Butterfly

by Sylvester Stephens

  “Hey! Hey! Hey!” Auntie Cynthia said. “What’s going on here?”

  “She’s about to get her ass whooped!” Valencia said.

  “And who are you?” Ms. Alicia asked.

  “None of your business!”

  Up until that point I had been quiet. I think those girls thought I was scared. I was not scared and really didn’t give a damn if they thought I was or not. I was confused about everything. They started off acting like they were friends, and then all of a sudden, they were about to throw hands.

  “You need to watch your mouth, young lady!” Auntie Cynthia said.

  “You’re not my mother!” Valencia shouted.

  “You’re right! But I’m hers!” Auntie Cynthia stood in front of Bri.

  “I’ll go get my mother on you!” Asia shouted.

  “I can’t believe these grown-ass women are trying to fight us!” Jheri said.

  “Nobody is trying to fight you, little girl!” Ms. Alicia said.

  “We ain’t scared of y’all, either!” Asia said.

  I looked at that girl like she was crazy. If she thought I was going to stand by and let her disrespect Ms. Alicia like that, she had lost her damn mind.

  “First of all, you need to get out of her face and just back the hell up!” I pushed Asia to the ground.

  “Shante! Stop it!” Ms. Alicia said. “All of you! Just stop it!”

  Ms. Alicia and Auntie Cynthia stood between the five of us and tried to get us under control. The mall security guard showed up, but it was nothing he could do, either. He was white, about sixty-five, or seventy years old. He had a big belly that hung over his belt. That old man would have had a heart attack trying to stop us from fighting.

  “What’s going on?” the security guard asked.

  “We don’t know. That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Ms. Alicia said.

  “Those girls are trying to start stuff with us!” Valencia pointed at us.

  “And those grown ladies tried to fight us!” Jheri said.

  “That’s ridiculous,” Auntie Cynthia said. “All of them were arguing like they had no sense.”

  “I think everything is under control now, officer,” Ms. Alicia said.

  “Okay,” the security guard said. “But I’m going to have to get their names, and they’re not going to be able to come to the mall anymore without parental supervision.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Auntie Cynthia said. “They don’t have any business in here anyway without us.”

  “Here are our children’s names.” Ms. Alicia wrote our names on the officer’s notepad.

  “What are your names?” The security guard pointed to the other three girls.

  “None of your business!” Asia said and then ran off.

  Jheri and Valencia ran behind her. The security guard didn’t even move.

  “Aren’t you going to catch them?” Auntie Cynthia asked.

  “They’re probably on the bus by now,” he said. “Give me their names. I’m sure you know who they are.”

  “I don’t know them,” I said. “I just met them today.”

  “Has either one of you seen those girls before?” the security guard asked Ms. Alicia and Ms. Cynthia.

  “No,” Auntie Cynthia said. “Today was the first time we’ve ever laid eyes on those girls. Our girls don’t get into fights.”

  I looked at Bri and she looked at me. We both knew that the other had probably been in a fight before, but we kept quiet and pretended to be the perfect little angels they thought we were.

  “What are their names?” the security guard asked again.

  “I told you, I don’t know,” I said.

  “I don’t know, either,” Bri said.

  Bri looked at me and then I looked at her. I did not know why, but she was protecting those girls.

  “Well, you two stay with your mothers until you leave the mall. You understand?”

  “Yes, sir,” I said.

  “Yes, sir, we understand,” Bri said.

  “You all have a nice day.”

  “You, too, sir,” Auntie Cynthia said.

  The security guard limped away, and as soon as he walked off, Ms. Alicia and Auntie Cynthia lit into Bri and me. Bri was upset and embarrassed. I was appreciative that someone cared enough to even chastise me.

  “What is wrong with y’all?” Auntie Cynthia said.

  “We didn’t do anything!” Bri said.

  “Somebody did something. I could hear you all screaming way down there by Burlington!” Ms. Alicia said.

  “They walked up and at first, they were acting nice and then they started to act all mean and crazy,” I said.

