Read Gettin' Hooked for Free Online Page B

to breathe, but my lungs were all seized up and burning.
    If they meant my Maurice, not that he was really mine—yet—that’d mean that he’d gone ahead and set up his profile like he said he was going to. Or maybe I was tripping. Last I checked he didn’t have a page yet, and there could be more than one Maurice at Creekside. Shit, as far as I know there could be a dozen.
    â€œSimms?” My voice cracked. I could hear it, but hoped like mad neither Chelsea nor Brie noticed. And hoped like hell she said no.
    Brie licked her lips. “Simms. Yeah, that him. Maurice Simms.” Fanning her face, she lounged back in her stiff plastic seat. “That boy smokin’ enough to get some of my treats.”
    Behind my eyes started to sting, and I knew that meant the possibility of tears. Blinking, I pushed the liquid away. Hell no, I wasn’t crying over a boy.
    Not even Maurice Simms.
    When my I was little, I used to cry over not having a momma. Gram would hold me, my cheek pressed against her shoulder as she stroked my soft, kinky hair. “You can cry over your momma, Imani,” she’d whispered, “but don’t never, ever cry ’bout a boy.” Gram’s words rang loudly in my conscience now.
    Swallowing twice, I tried to clear the lump in my dry throat, to shove away the nausea churning in my gut. I’d done this all for him; sold Kayla on the idea, spent enough homework hours building our site that my grades could suffer, dismissed checking out other boys. I’d done this all for the chance to have a prom night to remember.
    For the chance to be with Maurice.
    Now I could lose the chance because some trick offering up easily opened thighs was stalking his fine ass. Bopper, the girl was fo sho a bopper. Only a ho would be offering up sex before she’d even met the guy.
    â€œâ€¦him a message. See if he wants to hook up.”
    Getting my tripping behind together, I pulled my attention back to the conversation. I’d missed what Brie had been saying, only catching the tail end.
    â€œGirl, shoot, if he don’t want none of you, I’ll take ’im,” Chelsea said, making a show of licking her lips.
    Lawdy, I wanted out of here now. Away from the table, away from the leg-spreading bendas, out of the library. Done with the school day. I needed to check Maurice’s profile, and I needed to straight get ahold of Kayla and find out…I paused and took a deep breath as reality seeped in.
    Find out what from Kayla? She didn’t even know I had it bad for the brotha who lived across the street. And even though he’d driven me home and put his number in my phone didn’t mean anything more than he was a nice guy. Sure didn’t mean he was into me.
    I had no claim, so if he wanted to respond to the GettinHooked messages that were sure to flood his box, that was on him.
    â€œImani, did you hear Mikey Harper and that one Creekside girl, Shay Kline, hooked up already?” Chelsea asked.
    â€œI knew they were messaging. Whatcha mean by hooked up?”
    Brie giggled. “Doing the do.”
    â€œHow do you know?” I’d lost it, really. What was I doing sitting here gossiping with a couple of beezies? What I needed to do was get my American Government done right quick so I could spend the rest of the night matching up my profile to Maurice’s, just on the slight chance he’d pass up the offer of easy booty for me.
    â€œSaw ’em at Walgreens buying condoms.”
    My eyes got all wide in surprise. “Really?” Dayum…I guess GettinHooked was no joke. I laughed, even as I shook my head. “Guess my site works.”
    Through broken giggles, Brie said, “Fa’ sheezy, girl.”
    â€œHow come you don’t have a page?” Chelsea was watching me all close, her mouth twisted into a smirk.
    Something was up with the girl today, the attitude brimming right up to her eyeballs. She could be