Let Me Just Say This (6 page)

“I know you ain't asking me that, after she slapped the taste out of my mouth. I didn't see you asking her no damn questions,” she said as she snatched her arm away from him.

They got to Cheryl's house and while they headed downstairs, she went to her room to change her shirt before her mother noticed and brushed her hair. She had a major headache, but looking in the mirror, the scratches she had could be covered with a little bit of makeup or explained away by some ‘incident' playing basketball in gym. The inside of her mouth hurt like crazy, probably from when she bit the inside of her mouth, when Brenda slapped her. She joined Dee and Shaun in the basement after speaking to her mother, who was watching television in her room. Dee tried to lighten up the mood and so did Cheryl, but Shaun was in a foul mood and nothing that either of them said made it better.

“I gotta go,” Shaun said while jumping up from the chair.

“Do you have to?” Cheryl asked as she walked up the stairs behind him.

He never acknowledged her. He pulled the door open and it was all she could do to call out for him to call her later.

“I'll try,” he said as he disappeared around the corner.

Cheryl stood at the door and gave a shrug of her shoulders. She went back downstairs because she didn't have time to wallow in what was becoming her mood of late.

She heard her mom calling her and when she came to the top of the stairs she saw her mom with her arms folded and two police officers standing just inside the doorway.

“Cheryl, this officer says he wants to talk to you about a fight,” she said, while eyeing her suspiciously

“Yes, ma'am” Cheryl answered while trying not to look at her.

“Are you Cheryl Book?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Were you involved in a fight today with a…?” he said while flipping open his little notebook. “A Brenda Washington?”

“Yes,” she answered again and stole a glance at her mother.

“You were?” she asked with a look of anger on her face.

Without being asked by anyone she said,” She hit me first. I was getting off of the bus.”

“Was there anyone else involved?” the officer asked.

“No sir.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, like he didn't believe her.

“Yes.”

“Well, Ms. Washington has some pretty serious injuries to her face.”

“We fell while we were fighting, but I didn't notice anything wrong with her when she left. Matter of fact, she was still trying to fight me and my friends walked me home.”

“Well, this is more than just scrapes. She will actually need a few stitches,” he continued.

She rolled her eyes to the top of her head.

“May I have a look at your hands?” he said. She unfolded her arms and stretched out her arms toward him. “That will be all,” he said while writing in his little notebook.

Her mom gave her that look that said, get moving. So she walked back downstairs where she was sure that little miss nosey, Dee, was all up in the conversation. It was obvious to even a blind man that Dee was eavesdropping.

As soon as Cheryl reached the bottom step, Dee started with the questions.

“Girl, what happened? What did the cop want?”

“I don't know,” she said while shrugging her shoulders.
Her mom was calling her and she told Dee to start cleaning up their project.

“Look, when I'm done, I'll leave but you better call me as soon as you can. They climbed the stairs and her mother was standing there. Dee opened the door and was stepping out when she said her goodbyes.

“Bye Mrs. Book,” Dee said.

“Bye Deidre,” her mom said.

As soon as Cheryl had shut the door, her mother was in her face yelling.

“How dare you get in a fight in the middle of the street like a street thug?”

“B-but,” she stammered.

“But nothing. I have police coming to my house telling me about things I don't have any idea about!”

“B-but.”

“Shut up! You must be losing your damn mind!”

“She hit me first!” she yelled back, as if she had lost her mind.

Cheryl didn't see it coming, but her mother had slapped her just as hard as Brenda had and it stung even more since it was in the same side of her face.

“Who do you think you are talking to?” her mom yelled. “I'm the parent here!”

“But she hit me first!” Cheryl yelled again.

Her mother hit her with a closed fist this time and yelled at her, “You better not let me find out that you were fighting over some boy! Get out of my face!”

“You don't care that she hit me?” Cheryl asked.

“No, I don't! You embarrassed me acting like some stupid bitch in the street who doesn't know the first thing about being a young lady.”

“I am a young lady but everybody keeps on picking on me! Always pushing me and teasing me and y'all don't even care!” she yelled at her mother.

Her mother advanced towards her again but this time she stopped.

“Go to your room!” she yelled while walking into the kitchen.

Cheryl was hurt from so many things that had happened in the past few days that when she started to cry it all came rushing back. From Shaun disappearing on her after she didn't sleep with him to her sister hitting her while her parents were gone to now her mother acting like she was the worst person in the world. She didn't think she could take anymore. Maybe it was just better to not fight back. To let people treat you any kind of way because she felt that she was always on the losing end of everything anyway. She lay across her bed and cried until there were no more tears. Her heart was hurting and she didn't know what to do about it.

“Heard you got in a fight today,” her dad asked as he walked into her room.

“Yes sir.”

“Well, Mr. Dayes called and we have to see him in the morning.”

“Yes sir.”

“Are you hungry?” her mother asked from just outside her bedroom door.

“No ma'am,” she said, not looking up.

“Are you feeling ok?” she asked while walking in and sitting next to her dad on her small bed.

“I feel ok. Just tired,” she answered.

“Well, if you don't want to eat you can go back to bed. I will check on you later.” Cheryl burst into tears again and her dad rubbed her back and told her it would be ok. He told her that he would check on her later and to stay in bed and be ready to go by seven the next morning for their meeting with the principal.

The phone started ringing and she heard her mother telling Shaun that she wasn't feeling well.

“Oh, really? Oh, ok. I will tell her.” Cheryl closed her eyes when she heard her mother coming down the hallway towards her room.

“Cheryl, Shaun just called because he heard about the
police coming over. I guess Deidre must have told him. Anyway, he called to tell me what happened. I'm sorry for not letting you tell me.”

