"No problem. Anytime," he said. "Let's head back to the house. I don't want your mother thinking that I kidnapped you." As we walked back toward my house, I felt happier than I had in days. Worrying about what Vance was doing while away at college was a full-time job...and an exhausting one. And I was too young to be worried or exhausted.

seventeen.

Vance Mr. Bishop waited patiently for me at the kitchen table, a look of disgust on his face.

"Have a seat, son," he said and motioned for me to take the seat across the table from him.

"Yes, sir," I said nervously. "I'm sorry about the misunderstanding earlier. I was just coming in to say good-night to Lexi and..."

"Forget about it, son," he said. "Talk to me about your future. I know that you're attending that university down there in Louisiana on a basketball scholarship, but what is it that you're studying? You know that basketball will only take you so far. You got to have some other things under your belt. Do you have a plan?"

"I'm planning to go to law school, sir. My mother is a lawyer and I want to follow in her footsteps."

"That's a good career choice. Lots of money to be made, although most of the lawyers I know are liars and cheaters...but hey, everybody can't be honest."

I didn't know what to say about that comment, so I didn't say anything. My mother was a lawyer and she wasn't a liar or a cheater. I just kept quiet and listened as he rambled on about his lying lawyer friends.

"You ain't got no kids, do you?" he asked.

I hesitated for a moment. I wasn't ready to admit that I had a baby on the way, especially since I hadn't even told Lexi. "No, sir, I don't."

Technically it wasn't a lie, since...at the moment, I didn't have any kids. The baby wasn't born yet, so therefore I wasn't anybody's father-just yet. Not to mention, the longer I stayed away from Georgia, the less true it seemed. I'd found the reality easier to cope with since I was in another state. In another state I could be who or whatever I wanted to be. I could recreate myself and no one would ever know. If I decided that I didn't really have a baby on the way, then it wasn't true. If I decided that I didn't have a girlfriend waiting for me back home, then it wasn't true. So tonight, it wasn't true.

"That's good, son," Mr. Bishop said matter-of-factly. "Kids nowadays are having kids left and right and they're too doggone young to be parents, in my opinion...."

I was silent. Didn't agree. Didn't disagree.

"Just so you know, my daughter has hopes and dreams for a bright future. She intends to finish college and have a successful career before she even thinks about having children. Furthermore, she will be married first. She can't afford to be careless," he said, and I knew where this conversation was going. "Mistakes can't be reversed. You understand what I'm saying to you, son?"

"Yes, sir," I said.

"Good. I'm glad we have an understanding. Now I want you to go into that guest room and get yourself a good night's sleep. And in the morning, I want you and your friend out of my house."

"Okay."

He stood, tightened the belt on his robe.

"Good night, son."

"Good night, Mr. Bishop."

He headed down the hallway. I stood slowly; dropped my head. I was embarrassed. Not to mention I felt guilty about lying to Lexi's father. It hurt to know that I was that dude that he was protecting his daughter from. I was that person who was too young to already have his girlfriend pregnant in Atlanta. I felt ashamed. Wished I could go back to that night; change it. Even though Tameka and I had been careful, we were still living with the consequences of our actions. And for that we would pay for the rest of our lives.

Lying there in the guest bedroom, staring at the ceiling, I thought about my future. I knew that dating a girl like Lexi was out of my reach. She didn't need a guy like me in her life. She deserved someone whose future didn't include changing diapers and warming formula on top of a hot stove. And Tameka deserved a better boyfriend than the one I had been to her. I had been treating her badly and acting as if she didn't even exist. As long as I didn't have to look at her huge stomach and listen to her stories about swollen ankles and being tired all the time, then her pregnancy wasn't real to me. I could do whatever I wanted to do. Nobody in Grambling, Louisiana, knew that I was a father-to-be. But as I lay there, I knew that I needed to change all that. Tameka deserved more, and my plan was to call and let her know just as soon as I got back on campus.

