Getting Played (7 page)

She glares at me one last time, then walks away with her brother. I shake my head. She is such a trip. I have no idea what my dad saw in her. But whatever it was, he sure as hell isn't seeing it now. I look at my dad. I can see it in his eyes. What Courtney said is true. At least some part of it is. “Why didn't you just tell me?” I ask him.

“I was trying to work it out,” he says. “I know how much you want to go back to the school. And I know your mother would want you there.”

“What happened?” I ask.

“The stock market messed me up pretty bad. Work is slow and things are just all messed up at this point.”

“So what happens now?”

“You have to stay at Penn.”

“No, not about me, about you, what happens with you?”

“I guess I'm gonna sell the house.”

I sit down slowly. This is all of a sudden too damn real. Selling the house, my house, this wasn't supposed to happen. I know it's not really my home anymore, but it was once, and I still feel connected to it. This is where I grew up and where my mom and I hung out. Selling the house seems like letting go of everything I loved and everything I had left of her. I'm not ready to let go. “Isn't there something else you can do?”

“No, the business is going down fast. I can't compete with the big super chains. People just aren't coming in like they used to.”

“Change the business,” I say, “and make them come in.”

He half laughs. “It's not that easy. I wish it was.”

“What about the boys and the baby? They're your kids.”

“I'll provide for them.”

“And Courtney?”

“Her, too, although not as much as she wants or expects.”

I nod. I know my dad will do right by his kids. He's always been a good father. He's a lousy husband and boyfriend I guess, but a good dad. I look over to the office door and think about Courtney's brother and what he was doing on the computer. “So, what's up with Cash?” I ask.

“Courtney's younger brother. He just served four years active duty in the Marines. He's on leave right now and crashing here for a few. He's supposed to do reserve duty for the next four years.”

“So he's staying here,” I say. Dad nods. Just then the
boys bang on the glass door in the office. I immediately go back into the office. They see me. They start jumping and screaming excitedly. Their little faces are smashed up against the glass. I can't help but laugh and smile. I open the door for them and they immediately grab my legs. “Hey, mashed potatoes, hey, creamed corn,” I say.

“Kenisha. Kenisha. Kenisha.” They start jumping, dancing and screaming all over again. Anybody would think that I never come around to see them. But I'm here just about every weekend. Although, now that things are changing again, I don't know how long that's gonna be.

“I gotta go,” my dad says.

“Fine, we're going, too,” I say, then turn to my little brothers. “Ya'll feel like eating pizza?”

Making the Rules

My
dad takes me and my brothers to an early lunch. We eat at what used to be one of my favorite places. We're having a great time. We're like a mini family. The boys are crazy nuts and they eat like there's no tomorrow. 'Cause seriously, if I had to deal with Courtney's cooking, especially her spaghetti, I'd be starving, too.

But even though we are having fun laughing and talking, it's not like I've forgotten what he said about selling the house. And it isn't like he's forgotten his business is messed up. We just put all that aside and enjoy hanging out. We plan to talk about all that stuff the coming Friday. He's going to pick me up and we'll hang out. Later, he drops us off at the house and speeds out of there like the devil is on his tail. Maybe he's right, 'cause as soon as he turns the car
around, Courtney comes raging outside. He was driving out of there and she was running after him. It would be comical, if it wasn't so damn sad.

She glares at me. I give her my own defiant stare. I know she isn't gonna say or do anything. She is a punk and she knows I know it. I hang out in my dad's office the rest of the afternoon. It's perfect. He has a refrigerator filled with junk and a full bathroom, so I'm cool. The boys hang with me. That always pisses Courtney off, so of course I encourage it. When it gets late, I go up to my bedroom to change for the mall. I open my bedroom door, turn the light on and go off. “What the hell?” I stomp down the hall to my dad's bedroom. The door is open and Courtney is sitting in the middle of the bed polishing her toenails. “What happened to my room?” I ask. She looks up at me and rolls her eyes, then goes back to what she was doing. “What happened to my room, Courtney?” I say again.

She doesn't look up this time. “I needed the space to clear away some junk in the extra bedroom, and since you weren't here, I moved everything into your room.” She looks up at me and smiles. “You don't mind, do you?”

I am so pissed off inside, but all I do is smile and nod. “A'ight, fine, you got this one. But know this, whatever you think I got, I'll make sure you don't get a damn penny.”

She looks up at me again. Her eyes narrow. I know exactly what she is thinking and all the names she is calling me. But I don't care. Letting her think she's messed up getting money is enough for right now. “You don't have anything I want,” she says.

I smile. “Are you sure about that?”

“You wouldn't always be here begging, if you did,” she says smugly.

I smile again, and this time I chuckle. “Are you sure about that? Why should I use my money when I can use my dad's?”