“It's ok.”

Her mother put her hand on Cheryl's head and smoothed her hair away from her face.

“You feel a little warm. Let me check your temperature.” Her mom rushed out of the room and Cheryl heard her telling her father that it felt as if she had a fever. When she came back and put the thermometer in her mouth, a minute later it confirmed what Cheryl already knew.

“Yeah, you are very warm. Do you want some water? Is your stomach hurting?”

Whenever Cheryl got upset, her body shut down. This time was no different. Her mother tucked the blankets around her and rubbed her back.

“Just sleep and I'll come back in to check on you in a little while.”

As her mother left her room, she heard her father asking about her and her mother told him that Cheryl was just a little worked up about the incident and that she would be ok in the morning.

She woke up and the clock read five in the morning. She had slept all night, so she decided to get a jump on the day and get in the shower. She could hear her mom already in the kitchen listening to her gospel songs on the radio.

“Good morning. Are you feeling better?”

“Yes ma'am” She answered.

“Well, we have to be at school at seven o'clock. Ok,” she said.

“Ok,” She said as she walked out of the kitchen and into the bathroom.

She walked into the club and needed to sit down to clear her head. She walked to the bar and hoped she could just sit there without trying to get picked up or hit on.

“What can I get you? You look like you are having a rough night,” the bartender said.

“I'm sorry. Do I need to order something in order to sit here?” she asked her.

“Yes, but why don't I give you one on the house? What you drinking?”

“Rum and coke please.” Cheryl really needed something stronger than that, but that would have to do. “I don't have my wallet, but I promise to come back and give you a tip,” She said.

“No need. Just calm down and everything will be ok. Sistas gotta look out for each other,” she said.

She seemed nice enough. She was kind of tall, and all the men in the place were clamoring to get to a spot where she could serve them. If Cheryl had to guess, the low-cut top that she wore was the draw. However, she had the widest hips you ever could imagine. Looked like she must have pushed out twins or at the very least, a ten-pounder. She turned around and saw Kevin walking in with a woman on his arm. The woman stood eye to eye with Kevin. She had very round hips but not disproportionate. Her dark hair
hung in loose curls around her face and the height of her heel would intimidate most people. She had that air of confidence that a woman who never took no for an answer had. She was also the only woman in the place that had on a skirt long enough to make a man guess what she had underneath of it.

Cheryl turned around but Kevin had already made eye contact with her and started toward her.

“Hey sexy,” the bartender said, “Ain't seen you in a minute. Where have you been? Making all that paper I assume.”

“Hey yourself,” Kevin said, while leaning over and planting a kiss on her cheek.

He turned toward Cheryl, “Hey, I have been looking for you,” he said while putting his arm around her shoulders.

Cheryl tried to move away from him but he put pressure on her shoulders with his arm.

“Kevin, please; what do you want?” She asked.

Totally ignoring what she was saying, he continued speaking to her like they were out for an enjoyable evening. “You want something to drink?” he asked her

“No, already got something,” She said while holding up her watered down drink.

“Oh.”

“Look, just leave me alone,” she whispered.

As he leaned down, he angrily whispered, “And who the fuck bought you that?”

“No one did.” She answered.

“Why are you lying?” He turned from the bar.” Who the fuck in here is buying my wife drinks?” he yelled over the music.

A few men turned around and looked at him and her and then continued with their separate conversations.

“Chill, dude,” the bartender said. “I gave it to her on the house. She looked a little upset when she walked in here.”

Cheryl got up and started walking towards the bathrooms, near the rear of the club. He tried following, but
some chick caught his attention, so he stopped and had to talk to her. Cheryl knew she would go home and then he could meet up with her. She sat at a table in the back and finished her drink. She soon heard him calling her again.

“Cheryl,” he said as he sat down at her table. “Look, we have some talking to do, and this ain't the place to do it.”

“You said everything you needed to say to me.” As she stood to walk away, he grabbed her by the arm. “Get your damn hands off of me.”

“You better lower your damn voice and sit down like you have some sense,” he said as he tried to pull her back down into the booth.

“I said get your hands off of me!”

He jumped up from the table and was in her face instantly.

“Hey, aren't you Mr. Goldman?” said the tall man standing nearby. “I read the last article on you in Black Enterprise magazine. Man, you got real skills when it comes to marketing. I read that you were expanding. It's good to see a black man like yourself doing things the right way.”

“Yeah,” Kevin said as he still held firm to her arm. “I do what I do,” he said.

“Well, let me give you my card and if you ever need anything, let me know. I have a car service that would probably meet the needs of your company,” he said as he pulled out a black leather business card holder and handed him a purple embossed card with bold script writing.

Kevin's grip never loosened so she was still held in his vise grip.

He leaned into her and whispered, “Look, let's just go home. You have caused enough of a scene, don't you think?”

She tried yanking her arm away but he held his grip. “Hey, Kevin. Is that you?” another man asked.

“Man, long time no see,” they said as they slapped hands. That was her chance.

She walked off before Kevin could introduce her. She walked outside and was met by a slight mist. Just her luck that she didn't have her purse or her umbrella. She tried her best not to be too emotional but it was becoming harder to do. She walked to the corner and found a phone booth. She dialed Dee's number and started talking before she realized that it was Dee's answering machine.

“Dee, I'm stranded downtown can you come and get me please. I don't have my purse and I need a ride home. I am at The Bottom. Thanks”

She hung up and walked back towards the club. The mist was beginning to chill her but she didn't want to risk going back into the club.

“Excuse me, Miss?” said the gentleman who had spoken to Kevin earlier in the evening.

“Yes?”

“You really shouldn't be standing out here alone. Some of these jokers will get the wrong idea.”