The next morning, I wasn't interested in the country breakfast that Kat had laid out for us-scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns, fluffy pancakes, grits and orange juice. It looked good, but I'd lost my appetite after last night's fiasco. I wanted to get back to campus as soon as possible. Unfortunately I had to wait for Lexi, Jessie and Jaylen to scarf down as much food as their stomachs could hold before we finally piled into Jessie's car. I was quiet on the drive back to campus as Jessie and Lexi ran their mouths the entire way. Every now and then Jaylen would jump into the conversation. But as far as I was concerned, I had too much on my mind for small talk. Mr. Bishop had definitely given me some things to think about.

When we pulled into the school's parking lot, I hopped out of the car, grabbed my bag from the back of the car, told everyone goodbye and headed toward my dorm. Lexi hopped out and rushed to catch up to me.

"Wait up, Vance," she said. "Aren't you gonna walk me to my dorm?"

"I'm kind of tired. Just trying to get to my room and relax a little bit. Got class tomorrow. I just need a little space. Is that cool?" I didn't give her a chance to respond before I said, "I'll call you later."

"Okay," she said. "Are you hungry? Because you didn't eat anything for breakfast. You want me to go grab you something?"

"Nah, I'm all right. Not hungry."

"And you don't want any company?"

"Just wanna be alone for a while."

"I'm sorry about what my little brother, Zach, did. He can be so stupid sometimes. You forgive me?"

"It's not you, Lexi...or Zach or anything like that. I just need some space, okay?"

"All right," she said reluctantly. "Call me when you feel like talking."

She turned to walk away and then began to jog toward her building. Her feelings were hurt but I couldn't worry about that. I had other things on my mind and I needed to be left alone.

Once inside my dormitory, I collapsed onto my bed. Eyes staring at the ceiling, I tossed a basketball into the air. Jaylen walked in and dropped his gym bag onto the floor.

"What's up with you, man? I'm really starting to worry about you. You didn't say two words all the way home." He placed the back of his hand on to my forehead. "Are you sick?"

"Just got a lot on my head, man. I'm seventeen and about to become a father. And I didn't really realize how huge that was until my conversation last night with Mr. Bishop."

"You told Lexi's father about the baby?"

"Of course not," I said. "But it was almost like he knew...like he could see through me or something."

"Did he threaten to kill you?"

"Just to break my legs." We both laughed.

"What's on your mind then?"

"I gotta make things right with Tameka. I have to step up to the plate and do the right thing by her."

"Well, you know it's a frat party going on tonight. Can you make things right with her in the morning...after the party?"

I knew that the right thing to do was say no. I had no business thinking about a party when I had other worries going on. But curiosity had me in a headlock and wouldn't let go. I felt guilty about wanting to know the details of the party, but asked anyway, "Who's throwing it?"

"The twins, Sheila and Sherry. Those two beautiful vanilla-colored girls with the voluptuous...um..." He made a motion with his hands like he was cupping a set of breasts. "Where you been? That's all we talked about on the drive home. Weren't you listening?"

"Not at all. My mind was somewhere else."

"Well, we have to go. At least show our faces." He grinned. "There will be girls, girls and more girls. You know that, right?"

I nodded a yes.

"Cool. Then we're going, right?"

"Can't miss it," I said.

"I'm hitting the showers then." He pulled his T-shirt over his head and then headed toward the showers.

I sat on the edge of my bed-wondered if my Boston Celtics jersey was clean because I had plans for it. Whatever I was feeling at Lexi's parents' house and on the way home was slowly fading away. It wasn't anything that a hot party couldn't fix.

As loud music rang in my ears, soft, skinny arms wrapped themselves around me from behind. A sweet voice whispered in my ear, "Hey, Vance."

