Broken, Navaura Campbell [top young adult novels txt] 📗

shrugged her shoulders, feeling the tears burn in her eyes, “Tim,” She whispered. “What’s wrong with the way I dress? I wear jeans and a t shirt too.”

Timothy smiled, “More often than not you wear long skirts that don’t go above your knees. You wear no make up and the shirts you wear, let’s say they are a bit out of date.”

Kalen smiled up at her big brother. “What are you trying to say?”

He held his hand up in a truce, “Nothing, just that I love you the way you are.”

“Long skirts and all?” She whispered.

“Yep, long skirts, nappy hair and no make up and out of date shirts. I love you because it’s you.”

Kalen laughed, “Aww, thank you.”

“However, I have to ask why you always wear your hair platted in those same two french braids. I mean, you have been wearing french braids since we first met.” As Timothy looked down at her, he recalled how they’d first met when he was thirteen and she was ten. She’d been wearing two french braids like the ones she wore now and jeans, a disney princess T-shirt and a pair of keds. When he first saw her, he thought she was cute until she opened her mouth, then she became annoying, always wanting him to talk to her and spend time with her. He remembered how at one point he found himself hiding from her. It was strange because he’d be rude and disrespectful to the Rawsins, his adoptive family and she would always chastise him for it, so he not only stayed in trouble with the Rawsins, but he was always reprimanded by Kalen. She was just ten years old, scrawny and seemed to have more wisdom than he’d had being her senior. He tried telling her that she had to listen to him but she just gave him a roll of her eyes and said, “What for? You’re just gonna get me in trouble.”

Timothy remembered the laugh that had racked his body so hard that he couldn’t stop laughing for days after that. It was then he admitted to himself that he liked this tiny girl with a bold flair for the truth. She was so honest and smart that it had tripped him out then. Now he’d watched her bloom into an oracle for the Lord. When she spoke she brought conviction with her words. She knew her bible, since she was always reading and she had such a bold stance on confrontation. This young lady was not afraid of anyone and she was so sure in her heart of what was right and what was wrong that it blew him away. He owed her a lot of thanks for strengthening him over the years. She’d been his rock, until a year and a half ago, when he decided to get serious about the Lord himself. He never thought that he’d have the fire he had today within a year and a half of being saved. It made him feel good to know that he was serving the Lord with all his might. He couldn’t think of anything better. A brief pick up in the wind, brought something sweet and flowery scented to his nostrils. He felt the speed of his heart beat pick up, the pounding began in his ears. He closed his eyes and exhaled sharply, trying to still the thundering of his pulse. Opening his eyes, he whispered, “Why me Lord?”

Walking in front of them, already on the next block, Tamarah and her best friend Vanessa were walking arm and arm talking discreetly about something. He found his eyes roaming up and down the back of her body. His mind started to go on a trip of it’s own. He felt the tingling that began in his body as he scoped out that beautiful slender chocolate neck of hers, made even more alluring by the bun she wrapped her hair in between the last time he’d spoken to her and him seeing her now. He couldn’t wrap his head around how someone as young as she was could look as beautiful and tempting as she did. Her slender frame was so perfect and contoured in such a way that he couldn’t help but thank God for having made someone as perfect as her. His gaze wondered over wide hips and over her jean clad bottom.

“If one eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. For it’s better to go into heaven with one eye than to have your whole body cast into fire.” Those words caused Timothy’s skin to turn so many shades of red that he looked over at his younger sister. “I wasn’t doing nothing.”

“But you were thinking it.”

He stared over at her. “There is no harm in thinking.”

“The devil is a lie.” She stated, her tone breaking off into laughter. “Don’t make me rebuke you Timothy Rawsin."

Timothy laughed at her, “Alright Ms. Rawsin. I can’t wait til the day you see talk dark and handsome. I would love to see how many scriptures come flooding in your mind then.” He stated.

Kalen laughed, “I hope to God it won’t be anything like how you stare at Tamarah.”

Timothy cleared his throat, his eyes going back to her. “Cut me some slack K.”

“I’ll cut you some slack when you start acting normal. I swear, since you first saw that girl, you have been weird. As a matter of fact, she’s the one girl I notice you will absolutely not allow yourself to get close to. You’d talk to any girl before you would her. By now, Tamarah and her friend were two blocks ahead of them and turning off one of the side streets. “It’s because that girl is the epitome of perfection for me and I try Kalen. I try so hard to obey God, but the more I see her, the more I want her and it’s driving me crazy.”

Kalen laughed, “I suppose it’s a good thing that you only have to see her in school then.”

Timothy cleared his throat, “As of this morning, she and I are assigned partners for a big English assignment that we have.”

“You need me to intervene on your behalf?”

“With some luck, we can just do our separate parts of the project and then put them together the day they are due. Breaking our communication down to a minimum.”

