Teenie Read online

  Her eyes are staring up and to the left, at nothing in particular. I can tell she is in her fantasy world, probably doing some naughty stuff with Greg. Cherise is a bit more … advanced than I am, too damn fast, according to my pops.

  “Why’re you so quiet, Teenie?”

  “No reason. Just chillin’.” I haven’t said much since this morning. I guess I’m still a little out of it.

  “I know you’re nervous and all, but you need to relax. Greg’s probably gonna want to chat tonight. You can’t be acting like no scaredy-cat.”

  The more I think about it, the more nervous I get. I know that tonight I will have to communicate with him. My “laryngitis” won’t save me. “I … I don’t even know what I’m gonna say to this guy.”

  “Just be yourself. Just write.”

  “About what?”

  “Whatever comes to your mind.”

  “Why is he interested in me? Why does he want to chat with me?”

  “Cuz you look good, dummy.”

  I swallow hard and say, “Cherise, I’m really scared.”

  She starts laughing at me and says, “Yo, what the hell is wrong with your face?” but starts patting my arm when she sees how upset I am. “Teenie, calm down. I got you. Don’t I always have your back?”

  I nod. Cherise always looks out for me.

  “Well, here’s what we gonna do. How about I sleep over tonight and I’ll help you respond?”

  I’m smiling like crazy. “That’s a good idea. I’ll call Beresford later and ask him if that’s okay. Don’t forget to ask your mother if you can stay.”

  Cherise waves off my comment. “Please. She don’t pay no attention to me. She’s all into her new boyfriend, Braxton.”

  I laugh at the way she says “Braxton.” There’s an uppity twang to her voice. Cherise forces a smile, but I know she wishes her mother were around more.

  The other girls are heading back inside. Cherise and I start to race back to the building and draw a curious glance from the gym teacher, Mr. What’s-His-Face. I stop running and start limping. Taking my cue, Cherise holds her head and her belly, unsure of what BS she told him. Maybe I should be the one holding my belly, because I’m hungry as hell.

  • • •

  At Tech, the lunchroom is the place to be seen. Since I roll with Cherise, I get to sit in the cool section with other freshmen. We have to wait our turn before we can mingle with the upperclassmen. In our section, the middle of the northwest area, we sit with our clique: Crystal (aka Bottle of Crys), Sohmi, Malika and her twin, Tamara, and, last but never least, Sabrina.

  Our area is prime real estate, not too far from the lunch line and within earshot of the football team. Today, for the first time ever, I heard them asking about me, the shorty in the Wade dress. Sabrina isn’t too happy about that, since she always has to be the center of attention. She and Sohmi are practicing French for their class trip to Quebec on Friday. Malika and Tamara are going too. They’ve been pretty quiet today; probably that weird stuff where one twin is sick and the other one feels it.

  Crystal smiles and says, “Damn, Teenie, you’re looking hot today.”

  Cherise says I’m cuter than Crystal, but I don’t see it. She has a lot of clothes and she really carries herself well. Her parents are supposedly rich, and she’s an only child. She knows a lot of upperclassmen in school, so she is pretty popular. I heard something about her having an older cousin who goes to school here, but I’ve never seen her.

  “Thanks, Crys.”

  “Yeah, Teenie.” Sabrina’s throwing in her two cents. “I didn’t know you had any nice clothes.”

  Sabrina is, well, kind of a condescending cow. Even when she’s giving a compliment, she always has to slip in a slick comment. She walks around like she’s better and smarter than everyone, like her butt cheeks smell like potpourri or something. She smirks once the spotlight is back on her and continues practicing her French.

  “Je m’appelle Sabrina. Je suis très jolie.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” Cherise scowls.

  Sabrina smiles again, happy that she can do something Cherise can’t. Malika picks her head up from the table and grunts, “She said, ‘My name is Sabrina. I am very pretty.’ ”

  Cherise rolls her eyes and says, “Oh my God.”

  I’m not even going to lie. Sabrina is beautiful, but conceited as hell. She’s not as smart as she makes everyone think she is. Cherise saw her report card and said, “That thing had more seventies than a nursing home.”

