by Paula Chase
“Sit down, girls,” Mariah directed.
They sat, hip-to-hip, on the double bed.
Mina’s mom stood in front of them. Her face was tight, but the anger in her eyes had subsided. Mina’s dad took a seat on the dresser, happy to let his wife do the talking.
“There are a million reasons why what you girls did was dumb as dirt,” Mariah said, then sighed. “Lizzie, I’m especially surprised that you’d pull something like this.”
Tears streamed down Lizzie’s face. Mina put her arm around her.
Jackson chuckled. “Are those tears because you got caught?”
Lizzie sniffled. “Yes.”
An involuntary nervous giggle escaped Mina’s throat. Lizzie was too honest for her own good.
“I’m going to call your parents and let them know you’re here, safe with me,” Mariah said.
“Can’t you just call them tomorrow?” Lizzie begged.
Mariah rolled her eyes and gave Lizzie a “what do you think” smirk.
“How girls who are usually very bright and responsible get themselvesinto this kind of mess is beyond me,” Mariah said. She folded her arms and took inventory of the small huddle on the bed. “Anyonecare to enlighten me?”
“We’re sorry,” Jacinta said.
“For getting caught,” Jackson quipped. The whole thing now seemed to amuse him.
“If we had asked for permission to ride down with JZ and stay with you guys, our parents would have said no,” Lizzie said.
Mariah frowned. “How do you know that, Lizzie?”
Lizzie’s mouth moved wordlessly.
“Exactly. You don’t know that,” Mariah said. “If you had asked, you know your mom would have called me. We would have debated how safe it was to drive with Brian and then made a decision. And you know what? I think she would have let you.”
Lizzie slumped against Mina.
“Well, I have some calls to make.” Mariah walked out of the room with her cell phone in hand and Jackson followed.
“Could we be in any more trouble?” Lizzie asked miserably.
“What did my mom say after me and Sara left?” Mina whispered.
“She looked around and asked where was Michael,” Kelly said.
“Yeah, and when we told her he was home she said he had more sense than all of us put together,” Lizzie said.
She and Mina exchanged a knowing nod and eye roll. It wasn’t that Michael was any more sensible. He’d done his fair share of crazy things with the clique. Heck, he was even the best liar of the four of them. But you couldn’t tell Mariah that. She always called Michael the responsible one.
“She went off when she found out that we’d stayed at Brian’s condo last night,” Jacinta said.
Mina’s heart skipped a beat. She had forgotten about that tidbit.
“Why didn’t you guys lie and say you just came down today?” Mina asked.
“Phhh, okay, lie,” Jacinta said. “We were already caught wrong. Besides, didn’t your mother know the guys were coming on Friday?”
Mina nodded.
Jacinta eyebrows raised as if to say, “well then.”
They hushed when the door opened. Mariah motioned for Lizzie.
Lizzie stood, composed herself and walked over to the phone Mariah held out.
She and Mariah walked out to the hallway for privacy and the girls only caught Lizzie’s voice as it began to quiver an apology.
When Lizzie returned, Mariah was already on the phone with Jacinta’s father. “Hi Jamal, it’s Mariah Mooney,” she said, as she stood in front of the girls. “Yeah, it’s pretty nice down here. Nearly seventy-five,earlier.” The steely look she leveled at the girls clashed with the light laugh in her voice. “Well, look, I wish I was calling just to tell you the squad won.” She laughed again. “But, these girls of ours have been busy scheming. Jacinta is down here with me.” She paused as Mr. Phillips reacted, then nodded along. “Nobody was more surprisedthan me to see them at the arena, Jamal. Un-huh. But look, they’re going to stay with me tonight.” She paused again, scowled. “Oh no, don’t do that. Don’t come all the way down here.” She snapped her fingers at Jacinta, signaling her to come get the phone. “No, it’s not a problem at all. I’ll bring her home tomorrow. Un-huh.”She laughed. “Tell me about it. Okay, well look, here’s Jacinta. Okay. No problem, Jamal.”
She handed the phone over and pointed to the hallway, directing Jacinta out for privacy. By the time she’d called Mae Bell Lopez and explained once more it was no problem for the girls to stay with them for the night, an hour had passed.