Kalen laughed, “Really? What if God wanted her in your life?”

Timothy laughed. “Not after that party, at-least not according to the gossip grape vine.”

“What do you mean?”

Inhaling sharply, he explained to Kalen what he had heard between Athena Longfort and Draneice O’Neil the afternoon during their lab class. The good thing about not being with the in crowd was that Timothy and Kalen knew what was going on in the school better than most people because they weren’t so wrapped up in the drama. The thing was they’d always said they would never discuss what they heard with anyone, just take it to the alter, in a way, protecting the people at school. However, there was sometimes when they found it so unbelievable that they discussed it themselves and usually thanked God even more that they weren’t involved, but this time, as Timothy spoke, he felt a deep sorrow overtake him. He knew that Tamarah and Tommy could not stand each other. That was known everywhere, and should this tad bit of information get to Vanessa it could destroy their friendship. After he finished telling her what he heard, Kalen glanced up at him, “And you still like this girl?”

Timothy cleared his throat. “It’s not like that with them Kalen, you know that.”

“Yeah, but that’s her best friend. I don’t see how anyone could do that to their bestfriend.”

Timothy shrugged, “They were drinking. You know how people get when they drink.”

Kalen shook her head, “no I don’t. My biological donor used to beat me sober. Never once did she take a drink.” Her tone was a bit hard at this. Timothy placed his arm around her. “Well, I do. My mom made me an expert at it.” He spoke this with no feelings of resentment. He was glad he’d gotten a chance to feel what real love was like.

“Well...even still...she drinks.”

“According to Draneice they had Jello shots at the party that had been made with an alcohol cocktail.”

“Oh. That’s crazy.” Kalen stated. She didn’t even know that people did stuff like that.

“I know.”

“However, Timothy, she is really pretty and I think that if she got saved, she could be a good match for you.”

“But she’s not.”

Kalen shrugged her shoulders, “God can do any and beyond all things, my brother.”“Amen, sister.” Timothy smiled at that. Although he couldn’t see Tamarah stepping foot inside a church to save her life, he did agree with the fact that God could do anything. Even show Tamarah the type of love he offered.

 

 

 

 

Chapter Five:

Vanessa POV:

“I swear Vanessa, that boy is so fine he just makes me want to jump on him and do all kinds of things to him.”

I laughed at imagining this. Ever since Tamarah laid eyes on Timothy the start of their freshman year, she’d been drooling over him. She was hopelessly addicted to a guy she couldn’t have. The only guy she ever talked about was Timothy. Timothy this, Timothy that. She was so obsessed with him that on days like this, I found myself in fits of hysteria at the peculiar dramatics of the situation.

“I’m serious girl, I’d sale my left arm to get a hold of that man. He just seems like a dream to be with. Besides looking like one of those Greek statutes you see in roman history, he is just absolutely the most beautiful, sexiest, and respectful man I’ve ever met. I’ve never even caught him staring at my body the way most guys do you know.”

I laughed, “That’s because he don’t do anything but read the bible. I bet if you guys went out all he would do is tell you you need to get saved and that your soul is going to burn in hell.”

“So he loves Jesus. That’s not necessarily bad because he’s a sweetheart.”

“I bet if you kissed him he’d probably rebuke you.”

Tamarah laughed, “Yeah, I know. He’d probably get baptized or something.”

I laughed, feeling my stomach begin to rumble hard. “ I know girl.”

“But still though, Vanessa, he is so peaceful and I mean just being around him for me is amazing. Even if he never say anything to me.”

“What?” I asked, “What do you mean he never say anything to you?”

“He says hello and goodbye.” Tamarah stated.

“Really?” I inquired, “Why?”

Tamarah sighed, “I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t like me the way I like him.”

I shook my head, “No, that can’t be it.”

“What do you mean? It can and it probably is.”

“Tamarah, have you seen the way he just stares at you when he see you? I swear it’s almost like he’s in love.”

Tamarah laughed at my words. “Thanks for making me feel better V.”

“No, I’m serious. I’ve seen him staring at you quite a bit lately. I mean, I’m no expert in love but he stares at you the way my dad stares at my mom. Come to think of it, you stare at him the way my mom stares...uhk!!!”

 

I didn’t even want to allow myself to think of the thoughts that go through her head. As much as I couldn’t stand my mom and I wanted her and my dad apart, I couldn’t deny that she loved him. I sometimes felt as if they loved each-other in an abnormal way. I couldn’t imagine my mom and my dad selling each other out the way most of my friends parents did. They would rather kill themselves than be apart from one another. As I pondered on this, I wondered why they were like this. It made no sense to me for them to be as tightly wound together with one another the way they were.

“V- you’re not listening.” Tamarah cut in