  Sabrina and Sohmi are really tight, best friends like Cherise and me. When we first met, Sabrina called us Teenie and Meanie, making fun of what she called Cherise’s “stinky attitude.” She learned not to crack on us after that when Cherise called them Chopsticks and Sushi Roll. Sabrina is tall and skinny, and Sohmi is a short, plump Japanese girl. I’m busy trying to think of a snappy comeback like that when Cherise jumps to my defense.

  “Damn, Sabrina. I don’t understand you. Why you always gotta put people down? You stay trying to diss somebody, but then you forget to put lotion on your ankles. Looks like you been kicking bags of flour.”

  Everyone glances down just before Sabrina can shove her feet under the table. Her ankles are ashy like an incense holder, so we all start laughing. I’m really laughing loud, because Sohmi says, “Hey, you got your braces off!”

  I cover my mouth with embarrassment. My dress is no longer the subject of discussion, and everyone wants to see my teeth. Even Malika and Tamara manage to lift their heads off the table to take a look. Everyone is so impressed with how I look that Sohmi hasn’t asked to copy my English homework. It’s nice to not feel like a nerd for once.

  “Teenie, can I get the English homework?”

  “Sure.” So much for that thought.

  “I’m hungry.” Cherise jumps up from the table and makes her way over to the lunch counter. I’m the only one that goes with her. When we get to the line, I glance over the cashier’s shoulder and try to decide between the chicken and the fish. After I order the fish, Cherise leans in close and whispers, “I’ve been waiting all day to show you this.”

  She opens her hand and shows me a debit card. Her name, Cherise Taylor, is on it.

  “Where did you get this?” I ask, checking out the card, looking for something that will show me it’s fake. I don’t even know why I ask, because I know whatever answer she gives is going to piss me off.

  “Someone sent it for me, as a gift. There’s five hundred dollars, and I can get whatever I want.”

  Alarm bells are going off in my head something awful right now. I scream, “What the hell are you thinking? You know this guy is gonna want something in return!!” By the starry look in her eyes, I can tell that she is thinking about giving it. That’s right before she gives me that look that tells me to shut up and keep my voice down.

  “Come on, Teenie, live a little. Seriously, what fun is life if you don’t take risks sometimes?”

  “What you mean? I take risks all the time.” I pull my shoulders back and stick my chest out, trying my best to somehow look bolder.

  “Yeah, right. The riskiest thing you probably do is go a day without flossing.”

  “Uhh, no. I floss once a day.”

  “Exactly.”

  “I was just joking.” I actually floss twice a day.

  “What’re you worrying about anyway? He says I can get anything I want. That means you can get anything you want.”

  Hmm, this is true, this is true.

  “I’m going to the mall after school,” she says, which means I am expected to go with her.

  “I don’t wanna get in trouble.”

  “Don’t be such a chicken. We don’t have to pay for nothing, so what’s the problem?”

  “Maybe we should think this through a little.”

  “What’s there to think about?”

  “No one gives you five hundred bucks for nothing.”

  “Here we go,” she says, rolling her eyes. �
�It’s not that serious, Teenie. Just chill.”

  “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

  “Well, I’m going. You do what you gotta do.”

  For half a second, I actually feel good about myself for standing my ground.

  Then she says, “You know you have to follow up what you wore today with something nice. Can’t disappoint Greg now, can we?”

  “You know I hate you, right?” The way she said it too, with that tone that makes me want to choke her but always makes me tag along. “Let’s not go crazy, okay?”

  “There ain’t nothing to worry about,” she says, smiling at me.

  She doesn’t fight fair.

  Chapter 4

  “What is the largest inland sea on earth?” I know Garth will get the answer, but it was the only geography question I could come up with.

  “The Caspian Sea,” he yawns.

  As usual, our biology teacher, Mr. Poretsky, is late to class. He’s old, so we don’t really give him a hard time. When he finally does walk into class, it takes him five minutes to get his papers out of his briefcase. He lets us talk until he opens his textbook and puts it on the desk. Once he does that, he’s all business. Even though we start class ten minutes late, in terms of information flow, Mr. Poretsky’s lectures are second to none.

