Fair-Weather Friends by Reshonda Tate Billingsley Page B

somebody or something.”
    â€œBoy, what do you want?” I rolled my eyes as I continued to fight back my smile. I didn’t want him to think he was getting to me.
    â€œI keep telling you I want you.” He moved closer to me. “I want you to be my girl.”
    My eyes grew wide. C. J. flirted with me all the time, but he had never laid it out on the table like that. “Boy, please,” I managed to say after I gathered my composure. I stepped around him and headed toward the double doors that led out to the front of the school. I was hooking up with Camille and Alexis to head straight to our Good Girlz meeting. We’d tried to see if Angel wanted to catch a ride but she still wasn’t talking to any of us. Although I couldn’t for the life of me understand why she was mad at me. And Tameka was nowhere to be found. She probably was off shining Tori’s shoes.
    â€œI’m serious,” C. J. said, running to catch up with me. “We’ve been playing games since we first met.”
    â€œYou might’ve been playing games, but I wasn’t.” I kept marching across the grassy area at the front of the campus. I don’t know why I couldn’t stop and hear him out because quiet as it was kept, I was really starting to feel him.
    C. J. grabbed my arm and stopped me. “We both were playing games.”
    I snatched my arm away. “Really,
we
weren’t. Or at least I wasn’t. I
really
didn’t like you. You were a jerk with a capital J.”
    C. J. smiled and held up one finger. “Aha!”
    â€œAha what?”
    â€œYou said, ‘
didn’t
like you.’ As in past tense.” He stepped closer to me again. I could smell his Cool Water cologne. I loved Cool Water. My brother wore it all the time. Only his didn’t smell as good as C. J.’s because he was always putting on too much.
    â€œSo, tell the truth, Jasmine.” He gently ran his hand down the side of my cheek. “You like me now.”
    I swear to God, I wanted to jerk away from him. Turn up my lips, roll my eyes, suck my teeth, anything to let him know he was crazy. But it was like my brain wasn’t sending the message to my body. In fact, I actually felt goose bumps popping up.
    C. J. didn’t give me time to shake myself out of my trance. He leaned in and kissed me lightly on the mouth,letting his tongue peek out just a little bit to dance around the edge of my lips.
    He leaned back and licked his lips. “Mmm, cherry lip gloss. My favorite.” He stared into my eyes, like he was looking through to my soul. Dang! I took a deep breath. That so sounded like some sappy mess Camille would say.
    C. J. took my hand. “Jasmine, I know I was a jerk, with a capital J,” he said with a smile. “But that’s because I was a boy who didn’t know how to let you know I thought you were so fine. But I’m a man now. And I am totally feeling you. And I’m stepping to you the right way.” He paused. “You think about that. I want you to be my girl. And I’m not gon’ rest until I have you.”
    He leaned in and quickly kissed me on the lips again, before dropping my hand. He pulled out a folded-up piece of paper, then pushed it down in my jeans pocket. “Here’s my number. Call me.” He walked off before I could will my vocal cords to work again.
    â€œOh. My. God!”
    Alexis’ voice startled me out of my trance. She and Camille were standing right behind me. I hadn’t even noticed them walk up. Both of their mouths were wide open.
    â€œThat was some Rico Suave stuff!” Camille gasped.
    I shook my head, finally coming to my senses. “Whatever,” I replied. I definitely was not about to let them see me swooning over C. J. of all people.
    â€œWas that nerdy C. J.?” Camille asked.
    Alexis leaned to the side and watched C. J. get into his souped-up black Toyota Camry. “Girl,