Just Say Hi by Sensi Ibraheem

March 23, 1981. 7:32 a.m. A child is born: 7 pounds, 3 ounces with silky black hair. The name is Antonio Montego. The 11th addition to the Montego family. He has 4 brothers: James, Xavier, Jai-Quan and Keyyon, and 4 sisters: Jahtera, Quandaii, Tayvonne, and Shamecca, previously living in the two bedroom apartment, plus his two parents. His mother is of African descent his father is Costa Rican. His early years are filled with rambunctiousness and unbridled adventure. He found it “fun” to climb to the top of objects around his home and place himself precariously before jumping off, as well as deciding to make dogs angry with him just to bite them back in return.


Although his early childhood was filled with adventure and bravery, he lacked these attributes when it came to getting friends, which earned him the name “late bloomer.” He didn’t truthfully achieve his first “friend” until the age of 7, and even though they gave each other the title of “friend” they did nothing but give each other comic books at their lunch period in school. At the age 13, life begins to change for Antonio. The majority of his siblings are now grown and out of the house, his body begins to change in mysterious ways, and the girls around him begin to look better and better. He is now what an average height person would call tall but what a tall person would call average. He has slight “peach fuzz” growing on his lip and has short, black wavy hair. It is his 16th year of life, yet his 10th grade year of high school.

His school, George Washington High, was the place of his torment. His own personal hell, if you will. The old bastille of a building has been standing since 1922, when it was built during a world war phase. Sometime between its being built and Antonio attending, scanners were added to the lobby, gates were put on the windows, locks on every door, and security around every corner. The staff behaved like wardens. You were told when to stand, sit, speak, and it seemed like breathe. He was confused as to howthis, his place of oppression, was supposed to be a place that he was supposed to enjoy getting up from beautiful dreams to go to every day. These seemingly safe halls were his Vietnamese jungle. The bestial children he encountered saw it as their personal responsibility to humiliate him for the other males of his species. That compounded with Antonio’s walking on a mine -field of words (where you say one wrong thing and it’s turned into a large escapade where it’s you versus the other person and you’re locked in a verbal death -match, solely because if you back down you lose credibility and respect in the eyes of your fellow soldiers).


His teachers, the proverbial executioners of the building seemed to stare at their new victims every year with bloodlust in their eyes, with some sort of foresight to the mind numbing studying every student would have to endure simply because there was, is, and will never be any other way to pass the class and get past that battle. One would think they would be straight up and tell the student that they had to study to move on, right? But, alas, no. Instead, they seemed to take pleasure in watching the students squirm and struggle trying to find shortcuts and ways around doing the extra review, like a private trying to find ways around his training.


Antonio ambles into his first period class on the first day of school. He notices that every object and person in the room seems to be considerably lack-luster. Void of all emotion and life, the colorful decorations on the walls might as well be black and white. No student seems to be even remotely interested in anything the teacher has to say to him or her about the New Year and the things that they will learn. Yet, he is suddenly awe- stricken. He has just seen what he believes to be the most gorgeous girl he’s ever laid eyes on. She’s 5’4,” slightly chubby, has long beautiful brown hair and hazel eyes, and as if the heavens themselves were emphasizing her beauty, the sun shines on her face making her eyes look golden and giving her skin a sort of glow.


She notices him staring and decides to acknowledge his existence with a flip of her hair accompanied by a smile and a wave of her godlike hand. Almost immediately, his knees go weak, his mouth gets dry, and all forms of a witty remark have abandoned him. He screams at himself inside his mind JUST SAY HI... JUST SAY HI.... He suddenly thinks back to his younger years where his venturesome ways came as second nature to him, yet now he has no type of gumption. Instead of the Indiana Jones type of remark he was planning, he has no response except for a feeble, nearly inaudible, “Hi.” and a continuing hand wave that goes on for much longer than it should have. He has no perception of what this overwhelming feeling is or why it’s affecting him in this way. He then reaches a sudden realization and grabs the student nearest to him, a short kid with horn-rimmed spectacles, who in turn looks at him and says:


“Hey! I don’t even know you!” to which, Antonio responds, almost inaudibly and more to himself than to the kid; “I’m in love…”






***










The next time he's graced with the presence of his goddess is in his 4th period class. He is shocked that he gets the chance to see her more than once a day and feels like being near her or even breathing the same air is a delicacy that can only be experienced once per day and he is somehow unworthy to be blessed with her angelic voice. He walks over and attempts to begin a conversation with her by simply standing there.






She says, "Hi... You're Anthony, right?" while flipping her hair to one side again. He shuffles uncomfortably on his feet and says,


"... Antonio. You were close though."


She motions for him to sit beside her with a nod of her head.


He hesitates, but eventually follows the suggestion. He tries to position himself into a "cool" sort of pose, but somehow just ends up in an awkward perch on the top of the seat of his chair. She giggles and covers her mouth with her hand.


"You shouldn't cover your smile... it's beautiful..." he whispers.


