Fair-Weather Friends

by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

  “How about telling Tori to go to he—”

  “I just know you’re not about to curse in the Lord’s house.” Rachel stood in the doorway, her hands perched on her hips.

  I couldn’t help the guilty look that crept up on my face. But I was actually grateful to see Rachel come in the door because Alexis was really starting to get to me. Now, as far as I was concerned, this conversation was over.

  “Good Lord,” Rachel sighed as she walked into the room. “Somebody wanna tell me what drama we are dealing with today?”

  I glared at Alexis. She was looking all pathetic.

  “Please forgive me,” she said, sniffing.

  I sighed, frustrated that my anger toward her seemed to have all but disappeared.

  “You know, just squash it. I know you don’t want C. J., Alexis, but that was still jacked up what you did. But I’m done talking about it.”

  I walked back over to my seat, for once looking forward to Rachel starting her weekly lesson.

  Rachel, of course, wouldn’t let up, so Tameka filled her in on everything that happened. I guess Rachel knew talking about it would only make it worse because, thankfully, she just let it drop and instead started talking about upcoming community service projects.

  I tuned her out as I began thinking of all the stuff the Good Girlz had been through. The time we took a road trip to find Angel and almost got abducted by some psychos, the shoplifting, my search for my dad, the talk show … the list goes on. We’d been through a lot together and we’d come through it all tighter than ever.

  But I had a sickening feeling that our friendship might not be able to survive the Thetas.

  15

  Jasmine

  “Jasminium Nichelle Solé Jones! Telephone!”

  My brother Jaheim was bellowing my name at the top of his lungs. My full name. The name that I hated and he knew that I hated.

  “It’s the stalker, C. J.!” Jaheim yelled. As if I asked him to be my personal message taker and screen my calls with his nosy behind.

  “I said, I’m coming!” I shouted back from the bathroom at the end of the hallway, where I’d been washing my hair.

  “Well, you’d betta hurry up because you know you ain’t allowed to have phone calls after nine. Mama gon’ beat your butt,” he cackled. I’m sure that announcement was for the benefit of C. J. I so could not wait to move out. I had it already planned. I was bouncing on my eighteenth birthday, which couldn’t come a moment too soon.

  I wrapped a towel around my hair and made my way down the hallway to the living room, where Jaquan, Jalen, and Jaheim sat around in their usual spots, playing PlayStation.

  “Where’s the cordless phone?” I snapped to no one in particular. No one bothered to answer me.

  I walked in front of the TV, blocking the game.

  “Move!” Jaheim ordered.

  “I said, where’s the phone?”

  “I don’t know. Jaquan had it!” Jaheim yelled. “Move your big butt out the way before you make me lose!”

  I wanted to tell him he was already a loser, but I spotted the phone on the end table.

  “Ooops!” I said as my foot “accidentally” got tangled in the PlayStation’s power cord and pulled it out of the wall. I briefly looked at the blank TV screen. “Sorry, it looks like I messed up your game,” I sweetly said. I ignored my brothers screaming as I sashayed over, snatched up the phone, and made my way back to the bedroom.

  I really didn’t care that I had kept C. J. waiting all this time because I was still mad at him. The only reason I was taking his call now was because he’d been blowing up my phone since I saw him locking lips with Alexis two days ago. He’d run after me then, but I’d ditched study hall and hopped on the bus before he could catch up to me.

  I didn’t want to talk to him at all but he wasn’t giving up. He called so much yesterday that my mom told him to stop. The fact that he called again today anyway and risked her wrath meant he was pretty desperate. So I decided to at least try to hear him out.

  “Are you flunking English or something?” I said into the mouthpiece.

  C. J. paused, like he was surprised I actually came to the phone. “What?” he finally said.

  “I said, are you flunking English?”

  “Huh? English? What does that have to do with anything?”

  I plopped down on my bed, pulling my fluffy Hello Kitty pillow up under my chin. “You must be flunking English, because obviously you don’t understand it very well. So let me break it down for you one last time. Lose. My. Number.”