I turned to find a set of pretty brown eyes looking square into mine. The cute little dimple doing a dance on her cheek. I hadn't seen Shay since Jaylen and I first stepped on campus; since the day that she and her girlfriend, Kim, had invited us to a party. I had hopes of seeing her at the party that night, but there were so many people there. Looking for her would've been like looking for a needle in a haystack.

"What's up, girl?" I took a glance around the room just to make sure that Lexi wasn't somewhere watching as some girl wrapped her arms around me. Lexi and I weren't officially committed but I liked her. Didn't want her feelings to be hurt over someone I barely knew.

"Nothing's up. Where you been hiding?" she asked. "I've been hoping to bump into you somewhere."

"Well, you haven't been looking very hard. I play ball, remember?"

"That's true," she said.

When the deejay slowed the music down, we both started rocking to the music.

"You wanna dance?" I asked her. It seemed only natural to ask her to dance, considering we were both swaying already and the song was nice.

"Yeah," she said and followed me to the dance floor.

My arms around her waist and hers around my neck, we talked about meaningless things like school and whether or not I was adjusting to college life. It was hard to focus when her cologne was intoxicating me; it made me want to pull her closer but I remained a gentleman. When the conversation changed to a more personal one, I knew that Shay was interested in a lot more than dancing.

"Truthfully, I've been watching you practice just about every day, Vance. Hoping that you would notice me up there in the stands checking out your game," she admitted.

"I didn't know you were up there." I blushed. "Why didn't you holler at me or something?"

"Because I'm not used to hollering at guys. I'm used to guys hollering at me," she said.

"But if you see something you're interested in, why wouldn't you let somebody know?" I asked.

"I don't know. I guess I'm letting you know now...that I'm interested. What you got to say about that?" she asked.

"I say...that's nice," I said.

"A friend of mine has an apartment not far from here. It's empty tonight. I can take you there and show you just how interested I am."

"Um..." I took a glance around the room again, in search of those beautiful eyes that belonged to Lexi. She was nowhere to be found and a pretty girl wanted to show me how interested she was in me. "Okay. You got a car?"

"We don't really need a car...that is, if you don't mind walking."

"I can walk."

"Cool. Let's go."

On the way toward the door, I spotted Jaylen who had already started a conversation with Shay's friend, Kim. They were sipping from cups filled with something when I approached. Shay pulled Kim aside and obviously ran our plans down to her. I leaned in closer to Jaylen, just to give him an update as well.

Before I knew it, I was strolling down a dark unpaved road, headed for whatever adventure the night had in store for me.

eighteen.

Marcus I sat in the common area of our dorm suite, iPod in hand and earbuds inside of my ears. My African American studies book open, I tried to focus while taking notes. The television was tuned to the news as Jae ferociously took notes in a spiral notebook, Paul listened intently to the newscaster on television, Chris argued loudly with someone on his cell phone and Derrick played a game on his PSP.

He looked up at me. "So what's up with the girl, Marcus? Daria?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know, man."

"I thought you were gonna hook me up." His eyes were steady on his game. "What happened to that?"

"What made you think that Marcus was going to hook you up with her? It's obvious he wants her for himself." Paul smiled.

"Marcus can't be interested in her," Chris said. "He has a girlfriend in...what's the name of that city in the middle of Atlanta's ghetto, Marcus?"

"Is he talking to me?" I asked, offended that he was referring to my neighborhood as the ghetto.

"Marcus is from College Park, Georgia," Paul interjected.

"Yeah," Chris said. "That's where his girlfriend lives."

"Marcus's girlfriend, Indigo, is very beautiful," Jae said. "I saw her picture."

"How would she feel if she knew you were running around campus with another girl, Marcus?" Chris asked. "Better yet, how would you feel if she hooked up with someone else back there in...College Park?"

"First of all, me and Daria are just friends."

"Marcus, it's Daria and I." Paul corrected my bad English.

"Yeah, Daria and I are just friends. Not that it's any of your business anyway," I said to Chris. "And secondly, I trust my girl and she trusts me."