“Expensive. You didn’t like them?”
“They were okay, I guess,” I said, acting like I knew what I was talking about. Actually, I took one sip of Opus One and nearly gagged. I started choking and coughing. Afterward I swallowed almost a gallon of water to get the bitter, nasty taste out of my mouth.
“Here, try it,” he offered.
“Nah, that’s okay,” I said.
“You’re scared,” he insisted.
“I’m not scared of anything.” I grabbed his can of beer and put it to my lips. I held my breath and took a sip then choked and spit it out. It was horrible, worse than the Opus One. I started wiping the beer off the front of me. My shirt was wet and stinking. But before I could say anything more, Darien was all on top of me kissing me. I moved back and pushed him off.
“Aw come on, let’s not play this virgin game. You were swinging with TB and LaVon. I know those brothas. They handle their business.”
“Yeah, but not with me,” I said, then got out. I started walking down the alley back to the party. He caught up with me quickly.
“Kenisha, Kenisha, I’m sorry. Look I’m sorry. I was wrong. I heard that you were a good girl. I just wanted to make sure. There’s all these posers out here trying to mess a brotha up.”
“Whatever, Darien,” I said. I kept walking, but I knew he was talking about Sierra. I got back to the party and headed straight for my girls. As soon as I saw them I was relieved. I was just about to join them, when this guy asked me to dance so I did. I knew Darien was back inside and that he was probably watching me, so I danced. I wanted him to know that his little show didn’t bother me one bit—even though it did.
I was dancing and pushing all up on the guy having fun. He was trying to say something to me, but the music was too loud. I guess he must have smelled the beer ’cause he asked if I wanted another one. I just ignored him like I hadn’t heard what he said. So I was dancing. Then I saw that Diamond, Jalisa and Ursula were dancing, too. We all started clowning and dancing like we do at Freeman. Ursula was right in there with us.
We were having so much fun playing around like that. After a while, some of the people stopped dancing and were just watching us. We were center stage freestyling. When the songs went off, we broke up laughing and everybody started clapping.
So it was getting late and the birthday party upstairs had long since broken up. It was now just the party in the basement and in the back alley. Ursula went upstairs in the refrigerator and got me, Jalisa and Diamond some bottled water. I told her that I never drink anything already open at parties. So we were standing around talking and drinking water. Darien came up to me.
“Girl, you were tight out there. Where’d you learn to do that?”
“Freeman dance class,” I said, getting my breath back. Between the heat and the heavy dancing, we were all tired and breathing hard.
“That was…” Ursula started, still panting hard. We were probably in better breathing shape than she was. “That was fun.”
“See, you need to get back to dance class,” I told her.
“You used to go to Freeman?” Jalisa asked.
“That’s where I saw you. I knew I recognized you from somewhere,” Diamond added. “Girl, you were good out there.”
“So you gonna introduce me to your girls or what?” Darien asked.
I looked at him like he was crazy. The whole time we were going outside he never once introduced me to any of his friends—not that I was interested in meeting them anyway. But whatever, so I didn’t have to say anything ’cause Ursula introduced everybody. After that Diamond and Jalisa were back dancing and it was just me Ursula and Darien standing there.
“Hey, Kenisha, I thought that was you.”
I turned around. Leelah, some girl I met last month who went to school with Jade, was there. “Hey,” I said, happy to see her. We talked a bit, and she asked about Jade and Tyrece and his tour. I told her that they were fine. Then we talked more, and she walked away.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, check, you know Tyrece Grant?” he asked.
“More like he knows my sister,” I clarified.
“Where you been D, under a rock?” Ursula joked. “Jade and Tyrece are getting married, and Jade is Kenisha’s sister. Tyrece hung out at her sixteenth birthday party. I heard he did a concert for her and all his friends showed up. Chris Brown, Tyga and Lil’ Wayne was there, too.”
He turned and looked at me different but didn’t say anything. I wish I knew exactly what he was thinking, or maybe not. “Come on, let’s dance,” he said to me.
