Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America

Shawn and his two friends, Amir and DeMarcus, are in Footlocker waiting for Amir to close the store down. They are going to a party thrown by the mall where all three work.

The party is for the opening of Mall-Stars, an arcade with a bar and restaurant. Also at the party is Dayshia, a girl who Shawn likes but who has never acknowledged him. Amir and DeMarcus try to get Shawn to talk to her, but he doesn’t, instead thinking about how nerdy it was to wear a Chewbacca shirt to the party.

When the boys move to a booth, Amir continues to harass Shawn about talking to Dayshia. However, he is adamant that they are too different, and he is too nerdy for her. In response, Amir gets up and goes to get Dayshia, bringing her back to their booth.

Another boy, who Shawn refers to as Cologne Kiosk Cameron, joins them in the booth. Shawn notes that he is a “pretty boy,” well dressed and Dayshia seems interested in him. However, as he talks, he drones on about the cologne kiosk, boring everyone in the booth. Dayshia makes an excuse to leave, and Shawn works up the courage to follow her out a few minutes later.

Before he can reach her, he realizes that he needs to go to the bathroom. In the men’s room, he discovers that several mall employees—including Amir, DeMarcus, and Cameron—are having their own party in the men’s room, playing craps and smoking weed. Cameron pulls Shawn aside and tries to sell him cologne from a collection of samples he has in the men’s room, but Shawn declines. As he goes to leave, he realizes that Cameron has his phone. As Cameron begins reading it, and realizing that Shawn likes Dayshia, Shawn steps up to fight him. He knocks the blunt from Cameron’s hand and clenches his fist to fight him. However, their fight is interrupted by someone rushing in to use the bathroom, and the party breaks up as the boys all leave.

Cameron continues to try to fight Shawn outside, telling him that he is going to take Dayshia from him. Instead of fighting back, Shawn goes and talks to Dayshia. He confesses to her that he has a hard time organizing his thoughts, but that he likes her and needed to come talk to her to stop Cameron from doing so. She agrees that Cameron talks without any thought and says that she is not interested in him. Cameron tries to intervene, making fun of Shawn and the “dog-man” on his shirt, which Dayshia corrects him and tells him is a “Wookiee,” to Shawn’s surprise.

As Shawn and Dayshia begin talking, they are interrupted by the fire alarm, as the blunt that Shawn knocked onto the bathroom floor has set the bathroom on fire. Shawn offers Dayshia his hand, she takes it, and they leave.

The mall fire burned the Mall-Stars, but the rest of the mall was left untouched. Dayshia and Shawn become a couple. Shawn thinks about how the blunt he knocked out of Cameron’s hand probably started the fire, as it caught on fire Cameron’s collection of cologne that was in the stall. However, he pushes the thought aside, thinking how he does not need anymore “Black Nerd Problems” (95).