  “Shante don’t know those girls, I do. They’re girls from my school.”

  “Well, why didn’t you tell the security officers their names, Bri?” Auntie Cynthia asked.

  “Because I’m not a snitch, Ms. Cynthia.”

  “I’m telling your father, Bri.”

  “Okay,” Bri said.

  “Naw, that’s too easy. I’m telling your mother!”

  “Please, Ms. Cynthia,” Bri said, “don’t tell Ma.”

  “Yeah, I kinda thought you’d sing a different tune,” Auntie Cynthia said. “You better tell me what happened then.”

  “Okay! Okay!” Bri said. “Those girls jumped on me last year and they were just trying to start something.”

  “Why would those girls want to jump on you, Bri?”

  “Because my daddy is richer than theirs.”

  “What?” Auntie Cynthia asked. “Are you kidding me? Does your mother know this?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  “Why haven’t you told anybody, girl?”

  “Because it’s only going to cause more trouble for me at school.”

  “I’m sorry, but we’re about to go see Tonita right now and tell her,” Auntie Cynthia said. “Alicia, can you drop me off at my car?”

  “I can take you over there, if you want.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Girl, please, come on.”

  “Y’all grab these bags and let’s go,” Auntie Cynthia said.

  We grabbed the bags and went over to Bri’s mother’s house. Bri’s mother looked young for her age. I do not know how old she was, but she still looked young. She had a short haircut and it was styled. She was funny, too.

  “Oh-oh,” Ms. Tonita said as she opened the door and stepped to the side. “Somethin’ ain’t right! You brought the whole crew with you.”

  “Yeah, we have a little problem, Tonita,” Auntie Cynthia said.

  “Y’all come in.” Ms. Tonita walked into the living room. We followed her and everybody sat down.

  “Okay,” Auntie Cynthia said, “we just came from the mall. Bri and Shante were about to fight with three other wild girls.”

  “Who were you about to fight, Bri?” Ms. Tonita asked.

  “Just some girls from school,” Bri said.

  “And I take it you’re Shante?” Ms. Tonita asked.

  “Yes, ma’am,” I said.

  “What did I tell you about saying ‘ma’am’?” Ms. Alicia asked.

  “That’s okay, Alicia,” Ms. Tonita said. “I’d rather have them saying ‘ma’am,’ than calling me some of those other names they call adults nowadays. I just take it as a token of respect. How are you, Ms. Shante?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Good,” Ms. Tonita said. “Now who were those girls, Bri?’

  “They jumped me last year because they said Daddy was rich and stuff.”

  “Why would they jump you because your father is ‘rich and stuff’?”

  “They say I think I’m spoiled and I act like I’m better than them, but I don’t. They’re always pickin’ on people. Just because I don’t cuss and smoke like they want me to, they say a bunch of stupid stuff to make people not like me.”

  “All of this goes on at that Christian school your daddy is paying all that money to send you to?”

  “Yes, ma’am,�
�� Bri said.

  “Can I say something?” I asked.

  “Sure,” Ms. Tonita said.

  “That goes on everywhere,” I said. “It doesn’t matter what school you go to, public or private. Kids are going to pick on you for whatever reason. You just have to fight back.”

  “I understand that, but we teach Brimone not to fight. We teach her to tell a teacher, the principal, or whoever’s in the authoritative position.”

  “But what if they’re not around?” I asked. “Who do you tell then?”

  “You’re minors,” Ms. Tonita said. “There should always be an adult around somewhere.”

  “There were adults around today, Ma,” Bri said, “and they didn’t do anything.”

  “They sure didn’t,” I said. “They just looked because they wanted us to fight! They don’t care!”

  “Still, fighting is not an option,” Auntie Cynthia said.

  “You’re an adult and those girls were about to fight you, Ms. Cynthia,” Bri said. “So how do you think we can stop them if they want to fight us? They jumped me last year and I didn’t do anything to them. But if they put their hands on me this year, they’re going to wish they hadn’t.”

  “Bri, don’t talk like that!” Ms. Tonita said. “Where did you get talking like that from?”

