Authors: Nikki Carter

It's All Good (12 page)

BOOK: It's All Good

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W
hen I get to school on Monday morning, Valerie is standing next to my locker looking beyond irritated.

“Candy, I'll catch up with you later. Let me holler at Valerie and see what she wants.”

“All right then, Gia. Talk to you later.”

I walk up and say, “Hey, Valerie. What it do?”

Valerie rolls her eyes and gives me a slight nod. “Gia, I know that you live in silly town ninety-nine percent of the time, but I need you to come back to reality for just a second.”

Grouchy much?

My nostrils flare but I hold the sarcasm at bay. “How can I help you today, Valerie? How may I be of service?”

She thrusts a wrinkled-up piece of notebook paper in my face.

“What's this? Your homework?”

“Just open it and read it.”

On the paper is a letter to Susan Chiang. It's a pretty nasty note, actually, saying that she should've never won Homecoming Queen because she's ugly and fat. Then it says some super mean things about her race, which I'm not even going to repeat. That's how sick it is.

“Valerie, did you write this?”

She gives me a look of disgust. “No. Of course I didn't write that. Now, ask me where I found it.”

“Where?”

“In the trash in my mom's office.”

“What? What are you saying?”

“I'm sure my mother wrote this. It's her handwriting.”

I feel completely and totally confused. Parents are supposed to be the smart, sensible ones. They're not supposed to do stupid stuff. And writing something like this letter is beyond stupid. Gwen would ground me until infinity for something like this.

“But why?” I ask. “This doesn't make any sense. What is she planning to do with it?”

Valerie makes a snorting sound. “You should be asking what she already did! She posted it on Susan's wall on Facebook.”

“What! Did she post it under your profile?”

“No. She has a new one. She's calling herself Derek, but the picture is of my cousin Javier.”

“And he's on Susan's friend list?”

“Not anymore. But Javier is cute, so a lot of girls accepted the friend request, not knowing it was my mother.”

I shake my head, trying to understand. “Have you actually seen your mom logged on to the computer? How can you be sure it's her and not your cousin?”

“First of all, my cousin can't even speak English. He lives in Puerto Rico. And I've been having my girl Phoebe keep an eye on Susan's page, just in case. When she told me about the crazy post on Susan's page, I searched my mom's office and found the letter in her trash can.”

Wow. Valerie's mother needs to watch an episode of
Law & Order
or something. Who would keep evidence in their office?

“You've got to tell someone, Valerie.”

Valerie lets out a sad-sounding chuckle. “Seriously, Gia. You want me to snitch on my own mother?”

I bite my lip and try to imagine what I might do if Gwen did something like this. Okay, whatever. My mother would never, ever, do something like this.

“But the stuff that your mom wrote ... It could really hurt someone, Valerie.”

“It's just words,” Valerie disagrees. “Sticks and stones, right, chica?”

Valerie crumples the letter in her hand and then tosses it in her bag. She flags down Jewel and Kelani, and even though they look like they don't want to, they wait for her.

Before Valerie leaves she says, “Keep this between us, Gia. Okay?”

“Okay.”

I slam my lunch down on the table. Hope, Ricky, and Kevin look up at me as if they're waiting for an explanation.

“Don't ask,” I say.

Why did Valerie tell me about her mother stalking Susan on Facebook? Why would she put that burden on me, and then ask me to keep it a secret? That is the opposite of everything that is right! Wrong on every level!

“Okay,” Hope says, “since we can't ask Gia what she's spazzing about we can talk about my stuff.”

“What stuff?” Kevin asks.

Hope pulls out two photos of dresses. “Which looks better? Lots of ruffles or lots of lace?”

“So, what if someone's mom is doing something that needs to be told to ... I don't know! The police!” I blurt across the table.

Ricky and Kevin's attention switches from Hope's ugly dresses to me.

“Whose mother, what did they do, and why is it that you always have the scoop about stuff?” Kevin asks.

I run my fingers nervously through my afro. “Trust me, Kev. I wish I didn't have this scoop. This is a scoop I would gladly return to sender.”

Ricky touches my hand and I flinch. “Gia, you seem really stressed about this. Maybe you should talk to the school counselor or something.”

I let out a long sigh. I know that I can't say anything. Valerie's mom could end up in jail or something and I can't be the one that does that to their family.

Right?

Sascha sits down at our table with a puffy and swollen face. I'm gonna need her to stop bringing her doom and gloominess to our circle of friends. We're generally a happy bunch, you know what I mean? This girl stays on crying mode.

“Hope, please ask your mom if I can come back to PGP. I'm still ...” Sascha glances at Kevin and Ricky and drops her eyes. “I'm still pure.”

“Um, I can ask her, I guess, but she and Aunt Elena seem like they've made up their minds about the whole thing.”

Sascha replies tearfully, “I know, but it's not fair. I want to be a part of this. I think it's the only thing ...”

She pauses and looks at Ricky and Kevin again. I lift an eyebrow at Ricky and try to send him a mental signal that this is an all-girl conversation. No boys allowed.

He gets it (because he
always
gets my signalsâBFF, remember?). He says, “Come on, Kev, let's go.”

“But ...”

“Kevin, please,” I say.