The last call, to Kelly’s grandmother, had ended right on time. The hallways were now full of chattering cheerleaders, families and slamming doors.
Now that the girls’ secret had been shared with every parent, the tension in the room had dwindled to an uncomfortable uncertainty.
What now? Mina thought, growing antsy at the growing hallway noise.
Jackson Mooney answered without being asked. “Well, I’m not the one punished.” He winked at the girls. “The Final Four is on tonight. I’m heading to the lounge to watch the game.”
He kissed his wife on the cheek then opened his arms for a hug from Mina.
“You stuck your foot in it this time, baby girl,” he whispered good-naturedly.
Mina nodded. A lump grew in her throat. Without her dad to play good cop, they were at the mercy of her mom.
“See you in a few hours,” Jackson said, before slipping out the door.
The noise from the hall filtered through like a sliver of freedom, emboldening Mina.
“Mom, can we still go to the beach party tonight?” she asked, and almost flinched away from her mother’s glare.
“No you didn’t just ask me that.”
“Mommy, please,” Mina begged. She didn’t care if she lost this battle. It had to be fought. She was fighting for her life ... well, her social life. And right now they felt like the same thing. “We know we’re in the world’s worst pot of boiling water. But ... I mean, don’t you want to watch the game with Daddy?”
“Amina, have you lost your mind?” Mariah sat on the bed oppositethe girls. Her brown eyes pierced each girl. “What you girls did was ...”
“They just wanted to come support me,” Mina said, joining her mom on the bed. “If we had left Thursday instead of Wednesday, they could have come.”
Mariah scowled, cocking her head as if she’d misheard. “Are you saying this is me and Daddy’s fault because we wanted to leave a day early?”
“No, I ... I didn’t mean that,” Mina backpedaled. “I just ... the only reason Lizzie couldn’t come was because we left too early. It wasn’t that Mr. and Mrs. O’Reilly were against her coming.”
“Lord, that makes total sense in Mina land, doesn’t it?” Mariah chuckled in spite of her annoyance. She shook her head, eyeing the girls who sat pensive, and ramrod straight on the edge of the other bed, then looked into Mina’s hopeful eyes.
“They just wanted to show me some love, Ma,” Mina pleaded. “Can’t we go for a little while? The squad’s expecting me.”
“What if I let you go and not the girls?” Mariah smirked.
Mina blanched.
“Okay, I don’t mean any harm y’all ...” Mina twisted her mouth as she thought about it. “But ... you’re about to get left.”
Mariah surprised them by laughing out loud. She smacked Mina’s leg.
“See how your girl does you after you came all this way to see her?”
“Thanks a lot, Princess,” Jacinta grumbled.
But the scent of hope was in the air for the first time since they’d been busted.
Pimp-slapped into Reality
“It ain’t fresh, to just let him call the shots.”
—Trey Songz, “Can’t Help But Wait”
Mina stripped out of her cheer uniform and into a pair of capris, a long-sleeved spirit tee and her Blue Devil flops, in record time. She grabbed several cheer blankets, kissed her
mother’s cheek hastily and sped out, the girls barreling behind her.
It had taken twenty minutes and a lot of rules later, but they had broken Mina’s mom down. Her final words still echoed in their ears: “You better enjoy tonight. Because life will be nothing short of lockdown the second we get back home.”
Not one of them questioned the truth in her words.
They got off the elevator, stepped onto the hotel’s outdoor patio and Mina shot Brian a text “–mt us on bch.”
She inhaled a lungful of the sea air, wanting, needing to enjoy every second of the night. They had until 10:45 PM.
“And not a second later. Not one second, girls,” her mom had warned.
The girls had to be in the room by 10:45. Not just leaving the beach, in the room.
Their legs slogged through the sand faster than it should have been possible as they made their way to the spot where a full party was already in progress.
More than one hundred people, some coupled off on beach blankets or towels, most others standing in small clusters or large packs, made a wide messy circle around twenty kerosene lanterns—a substitute for a bonfire, which wasn’t allowed.
