Lovers & Haters by Calvin Slater Page A

anybody. Everybody who had a heartbeat underneath the roof of Coleman High was singing Xavier’s praise and holding him up as a hero. The real cool, hard-core dudes gave him dap and kept it moving. All the regular guys celebrated his thrashing of the two thugs by crowning him like he was Lil Wayne, or somebody. He even had teachers eating out of his hands.
    Xavier couldn’t go anywhere without folks treating him like he was some kind of superhero. And the chick attention was really getting out of control. Girls who wouldn’t normally give him the time of day were now clamoring to get a piece of the big man.
    Doug put eyes on Xavier in the lunchroom. The place was louder than normal from the buzz surrounding yesterday’s events. As usual, the cafeteria was crowded, threatening to explode with students at full capacity. It was also one of the main hangouts where students would go to dodge class. While making sure that everybody was in their right place by checking ID cards, Doug encountered Xavier. He was sitting at a table with a few of his fellow students.
    â€œGood work, Mr. Hunter,” he said, congratulating Xavier again by tipping a worn beige Carhartt cap. “If I don’t watch it, you’ll be coming for my job.”
    Xavier laughed. “No way. In case you didn’t know”—Xavier winked at Doug—“I’m a bit of a rule breaker. It would be like giving a prisoner the keys to the main gate.”
    â€œI know you are,” Doug came back. “Just because I know your old man, it doesn’t entitle you to a free pass. But you still come from good stock. Your father might’ve had his faults, but his heart was always in the right place. Don’t think I’m going to take my eye off you because of your good deed. I’ll bust your ass if I ever hear of you crossing the line.” Doug laughed, then winked at Xavier.
    â€œYou’ll grow hair back in that bald spot of yours before you catch me slipping,” Xavier joked. Every student within hearing distance burst out laughing.
    The respect was mutual between the two.
    Doug walked away shaking his head.
    â€œXavier, baby . . .” A girl named Eve Ross rolled on Xavier with her foolishness. “I’ve always had my eyes on you.”
    Eve was one of the hottest pieces in the school, and she’d never parted her mouth to speak a single word to Xavier. So he simply sat there and allowed the chick to rub her hands sensually across his chest and up over his broad shoulders.
    The rest of the students looked on in awe because Eve was the girlfriend of the forward on the Coleman High basketball team—Danny “Buckets” Sanford—and she was flirting with Xavier like her boyfriend would be okay with it. Eve batted her almond-shaped eyes at Xavier as she removed a black, felt-tip pen from her bag, lifted one of his hands, and wrote her number on the inside of his palm.
    â€œI will be expecting a call from you,” she purred.
    â€œI bet you will,” Cheese said. “Will you be including your boyfriend Danny in on a three-way?”
    Everybody at the table laughed.
    Cheese continued, “You’d better roll the hell out of here, Eve, before Danny catches you disrespecting him and pulls that little horsehair ponytail off your head.”
    â€œOohs” and “aahs” rained down from the students in the vicinity. Word was out all over school at how Eve got down behind the superstar’s back.
    â€œSweetheart, why don’t you gallop to the lunch aides over there in the serving line and tell those old, angry black women that you and your fellow Latino students plan to wage a protest if the school doesn’t get any soft shell tacos up in this piece.”
    Eve’s response drew a few chuckles, but in a school filled with diverse students, the majority of them thought that she was asking for trouble.
    â€œEve,” Xavier said, “you’re out