh-uh,” her good friend Bubbles told her as they strutted out of their third period science class and headed toward the school’s lunchroom. “We outta here girl. I heard about the big fight that went down at T.C.’s Place last night,” Bubbles said as she grabbed Nooni’s arm and swung her around in the opposite direction.
    Nooni winced as she thought about how Maleek had kicked her up the ass in the club, and then probably spent the rest of the night getting his bone waxed by that cootie-coochie bitch Ashanti.
    “Where we going?” she asked gloomily as she followed her friend. They were both juniors when they should have been seniors, but after cutting so many classes they’d come up short on credits.
    “Don’t worry about it,” Bubbles said mysteriously as she strutted in her hoe heels and switched her ass down the school’s corridor. A sick and sexy stunna, Bubbles stayed pressed out in the latest fashions, and like Nooni, she was prissy as hell and meticulous about her hair and nails.
    But unlike Nooni, Bubbles was an only child, and her single mother worked two nursing jobs tryna keep her daughter looking fresh and feeling good. That left Bubbles with a whole lot of time to do whatever she wanted, and usually that included getting high and hanging out in the streets with grown men.
    “I texted my friend,” Bubbles said with a sneaky smile. “Friend who?” Nooni asked.
    “One of the guys who was fighting up in T.C.’s Place last night. I hate I missed that shit! My moms took the night off from work and I couldn’t sneak out. My friend is fine as hell girl, and he’s waiting for us outside.”
    “He got a car?”
    Bubbles smirked. “Hell yeah he got a car! What I look like? I don’t be fuckin’ with no busted niggahs, Nooni! Bitch you know me better than that.”
    “Yeah, what-the-fuck-ever!” Nooni couldn’t help but giggle as they waited until the security guard’s back was turned, then cut across a hallway and dipped out of a side door. Laughing, the pair hauled-ass down a stone-lined concrete path, swinging their back packs and hoping security wouldn’t spot them before they could make it off school grounds.
    A beat-up two-door black Honda was waiting for them at the corner. It had Jersey license plates and a chrome bumper, and the right front fender was dented and painted gray.
    “Damn girl, don’t tell me this is your friend,” Nooni said, eyeballing the busted ride with her lips turned down and her nose turned up. “Uh-uh, Bubbles. Hell no. I ain’t getting my gear all grimy riding around in that lil piece of shit.”
    “Shut up! I don’t see your boojie ass coming up with no plans or no rides!”
    Nooni was still frowning when she followed her friend over to the car. It was some kinda throwback hatchback. A young, light-skinned dude with gray eyes and cute dimples was sitting behind the wheel with his seat pushed all the way back, low-riding. A Band-Aid halfway covered a bruise over his temple, and another large, egg-shaped bruise stood out like a hill on the back of his head, courtesy of Maleek.
    Bubbles opened the door, and the guy reached over and popped a lever letting the passenger seat flip forward. Nooni was embarrassed over the scene she’d caused in the club the night before, but she wasn’t gonna let him see it.