The New World: The Awakening. Leahann Cavanaugh

know you want some bae too, Kit,” Miles teased her.

      As Miles and Denise discussed their strategies to get dick in Atlanta, my attention was focused outside by the tree in the schoolyard. No one was there, but I could feel it. So I nonchalantly walked outside.

      “Aww, shit, there she go again. Lyric! Lyric!” they both yelled out my name as they chased me outside.

      “What are you doing, L? We gone be late.” Denise tried to talk me back into the building.

      The warning bell went off. “That’s the warning bell, Lyric. Come on, ain’t nobody out here,” Denise said as she slowly walked backward inside. “I tried. You’re on yo own,” she yelled at me as she walked back into the building.

      Maybe she was right. I turned to go back in the building, but there was that feeling again telling me to turn around. So I did and there he was.

      I couldn’t see his face. Hell, even if I did, I still wouldn’t be able to recognize him. I knew in my soul that the man standing under the tree was Jay. I felt his love. I started to walk toward him and simultaneously he started to walk toward me. I started to run. Then Mr. P came outside and fucked everything up.

      “Ms. Daniels, my office now please,” he said.

      “Fuck,” I said quietly to myself. I turned my head off of Jay for two seconds, and when I looked back, he was gone. The whole time I was in Mr. P’s office, I couldn’t stop thinking about Jason. I didn’t even care what I was in trouble for.

      “Lyric, are you listening to me?” Mr. P asked.

      “What? I’m sorry, I won’t do it again,” I replied, thinking he just smacked me with a suspension.

      “What? No, you’re not in trouble. I was just saying that a check came in the mail today written on your behalf for the full amount of the trip. I just wanted to tell you that if you get this permission slip signed by tomorrow, you can go.”

      “Seriously?” I said, shocked that something like this happened to me. “Yes!” I screamed and thanked Mr. P. I ran to Denise’s class that she was in and opened the door and interrupted the class. I didn’t care. I was happy I could go to Atlanta with my family.

      “Yo, Kit, gotta talk ASAP,” I said to her as I ignored every word the teacher said, and so did she.

      “Ms. Wilson, sit down,” the teacher said to Denise.

      “Be right back, playboy,” she responded and walked out.

      “What’s up?” she asked, not knowing how to react.

      “Mr. P called me into his office—” I said then she interrupted me.

      “See, I told you you shouldn’t be late, nigga a beast when it comes to patrolling these hallways, he don’t play,” she said.

      “When did you become a stickler for being on time?” I asked curiously as I waited for an answer.

      “Since he said if I’m late one more time, I can’t go to ATL,” Denise informed me.

      “Enough said. Well, anyways, Mr. P said somebody sent in a check to cover the trip for me,” I told her.

      “Say swear,” Denise said, not believing me.

      “Swear,” I repeated.

      “Aww, shit, me and my bitch ’bout to light the city up,” Denise said as she started to do her pimp walk.

      “I gotta get her to sign this permission slip first,” I reminded her.

      “Fuck,” Denise said, pissed off because she thought we were in the clear. Then it hit her. “That’s easy. You know your aunt got those stamps with her signature on it,” she stated.

      “I don’t know,” I said.

      “She got to, she a lawyer. I bet she do watch,” Denise said as she walked right out of the building.

      “Where are you going?” I asked, confused.

      “Man, that’s the last class of the day. I ain’t missing nothing, and I was on time. You actually rescued me from killing that man,” she somewhat thanked me.

      “You welcome, I guess,” I replied as we walked.

      I just knew this plan had to work: Stamp the permission slip, check. Turn it in, check. Sneak out the house—to be continued. Denise answered her phone with the quickness.

      “I don’t know how to sneak out,” I shrieked as I looked out my two-story window.

      “Girl, if you don’t throw yo stuff out that window, climb yo ass down that decorative ladder and hop yo ass on a bike. I’m gone cut you,” Denise said in a playful voice, but I knew she was serious. I tried to think of other options. I told her I wasn’t coming.

      “What! After all the shit we went through,” Denise pitched a bitch as she hung up the phone. What could I say, that I was still afraid of the dark? But for real, it was pitch black outside and the streetlights weren’t working for some reason. As I started to close my window, this incredible urge to jump came over me. It told me to jump. Jump, Lyric! So I did. I jumped in place. I laughed to myself. I turned around and sat on my bed. Then the feeling came back, and it told me to jump out the window now. I laughed to myself and lay down on my bed. All of a sudden, the feeling overpowered me, and it pulled me right into the closed window. Bam! “Fuck, my fucking nose. You little mother fucker.” As I was going off on the window as if it was its fault, I saw the light standing across the street, bright as the first day I saw it.

      Jason, I thought, and the light flashed off then reappeared farther down the street.

      With no hesitation I opened my window, threw my things out the window, then climbed down the ladder just like Denise informed me. But now my mind was nowhere near getting to school to make the trip. I was following Jason. The closer it seemed I was getting to him, the farther away he actually was. Stuck in my own world, I didn’t realize that the light had led me straight to the school where the buses were loading up for the long trip ahead. Well, at least I made it, I thought. Denise and Miles were happy to see me. I was happy I saw Jason.

      Being in Atlanta brought back memories—good memories and bad. It’s crazy how my good memories I can barely remember and the bad ones I can’t forget. Shopping was never my thing. Denise and Miles went crazy when we reached the underground mall until they realized there was nothing really in there.

      “Signs everywhere said ‘Renovations,’ knowing damn well this is how it looked on the regular,” Miles said as he pointed out certain things he didn’t like about the mall. I really didn’t care.

      I wandered off into a small shop that sold handmade jewelry. As I looked at the beautiful and different-colored jewelry, a gust of wind blew in. Where it came from I couldn’t tell you. No one was behind me, so I ignored it. A little old black lady came out the back of the shop, mumbling to herself. As I was about to ask her the price for a pair of her orange, yellow, and red dangling earrings, I got this strange feeling, the feeling that I got when the lady tried to take me away from my grandma’s house. It was an unsettling feeling. Then that feeling got overpowered by the unfamiliar yet familiar feeling every time I thought I saw Jay. I turned around one more time before I asked my question, and there he was, looking like a grown-ass man. I couldn’t see his face, yet still I started to walk closer to him. Out of the blue the little old lady interrupted my concentration.

      “Can I help you, my child?” she said while my back was turned to her. I didn’t want to take my eyes off him. I didn’t want him to disappear on me like he always did. I took the risk because the lady kept talking to me. I looked at her then looked back at him and he was still there. I felt safe.

      “Yes, I would like to know how much you would like for these earrings?” I asked, knowing I wasn’t paying over five dollars for them. I looked her in the eyes as I waited for a response.

      “Oh my!” she said as her eyes opened