RedBone (6 page)

“Damn, bitch, why you say her name all loud and shit?” They looked around and Farah pretended to be playing with her kneecaps. “She still my friend,” she proceeded with narrowing eyes. “You know how people gossip at this school and shit.” She looked at nonessential Farah, and determined she was too spotty faced and quiet to say anything. “Anyway,” she said, rolling her neck and poking her lips out, “a few days later, I put on my favorite red panties and the next thing I know, I got a yeast infection.”

“Ugh!” Nova said. “That girl is a mess!”

“How you know she gave it to you?” Wendy asked.

“’Cause I never get yeast infections, bitch, that’s why!” Wendy felt stupid. “Plus when I looked in my panties it had extra cum in them. I don’t make that much cum. Only girls who don’t wash get those things, not me!”

“Oh ... I see.”

Farah couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She always wanted to be friends with Coconut but so did everybody else, including Rhonda and her crew. She couldn’t get over her luck.
Coconut is nasty?
she thought. It didn’t make a difference, because she was both pretty and cool, and that’s the kind of person she needed to hang around. Farah wondered, if she told her what she’d learned, would she accept her into her fold? Elise warned Farah about keeping up shit, as she quietly took note at the change in her behavior. Farah desired too much to be loved and fit in, and her grandmother knew where that would lead her if she didn’t change.
You can make more friends by being nice and being yourself,
Elise would say. Farah would then look at her large, smelly grandmother and make assumptions about her life. In her book she was lonely, and that was not the life Farah wanted. Farah wanted friends so very badly that Grandma could suck a horse dick for all she cared. She was tired of being the quiet, nice, spotty-faced, weird girl, and she was going to do something about it today.

“You ain’t still cool with her, are you?” Wendy asked. “I know I wouldn’t be.”

Shannon was just about to respond when Coconut, Rhonda, and Natasha marched up the bleachers. This was the most excitement Farah had ever had in gym, and she wondered if Shannon would tell her to her face how stank her pussy was. Coconut’s light skin was painted lightly with makeup. Since her mother was black, and her father was Caucasian, she was biracial and was often mistaken for white, especially since her hair was littered with gold streaks.

“Hey, Shannon, y’all coming over my house later, right? Everybody else is staying the night, and we gonna watch my mother’s dirty movies.”

When Farah heard the invitation, she thought,
I want to come over. Can I?
When everybody looked at her, she wondered what was wrong. And then it dawned on her; she’d said what she was thinking out loud. She wanted to take her statement back, but it was too late.

There were about ten more seconds of uncomfortable silence before Coconut gritted on her and said, “Your test-tube, spotty-faced ass can’t come nowhere near my house! We don’t even know what you got.” All the girls scooted a few feet back to get away from her.

Everyone broke out into heavy laughter. “This chick is really crazy,” Shannon said. Farah could feel steam rising off of her head.
You don’t even like my friend! You talk behind her back!
If she was possessed with the same violent current as the rest of the Cottons, Shannon would probably be dead by now. She didn’t hate anybody more than her. “What you need to be doing is minding your own business!”

“I wish I had some perfume on me to spray in her face. Since everybody know she can’t be around nothing sweet smelling without melting away,” Shannon continued as all the girls laughed harder. “Anyway, I’m coming,” she said in her fakest voice. “And Wendy and Nova coming too.” Wendy frowned, until Shannon elbowed her in the side on the sly.

“Uh ... yeah, I’m coming too. I just gotta get my drawers. . . I mean, overnight bag, and ask my mamma,” she said, clearing her throat.

Farah sat alone and embarrassed beyond belief, but she didn’t blame Coconut. At that moment, something new was occurring inside of her. She felt a sensation she hadn’t felt much before, and that was blinding rage. Suddenly she wondered what Shannon would look like if she sliced her nose open wider. She reasoned her mouth wouldn’t be so loud then if blood was in it. There was no doubt about it; she was going to tell Coconut everything that was said behind her back, and then they could be best friends.

When Coconut left with Rhonda and her friends, Farah got up, grabbed her diary and pencil, and followed them toward the locker room. For some reason, she looked back at Shannon, and she was surprised to see her staring directly at her.
Yes, I’m gonna tell her everything you said. Coconut is a nice person, and people shouldn’t be talking behind her back.

