4 Trey was the father of child Number Three the older brother of a former classmate and an upgrade on the others because he worked as a sports teacher, at her old school (what were the chances??!!!) she remembered him from her party when him and his mandem caused a stir when they turned up as soon as he stepped in through the front door, LaTisha set her eyes on him; before she could make her move, Carole was spotted leaving the party with him so waved she could hardly stand up the next Monday at school, when LaTisha asked her outright if she'd banged him, Carole said no way, fam, and wouldn't look her in the eye, a sure sign someone's lying (believe) Trey asked her out on Facebook, maybe he remembered her, maybe not, he obviously wasn't put off by the loads of photos she'd uploaded of her two kids which probably made her a saddo in most guys' eyes he was topless in his profile pic, tried to look propa gangsta, except LaTisha could tell it was all show because his eyes were soft all the other photos were of him and his crew, no girls at all, a sign he wasn't a player and was waiting for the right girl to come along before he committed she dressed up for their date in a clingy, spangled dress and strappy heels, determined not to give it up until their tenth date and would insist on a condom he picked her up in his car from her house which was very gentlemanly, instead of meeting her at the Caribbean restaurant on the high street as planned
conversation was easy as they cruised through the streets, they had Peckham School for Boys and Girls in common, had a laugh about Mrs King, still there, still hated by everyone, still called FF but instead of taking her to the restaurant, they headed to his place for a private romantic meal, he said, instead of a noisy restaurant with loads of guys ogling her what could she say to that? she discovered he lived in a room in a shared house with a bed, a wardrobe and a sink, she thought of walking straight out again but he said, I've been dreaming of a dance with you, let's dance, LaTisha, let's dance then I'll order an Indian he played John Legend, pulled her towards him, and she thought, okay, dancing is harmless, except he got very handsy and it quickly got steamy between them it had been a year since she'd given birth and all of this time there had been like NO SEX she wasn't going to go all the way, just wanted to mess around a little until Trey unzipped his jeans while they were dancing and stuffed her hand down his trousers okay, Trey, so I'm going to leave now? can you drop me off home please or, tell you what, I'll take the bus, I really have to go home and be with my kids and make sure I don't get myself into any more trouble she said in her head while giving him a hand job on the bed and before she could object he was inside her and it wasn't even a first date let alone a tenth and she wasn't expecting it and he was really pumping hard and making her sore and she struggled to move out from under what felt like a block of concrete and I don't want to, not yet, get off me, please, Trey, she said out loud to deaf ears so she gave up couldn't stop him had led him on anyway, she let him get on with it until he groaned
as he finished lay half on top of her crushing her ribs fell asleep didn't want to disturb him by moving wanted to go home she really needed to go home to Jason and Jantelle and Jayla and Mum when he rolled off her enough to escape she left quietly in case he woke up and ordered the Indian she walked the streets until she found a bus stop, waited ages for it, it was cold and she wasn't dressed for it, had to change buses twice, it took her three hours to reach home where she spent a long time in the shower wondering if he'd done anything wrong or was it her fault she should have stayed and talked to him about it he might have said he hadn't heard her saying no or that she drove him so crazy with desire which was kind of flattering and he couldn't stop himself she half expected him to call up the next week, hey, you left before I could tell you what a great time I had with you, fancy going to see a film at the weekend? she waited for the call that never came, the only thing that did was Jordan so now she had three kids, Jason, Jantelle and Jordan, all before her twenty-first birthday three kids who'd grow up with no fathers in their lives LaTisha began to take herself off on long walks through the backstreets in her lunch break at work, heading away from the nightmare of the Old Kent Road with its thundering vehicles and fumes she tried to make sense of it all, of herself she beat herself up for being so stupid, yes, stupid Mum veered between blaming LaTisha for being such a useless article, and blaming herself for raising a child who'd become one.