Who You Wit'?

by Paula Chase

  She could see the thoughts churning in Brian’s head, and he admitted as much when he asked, “Is this one of those trick questions? Like some test from a magazine you’re trying on me?”

  “No,” Mina said. She leaned back on her hands. “I’m just curious.”

  “For the record, I’m crazy for answering this.” Brian rocked the chair back again. “It was right before we started going out.”

  “Like right, right before? As in days?” Mina crossed her legs. “Or right before, like months?”

  Brian had a look on his face like he couldn’t believe he was having this conversation with her, but he answered. “Like, I don’t know…a few weeks.”

  Mina’s nose wrinkled. “Eww, so you had sex with somebody and then was all up on me kissing and stuff?”

  Brian got up and circled the desk, arms waving. “Danger, danger, abort really awkward conversation with crazy girlfriend. Abort.”

  Mina chuckled, but maintained her serious tone. “You’re crazy.”

  He stopped his race around the desk. “True dat. If I wasn’t, I would have never answered you.”

  “Was it with Golden Girl or somebody else?” Mina asked, too curious to stop herself.

  Brian clamped his hands together and set them on top of his head. “Serious?”

  “I mean, what’s wrong with me knowing?”

  He scowled. “Why do you want to know?”

  “So it was Golden Girl?”

  He shook his head. “No. It was just this random chick I used to holler at sometimes.”

  Mina squinted in concentration, thinking back two Decembers ago. “But you had been trying to holler at me. Why did you—”

  Brian brought his arms down, the smile gone. “And you had a boyfriend. Guess we were both wildin’ out.”

  Mina nodded slowly. She heard in his voice that he wasn’t going to answer any more questions about it. But she had so many more.

  How could he have sex with some “random” girl at the same time he was obviously trying to get with her? Hello, where’s the love?

  Was it that same weekend he asked her out? If so, EWW!

  Would he be doing that at college? Please, please, no.

  Then she thought of one for herself—if he did do that at college, would she care as long as he came back home her boyfriend?

  A silvery bitter taste filled her mouth as she accidentally bit down on her tongue.

  She wasn’t ready to answer that one.

  “Let me get back before Ms. McCord send the dogs after me,” Brian said, bringing Mina out of her fog. “See you in a little bit.”

  He started past her, and Mina grabbed his hand. A sliver of joyful warmth ran up her arm when he palmed her hand back. He stood in front of the desk, looming over her.

  She stretched her eyes up to his mass of black hair, thick on top, shorter on the sides, just the way she liked it. “What are you doing with that curly nest for prom?”

  “I thought I’d cut it down real low.” He winked. “Just like you like it.”

  Mina grimaced. Brian looked insanely young when he cut his hair low, like an oversized, very tall ten-year-old, in Mina’s opinion. Well, an oversized, very tall, fine ten-year-old, but a ten-year-old all the same.

  “You better not,” she warned.

  “Why? Don’t I look cute with it short?” He struck a pose.

  “Then our kids will look back on our prom pictures and be like, ‘Mommy, I didn’t know you could go to prom in fifth grade.’”

  Mina nearly slipped off the desk from laughing so hard.

  “See, then I’ll have to break it down and be like, ‘naw, son, I wasn’t in fifth grade. Just ask you mother what we did after prom.’” He wrapped his arms in the classic breaker pose, starting them both up laughing harder.

  “I’m not messing with you no more, toughie,” Brian said through snorts. “Let me dip.”

  He moved in for a quick kiss. Mina responded eagerly, and it turned into a longer, more involved one. He pulled away first, and they shared a private, knowing glance before he rushed off. Any tension her nosy question had brought on was melted.

  Not long after, the bell rang, ending the school day.

  Mina filed down the crowded hallway. The buzz, as the school year’s end loomed one day nearer, was deafening. She jockeyed for position at her locker, dumping everything. With her column done and in the midst of a cease-fire on regular homework, there was very little she needed to take home. Not that finals weren’t around the corner. But she’d be lying to herself if she claimed she would get any studying done this week.

  It’s prom week, baby, she thought with a grin.

