Black pink in your area!

"Hey, listen, you got that quiz from Ms. Adams?"

Jamal's attention piqued as he overheard some of the girls walking out of Ms. Adams' Psychology class mentioned a quiz, though he wasn't sure how exactly would he bring up the fact that he had gotten one as well (not being in Psych, for example). Before he could muster up the courage to ask, though, the two girls had disappeared down the hall amongst the bustling mass of students filing off to their next class.

"You okay, man?" tapped his friend Maurice, causing Jamal to turn his head around. "You've been spacing it all morning."

He laughed it off and hitched his bag up over his shoulder as the two walked down towards the end of the hallway. "Sorry, just been thinking, that's all. My hands were a little numb last night before bed but they're good now."

"Good to hear it, man, we've got states coming up and Coach Dawson wouldn't want his star to be out for anything. He'll kill anyone that hurt you."

"Don't I know it.." he laughed and waved laters to his friend before turning and walking into the english classroom, taking his seat in the middle row and slipped out his notepad. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, really, as English was mostly the old codger droning on and on and not realizing that half the class was asleep and the other half was getting there. Even the class nerd, Galaxarea (honestly, the name itself deserved a permanent wedgie), was struggling to keep her eyes open. Jamal slipped out the quiz from his bag to kill the boredom threatening to creep over him and read the second question.

2.) IF YOU WERE A GIRL...WOULD YOU LIKE PINK?

He paused at that, wondering again whether the quiz was picking on stereotypes (which would be low hanging fruit if he ever saw one) or asking the gender norm questions that were mostly accessible to people taking the quiz. He had no fond memories of his mom to refer back to but his sisters were often the ones that were, to a degree, mostly tomboyish in nature. They didn't love pink and as soon as they had outgrown baby stuff, pink was a rarity in the household. Personally, he didn't care for it either, but that was as Jamal the boy. If Jamal had been born as a girl, the whole point of this quiz after all, the question was simple: would he like the color pink?

Figuring that he might as well play along, he clicked his pen and in a pretense to taking notes, turned his attention back to his quiz. Yes, I would love the color pink and figure out how to incorporate it in my daily life. With the bell ringing, he slid the quiz back into his notebook and zipped up his bag, slipping the neon pink strap over his shoulder and moving into the hall to catch up with Maurice for lunch.

****

That night, his dad was at the table eating as he finished making sure his sisters were asleep. The man looked a bit tired, having come from a swing shift at the lumberyard, but still smiled at his son and the two spent a few minutes catching up before he stretched and stifled a yawn. Jamal sent him to bed, saying he would take care of things. After ten minutes of locking up and chores, Jamal turned to bed and slipped out the quiz to look at the next question, finding his earlier confusion melting away at the amusement of the questions popping up.

3.) IF YOU WERE A GIRL...WOULD YOUR HAIR BE STRAIGHT OR CURLY?