Free College Boy : A Novel (9781416586500) by Omar (COR) Tyree Page A

ROY COULD VISUALIZE THE EDGE OF A STEEP CLIFF, PROMPTING him to form a new outlook. The university had become his safeguard against the poverty and despair of home. His only concerns inside the university walls were studying, hanging out, romancing. and playing basketball. He started to think about never returning home, to the g-h-e-t-t-o.
    Simon entered the room, throwing his luggage on the floor. “Hey, Troy, how are ya’? How was your holiday?”
    Troy was stretched out on his bed, daydreaming. “It was aw’ight. Nothin’ special. How was yours?”
    Simon opened his suitcase across his bed to un-pack. “Man, it was great! I didn’t want to come back to college. I seriously felt like dropping out. You just don’t know how close I was, Troy,” he answered. “My friend back home, he’s gonna travel to, like, Europe, Mexico, Jamaica, and Brazil.
    â€œYou should hear this guy. He’s got it all mapped out already. I was really ready to go with him, but I had already paid to come here. So I said, ‘Naw, ta hell with that.’”
    â€œYeah, well, I wish me and you could trade places, ’cause I would say, ‘Ta hell with college,’ and go.”
    â€œOh yeah, Troy, you wanna?” Simon asked with a smile.
    â€œAre you crazy, man? I don’t have the money to do that.”
    â€œYeah, well that’s too bad, ’cause I wasn’t going to go either. My dad paid too much money for me to go to college, to just throw it away.”
    â€œLook, man, since your mom and pops own their own shit, you could just work for them and you won’t have to go to college,” Troy suggested.
    Simon continued to put his things away. “I don’t wanna do that. Plus, I don’t really like computers and I would die in law school. I’m thinking about owning my own consulting business, you know?”
    â€œNaw, man, I don’t know,” Troy told him.
    â€œAw, quit pouting. You got better grades than me, and you’re on the basketball team. You’re in a much better position than I am,” Simon said.
    â€œYou really are crazy,” Troy commented. “I could never be in a better position than you. You’re rich and fruitful compared to me. If I fail in college, I return to nothin’. But if you fail, you got your folks. And you’re a White Jew anyway.”
    Simon hunched his shoulders and frowned. “What does that have to do with anything? If you work hard, you succeed. It’s just as simple as that.”
    â€œYeah, well, we gon’ see, Simon. I’ll always remember that you said that. It doesn’t matter that I’m Black. If I work hard, I will succeed.”

    Next day, Troy had a group meeting with all C.M.P. students to discuss college integrity. Ninety percent of the C.M.P. students were Black. The event was monitored by the five C.M.P. counselors. Four of them were Black and one counselor was Latino. Three counselors were men and two were women, including Troy’s counselor, Ms. Whatley.
    â€œToday we want to have a group session to talk about your thoughts on college life so far. But before we start, I would like someone to answer something for me. Why did you come to college?” the short and stocky counselor named Paul asked.
    A large, talkative girl was the first to answer. “I came to college to get a better job, which would put me in a higher economic position than what I am in now. I live in a nice home and all, but I want more.”
    The rest of the freshman class agreed as Troy looked around, spotting Doc, Bruce, Clay, James, Peter, Reggie, Tanya, Lisa, and Matthew, along with several other freshmen he had met through C.M.P.
    A smaller sister picked up where the first left off. “Well, specifically, I wanted to come to a White college because I wanted to learn how to deal with White people, for when you go out into the real world. I grew up in an all-Black