Getting Played (19 page)

The Next Best Thing

We
go to church Sunday morning, then go out afterward and eat brunch. It's just the three of us and it's great. I feel normal again. We drive by Giorgio's, and I see he's in there with his two cooks, but it still isn't open. I get out to say hi, and to tell him I'm not working there anymore. I knock on the locked door, and he walks over and lets me in.

“Hey, how are you?” I say.

“Fine, and you?” he answers, looking around behind me.

I turn to see what he is looking at. “Oh, that's my grandmother and sister in the car waiting for me. I just wanted
to stop by to say how sorry I am about everything that happened and to tell you I can't work here anymore.”

“I understand.”

“Are you going to stay open?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Well, I'm gonna go now. I'll be back for pizza. Take care.”

“You, too,” he says, looking around before unlocking the glass door. He lets me out then locks up immediately and hurries to the back. I guess I really don't blame him for being so skittish. If I had a black eye and a huge busted lip I would be skittish, too.

So I get back in the car and we go home. As soon as we pull in front of the house, we see a big black SUV parked out front, too. We get out and start walking up the path to the front porch. The car door opens and Tyrece, Jade's ex-fiancé, gets out and walks over. “Hello,” he says.

“Hi, Ty,” I say, happy to see him and knowing this has to be a good sign. He leans down and hugs me and my grandmother. Then he looks at Jade. “Hello, Jade.”

“Hello, Ty,” she says curtly.

“Grandmom, come on, we should go inside,” I say.

We start inside, and I look back, seeing Jade and Ty following. I am hoping she isn't going to do something like slam the front door in his face. Thankfully, she doesn't. We go inside and Jade and Ty stay out on the front porch talking.

To keep busy, Grandmom mixes up a batch of monster cookies, and I bring my laptop down and start outlining what I want to write my congressional page essay on. We are
talking in the kitchen when Jade comes back in the house about an hour later. She isn't smiling. “Everything okay?” Grandmom asks.

She shrugs. “Maybe. We'll see. Ty needed to make a quick run to his mom's house. He said he'd be back later.” She looks at me. I am smiling so wide my face starts to hurt. That is the best news I've heard in a while. “What are you smiling about?” she asks.

“Nothing, everything,” I say. She knows what I mean.

The doorbell rings a few minutes later. Detectives Clark and Wilson come by with a few last-minute questions. Basically, they want to know how I got down the steps without being seen. My grandmother goes to open the pantry door, and I take them up to the closet next to my bedroom. When they come back down the back stairs, they are chuckling. We sit down in the living room, and they tell us the man with Darien has a slash on his hand and they suspect he is the same man from the Giorgio's break-in and the others. They're testing his blood against the blood on the pizza cutter for a match.

“Who is he?” Jade asks.

“Nobody, just someone trying to make a name for himself.”

“And the others in the robbery?” I ask.

“We don't have any leads right now. If you think of anything, let us know.” I nod, but I know I'm not going to think of anything. Afterward, they thank us again for our help, then leave.

They are leaving when my dad, Cash and the boys are walking up the steps. My dad shakes hands with the
detectives in greeting. I know I have to tell him what happened the day before. I'm just not looking forward to it. They come in. The boys hug me and Jade then make a beeline to the kitchen to find my grandmother. Jade and Cash follow.

“Why were the detectives here?” my dad asks.

“Sit down, Dad,” I say. I tell him what happened, how I slipped down the back stairs and ran out. He nods a lot, but keeps quiet mostly. He asks a few questions and is surprised we even have back stairs. “Are you okay?” he finally asks when I am finished.

“Yeah, I'm fine. All that's finally over,” I say.

“Do you want to come back to Virginia to live? You can go to Hazelhurst if you want. That's why I came by. I paid the tuition last Friday.”

“Nah, get your money back. I'm staying at The Penn.”

“I always hated that nickname.”

“Really, I kind of like it now.”

He frowns. “Are you sure? What about all your friends?”

“They're still my friends. That part will never change.”

“I'll tell you what. I'll leave the tuition there at the school in an escrow account, just in case you change your mind in your senior year.”

“Thanks, Dad. What about you, are you okay after all that?”

“Yeah, I'm good.”

“We got stuffed monster cookies,” Jason says, with his face smeared with chocolate. “Grandmom said to come get a cookie, too.”

Dad and I go to grab a cookie. We talk a few minutes, then Ty comes back. Jade introduces everyone. My dad and Cash are stunned when he walks in. I guess it's not every day a Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum album-receiving, worldwide entertainer walks in the kitchen and just grabs a cookie and gets milk from the refrigerator and starts chatting like it's no big deal. The fact that he insists on calling me Lil Sis really trips them out. After a while, Jade and Ty leave. Then my dad and everybody leaves.

Later that evening, my grandmother is up in her bedroom, and I am sitting out on the back porch chilling. After everything is done, and all the questions are answered, it's nice to just sit back and chill. I sit watching the rain come down. It's just getting to be dark, and rumbles of thunder are in the distance. I am texting both Jalisa and Diamond and not paying attention to anything else.

“Hey.”

I jump, then calm down instantly hearing the familiar voice. I look over, seeing Terrence on his back porch, too. What was I thinking? Tattoo or not, that definitely wasn't lawn mower guy's voice before. “Hi,” I say. I tell my girls that lawn mower guy is here and I'll catch up with them later. I get two smiley faces. I watch as he runs over, hops the fence and hurries to our porch. I stand waiting. “You're wet,” I say.

“No biggie.”

“Are we ever gonna be okay again?” I ask.

“I don't know. I have to think about it. I still can't believe you thought that was me at Giorgio's,” Terrence says.

