Split Ends

by Jacquelin Thomas

  “Kylie, how long have you been in L.A.?” Divine asks me, breaking the silence.

  “Almost a year,” I respond, taking the hot pink tote bag off my shoulder. After seeing the nice fluffy beach towels the others have in their totes, I’m grateful for the towels Miss Marilee gave us. Mine isn’t a beach towel, but it’ll do.

  Still, I can’t help the wave of embarrassment that washes over me. As much as they seem to accept me, I know that they can’t help but notice my cheap swimsuit, the bath towel, and plain flip-flops.

  “Do you like it out here?” Alyssa wants to know. “I’d love to live in Los Angeles.”

  I shrug and respond, “It’s actually okay, Alyssa. Sometimes I miss being in North Carolina, but I do like that there aren’t any mosquitoes. Those things used to wear me out something awful. I definitely don’t miss them.”

  Mimi pulls a bottle of water from her designer tote. “So, where do you go to school, Kylie?”

  I have no idea what Rhyann told them about me, but I see no need to lie to them. “I used to go to Dorsey, but I didn’t finish my last semester.”

  “You did? You went to Dorsey?” Rhyann asks. “My brother Brady goes there. He was the quarterback. That’s not too far from where I live. I would be going there if I hadn’t gotten a scholarship to Stony Hills Prep.”

  When I met him at Rhyann’s house, I remembered having seen him around school. He is so cute with those dreadlocks. Of course, he didn’t seem to remember me, but that’s okay. Brady always had some girl up in his face. “I remember that he was real popular.”

  Rhyann nods in agreement. “Everybody knows that boy.”

  “Speaking of brothers,” Mimi says, “mine is moving out here. He and his mother are having some issues, so Father suggested that he come live with us. Mother’s not exactly thrilled, but she’s not going to go against my father.”

  “I forgot you have a brother,” Divine says. “You hardly ever mention him.”

  “My mother and his mother don’t get along. She’s still mad that my mother kind of stole him from her.” She is annoyed. “Get over it already.”

  “Do you and your brother get along?” Alyssa asks.

  “We’re cool,” Mimi responds. “But then I’ve never really lived with Chandler for longer than a week or two.”

  “When is he coming?” Divine asks.

  “My dad is flying to New York this evening. He and Chandler will be back on Tuesday.”

  “How old is he?” Rhyann wants to know.

  “He’s seventeen. This is going to be his last year in high school.”

  “I haven’t told them anything about your situation,” Rhyann tells me as she straightens out her towel on the sand. “I thought you should be the one to do that.”

  “What situation?” Divine asks. “Are you pregnant?”

  I shake my head. “No, up until a few weeks ago, I was homeless, so it was hard to stay in school. That’s why I didn’t get to finish.”

  All of them were shocked. “Rhyann told me that you lost your parents, but I just assumed that you lived with a relative,” Mimi says. “Kylie, I had no idea. We have plenty of room if you need somewhere to stay.” She pulls out her cell phone. “I’ll call Mother right now.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” I interject quickly. “You have your brother moving in. Besides, I have a home now. Miss Lucy and I live in a studio apartment in Miss Marilee’s building. It’s part of my salary.”

  I’m truly touched by Mimi’s offer to have me come live with them. It’s sweet, but I know that it would only be a temporary fix, and I am not looking for one of those. I want a home that nobody will ever be able to make me leave. I’ve been kicked out of way too many places already.

  My mama and her brother sold Grandma Ellen’s house and split what was left after her bills were paid. That’s what my mama used to buy her SUV. My uncle wanted me to come live with him and his wife, but they argue and fight all the time. I definitely don’t need that kind of drama in my life.

  Alyssa raises her hand. “Who is Miss Lucy?” she questions when I focus my attention on her.

  “You’re not in school,” Divine tells her with a chuckle. “You don’t have to raise your hand.”

  “Whatever . . . ,” Alyssa retorts.

  “She’s this lady I met when I was living on the streets,” I explain. “Miss Lucy kinda became my foster mom. She made sure that I was safe. Some men attacked her when she first started living on the streets, so she looks out for girls like me.”

