Free Next Semester by Cecil R. Cross Page B

about to shit his draws!”
    “I know,” I said, laughing. “That was the first time I’ve ever seen Dub-B actually look white. His face started turning red and all that! Man, that was hilarious!”
    “Pure comedy, fam-o,” Fresh added.
    All jokes subsided and laughter ceased immediatelywhen Katrina popped up, seemingly out of nowhere, in front of me. For a few seconds, she just stood there, staring into my eyes, inaudibly asking, once more, for forgiveness. She opened her arms wide and smiled gingerly, gesturing for me to embrace her. Lord knows I wanted to. With no sign of Leslie in sight, Kat was hands-down the finest girl in the club. With her beauty, body and swag, there wasn’t even a close second. Even in the club, I could smell her sweet perfume from where I stood, entrancing me like a fish to a lure. I wanted to let bygones be bygones and move on, but my pride wouldn’t let me. Not in front of my boys. I had a reputation to consider. Hugging Kat in the middle of the club like that, with everybody watching, could have ignited a whole ’nother slew of rumors that I didn’t want to have to deal with. So instead of stepping into her open arms or acknowledging her at all, I just tapped Fresh and nodded toward the other side of the club, signaling him to keep it moving. I left Kat standing there with her arms open.
    “I can’t believe you just played her like that, cuz,” Fats said, shaking his head in disbelief.
    “Yeah,” Fresh agreed. “That was cold as hell, G. Can’t say I blame you, though, but damn.”
    “I ain’t even thinkin’ ’bout that girl, blood,” I said confidently. “After what she put me through, as far as I’m concerned, she doesn’t exist.”
    After Dub-B’s debacle, the encounter with Kat and a few shots of Patrón, the party really started jumping. Every ten minutes or so a huge gust of foam would squirt onto the dance floor. I don’t know where it was coming from, but after a few hours, I was damn near up to my knees in suds. I had a weird urge to wash dishes. And my Jordans were all but ruined, soaked from the inside out. The good thing about it was, for some reason, the foam was driving thefemales wild. They frolicked in it like it was winter snow. By the time Ludacris finally the hit stage, it was nearly two in the morning.
    “You tryna hit this after-party?” Fresh asked.
    “ After -party? Man, it’s already damn near two in the morning. You know the first day of class is tomorrow.”
    “I know, but it’s supposed to be live though, G,” he said. “At least that’s what I keep hearing. Let’s just fall through for a minute. If it’s bogus, we’ll dip.”
    “That’s cool,” I said. “Where’s it at anyway?”
    “Near the campus,” Fresh said. “Matter of fact, they say it’s poppin’ over there right now. That’s where all of the upperclassmen are partying. You ready to dip?”
    “Let’s do it!” I said.

SIX
    THE AFTERPARTY
    We just left in time to catch the last shuttle heading back to campus. Thank goodness, because it was cold outside and the walk back to campus woulda been no joke. The closer we got to campus, the more I had second thoughts about going to the after-party. Partially because I was already tired and needed sleep for class in the morning. But mostly because I was sweaty, my clothes were wrinkled and my Jordans had been stepped on at least twenty times in the club, not to mention soaked by the suds. And if there were going to be upperclassmen at the party like Fresh said, I would have preferred to be looking and smelling as good as possible. The shuttles dropped us off in the Elman parking lot. From there, I followed Fresh to a house just around the corner from campus. I could hear the base pumping from the speakers a full block away from the house, and by thelook of all the cars outside, I could tell the party was crackin’. But for some reason, I still didn’t wanna go.
    “You think there’s some kinda dress code for this