“Well, whatever, you did the right thing.”
“Right about now I don’t know.” I sighed heavily.
“What about all that research Alexis pulled? Isn’t that helping?”
I fell back on my bed. This whole project was making my head hurt. “It will. But it’s in my mom’s car. I left it there yesterday, so I can’t do anything on that until she gets home.”
“Well, you know if you need anything, just let me know.”
“All right. I’ll talk to you later.” I hung up and stared at my blank paper for a while. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to find the words to get the paper flowing. Finally, I told myself to stop stressing and wait for my mom to get home. Maybe once I had the research in front of me, the rest would come easily.
I don’t know how long I had been doodling when I heard the front door open.
I hurried into the living room. “Hey, Mama. I need to see your keys,” I said before she could even step through the door.
“For what?”
“I need to go pick up my friends. We’re going to this party.”
She looked at me like I had gone crazy.
I laughed. “No, for real, I left some papers in your backseat. I need to get them.”
An odd note entered her voice. “What kind of papers?”
“Some research stuff for this essay I have to write.”
“Why would you leave them in my backseat?” my mom asked.
I shrugged, wondering why she was tripping. “I had them when you picked me up yesterday. I just left them there.”
“Jasmine!”
I frowned at the intense look on my mother’s face. “What’s the big deal?”
My mom sighed. “The big deal is, your brother spilled a slush all over the backseat, so I stopped and we cleaned my car out.”
I stared at her, trying to process what she was saying. “What do you mean, you cleaned your car out? You never clean your car out.”
“Well, I stopped today and your brothers threw away everything in that backseat.”
“They threw away my research?”
“I guess. There was nothing left in the backseat. I just checked when we got back home.”
I could feel my forehead starting to sweat. “You’re kidding me.”
Her eyes became hard. “Jasmine, I’m tired and I have to be at work in three hours. I don’t have time to kid anybody.”
“But Mama . . .”
“Don’t ‘But Mama’ me. I’m sorry, but it’s not my fault. You need to learn to be more responsible with your things.” She headed to her room. “You’ll have to redo the research,” she said before disappearing into her bedroom.
How am I supposed to do that? I wondered, looking at the spot where the computer used to sit.
I felt a knot building in my stomach. This could not possibly be happening. I glanced over at the clock. The library was closed, I couldn’t go there. I could try to call my girls, but my mom had already said she was tired, so how would I go over to their houses?
This was getting crazy. Maybe all of my troubles were a sign. Maybe I needed to buy that paper, after all. Without thinking, I picked up the phone and dialed Tyeesha’s number.
“Tyeesha,” I said as soon as she picked up, “maybe I need to reconsider. Everything is falling apart.”
“Jasmine,” she said, cutting me off. “I was just about to call you. I did a little research of my own, and I think you were so right about not buying that paper.”
My heart sank in my stomach. “What? Why do you say that?”
“Girl, I’m sitting here looking at a picture of a boy in New Jersey who bought a paper off the internet at some place that was supposed to be safe. He not only got expelled from school, they arrested him for theft.”
“Arrest?” I said, horrified at the idea. “B-but I thought you said it was safe.”
“I know that’s what Cassandra said, but I bet this guy thought it was safe, too. And his story is not the only one! I’ve found four others so far. All of them were kicked out of school.”
Okay, I had not called her for her to be flip-flopping on me, especially now that I needed her to back me on the decision I was about to make.
“So, now you don’t think I should buy it?” I asked.
She sighed. “I don’t know, Jasmine. I just don’t have a good feeling.”
“So, what do you suggest I do?” I snapped.
“I don’t know that either,” she said. “Sleep on it and let’s talk tomorrow.”
“Fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I hung up the phone and swallowed hard. Even if I pulled all the research again tomorrow, that left me with one day—the night of the party—to write this paper.
I did the only thing I could—I fell back on my bed and cried myself to sleep.
21
Angel
Alexis looked like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She’d met us in the cafeteria to let us know that Mari and Marlee’s attorney had said the video would be gone from YouTube and any other sites that might have copied it within twenty-four hours. The news had made her day.
“I’m glad they’re taking the video down. I hate that so many people saw it first,” Alexis said as she turned the car into her driveway.
“I still don’t believe the video was as bad as you think,” I said for the twentieth time.
Alexis cut her eyes at me. “Yeah, right. Try having thousands of people ogling your body.”
I smiled. “Okay, it was bad, but at least you weren’t naked or anything.”
“I might as well have been,” Alexis said, climbing out of the car. “I mean, the freaks come out at night. The last thing I ever thought I’d be referred to is a freak. And I hate that guys are drooling all over me like I’m a piece of meat.”
“Yeah, one of Rico’s suite mates wanted me to fix him up with you,” I said, following her up the walkway.
“As if!” she said, unlocking her front door. She was about to say something else when the sight of both of her parents sitting at the kitchen table stopped her in her tracks. They had divorced a few months ago, and although they were civil to each other, Alexis said her father didn’t come by the house for long.
