When Hakeem finished his sandwich, he picked up his guitar and started playing. It seemed when he sang and played, his shyness disappeared, but he never met Darcy’s admiring gaze. He sang lyrics he made up himself.

You’re starting to sound like bad

dreams,

The ones that’ve tangled my mind,

I’m starting to be fearful of

darkness,

Seems like you come back all the

time.

Darcy thought Hakeem was too fine for words. When he finished his song, at last he looked right at her, but then Darcy looked away. She was as shy as he was!

Yet, listening to Hakeem’s song, Darcy almost felt she could tell him anything, even things about her family. In all the time she was at Bluford High, Darcy had never talked to anyone, not even Brisana, about her father and the hurt he had caused. Brisana’s father was a bank official. Once, he was out of work for several months, and Brisana was so embarrassed she did not tell Darcy. Darcy found out from someone else. Brisana’s mother was a clothes buyer for a pricey department store. Soon Brisana’s family would have enough money to leave this neighborhood. Brisana could go to a better school, one where just about everybody was a “ten. ”

Darcy had been ashamed to talk about her vanished father. Nothing truly awful ever happened in Brisana’s life. It happened only among the “low-life” people. In their world, fathers ran away, people drank too much, there was poverty. Darcy had hidden her pain from Brisana so Brisana would not think she was a “low-life” too. But Darcy ached to talk, really talk with a friend about how bad she felt.

After school, Darcy found Tarah shooting baskets in the court behind the gym. Mom did not have to go to work as early today, so Darcy did not need to rush home. “Hi, Tarah. You like basketball?” Darcy asked, sitting down on a bench.

“Yeah. Who knows, maybe it’ll be my ticket to college one of these days. Sure beats flippin’ burgers. ” Darcy looked at her with surprise. “I know what you’re thinkin’,” Tarah said as she expertly dribbled the ball. “I’m too fat. But the way I see it, that can change. Coach Williams says I have potential,” she stated with obvious pride.

“Girl, you go for it,” Darcy said. “My Grandma always says, ‘Jump at the sun, and you might just catch a star. ’” The two girls smiled at each other and sat on a nearby bench. It was October, but it was hot that afternoon. Soon the temperatures would cool, perhaps suddenly. But right now it was even warm in the shade.