  “She was raped?” Divine asks, horrified.

  I nod. “Since then, Miss Lucy keeps a bat with her at all times and some pepper spray. Even now that we’re in the apartment, she has her bat under the bed, and she bought me one to keep in the sofa bed with me.”

  “I keep a bat under my bed, too,” Alyssa says, nodding. “So does my mom. It’s a girl’s best friend.”

  Divine rubs sunscreen on her arms and legs. “I have one, too. I didn’t until I moved in with Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Reed. Alyssa’s mom is always walking out of her room ready to swing. Don’t let her hear a noise in the house. She’s up and checking it out.”

  “I think I’d rather have a gun,” Mimi says while eyeing her fingernails. “I don’t have time to be trying to beat down a man. I can just shoot them—it’s better on your manicure, too.”

  Divine laughs. “Okay, Mimi. No more Law & Order or Stylista for you.” She glances in my direction and says, “Kylie, this girl here actually made up a batch of homemade pepper spray. I don’t know about you all, but I’m glad she’s my friend. I’d hate to have her as an enemy.”

  Surprised that they, too, thought of those things, I nod in agreement.

  “We girls have to protect ourselves and look good at the same time,” Mimi goes on. “That’s why I don’t get physical with people that get on my last nerve. I’m not afraid to fight, but your face gets all twisted and contorted—you look ugly. Divine, you know . . .”

  We crack up laughing.

  “Laugh . . . I don’t care,” Mimi mutters. “There won’t be no ugly pictures of me floating around the Internet. Chick fights gone wild. Pepper-spray their behinds, shoot them, or Taser them—you still look cute and well, they look however.”

  Rhyann gives Mimi a tap on the arm. “Yeah, I think we might need to keep you away from all action movies, period.”

  “If they don’t bother me, I won’t bother them.”

  “I’m with you on that,” Alyssa agrees.

  “Kylie, what was it like?” Mimi inquires, moving on to another subject. “Being homeless.”

  “Mimi, don’t be rude,” Rhyann cries, a frown on her face.

  “Like you all don’t want to know,” she responds with no shame. “Kylie, does it bother you to talk about it? They won’t say anything, but we might as well get it out in the open. That way it’s done.”

  “It’s fine,” I say. “I don’t mind talking about being homeless. My mom moved us out here, and things didn’t go as planned. I ended up on the streets, but I was determined to make it. I tried to get a job, but I didn’t have a phone, a car, or an address. My first night out, I met some other kids who were in the same situation, and I stayed with them. They wanted to do things like prostitute for money and some were drug users, so I left. I didn’t want that to become my life. I’d heard about Safe Harbor Mission from one of them, so I headed downtown.”

  “Is that when you met Miss Lucy?” Divine asks.

  I nod. “This guy tried to force me to go somewhere with him, but Miss Lucy ran him off with her bat. She promised to keep me safe and kind of showed me the ropes of homelessness. She kept telling me that I would survive this, and I did.” I give a sad shake of my head. “Being homeless is no joke, though.”

  “Kylie, what was the hardest part for you?” Alyssa questions.

  The answer to that was easy. “It was the lack of regard or even acknowledgment that I used to receive from people passing by. Some were so rude, and othe
rs pretended I didn’t exist. Grandma Ellen always told me to say hello whenever I passed anyone. I used to see this one woman almost every day at the bus stop whenever I came to the shop. I was always saying good morning to her, but I never once received a response.”

  “I feel so bad that you had to go through that, Kylie. That’s so totally wrong.”

  “Mimi, you don’t have to feel sorry for me. I’m fine, and it was a valuable life experience for me. Besides, I never would’ve met Miss Lucy.”

  “Now that you have your apartment, are you going to go back to school?” Divine asks.

  I shrug. “I don’t know. I need to work and make some money—put a lil’ something aside for that rainy day. I don’t ever want to be this broke again.”

  Divine’s eyes are full of wonder. “Kylie, I’m so glad we met you,” she says. “Just looking at you, I never would’ve known that you were homeless.”