The lanterns provided limited light. The partyers were shadowed figures, well outside the steady flickering. Cardboard boxes, stacked three high, served as the DJ booth where a pair of portable speakers, facing away from the crashing waves, was hooked to a music player. The song switched from pop rock to hip-hop and blared, bass-less, into the night. Every few seconds a whitish glow emitted from spots among the clusters, people dialing or checking their cell phones as one of the Extreme Moments pictures was texted around.
Mina ignored the buzzing of her phone. The pictures had been coming in steadily since last night. Her text bill was going to be insane.
The girls crept around the clusters. Mina peered into the darkness,stopping to peek her head into a cluster every few feet, to find Kim or Sara. The girls chatted a few minutes at each cluster before moving on. Congratulations went out to Mina each time they stopped.
Minutes later, she approached a group of six girls and five guys. Everyone had either a large red plastic cup or a bottle in their hand. As Mina got closer she recognized that all the girls were dressed the same—not identical, but close—in pastel colored polos and patchworkshorty shorts. There was only one group of girls hokey enough to dare dressing alike without risking open ridicule. Mina tried to veer off quickly but her feet got tangled, slowing her turn. It was too late.
“Hey, Mina,” Jessica chirped.
“Umph, she is so phony,” Jacinta whispered from behind Mina.
Mina didn’t have time to debate the merit of Jess’s sincerity, even though her instincts told her the Jess she’d encounter tonight would be nothing like the Jess from Wednesday night. But they were less than three feet away from the girl. She couldn’t just act like she didn’t see her.
Instead, she forced sun into her voice and asked, “Hey, Jess. Know where Sara is?”
Jessica waved the hand holding the red cup toward a vague and random area near the water. Mina took a step back as liquid sloshed over the side, nearly spilling on her.
“Over there somewhere.”
“Big help,” Jacinta muttered under her breath.
It was loud enough to hear, but Jessica ignored it. Since the sociologyproject, the two had made good on their joint promise to pretendthe other didn’t exist.
“Hey, it’s Mina and her merry band of mid-pops,” Mari-Beth said.
The rest of the Glams, on cue, laughed their high-pitched, well-practicedStepford friends laugh.
Mari-Beth swished her thick blonde hair, then raked it to the left side so it draped perfectly on her shoulder. Her eyes narrowed and a sneer-smile spread across her face. “I hope you guys are staying for the big fireworks.”
“Who’s doing fireworks?” Lizzie asked. She absently scoured the beach.
“It’s going to be awesome,” Mari-Beth said, addressing only Mina. She cocked her head, as if thinking. “What time are they again, Jess?”
Jessica raked her weave with her fingers. “Another hour or so.”
“Oh good. It’ll be fun. Be sure to stick around for ’em, Mina,” Mari-Beth ordered before turning her attention away from the girls, dismissing them.
Mina rolled her eyes, but was thankful for the curtain call. She and the girls moved in the direction Jessica had pointed.
“They make my skin crawl,” Kelly said.
“I’m not sure what’s creepier, Mi. Them hating you or ...” Lizzie made air quotes. “Liking you.” She shuddered and absently zipped her jacket to the neck.
Mina snorted. “Trust, I’m just as weirded out. But it’s just until tomorrow. Monday we go back to hating, no quotes needed.”
They ended their search, choosing instead to spread the cheer blankets and camp out among a bunch of others. All four of them plopped down on the largest blanket. Seconds later Mina’s phone rang and she guided the guys to their spot.
Todd ran up to the blanket. He stood behind Mina, bent way over until his upside-down face was in hers, his blonde mop tickling her forehead.
“What are you doing?” she asked, palming his face and shoving it away.
He inspected each girl up close, first Kelly then Jacinta, turning their arms and hands over, finally ending at Lizzie. She squirmed as his finger slid down the collar of her polo while he examined her neck.
He threw his hands up in exaggerated bafflement. “Well you guys look okay.”
“What’s wrong with your boy, Liz?” Jacinta asked.
Todd plopped down next to Lizzie, shoulder-to-shoulder. “I was just checking to see if anyone was bruised or battered. The way Mina’s mom was on the warpath I expected some casualties. Ya know, a shiner here.” He patted his butt. “A sore butt there.”
The girls exchanged knowing glances in the dark.
“Oh something got battered alright,” Mina said with a snort.
