“Where do you get this shit, Manny?”

“I’m just sayin’. Mama aside, you’re making the wrong decision.”

Jus snorts. “No offense, but I refuse to take relationship advice from a dude who’s never been in one.”

“Whoa now! Just cuz I don’t want a serious girlfriend at the moment doesn’t mean I don’t know what it takes to maintain a relationship.”

“Ah, here we go.”

“I’m serious, Jus. You think I’ve learned nothing from watching my parents over the last seventeen and a half years?”

“Whatever, man. Can we please drop this?”

They fall into a weighty silence, both staring at the massive television screen but neither actually watching the movie.

Out of nowhere, Manny says, “You know I’ve got the opposite problem, right?”

“What?”

“I’ma tell you something, but don’t laugh at me, all right? I’m trusting you with a deep, dark secret.”

Jus lifts an eyebrow.

Manny inhales, filling his cheeks with air before blowing it out. “I’m scared of black girls, man.”

“Huh?”

“Black girls. I’ve never really encountered a nonfamily one.”

“Okay…”

“There are none in our grade. The only ones I know are my cousins and they’re…a lot.”

“A lot?”

“Like real attitude-y and kinda…” Manny swallows. “Ghetto.”

Justyce doesn’t know what to say. It’s not like he has any experience in this area either. Melo’s half black, but she’s def not the type of girl Manny’s talking about.

Manny goes on: “I know that’s a stereotype or whatever, but I’ve literally never experienced anything else. My folks are all excited about me going to Morehouse next year, but I’m nervous as hell.”

“How come?”

“You’re my only black friend, dawg. I’m supposed to go from this all-white world to an all-black one overnight?”

Jus doesn’t respond.

“Anyway. My bad for just laying all that on you.”

Jus shrugs. “It’s cool.”

“I should’ve applied to Princeton or somethin’. Woulda been more familiar.” Manny sighs.

Jus shakes Manny’s shoulder. “You’ll be fine, man. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of dudes you’ll vibe with at Morehouse just like you vibe with me.”

“It’s Spelman I’m really worried about. You know it’s right next door. Black girls everywhere.”

Jus laughs.

“And you know I love women, man. What if I get there and none of them are feelin’ me?”

“I wish I knew what to tell you, Manny. All I can say is they’re not all alike, just like we aren’t.”

Manny nods. “Touché, my dawg.”

They lapse into silence again.

Then: “Jus, I’ma say this last thing, then I’ll get outta your business.”

“Oh boy. Here we go.”

“I get wanting to please your mom. The only reason I’m even going to Morehouse is because it’s been my ‘SpelHouse’ alumni parents’ dream for me since they found out I was a boy. But passing up on a good thing because your mom wouldn’t approve…I don’t know about that, man. Especially when it comes to something as stupid as race.”

Justyce snorts.

“You’re still doing that MLK thing, right? What would he do?”

“I wouldn’t know considering Ms. Coretta was black.”

“Shut up. You know what I mean. If you’re doing this Be Like Martin thing, do it for real. Refusing to date a girl because she’s white is probably not the Kingly way, bruh.”

Justyce glares at Manny. “I knew I shouldn’t’ve told your punk ass anything.”

Manny smirks and grabs the TV remote from the ottoman. Then he slouches down into the couch and unmutes the movie.

Justyce is so focused on the upcoming state debate tournament, he barely notices Christmas and New Year’s as they blow by.

Of course, the morning of the tournament itself, it’s the last thing on his mind.

For one thing, two nights ago, he broke up with Melo again, he’s pretty sure for the last time. As they sat in her basement with her rambling about stuff that has no bearing on anything that matters, Manny’s words rang through Jus’s head like a five-bell alarm: If Melo and SJ are diverging paths on the road of life, you’re headed for a dead end.

Speaking of SJ, that’s the other reason he can’t focus. As she steps out of the hotel elevator, smiling at him like he made the sun rise, his brain goes to mush. Though they cleared things up the day after the Melo/SJ cafeteria showdown—Jus: “I’m sorry for sidelining you, S.” SJ: “I forgive you, jackass. Don’t let it happen again.”—seeing SJ now, Justyce can tell how big of an idiot he’s been. Especially considering the fitted skirt-suit and heels she’s rockin’.

“You ready?” she says once she’s standing right in front of him.

He just stares.

Her smile fades and she touches her cheek. “What? Is there something on my face?”

“No.” Justyce clears his throat. “You look really nice is all.”

“Oh. Thanks.” Her cheeks turn pink. Justyce thinks he might combust. She winks and tugs at his tie, which matches the deep maroon of her suit, just like they planned. “You’re not too bad yourself.”

Just then Doc comes around the corner from the breakfast buffet with the rest of the team in tow. “Good morning, my little lion cubs!” He steps between Justyce and SJ and drapes an arm around each of their shoulders. “Ready to rumble?”

“You bet your ass we are—”

“Watch it, Ms. Friedman,” Jus says in Doc’s voice.

Doc and SJ laugh. “Seriously, though,” Doc says. “I know your round isn’t until after lunch, but you feel like you’re ready ready?”

What Doc isn’t saying: he still hasn’t gotten his mind around the fact that his top two debaters elected to forgo the actual debate rounds of the tournament and focus solely on advanced pairs argumentation.

In other words, they’ve got one shot.

“We’re as ready as we’ll ever be,” SJ says. She reaches past Doc to squeeze Jus’s hand.

Jus looks at her, and she smiles.

He has no clue how he’s gonna get through this day.

—

Truth be told, Jus and SJ hadn’t settled on a topic until a couple of weeks ago. They were in her basement. She was sitting cross-legged with her laptop open in this massive wicker chair Mr. F imported from Israel, and Jus was pacing around the pool table, using the cue like a hobbit staff, trying not to ogle her legs.

He sighed as he passed her again. “Maybe we should just do the stereotype threat thing. We’ve got a solid argument there.”

“Yeah, minus the fact that the guy presenting it wasn’t affected at all.” She smirked.

“Well, we gotta pick somethin’, S,” he said. “Like now. We’re runnin’ out of time—”