  “It was a bad time for me,” I reply. “But my Grandma Ellen always said that God didn’t promise us rainbows and daisies every day. She used to say that there was a reason for everything that happened, even though we might not understand why.”

  “Well, we’re here, so we’re going to have fun every day. Pretty soon you won’t be thinking back on those days,” Divine assures me. “You’re one of us now, Kylie.”

  I frame a smile with my lips.

  Deep down I know that I will never truly be one of them—these beautiful girls with parents who love them, who live in real homes with their families. I am grateful to have Miss Lucy and Miss Marilee in my life. They are as close to me as any family member, but they aren’t my flesh-and-blood relatives.

  “So how are you and T.J.?” Rhyann asks Divine, changing the subject.

  “We’re fine,” she responds. “Like I told you, we have fun together, but we’re not rushing into anything serious.”

  “Is that your boyfriend?” I inquire.

  “Sort of,” Divine replies.

  “Divine, you need to tell the truth,” Alyssa tells her. “You know that T.J. is your boo.”

  “Do all of you have boyfriends?” I ask out of curiosity. I’ve never really had a boyfriend, and right now, I’m not so sure that I even want one.

  “I do,” Alyssa states. “His name is Stephen, and he’s gorgeous and sweet. We’ve been together since ninth grade.”

  Mimi finishes off her bottled water. “My boo’s name is Kyle. His father is Ryan Marshall, the tennis pro.”

  “Cool,” I say, not at all surprised that she’d be dating a celebrity’s kid.

  Rhyann says, “Traven is my sweetheart. We have been friends forever, but we just started dating.”

  They all look over at me. “I’m not involved with anyone,” I say with a shrug. “Having a boyfriend isn’t high on my list of priorities.”

  “Okay, Kylie sounds like Rhyann all last year,” Mimi states with a chuckle. “She was singing that song up until prom.”

  Rhyann sips her soda. “I meant every word of it, too. Traven knows the deal. It’s all about the education, baby.”

  I totally agree with Rhyann. When I think about my mama and the way her life turned out, I don’t want anything close to that.

  A couple of boys come over to where we’re sitting.

  They sit down and begin a conversation with us. It’s pretty obvious to me that they want us to share our lunch with them.

  Divine and Rhyann are polite but inform them that we’re having a girl’s day out and that we all have boyfriends. They get the hint and get up to leave as quickly as they came.

  “That one in the red shorts didn’t look like he’d hit a lick with a snake,” I say.

  They all turned to look at me.

  “What did you just say?” they ask in unison.

  “It means that one dude probably hasn’t had a job for a while. He kept talking about all the stuff he was fixing to do. That’s a whole lot of fixing and most of doing nothing, as my grandma used to say.”

  “He sure was staring at our fried chicken,” Mimi interjected. “I think I even heard his stomach growl. Maybe they were hungry.”

  “I thought so, too,” I say, feeling bad. I know what it feels like to be hungry, so I wish there was something I could do for them.

  “I wouldn’t have minded sharing,” Divine puts in. “But we only brought enough food for us.”

  Rhyann glances over her shoulder, then back at us. “Don’t worry too much about them. They’re fine. That one guy just pulled out a beer from his bag. If he can drink beer, he can find himself some food. You’re not even supposed to have beer on the beach.”

  Mimi’s mother packed a lot of food for us, but I notice that I am the only one who eats my whole sub. Divine and the others barely finish off half of theirs. I notice Mimi looking at my empty plate, but she does not say anything.

  When we finish eating, the girls and I run to the ocean, splashing water on one another. It feels so good just to be a sixteen-year-old for once. I don’t have to worry about bills, rent, or anything. I can just enjoy being a teenager.

  I’m having a pretty good time, but I can’t help but wonder what they really think of me. Every now and then I catch Mimi staring at me. She’s been nice and all, but I don’t think she and I are going to be real close.

  I don’t get back home until shortly after six. The girls come upstairs with me to meet Miss Lucy, who has a fresh batch of chocolate peanut butter cookies ready and waiting for us.

  “This is where you live,” Mimi mutters.

  “Yeah,” I say. “What of it?”

  She meets my gaze, then responds, “It’s just that it seems a little on the small side for two people.”