Lizzie chimed in. “Yeah, our chances of ever seeing the light of day once we get back home.”
The girls un-huh’d along as JZ and Brian settled down. Brian sat close behind Mina, his arms draped over his steepled knees.
“Shoot, I know that’s right,” JZ said. He sat down beside Jacinta, keeping a good friendly distance between them. “She mad laid into us when you and Sara left.”
“Yeah, Cinny told me.” Mina leaned back on Brian. “I don’t even want to talk about it. This is probably my last night out for a lonnnng time. Let’s pretend we won’t be on punishment for life.”
The girls nodded solemnly.
JZ wrapped his arms around his legs. He head-checked Jacinta’s way as he asked, “So you alright?”
Jacinta uncrossed her legs then changed her mind and crossed them again. She cleared her throat, uncomfortable as six pairs of eyes glowed in her direction in the dark.
“I’m cool,” she said quietly.
“Ay, I need to give some dap to Super Mi over there,” JZ said. He leaned over, his fist out for a pound. “You rolled up on Raheem like you were ready to fight.”
Mina tapped his fist lightly with hers. “Shoot, but I felt like runningbehind Cinny and hiding when he told me to mind my own business.”
“Thanks for having my back, Mina,” Jacinta mumbled.
Lizzie peered through the darkness at everyone’s face. “So do you think they went back to Del Rio Bay?”
“Nope,” Kelly said. She looked up from checking her Sidekick.
“You say that like you know,” Jacinta said.
Kelly stood up. “I do. Angel just texted me. He and Raheem are in the front parking lot.”
She looked down into everyone’s questioning faces then focused in on Jacinta. “He asked me to come out there and to bring you.”
“Just tell him she doesn’t want to come,” Mina snapped. Raheem had a lot of nerve. She started to say so when Jacinta stood up.
JZ snorted loud, clearly offended, and stood up abruptly. �
�Alright,I’m going see what’s up in this joint.” He gave Brian and Todd a pound. “Check me some fly shortaayyys.”
He walked off before anyone could say another word.
“Cinny, you’re going out there?” Mina asked, her eyebrows a deeply knitted unibrow.“Honestly, that’s messed up. I don’t blame JZ for leaving. He stood up for you today. We all did.”
Brian tapped her hip.
Mina could feel his head, over hers, softly shaking side-to-side, warning her to let it go. She ignored it. “Seriously, what could Raheempossibly say ...”
“Mina, it’s not like I can avoid him forever,” Jacinta said. She brushed some sand off her pants leg and folded her arms.
Mina stood up only a few inches from Jacinta. She lowered her voice, out of respect, not wanting to call Cinny out.
“Cinny, I know you and Raheem’s relationship is complicated. But he hit you tonight.” Mina frowned. “Isn’t that like the perfect reason for being done with him for good?”
The light in Jacinta’s eyes blazed and Mina’s stomach curled. She hadn’t meant to, but she’d backed Jacinta into a corner.
She braced herself.
Sure enough, Jacinta’s hands flew up to her hips as she fussed, “First of all, I can’t avoid Raheem forever. I go home every other weekend. And none of y’all know ...” Her voice broke for a second. She swallowed quickly and rushed on. “What it’s like to sit home every weekend with nothing to do now that me and him not together.”Jacinta looked over at Kelly then at Lizzie, challenging them. “Second of all, don’t sit up here and tell me that if the same thing happened to one of y’all, you wouldn’t give the person a chance to clear the air with you.”
Mina folded her arms. Her mouth pursed in a frustrated pout. “I can tell you this, if Brian ever hit me there’s not gonna be any air clearing.”
“Don’t bring me in this,” Brian grumbled.
Lizzie and Kelly chuckled, low and nervous.
“That’s easy to say when you not in the situation, Princess.” Jacintablew out a loud, frustrated sigh before regaining her composure. “Whatever. We already know we never see stuff the same.” At that Jacinta’s eyebrows raised high. “You’re the one who always bright-sidingit. So what if I’m letting Raheem say his peace? Isn’t that the bright side, Mina? Maybe he’s sorry and just wanna let me know that.” She sneered, folding her arms tight against her chest, “Or bright-sidingit only works when it’s something you want real bad?”