Getting Played (4 page)

Just Leave Me Alone

SO
I head up my grandmother's front steps and get to the small porch. I turn around and see Terrence and Gia walking farther down the street together. I can hear her laughing. She pushes at him playfully. At least they're not all hugged up. But they're talking, like we used to. WTF. Whatever. I unlock the front door and go inside. My day is already trashed. I seriously don't need any more drama.

As soon as I walk in I can tell my grandmother is in the kitchen baking. The whole house is lit up and smelling just like a slice of heaven. I drop my books and jacket on the stairs and head straight to the kitchen. I stand in the door way watching her pull a Bundt cake out of the oven. My stomach growls so loud I know she had to hear me. “Umm,
I hope that's for us, 'cause I'm starved,” I say, eyeing the big fat slice I want as soon as it cools off.

“Good afternoon,” my grandmother says, always reminding me of my manners.

“Sorry. Hi, Grandmom,” I say automatically. She's such a trip. She's small, petite, with silver-gray hair and an always-knowing smile. She has a way of looking at a person and knowing everything there is to know. At least that's how I see it. She looks just like what I guess my mom would have looked like had she lived to old age.

“Is that for us? Please, please tell me that's for us.” My grandmother is forever baking cakes or making potato salad, a ham or frying chicken for somebody else. Whenever there's a problem in the neighborhood, you can tell because she's cooking something for somebody. I hover close as she sits the hot cake pan on a wire rack. The aroma is incredible.

“No. It's for the family down the street. I don't know if you know them—Charlotte Russell.”

“I know Ms. Lottie.”

She nods. “Charlotte's brother passed last night. He's been sick for a while.”

“Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Did you know him?”

“Lord, yes, Laurence and I go way back. We went to school together. He was a good man. He was kind and considerate. No matter what, he always had a pleasant word to say. Just seeing him sometimes would brighten my day.”

“I'm sorry,” I say, not knowing exactly why I should be.

She starts talking again. This time about how she remembered him years ago when they were young together. She
goes on and on. Stories like this just lose me. So I really am not paying much attention. I have my eye on the cake again. Then she says something about marriage. “Wait, so he was like your serious boyfriend a long time ago?”

She smiles and nods. “Yes, a very, very long time ago. He was much older than I was and it was way before I knew your grandfather.”

It was weird. I can't seem to imagine my grandmother having a boyfriend. “How close were you two?”

“Very close,” she says.

I look at her. It wasn't so much what she said, but how she said it. I got the feeling they were more than just friends. “Did my grandfather know about him?”

“Oh, yes, he knew,” she says, then laughs. “He hated the fact that we were still friends even after everything that happened.”

“What do you mean even after everything?”

She turns and looks at me. “What, do you think you're the only one who's had drama in their life? Missy, I know drama. I know drama very well.”

Okay, this is just getting weird. It is sounding more and more like a love triangle to me. The oven timer sounds and I hurry to stop it. I want to get back to the conversation we were having. “What kind of drama?” I ask.

She laughs again. “You young people think you invented the concept of drama. Lord knows I had some twisting in my day. But that's a story for another time. Right now I need to get myself out of here and get this cake delivered.”

I couldn't believe she'd open the door and then just drop it like that. “Grandmom, you can't just leave me hanging.”

“Use a toothpick, check the cake and see if it's done.”

I open the oven door. The smell of lemon vanilla hits me in a hot flash in my face. I lean back, but I can still see a smaller pound cake in the oven. I love it when my grandmother cooks lemon pound cake. I grab a toothpick and stick it in the center. It comes out clean. The cake's done. I grab oven mitts and take it out and sit it on the other wire rack on the table.

“Man, this smells so good.” My nose is practically on top of the cake. Lemon and vanilla, there's nothing like it.

“That one's for you.” She nods.

I smile. Damn, this made my day. “Thanks, Grandmom. This is the first good thing to happen all day.” I give her a hug, and I surprise myself, 'cause I have a hard time letting go. I just hold on to her.

“Had a bad one, huh, baby?” she asks, gently patting my back.

