Next Semester Read Online Free

kidding, unc,” I said with a smile.
    “That’s what I thought,” he said, chuckling. “How were your holidays?”
    “Pretty straight, I guess,” I said. “I didn’t do much. Ate good. Hit up a few clubs for Christmas and New Year’s Eve. They got shot up. You know, the regular.”
    “Sounds like Oakland to me,” he said. “How’s your girlfriend?”
    “I don’t have one of those.”
    “What? Since when? You and that girl been dating since…”
    “We just kinda decided to go our separate ways,” I said, interjecting.
    “Oh, yeah?” he inquired. “Well, it’s not like you’re too old to explore your options. I don’t think a young man should be locked down like that in college anyway. You’ve got the rest of your life for that. Shoot! All them honeys I seen last time I dropped you off on campus…there’s no way I’d settle down. Not me! I’d be more single than a dollar bill!”
    “I feel you on that,” I said. “I mean, these girls down here are cool, but I don’t know if I could take any of them seriously. Especially not after what happened to me last semester.”
    “Yeah, you dodged a real bullet there. You definitely gotta be safe.”
    To my knowledge, my Uncle Leroy had no idea aboutwhat happened between Katrina and I last semester. I hadn’t told anyone remotely affiliated with anybody in his circle, or in my family for that matter. The only person I’d told other than Todd was Robyn. And the only reason she found out was because her nosy butt picked up the other phone in the house when I was on the phone with the doctor. Even after ear-hustling, she still had to pry the entire story out of me. But I made her promise not to tell anyone.
    “What do you mean, I dodged a bullet? Did you hear something?”
    “Man, you know you can’t hide nothing like that from family. If you get sick, who else is gonna be there to take care of your sorry behind? Of course, I heard.”
    “From who?”
    “Well, your auntie told me. And I suppose she heard from your momma. And I don’t know who she heard from.”
    Robyn can’t hold water, I thought.
    “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m not gonna preach to you. All I’ve got to say is, never jump in the middle of an ocean without a life jacket. You catch my drift?”
    “Yeah,” I said, slumping down into my seat, shaking my head back and forth in disbelief. “I got you.”
    “You got tested and everything, right?”
    “As soon as I got back to Cali,” I said. “Got my results back. I’m straight. Thank God.”
    “Say that then, nephew,” he said, having a quick look. “Well, at least you know you’re straight as far as that is concerned. And hey, don’t feel bad about what happened. I mean, we’ve all slipped up before. Hell, between me and you, that’s how a couple of your cousins got here. I was satisfied with one kid. Anyway, that’s a whole ’nother story. The point I’m trying to make is, when things like thathappen, you just take it as a lesson learned and try not make the same mistake again.”
    “Believe me, that is one you don’t have to worry about me repeating,” I said.
    “I know that’s right,” he said, turning up his Earth, Wind & Fire album.
    I don’t know if it was the song “September” blaring from the speakers, the huge So So Def billboard off the side of the highway or the fact that a guy actually raised his hand in the rearview mirror to thank my uncle for letting him over in traffic, but something about cruising up I-85 North, headed to campus, just felt right. I felt like I was at home. A second home. For the first time in a long time, I was at peace. I couldn’t help but smile as we pulled off the exit and I saw the sign that read Atlanta University Center. My eyes lit up when we drove by the Elman—the all-girl college right around the corner from mine—and I saw their parking lot was jam packed with ladies being dropped off by their parents. When we pulled into the parking lot outside my