That's What's Up!

by Paula Chase

  “Well, we were awesome,” Sara crowed. Still high from the performance,she speed-talked. “I still can’t believe Lizzie, Jacinta and Kelly came down here with JZ and Brian.” She snorted. “So far so good hiding them from your parents, huh?”

  “Yeah, but it’s been a trip, though,” Mina said.

  “I bet,” Sara laughed. “I won’t be a fifth wheel, will I?”

  Mina frowned. “No. It’s just like last night at the condo, we’re all just hanging out. It’s not a couples’ thing.”

  “Well you and Brian were totally coupled up, last night when we got back from the store.”

  “Yeah, but my parents weren’t lurking nearby.”

  She and Sara were out of breath from pushing through the sea of bodies when they finally reached the clique in the easily identifiable Blue Devils section, swimming in blue and gold.

  Jacinta, Kelly and Lizzie sat on the floor of the bottom bleacher, the safety rail partially obstructing their view of the stage and their legs dangling over the edge. The guys stood on the floor in front of the section. They clapped and yelled Mina and Sara’s names as the girls walked up.

  A minor stir rose as the rest of the section hooted too, before going back to their conversations. Just like that, no one was watchingthe stage anymore. Their team was done. Moving on.

  “Y’all tore that joint up,” JZ exclaimed.

  Todd held out his program and a pen.“Can I have your autograph?”

  Sara pretended to write her name as Todd faked a girlish giggle.

  “Thanks y’all,” Mina said. She buried her face in Brian’s neck as he gave her a big hug and twirled her around.

  “My girl was doing it big,” Brian said. “Thought you were gonna flake out on that twist, though. I can’t lie.”

  “Shoot, me too,” Mina admitted as the clique laughed along in agreement. She adjusted her skirt and top once Brian put her down. Ignoring the stairs to their left, she and Sara boosted themselves over the rail and squeezed in between the girls.

  “Alright, brother is hungry,” JZ announced. “Who’s trying head to the food court?”

  Jacinta stood up. “I’ll go.”

  Mina smacked her leg. “No you won’t.”

  “Girl, why you rummin’?” JZ scowled.

  Mina sucked her teeth. “Because my parents are out there right now.” She gave Cinny a stern look. “Or have you forgotten you’re a stowaway on this trip?”

  “I forgot. I’m on lockdown, Jay,” Jacinta said. She sat down reluctantlywith a tiny thud.

  “I’ll go with you, dude,” Todd said. He grabbed Lizzie’s ankle and tugged playfully. “Want anything?”

  “Diet Coke, please,” she said shyly.

  Jacinta snorted. “Diet? Whatever. JZ, can you get me some fries and a Sprite ...” JZ nodded as Jacinta continued, “And a Twix.”

  “See, you need to be going yourself if you want all that,” JZ said. He scrunched his eyebrows and pretended to count his change. “I thought you were gonna be a cheap date.”

  “Dag, how much cheaper can I be than a fries, soda and a candy bar?” Jacinta said, hands on her hips.

  Mina shook her head as Brian looked over to see if she wanted anything.

  As soon as the guys took off, Mina pumped the girls for every detail about life at the condo. She wouldn’t let them leave out a singleutterance, movement or thought.

  “Dish,” she commanded. “Where did you guys end up sleeping last night?”

  Jacinta leaned up and spoke loud so Sara could hear. “Brian let us have the master bedroom.”

  “Aww, my Boo-Boo is so sweet,” Mina said.

  Sara made eyes at Lizzie. “No hook-ups?”

  Lizzie’s cheeks went an immediate crimson. “Uhh, no!”

  “If you guys pull this off, you’re the new queens,” Sara said, awestruck.

  “Queens of deceit,” Kelly deadpanned.

  “No,” Sara said, “just the queens of ballsiness.”

  “For real,” Mina nodded.

  “I called my father last night and he seemed to believe we were at Aunt Jacqi’s,” Jacinta said.

  Kelly laughed. “Unless he heard JZ yell in the background.”

  Lizzie winced. “Do you think he heard that, Cinny?”

  “Why was JZ yelling?” Mina asked, completely caught up.

  “Brian dropped a can of corn on his toe.”

  Jacinta, Lizzie and Kelly cracked up, thinking back on it.