  “Come on, Jasmine. Don’t be like that.” He was trying to sound all sincere. But I was hip to his game. “I told you a hundred times I’m sorry,” he said.

  “And I told you a hundred times, I don’t care.” I tightened the towel around my head so I didn’t get my pillow wet.

  “Why are you being like this?”

  “Being like what, C. J.? You kissed my best friend. Am I supposed to be okay with that?”

  “But it wasn’t even like that,” he pleaded. “You know that.”

  “I don’t know nothing except what I saw.” I knew I’d let Alexis off the hook—somewhat, anyway—but that’s because she was my girl. C. J., he was just a stank, dirty dog who had proven he was just like the rest of the stank, dirty dogs.

  “What was I supposed to do, Jasmine?”

  I got loud. “How ’bout push her off of you! Tell Tori to kiss your …” I blew a frustrated breath as I tried to calm myself down. “You come at me, talking all this mess about how you’re a man now,” I said, my voice a lot softer. “If you were a man, you wouldn’t have let Tori or your boys punk you into kissing Alexis. If you were a man, you would’ve said, ‘You know, this just might hurt Jasmine, the girl I claim I want to be with.’ ”

  “I know. And I’m sorry.”

  “You are sorry, C. J. But not half as sorry as I am that I even thought about giving you a chance. Now, for the last time. Lose. My. Number.” I slammed the Off button on the phone. I held it in my hands for a few minutes, half expecting it to ring again. I couldn’t help but feel my heart drop when after fifteen minutes, it didn’t.

  16

  Jasmine

  It was hot as all get-out and I so did not want to be at the stupid state fair. It had been just over twenty-four hours since I hung up on C. J. and he hadn’t called back. I was really bummed out. So a fair was the last place I felt like being.

  This was the first time the Texas State Fair was being held in Houston and guess who got stuck taking her lame brothers to the big event? My mother hadn’t given me much choice. She’d told me to take my three younger brothers to the fair or stay home and clean the house from top to bottom. I’d almost taken the housecleaning versus a whole evening with my brothers, but that pile of nasty dishes made me change my mind. It would be just my luck that I’d take them to the fair, and still have to wash those dishes when I got home.

  “Come on, Jasmine,” six-year-old Jalen yelled. “I wanna ride the Ferris wheel.”

  “Boy, I told you, you can’t ride but three rides. These tickets ain’t free.”

  “Mama gave us twenty dollars each,” eleven-year-old Jaheim snapped.

  “Yeah, and one ride costs nearly five bucks,” I snapped back.

  My mother had shocked us when she came home with free tickets to the fair and money for us to go. As broke as we stayed, I sure couldn’t see how she was shelling out nearly a hundred dollars for us to go to the fair. But she’d explained that her boss had not only given her the tickets, but he’d also given her the money for us to spend.

  “Why you gotta hold the money anyway?” Jaheim said as he stuck his bottom lip out like a two-year-old.

  “ ’Cause you’d lose it or spend it before we got in the fair good.”

  “Well, I saw that fifty-dollar bill you took out from under your bed,” Jaheim announced.

  Jaheim was a true pain in the butt. His spying behind made me sick.

  “And? That�
�s my money!” I yelled. I’d made some money passing out fliers for Alexis’s dad. And I saved almost every nickel and dime I got. I hated bringing that whole fifty-dollar bill but I didn’t have any change. I tried to keep big bills in my secret stash; that way I couldn’t easily spend it. But I dang sure didn’t want my brothers knowing I had money hidden anywhere. And now it looked like I had to find a new hiding place, thanks to Jaheim.

  “You can pay for us to ride a couple of more rides,” Jalen whined.

  “I wish I would,” I responded.

  “Man, you jacked up.” Jaheim held his hand out. “Give us the money to go buy some tickets for the roller coaster.”

  I handed them a twenty. I debated giving them all of the money Mama had given us. Shoot, the sooner they spent all the money, the sooner we could go home.

  My oldest brother, Jaquan, had already taken off to go mack on girls. I found myself wishing I had called Alexis or Camille to come with me so I wouldn’t be so freakin’ bored.