  “She didn’t get it from me!” I said quickly.

  “Nobody thinks she got it from you, sweetheart.” Ms. Tonita chuckled.

  “I got it from me,” Bri said. “I’m tired of being bullied. I’m tired of being picked on. And telling on those girls won’t fix anything.”

  “So what do you propose we do, Bri?” Auntie Cynthia asked.

  “I don’t know,” Bri said. “Stay out of it, I guess.”

  “Well, that ain’t gon’ happen!” Ms. Tonita said. “I’m not letting you get involved with those juvenile delinquents. You could get hurt.”

  “I can get hurt if I’m not involved with them, too. It doesn’t matter. They’re not going to stop picking on me until I stop them from picking on me.”

  “Brimone,” Auntie Cynthia said, “We love you and we don’t want to see you get hurt. Don’t you understand that?”

  “Yes, ma’am. But can’t you understand that no matter how much you love me, that’s not going to stop those girls from jumping on me?”

  “When school starts, I’m going to go up there and make sure that never happens again,” Ms. Tonita said.

  “You don’t get it, do you, Ma?” Bri shouted. “You can’t fix this! Kids are not like they were when you were in school. You can’t just go tell the principal and everything is going to be fine! If you tell on them, I could not just get hurt, Ma; I could get killed!”

  “Don’t be so dramatic, Bri,” Ms. Tonita said. “You’re overreacting.”

  “I don’t mean to be disrespectful but she’s not being dramatic, Ms. Tonita. That’s how it is for us.”

  “Shante, are you trying to tell me that a fifteen-year-old girl can get killed for telling on her friends?”

  “I’m saying a fifteen-year-old girl can get killed for anything.”

  “You seem to be very streetwise. How do you know so much about the streets?”

  “I came from the streets.”

  “Okay, Ms. Streetwise,” Auntie Cynthia said to me, “do you have any ideas on how to handle this?”

  It made me feel appreciated to be around grown intelligent women who cared enough to listen to me, even though I was a teenager.

  “I think that Bri has to stand up to them.”

  “Do you mean fight?” Auntie Cynthia asked.

  “Not necessarily. But she can’t keep running from them, either.”

  “So how do we protect her?” Ms. Tonita asked.

  “You can’t.”

  “What do you mean, I can’t?”

  “Bri gotta stand up to them on her own, even if it means fighting back.”

  “What is this?” Ms. Tonita asked. “The Wild, Wild West?”

  “No, ma’am. It’s life as a teenager. I’m tellin’ you that’s how we live.”

  “Oh my God.” Ms. Alicia clutched her chest. “What the hell?”

  “But y’all really don’t have nothin’ to be worried about.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I’m going to the same school, Ms. Tonita.”

  “And who are you suppose to be?” Auntie Cynthia asked. “The muscle?”

  “I’m just sayin’.”

  “Well, I don’t want you getting in trouble, either, Shante.”

  “As long as they don’t mess with us, we won’t mess with them, Ms. Alicia.”

  “If they mess with you, you better tell us.”

  “Oh, we will.” I looked at Bri.

  “Don’t be looking at each other, either,” Ms. Tonita joked. “I see that! If there’s any trouble, you better tell us.”

  “Is that understood?” Auntie Cynthia asked.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Bri said.

  “You, too, Shante,” Ms. Alicia said.

  “Yes, ma’am, I mean, yes. I will.”

  “Y’all better!” Ms. Tonita said. “My husband is the police. And if I have to, I’ll have the whole damn school locked up! Including y’all.”

  We laughed and switched the subject to Bri’s and my new school clothes. Although we did not feel like it, they made us model our new clothes. They were more excited than we were.

  Chapter Six

  That night when I was about to go to bed, Ms. Alicia knocked on my door. I had to hurry and get out of the shower to stop her from walking in, but I was too late. As I was walking out of the shower with a towel wrapped around me, she was entering my room.

  “What’s going on with you in that bathroom, girl?”

  “Oh, nothing.”