I nod. Suddenly the thought of everything begins to weigh down on me—no transfer papers, Darien maybe getting out and now Gia. “Yeah, something like that,” I say, pulling a chair out.

She stops what she's doing and turns to me. “What happened?”

I sit heavily. “I went to the school office again today. My transfer papers weren't there again. The woman behind the desk said to check back Monday morning. They've been telling me that all week.”

“All week?” she says, surprised. “Why didn't you tell me?”

My grandmother sits down and holds my hand as she
takes a deep breath. I look at her face. Her eyes are soft and caring. She knows how much I want to go back to Hazelhurst. “I'm sorry, sweetie,” she says quietly. “Well, first thing Monday morning I'm going up there to see what's going on.”

“I'm gonna call my dad again. He was supposed to send Hazelhurst a check for my tuition. I guess he forgot with everything going on with the baby and all. I'm hoping that's the only holdup.”

“I'm sure that's all it is,” she says, much less reassuring than I expected. She immediately starts drizzling the sweet glaze on top of the cake.

“Yeah, I guess so,” I say. Then I look at her expression as she works. She looks like she is concentrating, but I can see there is something else. I can't tell if she meant what she said or not. I'm thinking not. My dad has never been one of her favorite people, but she put up with him—first because of my mom and now because of me. “I'm a go change my clothes,” I say, then stand up and look around the kitchen before heading out.

“Are you going for your run?” she asks.

I think about it a few seconds. For the last two weeks I've run after school. It calms me down, but I really don't feel like it today. “Nah, not today, I'll go tomorrow morning,” I say. She nods.

“Oh, I almost forgot, you received a few phone calls today,” she says.

“Huh? Me?” I ask awkwardly, knowing that nobody I know even had my grandmother's home number. She looks
at me sternly expecting a better reply. “I mean, that's weird 'cause nobody knows your number.”

“Apparently someone does. One caller was a young man, the other was a girl's voice. Neither wanted to leave their name or a phone number. They both said they'd call you back later this evening.”

I nod. It was weird though. I didn't think anybody knew my grandmother's home number. But I guess somebody does. Hell, even I have to look it up on my cell. “Grandmom, I'm going to go up and change. I'm meeting Jalisa and Diamond at the dance studio tonight. We'll probably go to the Pizza Place after that.”

“That's fine. I'll be at Charlotte's most of the evening.”

“Okay.” I leave the kitchen, grab my stuff off the step, then go upstairs to my room. I start to charge my cell, then see Darien's broken-ass trophy on the floor almost under my bed. I smile. It was my trophy now. It was the biggest one from that night in his bedroom. I don't know why I didn't just give it back to Ursula, but I didn't. I kept it. Seeing it always made me feel good. I found it the next morning after everything happened. I must have dropped it on the front porch when I was trying to open the door that night. But right now, seeing it sitting there, and knowing Darien might get out, was making me sick. I pick it up and put it behind the door, out of sight, out of mind.

I wash up and change my clothes. I am packing my dance bag when my cell rings. I check the caller ID. It's Jalisa. I pick up. “Hey, girl,” I say happily. It is always good to hear from my girls.

“Hey, you ready? We're almost there.”

“Yeah, give me a minute.”

“Too late, we're here.”

“What?” I ask. There is a knock on my bedroom door, then giggling and laughter outside. I open my bedroom door to see my girls standing there smiling and laughing. It is so good to see them. I just start laughing, too.

“Hey,” Diamond says, as we hug. “Your grandmom let us in. She said to tell you she's on her way out and to not get in any trouble tonight.”

“Yeah, like that's gonna happen,” Jalisa jokes, as we hug, too. “Girl, you stay knee-deep in drama twenty-four-seven.”

“Excuse me, but I do not get in trouble,” I say. “Much.”

Diamond and Jalisa look at each other and then at me and break up laughing. I have to laugh, too. “Man, I can't wait for Monday. It's gonna be so perfect having you back at school again,” Jalisa says.

“I know, right,” Diamond adds happily. “Watch out, Hazelhurst Academy, the girls are back in town.” They laugh, then see I'm not smiling.