“Nah, that’s okay. I’m too tired now,” I said sipping my bottle still. I saw Sierra. She must have come late. She was over against the wall hanging with the same girls she was hanging with when we first met, plus Cassie. Sierra was glaring at me. I had no idea why. I guess she thinks that I want Darien. To tell you the truth, I don’t really know what I want. At least he’s around.
The same guy that I was dancing with before asked me to dance again. I said sure and then looked at Darien as I followed the other guy to dance. I could tell he was pissed that I was dancing with somebody else, but I didn’t care.
After a while I was just dancing and having fun with the guy and my girls. I forgot all about Darien and Sierra and their drama. We were just having fun.
Then there was some kind of commotion at the back door. Everybody went back to see what was going on, but nobody who was actually dancing stopped. We just looked around then went back to having fun. When a couple of people came back from checking it out, they told Ursula that it was Darien up to his old tricks fighting again. She looked at me and just rolled her eyes. I laughed. Whatever happening had to happen without us.
fourteen
2 Far Out of Bounds
“Testing the water is something we learn in childhood. Don’t just jump in. Test it first. It might be too hot or too cold. Well, to hell with all that. I’m jumping in head first, ya heard. Now, mess with that…”
—MySpace.com
After another three or four songs went off, a slow song came on. The dance area practically cleared out. The basement was starting to clear out anyway since it was already really late. We decided to head home. Ursula walked us upstairs and to the front door after getting us more bottles of water. She told us about a go-go party going on at this teen hangout in Charles County, but we weren’t sure if we could go. I told her I’d call her later and let her know for sure.
We were starting to walk down the street when Darien drove up with one of his friends. He stopped beside us. “Hey, y’all ain’t finished for the night, are you?”
We stopped. “Why, what you got?” I asked. I was showing off for my girls since I could see Diamond and Jalisa look at each other.
“There’s a dance battle going on at the hall,” he said.
“A dance battle,” Jalisa repeated, interested.
Diamond scrunched up her face. It was weird ’cause out of the three of us she was the best dancer, singer, best everything. I would have sworn she’d be jumping all over the invitation to go.
“Come on,” Darien said, “it’s just at the hall. I’m headed over there now.”
It was cool with me. I grabbed the car handle instantly. I didn’t even have to think about it twice. I was there. But then I looked back at my girls. Neither had moved. “Come on, y’all,” I said. Diamond looked at Jalisa and then they looked at me. By now I was already seated in the car waiting. “Come on.”
A few seconds later they got in the backseat with me. The car took off instantly. The music was loud, and a thin veil of marijuana hung in the air. His friend turned around several times trying to talk to Diamond, but there was no way she was interested in him. He was one hundred percent street, and that just wasn’t her. Obviously getting nowhere with her, he shifted his conversation to Jalisa. That was a waste of time, too.
So we drove for like what seemed like an hour. We wound up on this dilapidated half road bumping on gravel and crossing som
e old railroad tracks. There were all these warehouses lined up, and I could see the D.C. skyline in the far, far distance.
“Where are we?” Jalisa whispered to me.
I shrugged. I had no idea. A few turns later we drove up to a dimly lit warehouse with all these cars parked out front. There was no order. It was like the driver just pulled up, stopped and jumped out. Anyway, we get out and walk up to this guy standing at the door. Darien said something to him and he just let us in.
As soon as the door opened, the music was blaring loud. Diamond said something, but I couldn’t hear her and I was even walking right next to her. So we kept going, following Darien and his friend. We entered this massive open space, and right in the center, all these people were crowded around laughing and talking and dancing.
As we approached, a few guys saw Darien and pounded his fist or shook his hand. It was like we were with a celebrity. They were giving him mad props. It was like he ran the place or something. So walking in with him instantly gave us street cred.