  I stood idly around for a few minutes before deciding to go get a funnel cake. I had been in line about five minutes when Tori and her crew walked up. I fought back a groan. I was not in the mood for her. And if she knew what was best for her, she would just leave me alone.

  “Well, looky here, girls,” Tori said as she stopped right in front of me. “If it isn’t the Theta Ladies reject.”

  I took a deep breath. Why wouldn’t people let me walk away from my violent ways?

  “Last time I checked, I rejected Theta Ladies. They didn’t reject me,” I said, trying not to catch an attitude. “And why are you in my face?”

  Tori ignored me and kept talking. “Oh, excuse me. You just dropped out because you couldn’t take the heat. Your other little chica friend was the one we rejected.” She and her friends laughed.

  I raised my eyebrows. “My chica friend?”

  “Yeah, the little Mexican,” Tori said as she flung her long, wavy brown hair over her shoulder.

  “Are you talking about Angel?” I asked.

  “Sí.” Tori cackled.

  “Oh, you think that’s funny? You got something against Hispanics?”

  Tori looked around at her friends and rolled her eyes. “Not at all, except the fact that they’re trying to take over everything as it is and I’m not about to let them take over Theta Ladies.”

  I stared at her. That had to be the dumbest thing I’d heard in a long time. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  Tori shrugged. “It means what it means. We don’t want any Mexicans in our organization. Just like we didn’t want any big Amazon-looking warriors.”

  I ignored her dig at me because I was dumbfounded by her racist statement.

  “Excuse me, is this 2008 or 1968? I’m confused. You have the nerve to be prejudiced?”

  “Call me what you want. I just know that your little friend needs to go join the Omega Chica Cantina or something.”

  Her friends started laughing like that corny stuff was really funny.

  “Angel is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. I don’t believe you actually rejected her because of her race!”

  Tori folded her arms across her chest. “Believe it. We’re selective about who we let in. No chicas and no Amazons.”

  Okay, I gave her a pass on the first Amazon comment, but she was asking for it now. I was just about to reach out and knock the mess out of her when the woman at the funnel cake counter bellowed, “May I help you?”

  I looked at the people behind me, a young Hispanic couple who obviously had been listening to the conversation. They looked just as disgusted with Tori as I did. I motioned for them to go ahead in front of me and order as I stepped aside.

  “You know, Tori, I was two seconds from sending you to the dentist, but I realized you’re not worth it. You’re a sorry snob who has to put other people down in order to lift yourself up. In your wildest dreams you couldn’t be half the woman that Angel is.”

  “Ooooh, I’m so scared of your threats.” She laughed.

  I could only shake my head in pity as I walked off without ordering my funnel cake. Tori had definitely made me lose my appetite.

  I had to get to Camille and Alexis. If this news didn’t make them see my point about the Thetas, I didn’t know what would.

  17

  Camille

  I sat with my mouth open. I couldn’t believe what Jasmine had said. She’d just finished filling everyone in on her little run-in with Tori this past weekend. We were at our regular Good Girlz meeting waiting to begin finalizing details for our big community service project, a trip to New Orleans to help Habitat for Humanity rebuild homes devastated by Hurricane Katrina. We were among several youth organizations across the city who were taking part in a Houston program called “Teens Giving Back.” So we had to iron out details. But right now, I was more interested in what Jasmine was saying.

  “So you mean to tell me they rejected Angel because she’s Hispanic?” I asked in disbelief.

  “I didn’t stutter,” Jasmine snapped. She folded her arms and shook her head. “I told you they were no good.”

  Angel sat off to the side, stunned. We were all happy to see her at tonight’s meeting. She’d come in with a good attitude, and told us from the jump that she was putting the Thetas’ rejection behind her. But this news must’ve definitely hurt. “Wow. I was nothing but nice to them the whole time and I never stood a chance because I’m Hispanic? That’s messed up,” she softly said.

  “Tell me about it,” Jasmine said, rolling her eyes.

  “Are you sure?” Alexis asked Jasmine.