“Hey, Daddy,” she said, looking apprehensively between her parents. Her father was dressed in an expensive navy suit. Her mother had on a silk lounging robe. Neither of them bothered greeting us with a smile, and that stern look on Mr. Lansing’s face made me uneasy.
“What’s up?” Alexis asked, continuing to look back and forth from her mother to her father.
“Obviously not your clothes,” her father growled.
Mrs. Lansing’s hand immediately went to her ex-husband’s arm. “Arthur, now’s not the time. Maybe we should wait for her friend to leave.”
That was my cue to leave the room, but I was too shocked to move a muscle.
“When is the right time, Veronique?” her father said, slamming his palm on the table so hard it made me jump.
“I’m just saying, please stay calm,” she said gently.
“Stay calm?” he spat. He got up and began pacing back and forth across the kitchen. “My daughter loses a prestigious scholarship because she wants to get naked on the internet, and you want me to be calm?”
“Huh?” Alexis asked, her eyes wide. “What are you talking about?”
Alexis’s father turned to her mother. “Oh, she doesn’t know?”
Her mother sighed heavily. “No, Arthur. When would I have had a chance to tell her?”
“Well, maybe if you did sit down to tell her something, talk to her about what is and isn’t appropriate, we wouldn’t be in this predicament,” he snapped.
“Oh, no, you aren’t blaming this on me!” Her mother stood and waved her finger in his face.
“Would you two stop making everything about you?” Alexis yelled. I’m sure if she had been thinking straight, she would’ve let them go at it to keep the focus off her.
“Oh, so you want to make it about you, huh? Do you want to know what’s going on?” Mr. Lansing shouted. “Do you really want to know? Well, I was in the middle of a very important meeting—”
“You’re always in the middle of a very important meeting,” Mrs. Lansing muttered.
He ignored her and continued ranting. “I’m in the middle of my meeting when I get an urgent phone message from Stanley Darden.”
“Mr. Darden, the man who got me the scholarship to Cornell?” Alexis asked.
“Yeah, that Stanley Darden,” he continued. “The one who got you the scholarship. He informed me that, unfortunately, they are rescinding their offer. Do you know why?”
The look on her face said she knew exactly why, but I knew Alexis, and she wasn’t about to volunteer anything.
“I’ll show you why,” he said, pointing at the laptop I’d just now noticed sitting next to Alexis’s mother.
“Daddy, I can explain,” Alexis began.
“You can? Really?” He threw his hands up. “You mean there is a valid explanation as to why my daughter is half naked—no, make that ninety percent naked—on the internet for the whole wide world to see.”
Her mother chimed in, “Lexi, I’m shocked. Seriously, didn’t I raise you better than this? Don’t you have any self-respect? How in the world could you allow yourself to be filmed naked?” The look on Mrs. Lansing’s face was a mixture of disgust and shock.
“I’m not naked.”
“Oh, yeah, you have on skimpy underwear!” Mr. Lansing exclaimed.
“I didn’t make that to be put on the internet,” Alexis began in her defense.
“Why would you make it, period?” her father bellowed.
“Me and Marlee and Mari were just goofing around,” Alexis said meekly.
“In your underwear?” he screamed again.
“Lexi, how in the world did it get on the internet?” Mrs. Lansing asked.
Tears welled up in Alexis’s eyes again. “Mari’s ex-boyfriend got mad at her, and he stole it and put it up there.”
Her mother massaged her temple. “I am so ashamed.”
“It was just harmless fun.” Alexis sniffed.
“Harmless fun?” her dad asked. He began pacing again. “Well, you just blew it! Forget the fact that I put my name on the line. Forget the fact that everyone in your mother’s country club will know that you’re being called a freak on the internet, since Stanley Darden’s gossiping wife belongs there.”
At the mention of the country club, Alexis’s mother let out a small gasp and fell back in her chair.
“Forget all of that,” her father continued. “This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and you blew it!”
I felt so bad for Alexis. She was in all-out crying mode now, and her father didn’t seem to care. I knew he was angry, but dang, I wished he’d cut her a little slack.
“Daddy . . .” Alexis sniffed.
“Alexis, go to your room,” her father snarled. “I’m so upset that I can’t even look at you.”
Alexis let out a wail like she was five years old as she took off running to her room. I stood there, not knowing what to do.
Her parents finally noticed me, and her dad said, “Angel, I’m sorry you had to witness all of our family’s humiliation. But I’m sure you can understand that right now Alexis should not be having any company.”
I slowly nodded. “Okay, b-but I rode with her over here.”
“I’ll have my driver take you home,” he said, pulling out his cell phone, I guess to call for his driver.
I nodded again. I felt bad for Alexis, real bad. Yet the thought that Alexis had lost the scholarship started me thinking about my own schooling. What would I do if for some reason Rico tried to keep me from going? After six years he was sick of college. I had to stop skirting around that issue. I decided I needed to see where Rico stood as far as me going to college because I wanted a college education. I just hoped I didn’t have to give up my boyfriend to get it.
