school are your friends. I want to hang with some of them.â
Before we could finish our conversation, my back door was opening. âKnock, knock! Itâs me and Cole,â Damarius yelled.
Cole bear-hugged me and said, âWasup, homeboy?â
The three of us started rattling on about how we were going to have a great time at our party we were gonna have over at Damariusâs house. For a few minutes, I never even turned and acknowledged Justin.
For the first time, I saw what my buddy was saying. He felt like an outsider, and I could do something about it.
âYâall ainât got no manners,â I said to Damarius and Cole. âYâall see him in here. Speak.â
âHey, Jarred, Jacob, John ... â Cole said to Justin, then quickly turned to me to get his name.
âHis name is Justin. Câmon, yâall, this is my friend and you really need to know him. He could tutor your tails.â
âOh, for real? We need to talk,â Damarius said as he slapped Justinâs hand. âAll right man, you gotta help us throw this party.â
Justin smiled at me. Just that quick he was in. I smiled back.
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Two days later the party was on. It was filled with honeys and our teammates. We were outnumbered and we loved it. Justin was the only nonathlete male at the party, and he was loving it, too. He got plenty of girls that either thought he was on the team or were just excited to see him with us.
Justin came over to me and said, âSee, all you had to do was let me in, bro, and Iâll be the man. And, oh, there is this girl named Amandi ... She wanted me to introduce you to her.â
When I turned toward her, my eyes couldnât stop staring at her chest; it was practically completely visible, âcause she had on a low-cut halter. My gaze eventually moved on to her Daisy Duke shorts. Oh, yeah this party was slamminâ!
âSo, you gonâ dance with me, or what?â Amandi asked as she moved closer and closer to me, shaking her hips from left to right.
It was easy for me to get in the groove with a girl like that standing in front of me. I wrapped my hands around her waist and let her take me to the middle of the floor. Once I started dancing, everyone joined in. It was crazy. I was now noticing my popularity on a different level. I just hoped God would help me stay humble. I knew I was being tempted.
âYou ever seen me before?â she asked, puckering her lips after she said every word, reeling me in with her seductiveness. The girl had it going on, and she had a back like bam! And I was all into it.
âI donât think I know you.â
âWeâre in the same grade at the same school, and you have never noticed me, huh? Well, Iâm Amandi Roberts.â
âYeah, didnât you used to wear glasses and braces andââ
âYeah, and now all that is gone. You like what you see?â she asked as she turned and shook her backside at me. âI wanna be honest, Perry. I wanna ...â But before she could finish, Damarius and Cole stepped between us and pulled me off the floor.
âWhatâs going on?â I asked the two of them as if they were the chaperone police. âIâm not doing nothing wrong. Iâm just having a little fun.â
âYeah, but you about to get us in trouble,â Cole said as he hit me in the chest. âTori is here with Ciara and Briana.â
âYou broke up with her and you didnât even tell us?â Damarius asked.
They spun me around so that I could look directly at the woman who still had a part of my heart. I hadnât realized it because I tried not to think about it, but the moment I saw her, all the flesh that Amandi was flaunting couldnât hold a candle to the substance I knew Tori possessed. But then I came to my senses. I wasnât trying to go backward, I wanted what Amandi was trying to give away. Tori wasnât about all that and we