TODAY, WE HEAD TO MAINE

What?  Maine?  You know it!  Join me at mainewords, if you dare.  :)

Today's snippet is between Reggie and DeShawn.  The two met under less than ideal circumstances.  DeShawn had joined up with a bully at school to attack Reggie with water balloons.  He missed on purpose but still felt awful about it.  Here, he tries to make it up to Reggie:

She was so busy thinking about golden guns and gangsters that she hadn’t noticed DeShawn. She’d walked half a block before she’d finally picked up on the footsteps echoing her own. Reggie slipped off her backpack and spun around. “If you try to jump me, I will take out one of your eyes,” she said, raising her hands, her fingers curled into claws.

“I don’t want to jump you.”

“You’re following me though, right?”

“Just wanted to walk you to school.”

Reggie put her backpack back on. “Why?”

“‘Cause I wanted to.”

“I like walking by myself,” she said and headed towards school. His footsteps started again, but he didn’t attempt to catch up to her. She heard a rustling sound and turned around to peek back at him.

DeShawn was fumbling with his backpack. He pulled out a jelly donut wrapped in wax paper and held it out to her. “You can have this if you want. I brought it for you.”

The donut was bigger than his hand and was covered in powdered sugar. Red jelly dotted the top of the donut, a glistening glob of strawberry sweetness. Her mouth watered. She hadn’t had a bakery donut in over a year, but the last she’d eaten had been so incredibly sweet and tasty.

“I’m okay.”

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“No,” she said, but she couldn’t force her eyes away from the donut.

He took another step towards her, getting close enough for her to smell the fried dough and powdered sugar. “Go ahead. My mom got too many. I already had two.”

She saw her hand reaching for the donut before she even knew she was doing it. It was soft between her fingers. She unwrapped it and took a little bite. The donut was so tangy and sweet, it almost made her forget her breakfast of plain tuna fish. Reggie smiled through powdered lips. “Thank you.”

“No problem. Now can I walk you to school?”

“Okay.”

“How come you never talk?”

She shrugged her shoulders and kept chewing.

“I mean, most girls I know run off at the mouth all day. I can’t hardly get them to shut up.”

“Uh-huh,” she mumbled between bites.

Lunch didn’t seem so far away now. She was over halfway done, but the remaining donut still looked large in her hand. She licked a bit of jelly off her fingers and enjoyed how the salt from her hand mixed with the sugar from the jelly.

“So, you want me to?” he asked.

“What?”

DeShawn laughed. “Were you even listening?”

“No,” she said around a fresh bite.

“I said, I can walk you home if you want. I live a few buildings over from you.”

“No, thanks,” she said and popped the last bit of donut in her mouth.

“I don’t mind,” he said, smiling.

“I do.” She brushed her hands against her jeans, leaving a trail of white powder on her legs.

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