22
Angel
I sat on the bench at Memorial Park, stunned at the news Rico had just laid on me.
“So what do you think?” he asked.
“I . . . I don’t know what to say. You’re actually leaving Prairie View?”
He nodded. “This dude is gonna front the money to get my demo done. And I can’t pass it up.”
When he said he had something to talk to me about, I never imagined it would be this. Rico had announced that he was dropping out of college and moving back home to pursue his rap career. He never apologized for showing up at my house two days ago. He just said he was tired of waiting to meet my family.
“I’ve tried the college thing for six years. It’s not for me,” Rico said. “My heart is with rap, and I know I can make it if someone gives me a shot. And I now have that shot.”
“So what does this mean for us?” I asked, still trying to take in everything he’d just said.
I’d dropped Angelica off with Marcus and had had Camille drive me to Memorial Park to meet up with Rico. She hadn’t been feeling the idea, but she didn’t say anything and was now just waiting patiently in the car.
Rico covered my hands with his. “Angel, I wasn’t playing when I told your mother I wanted you in my life forever.”
I swallowed hard. I was totally feeling Rico, but forever seemed like a really long time.
“I want you to move to Dallas with me. You and Angelica,” he continued.
I couldn’t believe he was serious. The expression on his face told me that he was. “I don’t understand. Where would we live?” I asked.
“We could stay with my mom until we can afford our own place in a year or two.” He grinned like he had it all figured out.
All kinds of thoughts started racing through my head, including the fact that he’d never met Angelica, yet here he was asking that we move in with him. “Your mom’s?” I said. “You want us to live with your mom?”
“Why you say it like that?” he said, like he was offended. “It’s not like I plan on staying there forever.”
“B-but, my family—”
“And?” he said impatiently. “It’s time for you to grow up. I thought you were mature. Mature means knowing when to cut your mama’s apron strings.”
“I am mature, but Dallas?”
“Yeah, you’re about to graduate. What’s the big deal?”
“Well, what about my going to college?”
He looked at me blankly, then quickly recovered. “They do have colleges in Dallas, you know.”
“And Angelica? I mean, her and Marcus are—”
“Marcus!” Rico exploded. “Is that why you don’t want to go with me, because you’re trying to stay around in hopes of getting back with your baby daddy?”
I know I needed to calm him down before he went off—which he was having more and more of a tendency to do.
“Rico, that was over long ago. You just sprung this on me and caught me off guard, that’s all.”
He didn’t bother trying to hide his exasperated expression. “Look, do you want to be with me or not? That’s all I need to know.”
“Of course I want to be with you,” I said. “But you haven’t even met Angelica and you want us to come live with you?”
“It’s not my fault I haven’t met her,” he said, glaring at me.
I sighed. “I know . . . but . . . moving to Dallas with my boyfriend?”
Rico sat back down on the bench next to me. “Marry me then,” he said quickly.
“Huh?” I said, stunned. That was the last thing I’d been expecting.
“If that’s what has you all worried,” he reasoned, “that you’re going off with me and we’re not married, then I’m saying let’s get married.”
I was speechless. Two months ago, I didn’t even have a boyfriend. Now I not only ha
d one but I had one who wanted to get married.
“Rico . . .”
He put a finger to my lips. “Take a few days to think about it, then let me know. I leave next Sunday.” He stood and glanced over at Camille, who had gotten out of the car and was leaned up against the driver’s side door. “Come back up to campus with me.” He paused, then said, “And stay the night.”
So finally it was coming. I curled my lip. “Yeah, right.”
“See? That’s what I’m talking about,” he said, frustrated. “If we get married, we don’t have to worry about you running home. And we no longer have to wait until we’re married to be together. I’m getting sick of waiting.”
I knew where he was going, but I wasn’t ready to touch that. I had to digest everything he was saying.
“I can’t come back to campus.” I glanced over at Camille, who pointed at her watch. “Tonight’s the senior party and—”
His look caused me to stop immediately. “I know you’re not trying to go to some party,” he growled. “For what?”
“I-it’s our senior party,” I said.
“And? My girl ain’t gon’ be up in some party.”
The expression on his face let me know it would be pointless to argue, so I said, “No, I’m not planning on going to the party. But Camille is, and she has to stop by the mall before she takes me home.”
Up until that very moment, I had planned on going. But with the marriage proposal he’d just dropped on me, I was like Jasmine now. I had more important things to worry about than my senior party.
23
Angel
I would give anything if Camille would take me home, but she was hot about my decision to bail on the senior party, and I’m sure she thought that by dragging me to the mall with her, I’d change my mind.
“Okay, Angel, you know I’ve tried to support you with Rico,” Camille said as she navigated Highway 59.
I groaned and leaned back against the headrest. “Camille, please don’t start.”
“Unh-unh, I wouldn’t be a true friend if I didn’t speak my mind,” Camille said. “I told you, I’m not as freaked out about Rico’s age as everyone else is, but I don’t like the way he treats you.”
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