  When he’s running extra late, like today, Garth and I kill time by trying to stump each other with trivia questions.

  “Your turn, Teenie. Let me guess. You’re gonna pick literature, right?”

  “Yup.”

  He clears his throat and says, “Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.”

  “Please. The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran.”

  “Man, this isn’t fair.” Garth is shaking his head. “I’m never going to get you with a literature question. I’ve been saving that one for weeks!”

  “You can’t pick a classic like that, silly. Your turn.”

  “The category is wildlife.”

  “What a surprise, but I got one for you.”

  “We’ll see. Poretsky’s almost done taking his papers out, so hurry up.”

  “Name three species of venomous mammals.”

  Garth’s wide eyes give away his shock. He blinks a few times, trying to appear confident. “Wow, that’s a good one. I’ll get the easy one out of the way first. Platypus.”

  I wrote the answer down in my notebook. “That’s one.”

  “Umm. Water shrew.”

  “That’s two.”

  “And …”

  I glance up at Mr. Poretsky. He’s taking out his reading glasses. “You’ve got five seconds.”

  “Uhh. Uhh. I … I don’t know.”

  “European mole. Gotcha!”

  Mr. Poretsky places his textbook on the desk, and the whole class goes quiet.

  Garth shakes his head and whispers, “Good game.”

  “Of course it was good. I won.”

  After bio is over, Garth walks me to the center section on the first floor. Cherise and I always meet there after school. I saw Garth looking at me in class today, more than usual. I think he likes how I look, but he’d never say anything to me. “Bye, Garth.”

  “Okay, Teenie. See you tomorrow.” Garth will usually say goodbye and walk away, but today he lingers for a moment once he sees Cherise, as if deciding whether or not to speak to her. Her flared right nostril and slightly parted lips tell him to move on.

  “Why do you even hang out with that big moose?” Cherise asks me, with Garth barely out of earshot.

  “Shh!! He’s nice once you get to know him.” I turn around to see if he heard what she said.

  “Hmm. Yeah … I guess I’ll just have to take your word for that one.”

  “Shut up. Why you always gotta be so damn sarcastic?”

  “Come on, Teenie, seriously, look at him. Look at his clothes. His pants are mad high. Okay, my man, where’s the flood? Let’s not even talk about his shoes. They’re rocked over like he was mountain climbing or something. I wouldn’t be caught dead talking to him.”

  I didn’t even notice his pants today. I try to step in and defend him, but she’s not quite done.

  “And his butt. Look at his butt! He got more than me.”

  Cherise drops down and does a perfect impersonation of Beyoncé doing the booty bounce.

  “Stop it, dummy,” I say before I push her. I can’t even lie. She has me dying laughing.

  “Well, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” she sighs.

  “Why’s that?”

  “You know what they say. Nerds of a feather flock together.”

  “For real? So why are you hanging out with me? Want some of that nerd to rub off on you?”

  “Not quite,” she snorts. “You’re like my protégé, but based on the company you keep, it looks like I still got a lot of work to do.”

  “Yeah, whatever. So what’re we doing now?”

  “The mall, remember? I would’ve been done already if I didn’t have to wait on your slow behind. I don’t know why you had to be such a nerd and get a one-to-nine schedule.” Cherise is shaking her head. I hurried down five flights of stairs as fast as my tight dress would allow. “Who the hell requests an extra class?”

  “I told you already. I did it for YSSAP. Honestly, do you listen to a word that I say?” I’ve told her a bazillion times that I am trying to spend a semester overseas next year. I’ve been researching it since I first heard about it. The results were supposed to be up yesterday. Now I’m hearing that they will be up tomorrow during lunch, so I’ll find out if all this hard work and sacrifice was worth it. That’d be soooo hot, if I could go to Spain. Taking a one-to-nine will feel a lot better when I get to practice my Spanish for real. Cherise cuts into my dream.

  “Oh, change of plans. I can’t stay by you tonight.”

