Having my fair share of fights only meant that I had had a few and that it was known that I would fight hard when I had to. It's something like going to a new school. There are those who are going to try you. And once you have proven yourself there's nothing to worry about. As far as weapons on campus, it wasn't about guns there, or knives for that matter. Brass knuckles, broom sticks, mop handles, 2x4's, and beer bottles too. But as beer wasn't supposed to be on campus those were not all that handy. I just recall a few people getting hit with them from time to time.
Tameka and I had been together for so long that just about everyone there knew we were together. And so it was known that she was off-limits. That's why out breakup was so odd and crazy. Bamm and I had went home on a weekend pass. Yeah, we still remained tight. And it was known around campus that he and I was real tight, in fact I think we had started telling people that we were cousins. So it was understood that we always had each other's back…
Anyway, when I returned to my dorm things seemed sort of out of line. Like there was something that everyone wanted to tell me but no one knew how to tell me. Finally Mike asked me if Tameka and I had broken up. That's when I found out that she had spent the whole weekend hanging out with one of my so-called friends. So I headed to her dorm to see what was up. And just as I got on the road to her dorm I saw them both coming my way. Noticing me by my walk Tameka stepped up her speed to meet me while (let's call him Jay) Jay hung in the background. I asked her what the deal was and she explained that since I was gone all weekend Jay had spent time with her to keep her company. Yeah, okay, I'm supposed to buy this when he's showing signs of guilt by hanging in the background, not even feeling comfortable enough about the situation to come and talk to me. I read the signs and took them for what they were and told them both they could have each other. Tameka almost tore my clothes trying to get me to stop and listen to her as she tried to convince me that there wasn't anything between them, but I wasn't trying to hear it. Plus I felt disrespected. Maybe on her part there wasn't anything, but I could tell that Jay wanted her and the proof came when she tried to make me jealous by continuing to hang out with him. If there wasn't anything, then being my friend he shouldn't have continued to spend time with her. And when her attempt to make me jealous didn't work, Tameka threw all kinds of temper tampers. We never got back together as boyfriend-girlfriend, but we got back to being friends and ended up messing around. Come to find out she wasn't lying about Jay and herself, she was still a virgin.
I was to learn some more about friends and cheating and all of that in the year to come. By this time I was with Tonya. We had been together for a good while. So like Tameka, it was known around campus that we were together…One day while out in front of Tonya's dorm with her, I asked Tonya about a certain girl that was walking by. And then Tonya told me her name I called her over. Rita had told me a day or two before that she had something she wanted to talk to me about. So I called her over to find out what it was she wanted. She told me she would tell me later and walked off…
When she left, Tameka told me that she didn't want me talking to Rita, but she didn't explain why. So I let it go thinking nothing of it. And Tanya and I went back to talking and playing around. As I said, everyone knows how I feel about my caps, and Tonya messed around and took mine off my head. She was known to want to wear my caps when we was together. So I really didn't think nothing of it when she took it. But then she went to threatening me that she was going to drop it in some water. And she did!!! I caught it before it could soak up too much water and took off after her, but she had a nice head start on me and beat me to her dorm. Mad, I went back to my dorm to clean my cap and hang it to dry. Got me another cap, and seeing me about to leave a frew of my friends came with me. We was on our way to the pool hall as it was a Saturday and nothing to do. But since Tonya's dorm was en route to the pool hall, I stopped by to see what she was up to, plus I was looking for a little payback. But by that time she couldn't leave her dorm as she had to stay in for extra detail work. I told her that I'd be going to the pool hall, and that I'd stop back by a little later…Just so happens Rita and her boyfriend was close by and heard me tell Tonya where I was headed; I was thinking by this time that something might be up. So when we got halfway down the street I looked back and sure enough Rita and her boyfriend were coming down the street too. When I got to the pool hall, I hung around in an area where I usually didn't, but I wanted to have a chance to talk to Rita alone to see what was on her mind. So when she came in, her boyfriend went off to meet his friends and she came over to talk to me. I asked her what was on her mind and she told me that she couldn't say anything in front of Tonya because she wanted to tell me that she liked me. Okay, so that's the play. I told her that I'd talk to her later, and went to the movie room. Soon after she came in with her boyfriend and sat right in front of me and my friends. I don't know if she was trying to keep an eye on me or what, but I wanted to find out. So once the movie was over my potna'z and I took off through the back door. And once down the street I told my potna'z what the deal was and had them check for me to see if Rita and her boyfriend was following, and sure enough she was coming…
I went to see Tonya while my potna'z chilled out to wait for me. By this time we had made up, and was making plans to go to the dance that night. She'd go with her friends and I'd show up with my friends. In the meantime, I told her that I was going to head to the store, and then on to the infirmary as I wanted to go check up on a friend of mine who had gotten hurt real bad in a riot the week before.