“I'm sorry. I just saw the tattoo and it scared me.”

“But you think I'd do that and beat up on some guy?”

“No, never. It's just that after that Gia thing, we weren't really talking and I had no idea what was going on with you.”

“So you believed the worst of me.”

“I believed that I needed to protect you,” I say.

He nods. “For the record, I was stuck at work all day Saturday. Then the brothers at the frat did a fundraiser on campus for sickle cell anemia. I was there all night.”

“I know it wasn't you.”

“Good, I can't believe you actually thought I'd rob the Pizza Place.”

“Momentary insanity,” I say.

“Yeah, that I can believe,” he jokes.

“I gotta find Li'l T and straighten his butt out,” I say.

“I already talked to him. He thought it was funny that you thought it was me.”

“So who did he recognize?”

“He said it was your girl's brother. He thought that's why you were so upset and who you were protecting. Some dude named Brian. He's a crackhead who lives around the way.”

There was another jolt to my system. “Brian, Jalisa's big brother?” I ask.

He shrugs. “I don't know.”

“Okay, since we're clearing the air, what was up with you and Gia? I mean I get it, she's older and you go to the same school and all, but…”

“What are you talking about?”

“She said that you two hang out at school.”

“Yeah, we do. I tutor her. That's one of my jobs.”

“
One
of them?” I ask.

“I have three,” he says.

“You have three jobs? How? Why?”

He takes a deep breath and sighs heavily. “The fight I was in with D a few weeks ago messed up one of my scholarships. To stay in school I had to make up the money somehow. I tutor, I work in the cafeteria and I work in the bookstore.”

“That's why you never come home anymore.”

“Yeah.”

“Why didn't you just tell me all this before?” I ask.

“I was pissed.”

“It was my fault.”

“No, it wasn't. I chose to fight D. We've been going at this thing for years.”

“Still, if you hadn't seen me that night, you'd still have your scholarship money. So it is my fault.”

“I've already applied for another scholarship for next semester. Financial aid said it looks really good.”

“So maybe you won't have to work then?” I ask hopefully.

“Nah, I'm still keeping at least one of the jobs.”

“Maybe not tutoring,” I suggest.

“You're sounding a little jealous, girl.”

“I know, right,” I say.

“Well, don't be,” he whispers. Then he kisses me and I kiss him right back. And all of a sudden, everything feels all right again. We stay out a little while longer talking. Then he has to get back to Howard, and I need to get ready for
school the next day. We say goodbye and make plans to catch up the following weekend. We wave as we both go back into the houses.

I feel like I just lived a lifetime in the last three weeks. I take the back stairs up to my bedroom. Tomorrow is Monday, and I need to get my head straight for that. I am going to school and have no intention of hiding at Dr. Tubbs' office.

I sit on my bed with my laptop open to the congressional page application on one side of me and my recipe book on the other. I pick up and flip through the recipe book. I read all the things I've been through since I came to live here with my grandmother and my sister. Dad asked if I wanted to move back to Virginia and go to my old school again. There's no way I can do that. My phone beeps, then my text message light blinks. I pick it up and press the button to see the message.

 

From: Lawnmower Guy …yeah, we're good!

 

I start laughing. Crazy and insane, I love my life here now. This is home. I learn something new every day and tomorrow, who knows?

1. In
   Getting Played
   Kenisha's grandmother talks about the importance of family—the bond between Kenisha and her sister Jade—and keeping the family together. How does this bond get stronger in the book?
   
2. In the book there is a robbery at the Pizza Place where Kenisha works. One of the would-be robbers tries to take her hostage. But she quickly figures a way out of the situation. Have you ever faced a situation where you had to use your wits to avoid trouble?
   
3. Kenisha writes down her hopes, dreams, life lessons and, of course, recipes in her recipe notebook. It becomes a big part of her. What are some of the things you could put in your notebook?
   
4. The book's title is
   Getting Played
   . Identify some of the ways you think Kenisha felt like she was being played. By whom? And how?
   
5. There are some very strong people in Kenisha's life. They guide and protect her when she feels lost or confused. Who are some of the people you have around you and how have they helped you in difficult situations?
   
6. Kenisha and Jade find a large sum of money in one of Darien's trophies. Kenisha hints that she wants to keep
   it, but Jade insists that they turn it in. What would you have done? What's wrong with keeping the money? And could it be dangerous to keep it?
   
7. Kenisha's locker is next to the locker of the hottest guy at Penn Hall, Troy Carson. Troy's character is complicated. He pretends to be something he's really not. Why do you think he does this? Do you think he'll ever own up to the fact that he's smart?
   
8. In the story, Kenisha likes to sit perched up high and look down below. She does this in her bedroom and in the private dance room on the top floor at Freeman Dance Studio. Why do you think she does this?
   
9. In the end, Kenisha decides to stay at Penn Hall and live with her grandmother and Jade, even though she knows there will be more drama in her life. Why do you think she chooses to stay?
   
10. Ms. Grayson, Kenisha's History teacher, wants to help Kenisha with her problems. Do you think Kenisha will ever open up to her?
    
11. Kenisha can be strong, determined, selfish, thoughtful and resourceful. What character traits of Kenisha's do you share and why?
    
12. Kenisha is still struggling to accept her mother's death. Do you think Kenisha will ever accept Courtney as a mother-figure in her life? Why or why not?
    
13. Kenisha finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Why is it always important to be aware of your surroundings?
    
14. Kenisha finds out that her best friend, Jalisa, has been hit by her boyfriend. She is shocked and hurt. She feels she should have been there for her friend. How would you handle the situation if it was your best friend?