Her expression changes. This time it is obvious she isn't so sure. She gets pissed all over again. I love it. “You know what, Kenisha…” she begins, but I close the door and walk away. I can hear her screaming as I head back to my bedroom. She is getting louder and louder. I start laughing. I love messing with her. She always thinks she can get the best of me, but she can't. I go into my bedroom and look around. It is a mess.

To make room for her brother, Courtney, the perpetual bitch, screwed up my bedroom by dumping a whole bunch of her stupid junk in here. There are boxes everywhere. Courtney is a TV-ordering junkie. She lives for it. Every stupid thing she sees, she orders. My stuff is still there, but her junk is everywhere on top of it. Okay, I'll give her that point. But that's the last damn point she's gonna get. I change and leave after that.

I see my girls for a hot minute Saturday night. But I'm not in the mood to go to the movies or to even shop. We just hang out in the food court talking. They were really rooting for me to come back to school, so I need to tell them what happened. “My dad didn't pay Hazelhurst,” I say.

“Is he going to?” Diamond asks. I shake my head no.

“Are you sure?” Jalisa asks. I nod, then look away.

“Shit.” “Damm,” they say, at almost the same time. I don't know who said what.

“Okay,” Jalisa says, already thinking ahead. “What about a scholarship.”

“Yeah,” Diamond says excitedly, “yeah, a scholarship.”

“Hell, no, I'm not doing that. You know that shit gets around. I don't want to hear it.”

“Nobody's gonna know.”

I look at her seriously. “We always knew,” I say. Neither replied 'cause they know I'm right. We did always know and we pitied the girl on scholarship. She was like a poor relation coming to stay with a rich family. She never quite fit in, and we all kinda made sure of that. It was nothing we said, it was just there in the air. They knew it. After a while everybody knew and either shunned her or trashed her. I'm not really worried about being trashed. Ain't nobody at Hazelhurst that crazy, not even Chili or Regan. And being shunned isn't gonna happen as long as I have my girls with me. But I'm still not doing it.

The truth is I'm not about to hear all my old friends talking about me behind my back, 'cause my dad couldn't afford to pay the tuition outright. I'd rather stay at The Penn. A daunting chill slithers through my body. Staying at The Penn is hell, but I know I don't have much choice. Even if I apply for a Hazelhurst scholarship, it won't go through until my senior year. That means I'm at The Penn for now.

“Hey, how's Jade? Is she okay?” Diamond asks, changing the subject.

“She's fine,” I say. Diamond and Jalisa look at each other. I know that look. They know something I don't. “What?”

“It was online and on Facebook. They broke up.”

“What, please, like you believe what you read online.”

“It was on TV, too,” Jalisa adds. “Tyrece was with Taj. They were all hugged up talking about their plans. She was seriously pressed on him.”

“Nah, they just work together. He's starting his production company and she just signed with him. It's all publicity,” I say. Diamond and Jalisa nod, only half assured. I said it. I heard the words and tried to believe them, too. But somewhere in the back of my head, I don't. My grandmom asked about Jade earlier, and when I instant messaged her, she seemed distracted. But that was probably nothing, probably. “Jade and Ty are fine,” I insist, maybe more for myself than for them.

“Kenisha.” I turn around. It's Cash. He is standing behind me with two other guys. “Can we talk a minute?” he asks. The other two guys walk away. Diamond and Jalisa look at me. Jalisa's jaw drops. I nod and stand to walk to the side with him. “Look, I don't know you and you don't know me, but we're in the middle of the same mess with your father and my sister.”

“No, we're not. Whatever's between them is between them.”

“Nah, I'm not with that. It affects everyone in the house.”

“I'm not in the house. I'm sure Courtney told you that.”

“Okay, I get that you and Court have issues…”

“Issues,” I repeat indignantly. “Is that what she said?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, you need to tell her to clarify that for you.”

He looks puzzled for a second, then recovers enough to
get back to his point. “What I'm saying is you two have problems. That's understandable. I know it must not be easy having your mom die and seeing your dad with somebody else.”

I start laughing. “Don't be trying to psychoanalyze me. I don't have a problem. Your sister has the problem. She wants to control what she can't and she wants what she can't have. She needs to get over it and move on. Everything else is moot. As I said, it doesn't involve me. I'm not there enough.”

“Squash that. You're there enough to know what I'm talking about. James needs to step up. Court has three kids, his kids.”

“Again, all that's between them.”

“So you're not gonna do anything?”

“About what? Talk to my dad about what— Courtney?”

“He needs to step up and put a ring on her finger.”

I laugh again. This shit is so comical. “Why should he? Did my mom have one?”

“A'ight, a'ight, I get the fact that you're all pissed off about what went down between your mom and Court. But that's in the past. You need to step to your dad about that. Court had nothing to do with it.”

“She put herself in the middle of their relationship. So what if someone else is doing the exact same thing to her? What goes around comes around.” He can see the firm set of my determination. I'm not budging.

“It's like that, huh?” He looks at me, nodding.