  Mina laughed too. But without the visual to back it up, her laugh was hollow. She could almost see JZ, howling and grabbing his toe—maybe cursing Brian out. But it was the type of thing where you had to be there to laugh as hard as the other girls were.

  She soaked in every bittersweet word of the girls’ adventure. Finallyher best friend and her new friends were really friends on their own—had a little adventure to share that Mina could only look at from the outside. She peeked at Lizzie’s face. It was animated with tense excitement. Mina smiled, pleased.

  She dug for further details, relishing being brought up to speed. “Okay, why did Brian have a can of corn?”

  Jacinta was laughing so hard, Kelly finished for her. “Who knows? But the three of us had gone into the bedroom so Cinny could call her dad and ...”

  “I knew it was going too well,” Lizzie cut in. “She’d been talking to him for like ...” She looked over at Kelly for confirmation.

  “About ten minutes.”

  “No, it was longer than that,” Jacinta said, her laughter now a hitched giggle. “It was like twenty.”

  “Right when she started in on the goodbye, this loud crash came from the kitchen,” Kelly said. “I have never run to shut a door so fast in my life.”

  “And JZ screamed sooo loud,” Lizzie said. “But Kelly had shut the door by then.”

  “He started cussing and we could still hear him,” Jacinta laughed. “But you know how cellies are. I don’t really think my father could hear the background noise.”

  “God, I hope not,” Lizzie groaned.

  The girls shared more of their night and morning at the condo until the guys came back, their arms full of goodies. As each boy went up to his respective girl, there was a minute of uncomfortable silence as Kelly and Sara sat, boyless.

  Sara stood up. “Kelly, wanna go to the bathroom with me?”

  Mina looked at Lizzie and Todd exchanging tickles and JZ and Jacinta laughing over something, then announced, “Wait, don’t go. Hey y’all, I promised Sara no couple stuff.”

  “Oh, it’s not that. I really have to go,” Sara said.

  “I’ll go,” Kelly said. She stood up, brushing off her pants daintily.

  “Alright, you guys have ...” Sara looked down at an imaginary watch on her wrist. “Five minutes and then no more kissy-kissy.”

  “You must be talking to them,” Jacinta said, pointing her thumbs to either side of her to Mina and Lizzie.

  “I’m talking to whoever,” Sara laughed as she and Kelly climbed over the rail. “Five minutes. Starting now.”

  With them gone, Mina and Brian fell into a whispered conversationabout nothing. He teased her about being able to see her legs shake from the jumbo screen, giving him an excuse to rub her calves suggestively.

  JZ hoisted his tall frame over the rail and sat on the bleacher directlybehind the girls.

  “Man, I need sit down,” he said to no one in particular.

  He sat right behind Jacinta and began plucking with her, toeing her butt and throwing M&Ms into her hair.

  She made a feeble attempt at fussing at him to stop. But the scowl never reached her smiling eyes.

  “So how many more squads?” Brian asked.

  Mina grabbed a stray program nearby. She ran her finger down the page, looked up at the screen to check which team was on the stage, then zoomed back down the page. “About ten,” she announced.

  “Ten?” JZ said. “We gotta stay for all of ’em?”

  Mina leaned back and gave him a look. />
  “Man,” he muttered under his breath. “I need a power bar or something to keep me awake.”

  “Hey ... speaking of power bars, where’s my candy?” Jacinta asked. She stood up. Her petite body stood guard in front of JZ.

  “Where’s my Twix, Jay?”

  He smiled. “I forgot it.”

  “For real?” She frowned.

  “Look in his pocket, Cinny,” Todd said.

  “Todd,” Lizzie scolded.

  “Man!” JZ sucked his teeth.

  Todd laughed. “My bad.”

  Jacinta held out her hand.

  “Nope. I need it to keep my energy up through these next twenty hours,” JZ said, rolling his eyes Mina’s way.

  “Exaggerate much?” Mina shot back.

  “Okay, fifteen hours,” Brian said.

  “Okay, I’ll remember this come summer league time,” Mina said, addressing Brian, JZ and Todd. “When y’all want us sitting through five million games a night.”

  “Just jokes, girl,” Brian said. He reached through the rail and chucked her chin, cutting her lecture short. He moved his face closer to hers and she pecked his lips with a shy kiss.

  “Come on, Jay. I’m really in the mood for one,” Jacinta pleaded.