Some of the people parted to let him through. I followed, then Diamond and Jalisa were after me and then the other guy, Darien’s friend, was last. We walked right through the crowd and stood right up front. There were two dance crews about to battle. One crew was dressed in all black and the other had on jeans and no shirts. Jalisa hit my shoulder and I turned. Her jaw had dropped and the smile on her face was priceless.
So the three of us stood watching and waiting. Then the music started and the place went wild. The three dancers dressed in black started to battle. I never saw anything like it in my life. They were incredible. They did pop and lock and freestyle, then they clowned on the other crew. The crowd was yelling, screaming and laughing like crazy. Then, the other crew danced, and they went back and forth like that for the length of the music. My eyes were all over the place. It was like a clip from a movie, but this was for real.
These were real dancers and real crews, and real money was flying around. Every time a new crew stepped up to battle, money came out. People were making bets all over the place. Then this one crew stepped up, and people starting getting pissed about something. They started yelling and throwing things, so the crew stepped back. I have no idea what all that was about, but it was real scary. I thought they were going to fight up in there.
So anyway, these other two crews stepped up and the battle began. They were both, for real, good. Diamond, Jalisa and I were really feeling them. They could have been professional. I’ve seen dancers in movies and on stage who didn’t look as good as they did. They even had a girl in the crew, and she was too tight.
After all the crews had a turn, they opened the dance floor to anyone who wanted to freestyle. We tried to get Diamond to get out there, but she wouldn’t. Jalisa said no, so I got my butt out there and worked it. Yeah, that’s right, I tore it up. I was doing all this stuff that I’d seen the girl on the crew do, and people were cheering me on. Then I was dancing with this guy, and they really went wild. I had a blast. After a while, everyone got out and started dancing, and that’s when Diamond and Jalisa joined in. We outdid ourselves doing what we’d learned from Gayle and Jade.
An hour later, Darien dropped us off at my grandmother’s house. It was almost dawn so we tried to be quiet going in, but my grandmother heard us anyway. She asked if we had a good time. I was surprised that she wasn’t upset that we’d been out so late. But I don’t officially have a curfew. So Diamond, Jalisa and I literally crashed in my bedroom and woke up late the next morning. Our ears where still buzzing from the loud music.
“What is that heavenly smell?” Diamond asked.
I looked at her puzzled then answered, “Breakfast.”
“Girl, your grandmother is a saint. She makes you breakfast?”
“Only on the weekends,” I said.
“You are so lucky, and I can’t believe she was so cool about us coming home so late last night. My mom would have hit the roof,” Diamond said.
“Tell me about it. I’d still be hearing the lecture,” Jalisa added.
We went down for breakfast. The kitchen table was piled high with bacon, sausage and scrapple. We also had pancakes, eggs and melons. We said grace then dug in. We told my grandmother all about the party and how we took center stage dancing. Then Jalisa got up and started showing my grandmother one of the moves. We laughed so hard when my grandmother stood up next to her and started imitating her.
“Grandmom, you look good,” I said.
“Go grandmom, go grandmom, go grandmom,” Jalisa and Diamond chanted.
“All right, all right, that’s enough of that,” she said catching her breath. “I’m gonna get some gardening done. You girls clean up the kitchen.”
“Sure, then we have to get to Freeman, okay,” I said.
“Fine, see you later,” she said, then headed out the back door to her garden.
We cleaned up the kitchen and washed the dishes. When everything was done, we got our dance bags and headed to Freeman. We got there early so we sat around talking and stretching. Of course we talked about the party the night before. We all had a great time. “So y’all want to go to the go-go thing in Charles County tonight with Ursula?” I asked.
“I gotta babysit for Natalie tonight,” Jalisa said.
“Nah, I’m supposed to go out with my mom,” Diamond said.
“Okay, I’ll tell her,” I said.
“You know the party was tight and all. I liked it and had a good time after a while, but some of them girls were ready to kick our butts up in there,” Jalisa said.
“Yeah, what was up with that? When you left for awhile I got into it with some girl, but Ursula stepped in,” Diamond added.