“What's wrong?” Jalisa asks.

“My transfer papers weren't at Penn today. They don't know anything about me going to Hazelhurst on Monday.”

“But you passed the exam,” Diamond says.

“Yeah, you aced it. What else do they want?” Jalisa adds.

“I don't know. I need to talk to my dad and make sure he paid the tuition on time. You know how they get about money. Anyway, that's the only thing I can think of holding it up.”

“A'ight, that's cool then. You just have to pay when you get there on Monday morning.”

“Ah, man, I can't wait to see Chili's face when you walk your ass back into class.” We start laughing again. “She's such a joke. She's got this little stomach and she walks around poking it out wanting everyone to see that she's pregnant.”

“Yeah, and now everybody's saying that it's not even LaVon's baby. They're talking about her being with some college basketball player,” Diamond says.

“I heard that. I also heard he was married,” Jalisa adds.

“Seriously, I can believe it,” I say.

“Chili is such a skank and a liar.”

“She'll say anything to get what she wants.”

“And right now she wants LaVon, my sloppy seconds.” We laugh for a while this time.

“Okay, come on now. I feel like dancing.”

“Yeah, me, too.”

“Me, three.”

Diamond and Jalisa head to the stairs. When I go the other way, they turn to look at me. “Where are you going?”

“Downstairs,” I say. They look at me strangely. “Want to see something cool? Come on, check this out.” They come back and follow me to the closet door. I open it and they see boxes and linens.

“It's a closet,” Jalisa says. I push the shelving on the side and it easily slides over. There is a small landing and stairs. “Oh, cool, check this out, stairs,” Jalisa adds.

“I didn't know you had a back staircase,” Diamond says.

“Not a lot of people do.”

“Did it come with the house?”

“I guess. My grandmother was born in this house and even her grandmother was born here. It kinda gets passed down through the generations. She told me it was once owned by these abolitionists and they hid escaped slaves. So when the hunters searched the house, the runaways would either hide in here or run down and out the back door.”

“That is so cool,” Diamond says.

“I know, right,” Jalisa adds.

“Where do they lead?” Diamond asks.

“Duh, Diamond, downstairs,” Jalisa says. “Come on, let's go down.”

“Nah, I just wanted to show you. I hate going down these stairs when the pantry light's not on. It's too dark and spooky.”

“Oh, come on, it's cool.” Jalisa has already started down. “It's not bad. It's stairs. Just keep walking.”

Diamond follows her and I go last. Seriously, I hate these stairs. I close the closet door and push the shelves and follow. Jalisa and Diamond laugh and talk the whole time. At least that makes me feel better. “Where's the light switch?” Jalisa calls up to me. I hear her voice, but we are in complete darkness.

“To the left, by the door. Hold your hand out and just keep straight. You'll bump right into it,” I say. But I know there is no way she'll find the pantry door. Then all of a sudden, the door opens and the lights go on. I blink and look around. I am still near the second floor while Jalisa and Diamond are already down in the pantry.

“Oh, my God, that was so cool,” Jalisa says.

“I know. If I had these, I'd never use the front stairs.”

I finally get to the bottom. “I really hate those stairs.”

They laugh as we go into the kitchen. We grab some water bottles and walk down the hall to the foyer. Then they stand on the front porch as I lock the deadbolt on the front door. Outside I see Terrence walking up his steps to his porch. He waves and speaks to Jalisa and Diamond. We look at each other. He nods. I do, too. That's it and nobody says anything.

We pile in Diamond's mother's small car and she drives us to the dance studio even though my grandmother lives just a couple of blocks away. She parks and we walk into Freeman like we own it. But for real, this is our place. This is where we met when we were four years old. They still have pictures of us on the walls. Mostly everybody knows us here. The young kids all look up to us. We dance tap, ballet, jazz and modern, but our favorite, of course, is hip-hop. We say hi to some dance instructors, then go upstairs to the private studios. That's where the advanced students go. We don't actually have class anymore, we just do our thing and practice hard.