Free Upgrade U by Ni-Ni Simone Page B

rooms,” I said to Shae and Khya.
    “I heard you, Seven.” Courtney pounded on the wall.
    I looked at Khya and Shae and we cracked up laughing—actually we all fell out. This dude was way too much!
    "It’s Z 29.3 Stiles University’s AM station!” Shae’s alarm clock radio screamed suddenly. “It’s ya boy, Big Country, on your dial, ya heardz me? And it’s time to get this party crunked!”
    I said to Shae in disbelief, “Your alarm is set to Big Country’s morning show? There is definitely a problem.”
    Shae couldn’t stop grinning. “Don’t hate, it’s not attractive. Besides, that my baby.” Shae paused and cheesed so hard it’s a wonder she didn’t lose her teeth. “And I think it’s sweet he gets to wake me and the rest of the campus up every morning.”
    “You up, Cornbread?” Big Country asked over the air.
    “I’m up, baby.” Shae stretched and smiled at the radio.
    “Have my buttermilk-jelly biscuits and gravy ready for me about noon.”
    Buttermilk-jelly biscuits … and gravy?
    “He is so fresh.” Shae smiled a little too hard for me to even try and explain how nasty that whole creation sounded.
    “You got me, baby?” Big Country said.
    Shae spoke to the radio, as if she and Big Country were communicating telepathically. “You know I got you, daddy.”
    “That’s what I love about you.” Big Country’s grin was loud and clear across the airwaves. Music started to play as he continued, “Now that my Cornbread is up, we gon’ start this day off right. So, Stiles U, rise up out the bed, and as Sissy Nobby says, put an arch in yo back! Ya smell me!”
    For some reason I think I did smell him.
    Before I could tease Shae about Big Country being soooo country, my cell phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and all I could do was smile. It was my baby, Josiah.
    “Hey, boo,” I said, not caring about how loud and excited I was.
    "Wassup, ma?” Josiah said as his voice melted like candy in my ears. “You up? You got a big day today.”
    “I know. I’m about to get up now. I need to get by the bookstore, I have about three more books to pick up.” I was smiling so hard it’s a wonder my dimples didn’t meet inside my cheeks. “We were just listening to your boy, Big Country.” I chuckled. “He’s a mess.”
    Josiah laughed. “And you haven’t heard nothing yet—wait until Wednesday when he has his morning bounce competition. People be lined up at the station like crazy. It’s off the meter.”
    “I can imagine, and why are you so amped about it?” I teased my baby. “You’re not planning on bouncing are you?”
    “Funny, Seven. I got your bounce all right. I’ma bounce right on this court and kill this game.”
    “You gon’ kill ‘em, baby!” I said, a little too excited.
    “I’ma knock ‘em out.”
    “And I’ma be your cheerleader!”
    “So you just stabbing me all in the back, huh, Seven?” Courtney spat as he beat against the wall.
    Know what? I’ma ignore him.
    “That’s wassup,” Josiah said. “But listen, baby, I have morning practice and then I have to get to class. I just called to tell you I love you and that I woke up thinking about you.”
    I swear my heart had melted from my chest into the phone. “I love you too,” I whined.
    “A’ight, then, give it to me.”
    I blushed, as I gave my baby a kiss through the phone.
    “Gagging,” Courtney said.
    I slammed my fist into the wall, and while Courtney screamed I kissed my man through the phone again.
    "I’ll catch up with you later, ma,” Josiah said as he hung up.
    “Later.” I held the phone to my chest and daydreamed about us one day being married.
    “Awwl,” Khya said, snapping me out of my trance. She flopped on the edge of my bed and laid back. “Love is such a beautiful thing.”
    “Yeah, it is.” I smiled.
    “Jamil used to call me on the phone, tell me he loved me and couldn’t live without me.”
    “Really?” Shae said, walking over and lying beside Khya.
    “Umm