  JZ took the candy bar from his jacket pocket and slowly unpeeledthe wrapper.

  “Aww see, you so wrong,” Jacinta said. She swiped at the bar, missing. JZ jerked it skyward, high above his head. Jacinta lunged, but still couldn’t get a grip.

  The couples laughed as Jacinta dropped onto JZ’s lap, tugging at his arm.

  “Oh yeah. Give him a lap dance, Cinny,” Todd cat-called.

  He and Brian knocked fists.

  Jacinta stood on the bleacher, straddling JZ’s lap, so she was nearly as tall as his arms were high. Finally, stretching her body as long as it would go, she plucked the golden wrapped bar out of his hands, beforesitting back down on his lap, legs crossed primly, satisfied.

  “You owe me seventy-five cents, girl,” he groused good-naturedly.

  Jacinta took a big chunk from one of the Twix bars, munching contentedly. She crunched near JZ’s ear and he palmed her face.

  As she laughed, Twix cookie crumbs blew in his face.

  “Now who’s wrong?” JZ asked, eyebrow cocked high.

  But Mina noticed he didn’t make Jacinta get up. She shook her head at their little show then looked toward the bathroom, checking for signs of Sara and Kelly. The couples’ five minutes of canoodling was way up.

  Her eyes froze on a figure steamrolling their way.

  “Cinny,” Mina called out in a strained, strangled yell-whisper.

  Jacinta pulled out the other half of the Twix bar and put it in front of JZ’s mouth. He took a tiny nibble.

  “Cinny,” Mina yell-whispered again, more insistent.

  Jacinta looked down at her. “What?”

  Mina nodded to her right, in the direction of the arena’s main doors.

  Jacinta squinted at her. “What?” She parroted Mina’s loud whisper.

  “Raheem,” Mina yell-whispered.

  “What? What about Rah ...” Jacinta frowned. She finally looked in the direction Mina’s eyes refused to leave. In a flash she caught an eyeful of Raheem running their way, his face twisted into the nastiestsnarl she’d ever seen.

  Meltdown in ... 1

  “If I could escape, I would.”

  —Gwen Stefani, “Sweet Escape”

  Some old school phrases have absolutely no meaning in real life. They lost any real definition ages ago. But as Raheem zigzagged his way through the crowd, his angry eyes blazing and his normally neatly braided hair out in a wild jagged afro, one of Mina’s grandmother’sfavorite phrases not only came to mind, but made perfect sense. Unable to take her eyes off his face, Mina knew in her bones that things were about to “go to hell in a handbasket.”

  She had no friggin’ idea what a handbasket was. But it didn’t stop her from knowing that right now she was inside of one and it was sliding fast into a bad place.

  Thank God I’m not in it alone, was her last thought when Raheem finally made it to the bleachers.

  Jacinta popped off JZ’s lap so fast, Mina wasn’t sure if JZ hadn’t helped her with a shove. His face was confused and knowing all at once, but he stayed seated on the bleacher and surprised Mina by leaning back. His elbows rested casually on the empty row behind them.

  JZ’s sudden casual stance made Mina’s stomach clench. No way JZ felt that at ease. But seeing him act like it, sent off every alarm in Mina’s head. Without knowing it, she gripped Brian’s forearm and barely felt him loosen her fingers. He held her two fingers lightly and turned his body toward Raheem, positioning himself to see better.

  “Jacinta what the fu ...” Raheem started before Jacinta cut him off.

  “What are you doing here?” A tiny tremor underneath the nonchalantquestion made her voice crack on the last word.

  Raheem’s eyes bucked in surprise. “You sitting on some other dude’s lap and all you gon’ ask me is what I’m doing here?” He glanced over Jacinta’s shoulder at JZ. “What you doing here?!”

  Their raised voices didn’t cause a stir. The music was so loud that everyone in the arena was screaming to be heard over the noise.

  The blaring voice of the competition’s MC reminded everyone to stop and get their spirit gear from the House of Cheer, at booth ten.

  Angel, who had gotten lost in the crowd trying to keep up with Raheem, finally arrived at the bleachers. His chest heaving, he put his hand firmly on Raheem’s shoulder and yell-whispered somethingin Spanish. Raheem took his voice down, but if anything, his anger went up two notches. He spat every word.