  I cross my arms over my chest. “Miss Lucy and I are fine with our apartment.”

  “I think your place is nice,” Alyssa interjects.

  For a brief moment I’m not real sure I like Mimi. I don’t need anyone in my life who thinks they are better than me.

  The tense moment passes as we settle down to watch a movie and enjoy our cookies.

  When it’s almost nine o’clock, Mimi announces that she’s tired and is ready to head home. Although they don’t seem ready to leave, Divine and Alyssa have no choice but to leave, since they rode with her. Rhyann’s brother is coming to pick her up from my apartment.

  “Mimi has a habit of saying exactly what she thinks,” Rhyann tells me after the others leave. “You just have to ignore her.”

  “I don’t think she and I are gonna be best friends or anything,” I say. “I can see that now.”

  “She’ll come around,” Rhyann assures me.

  I shrug in nonchalance. “For the most part, I had a good time today. I’m glad y’all invited me to come along.”

  Rhyann is pleased to hear that. “Kylie, you’re one of us. We’re going to be doing a lot of things together this summer.”

  I smile politely. I really like Rhyann and can relate most to her because she doesn’t come with a huge trust fund attached to her name. Divine is nice, and so is Alyssa, but Rhyann and I have so much more in common.

  Rhyann looks out the window, then says, “My brother just pulled up. I’ll see you on Tuesday at work.”

  I walk her downstairs.

  “Thanks again for today,” I tell her. “I had fun.”

  She hugs me. “Give me a call later if you’re not busy.”

  When I go back upstairs, Miss Lucy says, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this happy.”

  “Today was great,” I say. “I had the best time with them. Divine and Alyssa are very cool. I’m not so sure about Mimi, though. She’s a bit of a snob, but Rhyann, you know, is my girl.”

  “I love seeing you acting like a teenager,” she tells me. “This is as it should be.”

  I couldn’t agree more. Some kids might think it’s pretty cool to be on your own, but it’s not. It’s hard work and pretty lonely.

  The only thing that still bothers me is the way Mimi kept eyeing me when she thought I wasn’t lo
oking, plus her attitude about my home. Regardless of what Rhyann says, Mimi and I won’t ever be B.F.F.’s. That’s for sure.

  Chapter 8

  I’m surprised when Mimi comes up to me on Tuesday and says, “I’m having a slumber party this weekend at my house. Do you think you can come?”

  I never expected her to invite me anywhere near her mansion, especially since she seems so stuck up. “Sure,” I respond.

  “Oh yeah, I have an appointment with Miss Marilee for a wash and set.”

  I quickly check her in.

  Rhyann joins us a few minutes later. “I was just trying to reach you,” she tells Mimi. “It went straight to voice mail.”

  Mimi checks her phone. “It’s not turned on. I must have turned it off somehow.” She gets upset at the thought. “There’s no telling how many calls I’ve missed.”

  While she’s checking her voice mail, Rhyann says to me, “Are you going to the slumber party?”

  “I plan to,” I respond.

  “My brother will drop us off, so don’t worry about a ride.”

  “Thanks, Rhyann.”

  Mimi puts her phone away. “So are we cool about Friday night? Slumber party at my house. Bring your cute pajamas and your favorite nail polish.”

  Rhyann escorts her to the shampoo area.

  Cute pajamas? I sleep in a T-shirt and basketball shorts. I don’t have any cute pajamas. I don’t have any nail polish, either.

  “What’s with the frown?” Miss Marilee asks me.

  “I don’t know why I’m trying to hang with Mimi and Divine,” I say in a low voice. “I don’t have money or designer clothes, pajamas . . . stuff like that. Mimi just invited me to her house this weekend, and she said to bring nail polish and a pair of cute pajamas.”

  Miss Marilee smiles. “Hon, don’t let this stress you out. If you need nail polish, you go next door and pick out a color. We have some coupons for a free bottle. As for pajamas, Target has a sale on sleepwear this week.”

  “Really?”

  She nods. “Kylie, you don’t have to dress a certain way to be friends with Mimi and Divine. Just be yourself, hon.”