A test of Love - Navaura Campbell (best management books of all time .txt) 📗

A month later, three weeks into the course, Jordan poured his mind into his studies. He'd never been so enthralled in one course in all his life. He was taking a course called introductory to criminal Justice and loved it. He couldn't say that much about his trigonometry course. It was way too easy and also every other course he was taking. He'd complained to Denise about the crazy instructor they had for their English Lit course. She'd told them to write a 200 page paper on the most memorable moment in their life and although he thought and thought, he couldn't think of anything that could fill two hundred pages. But then, he thought about the time he'd been on earth. He'd gone through so much since his birth. Things he'd never thought he'd go through. So, what he finally decided on was a biography. Twenty years was long enough to forge into 200 pages. He'd write one on what mattered the most to him, his family.

On a Tuesday afternoon, he'd been in his dorm room for about thirty minutes when a knock was heard at the door. Expecting to see Denise there, considering that she was the only person he kicked it with on campus, Jordan opened the door and greeted her.
"Hey, baby."
"Sorry man, but I don't swing that way." Came a reply.
Jordan laughed and held out his hand to the visitor, "What's up? Sorry, I thought you were my girl."
The guy shrugged, "You expecting her or something?"
"Naw, she's just the only one I know on campus and there's only two people she kick it with. Me and a girlfriend of hers."
"Oh, that's straight. I thought you might want to go play some b-ball."
Jordan raised a brow. "Basket ball? How do you know I can play?"
The guy shrugged, "A wild guess. A guy with your height and build can only play b-ball or baseball and you don't look like the type to even go near that game."
Jordan stared in amusement at the young man he'd met at the party. "What'd you say your name was?"
"Kwan Jamison."
"Just Kwan?" Jordan inquired.
"Yep, just good old Kwan. So, you wanna ball or what?"
"Who's playing?"
"A group of us. My team's one player short."
"Oh yeah? What are we playing for?"
"Fun."
"Fun?"
"Yes, you have heard of that before, right?" Kwan teased.
"Yeah. Give me about twenty minutes and I'll be down."

Twenty minutes later, Jordan, showered, dressed and feeling good, grabbed the gym bag with an extra set of clothing inside and left his dorm room, with Kwan leading the way out the building and to his car. When they got into the vehicle, Kwan popped a c.d. in and blasted DMX to the whole world. Jordan listened to dmx and sisqo sing " What they really want." He turned his attention to the window, allow the lyrics of the song take him into another world.

By the time they reached a park located within the city limits, Jordan was ready to get out and stretch his muscles. Grabbing his bag, he closed the door and made an effort to follow Kwan out to the park. When they got closer, Jordan immediately noticed the size of the guys. They were all either his size or bigger. There was four of them standing there. Jordan stared at one guy in particular, Kwan's twin, Anton.
"Well, if it isn't wonder bread." Anton sneered, glaring at Jordan. Jordan turned heated eyes upon him.
"Anton, why you gotta start trouble man. You shoulda just squashed that shit a while back. It's been over a month. Get over it already."
Anton raised a hand, "Whatever man, wonder bread is on your team."
"Alright, Jay, come on."
Jordan followed dutifully beside Kwan, who stood there with the basketball between his ankles, resting it.
"Gary." Anton stated, his voice firm, offering no objections. Gary, another caucasion male with deep peircing blue eyes, a sandy blond hair and a square shaped face that carried an out of shape nose. He glared at Jordan, looking him up and down. Jordan narrowed his gaze as to tell him he wasn't one to be messed with.
"Trey." Kwan picked a tall slim guy that looked as if any type of wind would blow him away. He and Jordan were about the same height. Trey looked Jordan in the eye. "Sup." Eyes the same color as Denise's stared back at him. Come to think of it, he was about the same chocolate Denise was too.
Jordan smiled, "Nothing."

Jordan turned his head back to the other players. Anton and Gary now stood over there with some guy named Willie as their third pick. Willie was a hugely built guy with dark brown hair that hung in braids at his shoulder. He wore an earring in one ear. He stood to be at-least six feet. Jordan pegged him as the pretty boy of the bunch. He looked too clean.
"Sammie, I got you." Kwan stated, greeting the long haired hispanic guy. Sammie was a dark skinned hispanic, with deep black opal colored eyes. He was one of the shortest players they'd come up with. He stood in at five ten. Sammie made his way over to the group.
Jordan turned his head to back to Trey, who'd been staring at him. "Are you ok, man?"
Trey narrowed his brows. "Do I know you?"
Jordan raised his in surprise. "I don't think so, why?"
"Have you ever played ball before?"
This brought a laughter from Anton, "Shit, Kwan, I told you Trey was a faggot."
Trey glared over at Anton, "I'm not a faggot."
Anton laughed and said. "Wonder bread and the faggot."
Jordan felt his cheeks flush in embarrassment. "Can we get this game on the roll?" He inquired irritably. He didn't like Anton anymore than he had the night he'd been drunk at the party.
"Yeah, let's go." Kwan threw the ball to Anton, who caught it swiftly. "Check it."
Anton threw it back to Kwan.