  “So, what? This you now?” Raheem nodded curtly at JZ, who was somehow managing to look cool as a cuke.

  Jacinta folded her arms tight across her chest. “No, Raheem.” The heavy unuttered sigh in her voice said she was used to arguing over sillier stuff than this. “You know me and Jason just friends.”

  “What up, kid?” JZ finally said. He leaned up, resting his elbows on his thighs and stretched his fist through the safety rail for a pound, shrugged when Raheem ignored it, and sat back.

  “Something must be up.” Raheem wouldn’t take his eyes off Jacinta.“Why you sneak all the way down here if ain’t nothing up with you and dude?”

  “Because my girl Mina performed tonight,” Jacinta said. Her voice had gone from worried to weary. She walked over and down the side steps and joined Raheem on the floor. She addressed Angel this time. “So, what’s up, Angel? What are y’all doing here?”

  “Chilling, mami,” Angel said. His eyes locked on Jacinta’s for a second, sending a silent message no one but Cinny understood.

  Jacinta’s head took a barely visible dip as she nodded.

  Just then Kelly and Sara came back, stopping right beside Angel and Jacinta.

  Sara looked around at the newcomers, confused, waiting for an introduction that would never come.

  But Kelly’s face was a clear “uh-oh.” Mina saw it.

  Uh-oh is right, she thought.

  “Angel, I ... what are you guys doing here?” Kelly said.

  Jacinta glanced over at Kelly. “Yeah, Kelly, what are they doing here?”

  “I ... Angel said ...” Kelly kept her eyes on Angel as she finished.“Angel mentioned they might come but I didn’t ... you know, I thought you were joking.”

  “Yeah, ’cause if he wasn’t joking you would have told me, right?” Jacinta’s eyebrows dipped into a deep furrow.

  Mina couldn’t keep up with the telepathic messages being sent. But it didn’t take a psychic to know that a lot of stuff was being unsaid.

  “Yeah, she probably would have gave you a heads-up so you could kept your little dirt on the low,” Raheem said.

  “I don’t have nothing to keep on the low,” Jacinta snapped. “Me and Jay just friends. And you know what? Me and you just friends too. So why you bringing beef?”

  “Look, I
’m not gon’ sit here and have my business all out there.” Raheem grabbed her arm and began pulling her away. His grip bit into her flesh.

  Jacinta tried pushing his hand off. “Stop, Raheem.”

  “Man, come on,” Angel said, soft but firm. “Don’t do this. Not here.”

  JZ stood up and came to the top of the small stairway. Brian instinctivelystood up straighter, ready to have JZ’s back. Todd’s body language remained neutral, but he stood his ground next to Brian.

  Mina’s stomach pitched and dove into her bladder as Brian’s hand fell away from hers. I should have gone to the bathroom with Kelly and Sara, she thought stupidly.

  “Man, look, Cinny’s telling the truth,” JZ said. “I got mad respect for you. I wouldn’t be tipping with your girl. We was just rummin’.”

  For the first time, Raheem took his eyes off Jacinta, really took them away from her and looked JZ up and down. They fought hard on the court and field when Sam-Well played Del Rio Bay High—but they also played together during summer league and when JZ went to The Cove for a pick-up game. They weren’t friends, but respectfulopponents.

  Raheem’s eyes narrowed and it was like a fire going out. Mina felt the tension fade for just a second.

  Raheem let go of Jacinta’s arm and walked over to JZ, his hand extended for a pound.

  “Alright, kid, I take your word for it,” he said. They exchanged a pound. “I don’t have no beef with you. Real talk.”

  He turned back to Jacinta, his voice eerily casual and out of place when paired with his wild hair. “Look, let me holler at you for a second.Alright?”

  Jacinta shook her head, but turned toward the door in compliance.Before following him, she looked up at Mina. “I’ll be back.”

  “Kelly, what is going on?” Mina asked. She ducked her head under the rail and slid down to the floor. “Why is Angel here?”

  They all clustered around Kelly. She tucked at her hair and looked over at Angel for help. He was watching Jacinta and Raheem walk over to a dark corner at the end of the bleachers near the main door, his jaw tight.

  “Angel, I really thought you were joking about coming down,” Kelly said.

  “I wanted to see you and you know I wasn’t gon’ leave my boy home,” Angel said. “Why you ain’t tell me that Cinny was hooking up with kid?”