  “Are you deaf?” she snapped. “I told you exactly what Tori said.”

  I hesitated before saying, “Well, Tori is just one person.” I could tell Jasmine was mad. But she needed to see the Thetas were bigger than Tori.

  “Camille, quit making excuses for them!”

  “Jasmine, she’s right,” Alexis chimed in. “I know Tori is foul, but I just don’t believe all of them are like that.”

  Jasmine stared at Alexis in disbelief. “Being biracial, this should make you madder than anyone else,” she said.

  Alexis looked away like she didn’t know what to say.

  Tameka sucked her teeth. “Just because Tori is a jerk doesn’t mean they all are.” She didn’t seem as shocked at the news. Or maybe she just didn’t care, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she already knew and had just kept quiet.

  Jasmine cut her eyes at us. “Boy, they got you all brainwashed already. They’re like a gang or something.”

  I was just about to say something when Alexis stopped me. She motioned toward the empty seat where Angel had previously sat. “Guys …”

  In the midst of our arguing, we hadn’t even noticed that Angel had slipped out of the room.

  “She probably couldn’t stand listening to you guys take up for those clowns,” Jasmine said. “And I’m beginning to know just how she feels. It’s bad enough they have you stabbing your friends in the back.” She narrowed her eyes at Alexis. “Now you find out they’re racists and you’re okay with that?”

  “It’s not okay,” I said, massaging my forehead. I was still trying to digest everything Jasmine said. If it was true, did I really want to be associated with a group like that?

  “Should we go and try and find Angel?” Alexis asked after a few seconds of silence.

  Before we could answer, Rachel appeared in the doorway. She had a concerned look across her face. “Does somebody want to tell me why Angel just tore out of here in tears?”

  Jasmine pursed her lips and turned toward me. “Well?”

  I blew out a deep breath and said, “Angel just found out that she didn’t make it into the Theta Ladies because she’s Hispanic.”

  “What?” Rachel said.

  “Yeah, those grimy snobs said my girl was the wrong race to be a Theta.”

  Jasmine’s nasty comments were getting to me, and I was getting worried about Angel.

  “That’s why I
told them they didn’t need to be Thetas,” Jasmine continued.

  “Jasmine, that’s enough,” Rachel said. “I get the picture.” She sighed heavily. “All this sorority stuff is proving to be more trouble than it’s worth.”

  “Tell me about it,” Jasmine muttered.

  “Jasmine, I told you, that’s enough,” Rachel replied. “How do you all know that’s why Angel didn’t make it?”

  I looked at Jasmine and waited for her to answer. “Tell her about Tori,” I finally said.

  Jasmine shook her head and stuck out her lips. “Uh-uh. She told me to be quiet.”

  Rachel shook her head. “Quit being silly and tell me what happened.”

  Jasmine huffed, then recapped her story. While she was filling Rachel in, my mind replayed all the times we’d been around the Thetas. They had barely acknowledged Angel, and when they did, they’d treated her like crap. I guess they never had any intention of letting her in.

  “Well, I can see why Angel is upset,” Rachel said after Jasmine finished her story. “It’s hard to believe that in 2008, there is still prejudice like this, especially among young people.”

  “Jasmine, you know you don’t like the Thetas anyway. Maybe they were just messing with you and you took them seriously,” Tameka interjected.

  “And maybe I’m America’s Next Top Model,” Jasmine shot back.

  Rachel looked sadly at us. “Girls, this just breaks my heart. You all have formed a wonderful bond over the years. You can’t control other people’s prejudices, but you can control your own. I sure hope you don’t condone this behavior.”

  “They might as well,” Jasmine snapped. “And that’s really jacked up.”

  I finally spoke up. “Miss Rachel, it’s not fair. Jasmine wants us to drop out of the Thetas, but why should we be penalized because of someone else’s prejudices? It’s like you said, we can’t control what other people think or the way they act.”

  “But why would you even want to be associated with them? And does that mean you’re going to stop being friends with Angel? Because it’s obvious the Thetas don’t want anyone in their little circle that’s not like them,” Jasmine said before I could answer the first question.