First Round Lottery Pick by Franklin White Page B

player. Why would L wanna put his business in jeopardy to mess with you anyway? Tell me that. We might as well get back to this party.”
    Toy looked around and smiled. He must have counted the numbers. I had way too many people up in there who would have stomped his drunk butt if he started beef. He stumbled to his seat with some girl he was with. I then whispered in Jalen’s ear to come out to the car in about and hour, so we could get out of there and go home.
    It took us longer than usual to have sex. Katrina, for some reason, wanted to have unprotected sex. I wasn’t feeling that and told her I was going to put on a condom, if we were having sex at all. She was upset with my decision, which was strange, because condoms had always been the rule with her.
    When we were finished and sitting in the backseat, waiting for Jalen to come out, Katrina said in the darkness, “Did you like that, L ?”
    â€œYeah, it was cool.” I was paying extra attention in the darkness to see if Jalen was on the way out while she put on her clothes.
    â€œSo when am I gonna see you again?”
    â€œI don’t know. I have a lot of things I need to do before I leave.”
    â€œWell, you goin’ to send for me to come see you, right?”
    A gang of peeps came out the house, and I tried to focus through the darkness to see if Jalen was one of them.
    â€œI don’t know. I mean, I doubt it, Katrina. This right here might be the last time we get the chance to hang out.”
    Putting on her shirt, Katrina said, “What you mean by that? Last chance?”
    â€œI’m saying, it’s just time I move on with my life.”
    â€œAnd what? You’re not going to see me anymore?”
    â€œHow can I do that when I won’t even be here? Plus” I stopped telling her what was on my mind because I didn’t like the look on her face.
    â€œPlus what?” She hit me on the arm. “Plus what?”
    â€œI’m getting married. I’m taking Tori with me, and we’re getting married.”
    Katrina smacked me across the face. “Married?”
    I grabbed her hand. “You better watch yourself.”
    â€œWhat the hell you talking about getting married, Langston? I mean, you treating me like a ho or something.”
    â€œWhat’s your problem?”
    â€œMy problem is that you just wanna run in and out of me like you own me or something then throw me away like yesterday’s garbage.”
    â€œLook, I don’t know what you want. All we been doing is hanging out and having sex. Katrina, you have never been my girl, so I don’t know what your beef is.”
    She said, “You know what?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œThat stuff Toy said about you in there is true. You don’t care about nobody but yourself.”
    â€œYeah, right. Nobody tells me how to run my life, or who I can or can’t be with.”
    â€œI don’t know why you wanna be with that bitch Tori for anyway? Everybody know you ain’t getting none.”
    I got out the car then looked back in the seat at her. “Maybe that’s the reason why.”

Chapter Eleven
    Tears in the Ghetto
    Things started to move hella fast and I had no choice other than to take everything in stride or just freak out under all the pressure everybody was starting to put on me. I had a few interviews with major sports writers back to back to back. After that, a rep from a sports agency called and asked if I would keep them in mind after giving me his two-hour spiel. One hundred and twenty minutes was a long time, but I respected this guy and his agency because they weren’t like Toy, pushy and stressing me to sign for all the wrong reasons. I was sure I was going to get picked up overseas, but I passed on the agency because I wanted to keep the last option of going to college in the bag.
    I went to work out at three, and when I finished, I went over Tori’s to let her mother know I was