Now when I looked behind me on the way to the store, Rita was there, but she wasn't with her boyfriend now. She was with one of my potna'z sister Twitty…I waited for her in the store and told Rita that if she wanted to find me that I'd be at the infirmary. So she went back to her dorm with Twitty, but then showed up at the infirmary a little later where we ended up messing around…
I was a little late to the dance, and when I got there I was rusged by Tonya's friends telling me that she was at security. I didn't dance back in those days. You know, I was too cool for all that dancing. I was the one you'd see standing on the walls just chillin', watching the scene. But Tonya, she loved to dance, so I didn't mind her dancing with anyone just as long as when the slow jams came out she came to me…
So she was on the dance floor with this one guy, and dude got a little close and caught a knee hard in the groin, so hard he had to go to the infirmary, and security wanted to know what happened. However I didn't know about his role in the whole deal at the time. And him having gotten my girl in trouble called me to get with him. Everyone was out looking for a fight and I felt like giving them one. But when I stepped to ol' boy he explained for me that he hadn't meant to get her in any trouble (which would make him a snitch) so I took him at his word and let it all go…
A few days later while walking to the chow hall with two girls from my class, Tonya approached and asked me what I was doing being seen with Rita. I forget what I told her but we broke up without her knowing about the scene at the infirmary. That very same day though when I made it back to the dorm there was a message for me that I needed to go to Tonya's dorm or she would destroy all of my photos that I had given her. Bamm and I had taken some real tight photos before we went to Job Corps, and those are the ones she had. Anyway, when I made it to her dorm I found out that she knew everything…Her words to me were that I needed to watch my friends. As it turned out, Mike had went and told her everything. When I got back to the dorm Mike couldn't even look at me. I asked him why he had done that to me, and he told me that he didn't know that she wasn't aware of what happened at the infirmary and that they was just talking about me and he let it slip. I knew better than to buy that and I cut him off. Those that smile in your face are not always your friends. It would take me a while to get that into my thick skull…
How time flies when you are not paying attention…Six months I had been there already, and things between my trade instructor and I had gotten to a bad point. I don't know if he was just disappointed with me or frustrated that they couldn't get my attention. Little did they know they had gotten my attention, and there I was once again looking at my life, knowing that I needed to try to make some strides in class. If I would only focus in class as much as I did when spending time with my girlfriend or playing a basketball game, then I wouldn't have had any problems…I started to regain my focus in the class. But with the tensions between my instructor and I (egos are a mutha!), I didn't want to be around him anymore. So I put in for a trade change.
This time it was Diesel Mechanics, another two year trade. But I knew that if I put it in my mind I could do it in 18 months…At least that was my plan. Within the first few weeks I moved all the way up to Shop Supervisor. I could take a working diesel motor apart, put it back together and turn it on in a day! But it was the paperwork that got me. I didn't want to focus on studying and passing the test anymore. And this time, I don't think it was the lure of what I'd be doing after class that took my mind away from the class. There wasn't much to be done there that I hadn't already done. I think I found myself bored with the class.