I nod, too. “Yeah, it's like that.” The whole conversation
is ridiculous. Why should I help Courtney? She hates my guts. And as soon as she finds out my dad is gonna sell the house, she's gonna be even more pissed. It is hard to not smile about that. She loves the house and couldn't wait to move her skinny ass in. It's almost worth losing it.

Cash walks away and meets up with the guys he was with before. I know Diamond and Jalisa are gonna be curious. They ask about him as soon as I walk back over and sit down. “His name is Cash. He's Courtney's brother.”

“He's cute,” she says, then pauses and looks at me. “Wait, you mean Courtney's brother, like in your dad's friend, Courtney?” Diamond asks. I nod.

“OMG, for real,” Jalisa says. I nod again.

“What did he want?” Diamond asks.

“I don't even know. He was talking about me getting my dad to marry Courtney.”

“What?” both Jalisa and Diamond say.

“Yeah, I know, like that's gonna happen in this lifetime. He's got to be crazy to even think that. Can you see me partying at their wedding reception?”

“OMG, we forgot to tell you about the party,” Jalisa says.

Diamond opens her mouth and nods. “That's right. The party's next Friday.”

I smile. I know exactly what party they are talking about. Every year since almost the beginning of elementary school, LaVon has thrown a party just after school starts. It's always private and by invitation only. Of course I've always attended, but this year somehow I doubt I'll be invited.

“Think I should crash it?”

We look at each other and laugh, then Diamond looks away and stops cold. “OMG,” she says, her eyes widen and her jaw drops. She looks at us and shakes her head slowly. “It's show-and-tell time, kids.”

“Show-and-tell time, excellent,” I say. Jalisa smiles.

“Wait for it,” Diamond says.

Okay, we do this all the time. One of us will see something or someone that's a must-see for the other two. Then we'll wait for the perfect time to do show-and-tell. Jalisa and I are sitting facing Diamond, and whatever she's seeing is behind us. I start smiling and Jalisa is ready to jump out of her skin. “Come on, what is it?” Jalisa asks impatiently.

“Wait, not yet. They're still walking in this direction.”

“Come on, come on, hurry up,” I mutter anxiously.

“Okay, quick, turn to your left,” Diamond says.

We do. Jalisa's jaw drops just like Diamond's did. “Oh. My. God,” she says.

I don't say anything. I am too stunned. It is LaVon, my ex-boyfriend. He is there with Chili, my ex-best friend. We watch them stop at a store window, then he says something to her and she laughs. He grabs her butt and leans down and kisses her. But he doesn't just kiss her. He must have had his tongue halfway down her throat, kissing her. I can't believe it. I turn back around. Diamond is looking at me. I look over at Jalisa. She is looking at me, too. “What?” I say.

“Kenisha, are you okay?” Diamond asks.

“Girls, please, yeah, of course I'm okay. It's not like I didn't know they were together. She's having his baby,
right. So, she can have him. Believe me, they deserve each other.”

“Yeah, we know that, but…”

“What?” I ask, 'cause they are both still staring at me.

“Are you sure you're okay?”

“What? Am I supposed to care about them? Well, I don't. So let it drop. Whatever, tell me about school, what's going on with Regan and her new hair weave?” Diamond and Jalisa start laughing. They reminisce about my fight with Regan and how I tore out her weave. I laugh, too.

We are still joking around when Chili stops at our table. She looks down at me and smiles. “Hey, what up, long time no see, Kenisha,” Chili says.

We all look up at her. I seriously want to burst out laughing, but I don't. She is just standing there with her tummy in my face. LaVon and his stupid ass is looking around like he doesn't know anybody. He's such a jerk. But I don't care anyway, whatever.

Jalisa finally says something. “Hey, Chili, LaVon, ya'll out buying baby clothes?”

Chili looks at Jalisa, her eyes narrow. Diamond starts giggling. I seriously don't want to say anything, but I just have to. “Hey, LaVon, how've you been?” I ask as nice as I can. I smile like nothing is wrong. He looks at me and smiles back.

“I'm fine, how are you?” he says, obviously really shocked to see me acting so nice to him after all that stuff between us happened.

“I'm doing okay. School's good. You gotta stop by and see my new baby sister. She's so pretty.”

“I bet. How's your dad?” he asks.

“He's fine. Business is slow, but he's doing okay,” I add. Jalisa and Diamond watch us as we talk. I can see by their faces that they can't believe how nice I'm being to LaVon.

“My mom asks about you all the time,” he adds.

“Do me a favor and tell her I said hi,” I say sweetly.

He nods and smiles again. “A'ight, she'll like that.”

After that, we start talking about his family and reminiscing about old times when we all went to school together. Diamond and Jalisa join in. We are all laughing and joking and having a good time, except for Chili.

Now the whole time we're having this nice polite conversation, Chili is standing there staring at us like she can't believe it. We're talking and completely ignoring her. Her eyes start to haze over and glare wildly.