  Talk about bursting my bubble. Now I have to talk to Greg all by myself. What am I gonna do now? “Why can’t you come?” My arms are shaking, and she’s smiling. Why is she smiling? Can’t she see that I’m about to lose it?

  “I’m going out tonight.”

  “Going out? On a school night? With who?”

  As soon as she says, “Don’t worry about it,” I know that means she’s gonna meet up with Big Daddy.

  “I need you to cover for me, Teenie. I’m gonna tell my mother that I’m gonna be by you studying. Did you talk to your dad about me staying over there tonight?”

  I almost want to say that I had told Beresford, to keep her from going to meet Big Daddy. I shake my head. “I didn’t tell him yet.”

  She lets out a sigh of relief and says, “Good, because I don’t want him asking no questions. Let’s hurry up and get to the store.”

  This whole situation—the debit card, meeting up with her friend, the possibility of having to lie to cover for her—I don’t like it one bit. There are too many things that can go wrong.

  We decide to take the long way to the mall and stop at Golden Krust for some beef patties. The patty shop around the corner from my house is so much better, but for a franchise, Golden Krust isn’t half bad. As we walk up Flatbush Avenue, it seems as if we get stopped every two seconds by some guy trying to get our phone numbers. I don’t want Beresford embarrassing me, so I take theirs, even though I have no intention of calling any of them. No Greg Millons out here, although one guy did have some really nice teeth.

  Cherise causes a mini traffic jam leaning into the passenger side window of some Jamaican guy’s BMW. Not sure what gave away the fact that he was Jamaican—probably the green and yellow stripes on the side of his black car or his friend trying extra hard to get me to notice his accent.

  “Yo, baby luv, you want a ride?”

  Never mind that he’s sitting in the backseat asking if I want a ride. I’m not going over there. Cherise doesn’t seem to have a problem. She is leaning so far into the damn car that she might as well get in. On second thought, she better not get too close to those guys with the way her breath is h
umming. The stick of gum she has in her mouth is probably getting its butt kicked by spicy beef. She tore that patty up like a ravenous vulture. She’s lucky I grabbed those extra napkins.

  I sigh with relief when Cherise walks away from the car. She has a funny look on her face, so I ask, “What’s wrong?”

  “I was starting to catch contact.” She’s fanning her face.

  “They were smoking weed in the car?”

  “Smoking? Smelled like they were growing the stuff in there.”

  I laugh. “That’s what you get for leaning up in his car like a prostitute.”

  Cherise pushes me and says, “Shut up.” She smiles. “Yeah, I need to cut that out. As soon as I see a nice car, my eyes light up. I gotta be careful with that stuff.”

  Thank God she realized that on her own. I wish she would be as concerned about the other things that she’s planning to do today. Before I get a chance to wrap my mind around that, Cherise starts bumping me, telling me to turn around.

  “Look at this chick.”

  When I turn around, I see this chunky light-skinned girl waiting at the corner, crammed into a top and matching skirt that are at least three sizes off. She’s wearing a small, while her exposed gut is calling for an extra-large. I know I shouldn’t talk with my short dress, but there are some people out here that really don’t know how to act at the first sign of warm weather. It’s the beginning of March, and you would think it’s the middle of summer with some of the stuff they’re wearing.

  Cherise is about to say something to the girl. I grab my best friend’s arm before her smart mouth gets us into trouble. The girl’s belly isn’t the only thing that’s extra-large. I think she would stomp the DNA out of Cherise and me. She doesn’t notice us and gets into a dollar van that pulls up in front of her. It’s kind of stupid to call a cab that costs two bucks to ride a dollar van, but that’s been their name since I’ve been riding them.

  I bet the driver couldn’t wait to cruise around with the windows open blasting the newest dancehall music. Who needs an iPod? All I have to do is stand on the corner of a busy intersection and I’m bound to hear everything from R&B to reggaeton.

  Honestly, when I see this, even the fat girl, it makes me love living here. This is just a typical day and there’s so much life. I smile and take a deep breath and think, What’s not to love about Brooklyn? A truck blows past, leaving me hacking in a trail of black smoke. I guess that answers my question.