  She mentally leapt ahead, visualizing her entire summer calendar, some events happy, others not so much. With a slam of her locker door, she grinned when Jacinta’s voice scolded, “So you’re not even going to pretend to study this week, huh?”

  “Nope.”

  “What is Momma Mooney gonna say about that?” Jacinta crossed her arms, mock disapproval on her face.

  Mina linked arms with her, and they walked. “Are you excited about prom?”

  “Truth?” Jacinta stopped in the middle of the hall, forcing people to flow around them. “Not really.”

  “Did you…you know take the test?”

  “I’m going to get one when we stop today.”

  “Want me to go in with you?” Mina asked.

  Jacinta chuckled. “Of course. Why would I do it without my sidekick?” She started walking again.

  Mina smiled, then stopped abruptly. “Hey. How come I’m the sidekick?”

  They giggled all the way to the car where Brian was holding court, running his mouth with a crowd of guys. JZ was already in the truck, riding shotgun, elbow hanging out of the window as he talked. He answered Mina’s “what’s up?” eye with a nonchalant, “To the back today, shorty. I get tired of being all cramped up back there.”

  Mina knocked his elbow off the window ledge as she passed.

  She and Jacinta hopped in the back. Soon the boy chatter broke off, and Brian slowly maneuvered the truck through the clusters of people congregating in the senior lot. When they got to the Stop sign at the end of the lot, he looked in his mirror. “What store you want to go to, Cinny?”

  Jacinta cleared her throat. “Umm, can you take me to the Walgreens?”

  “Walgreens?” JZ and Brian chorused.

  Brian scowled. “The one up by Bailey’s Landing?”

  “It’s a CVS right on the main strip on the way home,” JZ said. He turned to look at Jacinta.

  Jacinta looked over at Mina, her eyes silently pleading for backup.

  “Well, the CVS never has what I’m looking for.” Mina said. She chattered on purposefully. “I love that lip luster stuff from Revlon. They never have it, though.”

  JZ’s eyes rolled. “I know you not making us drive all the way to Walgreens for no lip gloss.”

  “Who is us?” Mina pushed the back of JZ’s head, the one benefit of sitting in the backseat. “Brian’s the one driving.”

  “Man, drop these dudes off at CVS and make ’em walk the rest of the way home,” JZ said, posturing.

  “I’d like to think he would,” Mina said. She gave Brian her best nagging girlfriend look.

  He ignored it, instead checking his mirror and the growing line of cars behind him.

  “Look, before people start giving me the horn—seriously, you want to go to Walgreens?” Brian asked. He eased the truck out a little more, pointing it north.

  “Please.” Jacinta flashed Brian an angelic smile, sending Mina and JZ into a fit of laughing.

  “Man, go ahead. I can count on one hand how many times Cinny been sweet,” JZ said. “That must be some good ass lip gloss.”

  Mina and Jacinta shared a smile as the truck made a hard left.

  With all the windows down and the radio blasting, they headed away from the neighborhoods that housed their Blue Devils peers and into northern Del Rio Bay, home of the Northern
DRB High Wranglers. What Northern Del Rio lacked in tony, suburban posh like the cliques’ neighborhoods and pseudourban hipness (the city of Del Rio Bay), it made up for in pure practical functionality. The truck made its way past houses that grew smaller and plainer. In between large pockets of trees were large, sprawling strip malls with every conceivable chain and discount store known to man.

  When they finally arrived at the large Walgreens, which stood alone on an island in a busy intersection, Brian cut the engine. No one moved. He raised his palms as if to say, “what now?” and that got Mina moving.

  “Come on, Cinny.” She opened her door, scuttling out.

  Jacinta followed reluctantly.

  JZ hollered out the window. “Don’t be all day.”

  “Are you alright?” Mina whispered once they got in the store. Jacinta’s face was ashen and scared in the bright fluorescent lighting.

  She gnawed at her bottom lip. “I just don’t want to do this.”

  “Well, has it come on?” Mina asked. Her shoulders hitched at Jacinta’s “what do you think?” look. She took another step, trying to prod Jacinta along. But Jacinta stayed put. They stood in the middle of the seasonal aisle. Among the cookout paraphernalia were a few early Fourth of July decorations.