To this she responds, "Thank you," and begins blushing. He's horrified because he didn't expect her to hear him. He loses the focus of staying on his perch because he's focusing on the fact that she responded to his private worshipping of her smile, and falls into the chair, ejecting his book bag into the air with it eventually finding it's mark on his forehead all in one swift motion. He's disgusted by how maladroit he is. Yet, she finds him so immeasurably hilarious that she laughs so profusely to the point where her face turns red and the hand that was being previously used to cover her smile is now helping him move his book bag from his face.


He's surprised at how his incomparable follies are making her laugh so much. Every attempt he's made to make himself look cool has failed and he wonders if she's just laughing at him make a fool of himself. But then why would she tell him to sit with her? "Are you okay?" she asks with concern in her voice. "Yeah I'm fine." he responds, clamoring for something that would change the subject. "What did you say you're name was again?" He asks, "Allison." She responds not being able to recall whether she'd ever told him her name at all. He breathes a sigh of relief now that the subject of him being gawky has become antiquated. "So what other classes do you have?" Antonio asks while rubbing his forehead slightly. She responds, "Chemistry, AP History, Trigonometry, and Gym. Doesn't everyone have Gym though?"


"I don't know. There may be someone who doesn't have it."


"Oh, okay. And I have English, but I suppose you know that since you're sitting her with me." They share a laugh and Antonio is unsure of whether he laughs for too long and/or too loud, but it seems like he got it right.


A different girl walks over, taller and more streamline. In a few years she could possibly become a model, but her beauty pales in comparison to Allison in Antonio's eyes. "Allison why don't you want to sit with us?" the girl asks while moving her feet uncomfortably and avoiding eye contact with Antonio as if he will steal her soul if she looks at him. "Why can't you guys join me over here? I'm having a really good conversation with Antonio and I think you guys would like to join." He's surprised at how she stands up for him and the conversation they were having. "I think we're good over there." the girl says in a disapproving tone. "And we're good over here." Allison responds matter-of-factly. The girl walks away with the acknowledgement that her superior officer has spoken. "Thanks." Antonio says, "No problem. I hate when they try to alienate people like that, it's so rude." "Why didn't you go with them though? Not saying I want you to leave it's just...." He trails off until he finds the correct words to use. "Because I thought those were your friends." "They are my friends but now you're my friend too." He tries to conceal how excited he is to hear her use the term friend when referring to him. She notices that he likes the sound of the word and slightly blushes. He thinks she may like him but is unsure if it's a strict friendship like or a like like.






"Women are a mystery my good man." says Antonio's friend Jose while sharing a lunch with him. "They never tell you what they're thinking, you're supposed to 'figure it out'." He makes air quotations to Antonio while saying this and Antonio understands what he means. He's been wreaking havoc on his brain all day trying to wonder if Allison is interested in him or not. So far his deep thinking has yielded no results. He agrees to Jose's statement with a nod of his head followed by a sip of his juice.


"I think we're better off without them, man." Jose says in what he believes is his best "wise" voice.


"No, sorry but I'm not with you there man." Antonio says apprehensively, "I think it's the journey and mystery that makes it all worthwhile in the end when you get to have that person you've strived for so long," Antonio says.


"But what if you never get the person and you just have a journey to show for?" Jose almost spits back at him,


"If that's the case then you can always say that the destination is irrelevant as long as you enjoy the journey to get there."


"Who are you?" Jose asks incredulously realizing that this new infatuation with Allison is augmenting his best friend’s views.


Antonio decided that he would confront her about how he felt after school.


***






8th period comes... He's staring at the clock wishing that it would tick slower... As if denying his silent plea for more time, the bell rings. He gulps knowing that his time is now up. He sees her outside of the building, it seems as if she's waiting for him, as well. He walks up and attempts to initiate a conversation. "Uhhh… Hey" they say to each other simultaneously. "You go first." Allison insists. "No. Ladies first," Antonio suggests instead. She sighs heavily as if something large is bearing down on her. She starts her sentence hesitantly: "Do you know who Jose is?” Antonio’s heart plummets at this question. “Yeah, I do... He’s my best friend.”


“Oh… well I was wondering if you might want to talk to him for my friend, you see she really likes him and…” Antonio sees that she’s not talking about herself and nearly jumps for joy. “Sure! I can talk to him for her no problem!” He’s relieved at the fact that he’s not getting turned down. “Okay great!” Allison exhaled in a relieved tone. “Your turn.”


Antonio sighs a deep and heavy sigh and starts his speech. “Okay I really like you.” (He presumed Love was too strong a word to use for this conversation. Maybe he would tell her that when they were married.) “And I want to, like, take you to the movies or something like that just so we can get to know each other a little better.” He winces, expecting a harsh remark to his offer. “That sounds cool.” Allison says to him blushing and turning a vivid red. “Really?!” He says, almost immediately recognizing how excited he sounded and tries to sound indifferent. “I mean… Okay. Cool.” He tries once again to position himself in a “cool” stance but once again, to no avail, and he forgets the distance between him and the wall of the school building and falls. “I’ll help you up.” Allison suggests,


“Thanks. Can I walk you home?”


“Sure. I would like that,” Allison responds.


During the walk home with Allison, Antonio suddenly has an extreme burst of confidence and realizes… all he had to do to become friends with Allison, was just say “Hi.”