Turning back around, she continued on her mission. But since she couldn’t be around fragrances like perfumes and hair sprays, she whiffed the air by the door before entering. When she smelled the scent of musty, unwashed gym clothes, and putrid toilet bowls, she walked inside. Next to the lockers, Coconut and her friends were getting undressed and putting on their street clothes.

Farah looked at Coconut’s half-naked body and tried to envision her own, when she rocked her out of her thoughts. “What the fuck are you looking at, spotty face? I don’t do the lesbo shit.” She eased into her jeans. “What you need, some bleach for that scarred-up face?” Farah thought about putting anything harsh on her skin and what it would do to her body, and shook her head. “Then what the fuck do you want? You giving me the creeps.”

Farah’s heart thumped harder than a beat by Dr. Dre. “I wanted to tell you—”

“You can’t come to the party,” Rhonda interjected. She was a cute dark-skinned girl with a big personality. “So stop begging.”

I wasn’t even talking to you, bitch.
“That ain’t it,” Farah responded, still salty from all the sidebars. “It’s something else. Can I tell you in private?”

“No, you can’t, now what do you want?” Coconut was tiring of her quickly, plus, she didn’t want the plague everyone said she had. “Unlike some people, I got a daddy who loves me and he’s buying me a new outfit for my birthday tonight,” she continued, assuming Farah was a bastard.

“I do too.”She smiled, hoping they’d have something in common.

Coconut looked back at her friends and said, “This girl is crazier than I thought.” She put her shirt on. “Please get outta my face.”

Defeated, Farah walked away but stopped at the door. Turning back around she said, “Shannon was just talking about you on the bleachers. Real bad, too.” She swallowed the bitter spit that formed in her mouth and placed her hand over her stomach to stop it from rumbling with anxiousness. If she didn’t calm down, she would force herself into an outbreak of blisters. Taking a deep breath she continued, “She said you wore her panties and got them dirty when you spent a night at her house.”

Coconut was chagrin by what Farah Cotton—a nobody, an outcast—was telling her about one of her best friends. Not wanting Rhonda and the girls to hear anything else, she grabbed her gym bag and shoes and walked to the other side. “Come over here.” Farah quickly walked up to her. “What’s your name, spotty face?” She cleared her throat. “I mean ... what’s your name?”

“I’m Farah Cotton, and I want so much to be your friend.” Coconut smiled, flustered by her forwardness. “I can be a really good friend, too. I won’t talk behind your back, or lie to you. I promise.”

“Look, let’s keep it light for right now,” Coconut said, quoting her favorite phrase. “We’ll talk later about all that. For now, can you tell me exactly what she said about me?” She placed her shoes on. “When you were up there.”

“Right before you walked up to her, she said you wore her red panties and gave her a yeast infection.”

Coconut frowned. “She’s lying like shit! My daddy buys me real nice panties. What I need her stuff for?” It was obvious it was true.

“I know ... I didn’t believe her, but I wanted to tell you so you can watch your back. She’s real sneaky. The other girls were calling you names, too, so I wouldn’t let them come to your house if I were you.” Feeling as if it were all or nothing, Farah decided to remind her of the party. “Can I come to your party now? Since I told you about them?”

“Yeah ... but you gotta say what you telling me in front of Shannon.” Farah’s heart thumped wilder and she tried to calm down. Her body wasn’t fit for all the excitement. “If I believe you, we gonna jump her. If you help, you can come to my party and be in my crew.”

Farah wasn’t a fighter and she knew it. Just moments ago she experienced rage for the first time, and already she wasn’t mad anymore. But if this was what it took to win Coconut over, she was down. Cupping her hands together she said, “You got it!” She was so excited she wanted to run away before she changed her mind.

Coconut snatched Farah’s diary and pencil and wrote her number on the page of her last story. When she saw her name in the journal, she read what it said:

Later, she went outside to play with the prettiest girl in her school, who was also her best friend—Coconut Elway.

She looked up at her and wanted to run. Farah Cotton was proving to be stranger by the moment. “Here ... call me in a few days, and I’ll let you know where everything is going down.” She paused. “And if I find out you’re lying, we gonna jump you instead.”