  “My heart is saying I’m not pregnant,” Jacinta said, almost as if she was talking to herself. Her breath streamed in a deflating hiss. “I wish my stupid body would listen.”

  Mina rubbed Jacinta’s shoulder. “Maybe you’re not. But wouldn’t it be better to just know for sure?”

  Jacinta winced. “Not really.”

  Mina walked, and this time Jacinta followed. They rounded a corner and found their way to the feminine hygiene products.

  Jacinta’s mouth curled in a scowl–grimace. “Is it me? Or is it kind of stupid to put the pregnancy tests next to the pads and stuff?” She picked up a pack of sanitary napkins. Her eyes lingered on the package wistfully. “It’s like saying, na-na-na-na-na, you don’t need these.”

  Mina’s shoulders shook as she laughed. “Okay, don’t take this the wrong way. But umm, most people are glad they’re pregnant.” She snorted as she added, “Maybe the people getting the tests are saying that to the people whose period did come on?”

  They snickered as they gazed over the selection of pregnancy tests.

  When a few seconds had passed with Jacinta doing nothing, Mina nudged shoulders with her. “I don’t think the test can walk to you.”

  “Good. Maybe when the technology becomes that smart, I’ll take it,” Jacinta said, turning to leave.

  Mina caught her arm. “Come on, Cinny. I know this sucks, but…let’s do it Band-Aid style. Just pick a test, any test, roll to the counter, and dip.”

  Jacinta allowed herself to be pulled back. With her mouth set in a grim line of concentration, she scanned the aisle. “So is everybody talking about how the hood chick managed to get knocked up?”

  “No one is talking about it…well, not to me,” Mina said. “Shoot, me and Lizzie barely talking at all. And Kelly’s been too busy…making pacts with Lizzie.”

  Jacinta glanced over at her. “Yeah, they’re growing close. You chill with that?”

  “I’m not jealous or anything.” Mina stroked the long part of her hair, curling the ends with her finger, thinking aloud. “But Lizzie’s acting like Kelly is a better friend to her just because she took the pact and I didn’t.” Her voice took on a sarcastic nag. “Look at me going on about myself again.” She smiled when Jacinta chuckled. “I guess I’m chill with them hanging out. Just wish it wasn’t ’cause she thinks I’m a flake.”

  Jacinta nodded as she finally picked up one of the tests. She read the front aloud. “Ninety-nine percent accurate. No pregnancy test can detect pregnancy at conception.” Her eyebrows knitted. “Okay, what? It’s nearly a hundred percent accurate, but it can’t detect it?”

  Mina read over her shoulder. She tossed the words around in her head, trying to redefine them. “Maybe it’s just how they cover themselves. So like, if it says you’re not pregnant but you are, you can’t sue ’em.”

  “I like that idea.” Jacinta grinned. “Suing the company, like it’s their fault and not Raheem’s.”

  “I know Raheem would be mad if he heard you say it was his fault,” Mina said. “I mean, you were there, too.”

  “That’s the thing.” Jacinta grew serious. “Is it anybody’s fault? Or am I just cursed? I’m on the pill, Mi. So why am I standing here looking at stupid pregnancy tests?” She leaned her head back and sighed up at the ceiling. Her voice trembled on the edge of crying. “I thought I was doing things right, and still I’m like thisclose to being just another hood rat, pregnant at sixteen.”

  Mina felt like she should turn away from Jacinta’s uncharacteristic show of vulnerability. But instead, she linked arms again and gave Jacinta’s a reassuring squeeze.

  “You’re not a hood rat.”

  Tears clung to Jacinta’s eyelashes. She wiped at them as she chuckled. “No. But I am very close to becoming a bobblehead ’burb girl. Look at me crying in the damn Walgreens. No harm, Mi. I love you to death, but I think you’re rubbing off on me.”

  Mina beamed. “I’m gonna take that as a compliment whether you meant it that way or not.”

  Jacinta held up the blue and white box, read it again. She turned it toward Mina. “This one?”