The boys go join another table full of basketball players and rally girls. Okay, Ricky would pick a table with all of his adoring fans. It's going to be very hard for me to focus on Sascha's drama when a rally girl is giving Ricky a back rub.

“I just
have
to participate in the cotillion,” Sascha pleads. “Because if I can't, then there's nothing keeping me from hooking up with Chase ... and I need something to keep me from hooking up with him. Please!”

Hope and I look at each other and I think we must have the same look on our faces. We've got to help her, right? But Gwen and Aunt Elena have made a decision. I don't know if we can change their minds.

Hope finally speaks. “We'll try, Sascha. It's the most we can promise.”

“Thank you.”

Hope wraps her arms around Sascha and hugs her tightly.

I say, “You know, Sascha. Even if you can't be in PGP, you don't have to lose your virginity to Chase. It's worth more than a cotillion.”

Sascha bursts into tears and cries on Hope's shoulder. Is this what it means to be in a teenage love affair? Am I eventually gonna end up crying like Sascha? Is Ricky gonna flip the script too?

Dang. Too many questions, with no answers ...

I
t's Friday, and school has just let out, beginning our winter break. I should be pumped. Two weeks out of school, hanging out with my friends, Christmas presents, my grandmother's banana pudding, turkey! All good stuff that I can't get excited about.

“Gal, what you over there daydreaming about?” Mother Cranford asks.

I must be the worst employee on the planet, but Mother Cranford keeps letting me come back. When I am at work, I get plenty of dusting done and fix her snacks. Honestly, I think she just enjoys my company. But who wouldn't enjoy my company? Holla!

“I'm not daydreaming, Mother. I've got two friends with some tough situations and I can't figure out how to help with either of them.”

“What kind of tough situations?”

“Mother Cranford, I can't tell you. I'm sworn to secrecy.”

“Do these friends go to our church?”

“They visit sometimes, but they're not members.”

“Then that means I don't know them or their mamas. You can tell me about it, Gia. Maybe I can help you pray on it.”

So I tell Mother Cranford all of the drama. And she listens thoughtfully, without making any comments at first. When I'm done, I sit down on Mother Cranford's plastic-covered couch and wait for her to give me her opinions.

She clears her throat and says, “Well, first of all, that no snitching and no tattling mess don't apply to grown folk. Adults are supposed to have good sense, so you don't have to worry about covering up for nobody's mama.”

“That's what I thought too, but it's not just going to hurt my friend's mom, it's going to hurt my friend too.”

“It'll probably help your friend more than hurt her.”

“Maybe you're right.”

Mother Cranford whistles. “Now that other oneâwell, that is a whole other kind of situation. The devil just done got into the youth. I tell you, when I was coming up, no girl needed a reason to keep her britches up.”

“It's different now, Mother. Everybody's dropping britches left and right.”

Mother Cranford's eyebrows shoot up. “I sure hope you keeping yours up!”

“Oh, of course! My britches might as well be glued to my body.”

“You should tell your mama about this stuff. She can help you sort it all out.”

“I thought you were gonna help me pray on it.”

“I will, but, baby, I'm getting too old for some of this. Talk to your mama. She still remembers being your age.”

See what I'm talking about? Even Mother Cranford isn't trying to touch this mess!

Mother Cranford clicks on the television with her remote control. So I guess our little conversation must be over. Dang! Just plain old dismissed right in the middle of my high stress moment!

“Gia ...”

“I know, Mother Cranford. Lean Cuisine coming right up.”

Kevin shows up at my house at 8:45 a.m. for our last SAT prep class. I feel more than ready to take the test and I think we're going to do the next available test date. Kevin and I have college on lock, ya heard!

I hop into the passenger's side of the car. Immediately I turn the heat on full blast. Kevin be trying to freeze a sista.

“Kevin, it's like two degrees out here. My bones are cold.”

Just then, I notice that Kevin looks totally tripped out.

“You okay, Kev?” I ask.

He nods. “Can I ask you a question, Gia?”

“Sure, Kev. What's up?”

“If you didn't like Ricky, would you even consider kicking it with me?”

Oh, no. Where is this coming from and where is this conversation headed? Me don't know if me likee!

“Kevin, why are you asking me this? I do like Ricky, so it's highly irrelevant.”

Did I just say that out loud? Wow, that's like a major step, and Kevin is so wrapped up in his personal life that he totally just missed the big reveal.

Kevin sighs. “Okay, so it's not about you. I'm over my Gia crush. I've moved on, so I need Gia the friend's advice.”

Excuse me! I had a feeling that Kevin had moved on to more fruitful crush territory, but dang, did he have to put it all like that? Oh, the bluntness.

I reply, “Kevin, you are smart, cute, and loyal. Yeah, I'd holla.”

Kevin smiles. “Thank you, Gia. I needed to hear that.”

“Who are you going after?”

“Your sister, but I'm not going after her. I just wanted to know if she might be interested, in case I ever do try to go after her.”

I sit back in my seat and grin. Kevin and Candy would make a weird and cute couple. They're both super-smart and they both like music. And Candy has been dropping hints about Kevin's cuteness for a minute.

“How could she not be interested?” I ask. “You are an awesome guy.”

“I'm glad she thinks that. But can I ask you a question?”

“Yep.”

“When are you getting a driver's license?”

I roll my eyes. “Jokes, huh? Shut up and drive.”

BOOK: It's All Good

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