Chapter 5

“I’ll give you a chance. If you can help me.”

—Farah

After school, Farah, Mia, Chloe, and Shadow walked home. Although they ranged from elementary school to high school, the Cottons didn’t walk the streets unless they were all deep. A week had passed since she was hospitalized, and Farah was starting to feel ill again. Living in pain, and in the bed, was a regular part of her life. She’d missed so many days from school. Out of pity her teacher would pass her, believing that, in her condition, it was just a matter of time before she died anyway. When she was well enough to go to school, all she thought about was Theo, and each day she’d pray he would be there so she could explain how she had nothing to do with what her mother did to him. Theo never came back. His parents pulled him out for fear of what Ashur and Brownie might do to him next.

It was especially hard for her to get out of bed today until it dawned on her: today was the day she had to call Coconut, and she wasn’t all that excited about their friendship. It wasn’t because she didn’t want to be cool with her, but Farah wasn’t a fighter. She tried desperately to think of a way out of confronting Shannon about what she’d said about Coconut. She couldn’t ask her siblings for advice because they breathed danger and would’ve probably walked her to the altercation personally. After the doctors told Farah to avoid the sun, for fear she’d get blisters again, she walked down the street under a black umbrella. People may have laughed behind her back, but not one of them was bold enough to talk that shit to her face with Mia and Shadow present.

When they were some feet away from the building, Mia saw her archrival, Boo. Boo was older than her by one year and, just like Mia, loved keeping up shit. They’d fought so many times that people got confused on who could give the other more go. In the end, it was said they both were time enough for each other. “What the fuck are them bitches up to?” Shadow asked, not liking the looks on their faces.

“I can’t stand Boo’s ass,” Mia said, looking at Boo and her friends leaning on a fence in front of their building. “I should go spit in that bitch’s face.”

“If you do you betta be ready to scrap,” Shadow continued, wondering what Boo had planned. ’Cause I got a feeling this bitch is up to something.”

“You think I’m scared?” Mia frowned. As always her clothing was tinged with remnants of her meal for the day. In this case, dried ketchup was over her right breast. She needed to take better care of her physical appearance, but it never was a priority.

“Don’t play me for soft,” he said. “I’m just saying be ready. You know I’ma make sure nobody jump in. That’s for sure.”

“I don’t wanna fight,” Farah said. “I just wanna go inside. I’m not feeling good.”

Everybody sighed and rolled their eyes. Mia said, “Farah, you better stop being a punk. I’m sick of that shit. You the only one in the family who start shit but don’t back it up.” Farah wondered what she meant. “Oh, don’t think I don’t know about the stuff you started at school with Shannon. That’s probably why her cousin Boo over here now.”

“I’m not scared.” Farah swallowed. “I just don’t like fighting, unless I have to.”

“Seems to me since we got your back, you never have to,” Shadow said. “And I can’t be banging on no bitches when I got sisters.” Farah remained silent. “You better learn to fall in love with blood.”

“What we waiting on?” Chloe asked, skipping the subject. She was striking and she knew it. With big eyes and a winning smile, she embraced her chocolate skin unlike her mother, believing it made her special. “Let’s beat these bitchesasses. I ain’t afraid!”

They all looked at her and laughed. “First of all, girlie, you’re only ten years old,” Mia said. “You be more likely to get in the way than you would to help.”

“I fight all the time at school!” Chloe said. “Bitches know I’m thorough with my hand game.” Farah, like her sister and brother, ignored the youngest member of the family as she continued to tell them how she was a beast in them streets.

When they made it to their unit, Mia and Boo rolled eyes at each other as the Cottons disappeared into their building. The moment they hit the first step, Boo opened the building door and threw a stink bomb into the hallway. She and her friends laughed heartily as they closed the door and leaned into it. They knew from earlier experiences at school that whatever affliction the Cottons suffered from, they could not deal with fumes. Their illness was their weakness, and everybody with a vendetta used it against them.

Mia and Shadow tried to push the door open, but Boo and her friends outnumbered them as they pressed their weight against the opposite side of the door. “Run upstairs!” Mia ordered, as the fumes from the toxic bomb crawled up the stairway like fog in a horror movie. “And cover your noses and eyes.”