  “Nothing, my butt.” Ms. Alicia smiled. “I kind of wanted to talk to you about what I saw this afternoon.”

  “What did you see?”

  “You! In the bathroom, doing...you know.”

  “Oh, that wasn’t what you thought it was.”

  “Oh, really?”

  “No, ma’am. I mean, no.”

  “If you’re having that much trouble not calling me ‘ma’am,’ then call me whatever makes you comfortable. Like Tonita said, it shows that you’re a respectful young lady.” Ms. Alicia folded her arms and paced around my room. “Now, put your clothes on and let’s talk, Ms. Shante.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  I put on my sleeping clothes and crawled into the bed. Ms. Alicia sat next to me on the bed and I prepared myself for our “birds and the bees” conversation.

  “What you were doing today is perfectly normal for a young woman. You’re curious and you’re exploring your body.”

  “Ms. Alicia?”

  “Yes, dear?”

  “I had this talk with my dad when I was about ten.”

  “You talked about touching yourself with your dad?”

  “Oh! No, ma’am! We discussed the birds and the bees.”

  “Well, sweetheart, your daddy may have told you about the birds and the bees, but I’m about to tell you about the flowers and the trees.”

  “The ‘flowers and the trees’?”

  “Yes. Now listen up! Women have different ways of being pleasured; clitoral, vaginal, oral, and then there’s anal.”

  “Anal? Yuck!”

  “There are plenty of options, Shante.”

  Ms. Alicia was right. My father may have told me about the birds and the bees, but no one had discussed those damn flowers and the trees she was telling me about.

  “Options?”

  “Yes, to pleasure yourself.”

  “I don’t pleasure myself, Ms. Alicia.”

  “Oh-kaaaaay, but anyway, women are capable of reaching their orgasms through either one of these methods of sexual intercourse with a partner. But, women are also capable of achieving very pleasurable orgasms all by themselves.”

  “I can’t believe we’re having this conversation, Ms.
Alicia.”

  “Well, I’ve been waiting all my life to have this conversation with my daughter, and I’m sorry, but you’re not going to deprive me of my moment, young lady! Okay?”

  “Okay, Ms. Alicia, as embarrassed as I am, I won’t deprive you of your ‘moment.’”

  “Back to the subject at hand...”

  Before Ms. Alicia could speak, it hit me all of a sudden that she had just said that I was her daughter. I was so overwhelmingly happy to hear her say those words I had to make sure I heard what I thought I heard.

  “Excuse me, Ms. Alicia?”

  “Yes?”

  “You really see me as your daughter?”

  “Of course, I do.”

  “Oh my God,” I wiped tears from my eyes.

  “Oh, baby.” Ms. Alicia said. “What are you crying for?”

  “Because my mother never even acknowledged that I was her daughter, and here you are treating me like I’m your very own flesh and blood.”

  “That’s the past, Shante. Don’t focus on the past because it hurts you. Think about how much your father loves you and how Johnny and I love you as our own child.”

  “This seems too good to be true. You and Dr. Forrester haven’t even known me that long and you love me?”

  “We’ve known you long enough to know that you need to be loved and we need to love you.”

  “You have no idea how much that means to me.” I hugged Ms. Alicia. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome, baby. I swear you’re the only person who cries more than me.”

  “Okay, I’m ready for our flowers-and-the-trees talk.”

  “All that I wanted to say was...” Ms. Alicia wiped her eyes and paused momentarily to compose herself.

  “Are you crying, Ms. Alicia?”

  “Oh yeah, girl, but don’t worry about me; I cry at the drop of a dime.”

  “We’re pitiful.”

  “No, crying is good.”

  “I do feel better.”

  “Good,” Ms. Alicia said. “Now, can we get back to the flowers-and-the-trees stuff?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” I laughed.

  “Your body is a very precious commodity and it should be treated that way. You’re going to have sensations and feelings as you mature, and you’re going to want to act upon them. So what you were doing today is perfectly normal for a young woman your age.”

  “I wasn’t doing nothing, though.”