  Mina nodded, and they took it to the counter. Under the circumstances, Mina thought Jacinta did well. Mina knew she would have been a puddle of tears in the aisle and then had a panic attack, to boot, once at checkout.

  The clerk, a forty-something white woman with a snaggle tooth, didn’t raise an eyebrow at their purchase, and Jacinta managed to look nonchalant, bored even, as she handed over the cash. Mina couldn’t help looking back at the cashier before they went out the door. The woman had already gone back to reading a magazine, as if teens came in buying early detection pregnancy tests every day.

  On the Rebound Tip

  “Baby, seasons change, but people don’t.”

  —Fall Out Boy, “The take Over The Break’s Over”

  Sitting in the library, waiting on Greg to show for their tutoring session, Kelly had the speech-apology all ready in her head:

  Greg, I’m sorry about what happened on Friday. Angel’s this guy I dated for a few months. We’ve been over for, like, a year. But he’s sort of pushy and cocky. I hope that you didn’t get the wrong impression, like I asked him to stop by or anything, because I didn’t. I would have explained sooner, but it was awkward, and I was embarrassed. But I told him it’s over. Like really over.

  Kelly bit her lip, thinking over that last line. It felt a little like overkill, especially since she’d told Angel no such thing on Friday. She’d have to think about that, maybe throw it in last minute if Greg didn’t accept her apology.

  If she got to apologize, that was.

  She double checked the time on her Sidekick.

  2:40.

  Greg was ten minutes late.

  It would be crazy to blow off our session over Friday night, espcially with finals around the corner, Kelly thought.

  As she looked around the quiet, near empty library, ten minutes turned to twelve, and the worry that Greg might not show turned into embarrassment and a certainty that he wasn’t coming. Still, she waited—shuffling papers around, trying to make herself look busy instead of stood up. Not that the librarian, the two students shelving books to earn community service hours, and the two teachers whisper talking near the door—the entire population of the library—noticed.

  At fifteen minutes, a fierce debate broke out between Kelly’s ego and her conscience.

  Who was Greg to judge her?

  True, Angel had been wrong, bursting into the Ria like he owned it. But it wasn’t like she’d done anything wrong, like gush over Angel. All she’d done was listen, and if Greg had stayed at the table the whole time instead of walking off, he would have…

  He would have what? Kel
ly wondered. She stared at the door to the library as if it held answers.

  He would have shown Angel I was his, she answered herself.

  Okay, “his” wasn’t the best description of what Kelly was to Greg. But all Greg had to do Friday was stand his ground. Angel was the kind of guy who could smell fear. He took some sort of weird pleasure in making people uncomfortable. Greg should have been stronger, that was all. It wasn’t her fault he’d walked off.

  Kelly blinked hard, shaking off the daze just as her Sidekick vibrated noisily against the table. She snatched it up and pretended not to see the librarian’s pinched annoyance at the rattling. It was a text from Greg.

  Nt cmg

  That was it. No reason. No nothing.

  Just: Nt cmg.

  Kelly threw the Sidekick into her purse and quickly gathered her books, her breath icy hot in her chest. She made tracks to the door just as the first wave of tears blurred her vision.

  Maybe she deserved to be stood up. But it ate at her that Greg was writing her off, not giving her a chance to explain Friday’s fiasco. And by the way, how are you going to do on finals next week without me, Mr. Canon? she thought, her steps a hollow clunk on the hallway’s linoleum.

  Swiping at the tears that managed to escape, Kelly took another deep breath before bursting through the main doors to the front courtyard. She gave the small clusters of people dotting the front campus a wide berth, not wanting to run into anyone who might question her tear-streaked face, and made a beeline for the sidewalk that led to the main road and her neighborhood.

  Angel’s call came as she stood at the crosswalk, waiting for the light to change.

  She pressed the phone against her ear in time to hear his, “‘Sup, ma?”

  “Nothing,” Kelly said. With the phone to her ear and her tote bag weighing down her shoulder, she was forced to slow down crossing the street. A large truck and a string of cars passing by drowned out Angel’s voice. Kelly said “Huh?” three times before the right mix of low traffic noise and Angel’s shouting got through.

  “I said, what’s wrong? You sound upset,” he said.