Chapter Eight

Ariel wouldn't stop yawning throughout her whole time getting ready for school. Her and Ernest had stayed up really late talking about anything and everything.

Ernest said he was very unsure on what he wanted his career to be and Ariel explained how she'd love to be a surgeon. She loved the idea of saving a life with her own hands and she believed that she could achieve this despite the obstacles she knew she would face. If Dorthy Lavinia Brown can do it, so can Ariel Nicolette Smith.

Both Ariel and Ernest fell asleep on the phone pretty late, leaving both him and Ariel to lose a lot more sleep than planned. Ariel let out a long and large yawn as she started brushing her teeth.

"Ernest and I need to stop talking so late.." She grumbled with a toothbrush in her mouth and suds falling into the sink. After Ariel finished brushing her teeth, she walked back into her bedroom and sat on her bed which led to her laying down and led to her closing her eyes and listening to her own soft breathing.

"ARIEL NICOLETTE SMITH!" Ariel's heart pumped faster than normal as she jumped out of her sleep. She scanned her room and noticed her mother with furrowed brows and by the wrinkles that appeared on Ivory's forehead, she was genuinely annoyed. "Get up right now, you have school. Shoulda went to bed on time." Ariel let out another yawn before getting up and grabbing her things before going downstairs. Ariel looked at the breakfast her mother prepared and really thought about it.

She's really sleepy. Eating can either give her energy, or give her itis. She wasn't quite sure what to do. She was tired enough as is and it's not like she hadn't skipped breakfast before.

"I know that look, Ariel. Eat. You are not leaving this house hungry all day." Ariel nodded and sat down to eat her food without one word from her. "Good morning, Ariel." Her mother said.

"Morning." Was all Ariel replied with. Ivory shook her head.

"Now what in the world kept you up so late that you actually don't feel like talking?"

Ariel knew she couldn't possibly tell her mother that she was talking to a boy, a white boy at that.

"I was watching the stars. It was absolutely breathtaking. I wish you could have seen it." Ivory stared at Ariel in disbelief.

"If you were watching the stars, then why wasn't your window open? You always leave it open after stargazing because your hard headed ass always goes on the roof."

Uh oh, Ariel thought.

"Ariel, you betta not be sneaking off to that junkyard." Ivory warned.

"No momma, I'm not going out to the junkyard at night and I didn't go to the roof last night. I watched from my window. Honest." Ariel explained, but Ivory was just as suspicious.

"We gonna talk about this later. For now, let's get ready to go." Ivory said. Ariel and Ivory cleaned up their mess and left the house to go to school and work. Ivory dropped Ariel off at school and Ariel was immediately approached by Polly. Polly looked a little annoyed, but not necessarily at Ariel.

"Good morning, Polly. What's wrong?" Ariel asked.

"That Michael boy." Polly said. "I gave him my number to talk to me because I love making new friends and all, but he's such an idiot." Polly complained.

"What did he do?" Ariel asked.

"I called him to get to know more about him and his friend and all I got was 'uh, pretty, um wow, you're hot, I uh, duhhhhhh'" Polly said in a mocking tone, crossing her eyes and holding her tongue out. "So stupid." Polly said normally, making Ariel chuckle.

"Polly, I think he likes you." Ariel said.

"Think? I know he does, but there's two reasons why that isn't happening; one, he can't even hold a normal conversation, so how can we get to know each other? Two, he wouldn't even know what to do with someone so goddess-like. He's so scrawny. I need someone I know can carry me."

"Don't judge a book by its cover, Polly." Ariel said. "You won't know how much he can carry until you let him carry it."

"Guess I'll never know then." Polly said. "Anyways, he hung up at one point to call Ernest and his phone went right to a dial tone and I thought nothing of it. Until I tried to call you and your phone did the same exact thing." Ariel felt her face get warm as she knew exactly where Polly was going with this. "Ohhh. You and Ernest talked all night." Polly teased and poked Ariel's cheek.

"Oh, stop it." Ariel swatted Pollys' hand away. "We just have fun conversations. I sometimes talk to you all night and that doesn't make me a lesbian."

"But you said he's cute. That's got to mean something." Polly exasperated.

"Yes. It means I have twenty-twenty vision." I said, earning a glare from Polly. "Now come on, let's go to class." Ariel said.

"Fine, but this conversation will continue later." Polly and Ariel went to class with things going how they normally go; getting great grades on their assignments, people talking about homecoming and the game. Nothing was really different than normal.

"Ariel, we're going home this year." Polly said as they walked to the cafeteria.

"Polly, I can't go to homecoming. They always run out of tickets." Ariel explained.

"Yeah, when you try to purchase a ticket or any other Black person for that matter. It's so wack, Ariel. You deserve to have just as much fun as anyone else. So we're going to homecoming together. I heard the theme this year is Starfall ball. It's going to be so pretty and you can not wear your usual dresses." Polly said.

"Firstly, I never agreed to going. Secondly, what's wrong with my dress? I think it's pretty."

"Firstly, you never had a choice. Secondly, it's very pretty. Pastel purple is your color, but you need something different, that's all. You need to be able to come out of your comfort zone. Try something new." Ariel let out a sigh as she picked up her tray of food and walked to a table.

"Polly, I don't know.. I'll think about it, alright?" Polly rolled her eyes.

"Fine. Can you watch my food? I need to pee." Polly said and Ariel nodded as Polly got up and left. Polly walked to the principal office and knocked on the door.