“For real, why you didn’t tell me this before? Who was it?”
Diamond shrugged. “I have no idea, but she came in pissed.” I immediately thought of Sierra, but then Cassie came to mind, too. She was acting strange after Darien and I walked away. “It was like four of them up in my face. Ursula was upstairs with her mom, but came down just as she was getting all stupid.”
“Where did your butt go, and why were you drinking?”
“Yeah, your breath was kicking, and you smelled like beer.”
“What?” I said shocked. “I wasn’t drinking last night.” Then it hit me. I did take a sip of Darien’s beer. They looked at me knowing better. “Yeah, okay, when I went out to get some air I went to Darien’s car. He was drinking a beer. I took a sip, but it was horrible. I gagged and choked then spit it out. It dribbled down the front of my shirt.”
“I thought we promised after we were playing around with your mom’s Opus One that we wouldn’t drink until we graduated college,” Jalisa said. Diamond nodded.
“We did, and technically I didn’t swallow. I spit it out. So I didn’t actually drink.” I knew I was fronting even as I was saying it. They were right. I broke a promise.
“And what was up with you dancing all suggestive like that? Are you crazy or something?”
“For real, girl, you looked like one of those hoochie-mommas on those triflin’ rap videos.”
“I did not,” I said.
“Well, that guy who jumped up to freestyle with you seemed to think so. I’m just glad everyone else started dancing too ’cause dude looked like he was about to pounce.”
“Don’t even try it. I was just doing what that other girl on that crew did.”
“And didn’t you think she looked raunchy?”
“She was a’ight,” I lied, knowing that she looked too nasty. We talked some more about the night before. Then class started a few minutes later. It was jazz tap. That meant constant movement. We left completely worn out. Our legs and muscles were done. We barely got back to my grandmother’s house. Diamond and Jalisa gathered their overnight bags and loaded Diamond’s car. “I’ll see y’all later.”
“Kenisha, be careful,” Diamond said.
“Yeah, don’t be posing like that,” Jalisa added.
“See y’all,” I said, t
hen watched as they got in the car and drove off. I couldn’t believe what they were talking about. I wasn’t posing. This was me. This is how I’ve always been. I turned back to my grandmother’s house.
“Hey, Kenisha.”
I turned. “Hey, Cassie,” I said.
“Were those your girls just now?”
“Yeah.”
“You need to tell them to chill next time. Acting all uppity only gets them hurt.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I’m just saying,” she said, not elaborating.
“Jealously is so ugly, Cassie.”
“Ain’t nobody jealous.”
“Uh-huh,” I said, seeing the green all over her face.
“Well, anyway, you going to the go-go tonight?”
“I don’t think so,” I said. I wasn’t sure I could get out and party two nights in a row. Besides, I had church in the morning.
“You should come,” Cassie said. “We always have fun, and Darien will probably be there.”
I grimaced. “Why should that matter? I don’t care what Darien does.”
“I heard that y’all was hitting it. You went to his car last night, right?” she asked. I nodded. “And he hit it, right?”
“Hell, no,” I almost shouted.
“Well, everybody thinks you did.”
“Well, everyone is wrong,” I said sternly. I started to see that Cassie was a troublemaker. She seemed to enjoy hating on people, but not like Li’l T. He told to inform and warn people of what he’d heard. Cassie seemed to like telling things to start trouble. “And you can tell Sierra I said so. I don’t want Darien, period.”
“Chill girl, you getting all serious on me, I was only telling you what’s out there. And you know Sierra and I don’t talk like that anymore.”
“Whatever,” I said. “I gotta go in and do some homework. See you later.” I went to my room and just sat at the desk. I pulled out a few books, but I wasn’t in the mood to do any homework. I hate when things like that happen. I didn’t do anything, but now just because of the circumstances, it looked like I did. I didn’t drink, but my girls thought I did. I didn’t do anything with Darien, but now everybody thought I did. This was ridiculous. My cell rang. It was my dad at home, so I picked up.
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