Jordan blocked the elbow jab that Gary continuously threw his way. He bounced the ball from his right hand to his left hand and then went down court. He threw it to Sammie, who was open nearest the basket. He threw it upward to go into the net, but a hard smack came and pushed it out of his hands. The ball bounced toward Willie, whom Kwan was guarding. Quickly, Kwan grabbed the ball and led it back down the court, Jordan, who had sweat in his face, hair in his eyes, swept back the slick strands and fell in line next to Kwan, who pushed the ball his way. When Jordan bounced the ball into himself, he lost it to Gary, but when Gary went to bounce it through his legs, Jordan hit the ball out of them and moved quickly to cover him. Bouncing the ball the rest of the way to the court, he stopped swiftly and shot the ball toward the net. Anton tried to catch it, but the ball swirled through the air and hit nothing but net.

By the time the game ended five hours later, everyone was tired. That included Anton, who'd long since stopped making cracks at Jordan or any of the other team members on Kwan's team. After all, he didn't have much to say about being whipped by three points. Jordan, who's muscles ached horribly, felt exhausted, yet great because it had been two years since he'd even been on the court. It felt good to still acquire any of the skills he'd developed over the years. If anything, he'd honed those skills.
"Man, I didn't know you were that good at balling, Jay." Kwan commented.
Jordan just opened his door, put his bag in the back of the vehicle and got inside.
"Did you ball in high-school or something?"
Jordan sighed, "A little."
"So you were on a team?" Trey stated from the back seat. He'd opted to go with Kwan instead of Anton. So did Sammie.
"Yeah, I played for the Tigers at Tiger Hill High."
Sammie laughed, "Is that a real school?"
Trey cleared his throat, "Oh, now I see. Your school was rival against brown, huh?"
"Yep."
"Your school rivaled Brown?"
"Yeah, we did." Jordan answered Sammie's question.
"Oh, man, my cousin went to Brown. Her name was Clairese. She was a cheerleader."
"Clairese huh? Did she happen to go out with a guy named Maurice Longford from Tiger Hill?"
"I don't know. I'll ask her though."
" What player did you rank in your senior year?"
Jordan sighed, "I ranked MVP."
"Number one." Kwan turned to glance over at Jordan in shock. "What?"
"I thought you said you played a little ball." Trey threw into the conversation.
"That was two years ago." Jordan stated, turning his gaze out of the window.
"What happened between now and then?" Sammie was impressed. He would have never thought that looking at Jordan. He was so mellow.
"Alot of things, now, if you'll excuse me," Jordan stated as he watched Denise and her friend Neema come up to the dorms. They were walking and laughing. Apparently, he wasn't the only one to notice.
"Damn..." Trey stated, pushing the seat up, once Jordan got out the car. Jordan shook his head irritated. Why did guys have to act like vultures on this campus? He was about to pull the seat back when Sammie stopped him, "Let me out too." Jordan held the seat to the front open and allowed him to get out. Kwan glanced over at him and busted out laughing, "Looks like your girl is the talk of campus."

Jordan glared at him. His cheeks flushed. He really didn't like the idea that now that they were older, Denise seemed to be getting more attention. He'd only been here a month and he'd had to fend off more than one guy trying to "holla." Didn't they have any respect to keep on walking when they saw a guy and girl together? Kwan just shook his head and laughed, while Jordan slammed the door to the vehicle.

As he approached both Denise and Neema, he noticed that Sammie was talking to Neema, while Trey was trying his best to get at Denise, who looked bemused. She didn't quite understand what it was with campus guys liking her type. She wasn't super model thin like Neema. She was full figured. She'd thought Jordan was the only guy who'd find her attractive up here, considering he'd been the only guy in high-school to even try to get her number, other than Lamont and Chuck who'd found her to be a beauty. Thinking about this caused a faint blush to appear.

"So, what's your name Sista?" Trey inquired.
Denise glanced into his eyes, seeing the warmth there. If his eyes spoke, they said he really was a genuine fellow. "I'm Denise."
"Denise?" He smiled, holding out a hand. "Nice to meet you."
Denise grasped it and shook it.
Jordan, who'd always found this time irritating yet fascinating, paused in his steps a few feet from their line of view. Sammie, who was spitting hard game at Neema, had the girl giggling profusely. Jordan smiled at that. Turning his attention back to Denise and Trey, he heard Denise laugh, "Wow, Trey, you're funny."
Trey grinned widely, "Thanks, sista. So, with an accent like that you have to be from New York, right?"
Denise nodded her head, her brown eyes sparkling, "Yeah, I am."
"Very nice. Where about?" Trey inquired.
"Albany." She stated. "How about you? Are you from here?"
"Nope, I'm from Iowa."
"Iowa?"
"Yep."
"Cool."
"You're really beautiful."
"Thank you."
"Do you have a man?"

Denise cleared her throat, her head down. She glanced back up at him. "Yeah, I do." She stated, feeling guilty. She knew Jordan would flip out if he found out she was actually enjoying conversation with another man in the same proximity in which she enjoyed their time together. This caused her to laugh. Why should he feel inferior? He's the one she want.
"Nice to see someone who knows how to laugh."
Denise sighed, "I'm sorry. I was just thinking about how my boyfriend would react if he caught me talking to you."
Trey smiled, holding his hands up, "He need not to worry, I don't go around stealing other