Fair-Weather Friends

by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

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  Fair-Weather

  Friends

  Also by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

  Getting Even

  With Friends Like These

  Nothing But Drama

  Blessings in Disguise

  The Pastor’s Wife

  Everybody Say Amen

  I Know I’ve Been Changed

  Let the Church Say Amen

  My Brother’s Keeper

  Have a Little Faith

  (with Jacquelin Thomas, Sandra Kitt, and J. D. Mason)

  Pocket Books

  A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  1230 Avenue of the Americas

  New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2008 by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  First Pocket Books trade paperback edition September 2008

  POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Billingsley, ReShonda Tate.

  Fair-weather friends / ReShonda Tate Billingsley. — 1st Pocket Books trade paperback ed.

  p. cm.

  Summary: When racism separates members of Good Girlz, a church-related community service group, the girls must remember that what is on the inside matters more than the outside, and while they may not be able to remove the world’s prejudices, they can change themselves.

  [1. Racism—Fiction. 2. Friendship—Fiction. 3. African

  Americans—Fiction. 4. Hispanic Americans—Fiction. 5. High schools—Fiction. 6. Schools—Fiction. 7. Christian life—Fiction.] I. Title. PZ7.B4988Fai 2008 [Fic]—dc22

  2008012951

  ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-5876-7

  eISBN-13: 978-1-4516-7234-3

  For the founders,

  Alpha Kappa Alpha

  Delta Sigma Theta

  Zeta Phi Beta

  Sigma Gamma Rho

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1: Camille

  Chapter 2: Camille

  Chapter 3: Jasmine

  Chapter 4: Jasmine

  Chapter 5: Camille

  Chapter 6: Camille

  Chapter 7: Jasmine

  Chapter 8: Camille

  Chapter 9: Camille

  Chapter 10: Camille

  Chapter 11: Jasmine

  Chapter 12: Camille

  Chapter 13: Camille

  Chapter 14: Jasmine

  Chapter 15: Jasmine

  Chapter 16: Jasmine

  Chapter 17: Camille

  Chapter 18: Camille

  Chapter 19: Camille

  Chapter 20: Camille

  Chapter 21: Camille

  Chapter 22: Jasmine

  Chapter 23: Camille

  Chapter 24: Jasmine

  Chapter 25: Camille

  Chapter 26: Camille

  Chapter 27: Jasmine

  Chapter 28: Camille

  Chapter 29: Camille

  Chapter 30: Camille

  Chapter 31: Camille

  Chapter 32: Jasmine

  Acknowledgments

  As always, I have to say thank you, God, for seeing me through yet another book. I also wanted to take a quick moment to say thank you to all of the people who have made the Good Girlz the success that it is. I never anticipated the books taking off like they did!

  Thank you to LaShay Smith, who loves and nurtures the Good Girlz as if they were real. You’re just as passionate about them as I am—so thanks so much!

  To Tanisha Tate, who stepped up to the plate and helped a sister out (literally) when I needed it most. I can always count on you.

  To my daughters, Mya and Morgan, thanks for telling everyone you know about the Good Girlz and sharing your time with “Mommy’s other girls.”

  To my support system: my dear husband, Miron; Nancy; and Fay. God has blessed me to have such incredible people supporting my dream. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

  Pat Tucker Wilson and Jaimi Canady, thanks for always being there as I bounce ideas off of you.

  To my agent, Sara Camilli; editor, Brigitte Smith; and publicist, Melissa Gramstad—the Good Girlz wouldn’t be what they are if it weren’t for you!

  Much, much love to the women of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., who made my “real” sorority experience one that I will treasure for life. To the other sororities of the Divine Nine, thank you for giving our young women a sisterhood to be proud of.

  As I travel the country, I have encountered some wonderful, wonderful librarians and booksellers, but I have to give a special shout-out to Stephanie Boyd and the Willard Library in Battle Creek, Michigan, the Tulsa City-County Library, the Houston Public Library, and all the other libraries that have had me out to visit.

  My biggest thanks of all goes to you—the reader. I may not know you, but I appreciate you so much. Please continue to support the Good Girlz and make sure you check out the next book!

  Much love,

  ReShonda

  1

  Camille

  These chicks were off the chain!

  I couldn’t do anything but stare in awe at the twelve girls on the auditorium stage. Not only did they look cute as all get-out in their tight black low-riders and pink satin T-shirts with “Theta Diva” spelled out in rhinestones, but they were doing moves I’d never seen before. We were at my school’s step show. The Thetas were the third act, and they were turning the place out.

  As a member of my high school’s drill team, I can appreciate a good dancer, but these girls were dancing and stepping like they were starring in that Stomp the Yard movie. They had the crowd going wild.

  One of my best friends, Alexis, must’ve been thinking the same thing because she leaned in to me and shouted over the thumping rap music, “Girl, what’s the name of this group again?”

  “They’re called the Theta Ladies. It’s a sorority at my school,” I responded as we stood with the crowd and applauded like crazy while they exited the stage.

  Although the sorority was on campus at a lot of other high schools here in Houston, the Thetas had just started at my school last year. I’d seen the girls around campus, wearing their pink-and-white T-shirts, but I’d never paid them much attention. Until now.

  “Gimme a break. They ain’t all that,” my other best friend, Jasmine, said as she turned up her nose. I ignored her. Jasmine always had something negative to say. Not many things impressed her and she always found something wrong with everything.

  Jasmine had come a long way from when we first met her a year and a half ago, though. That’s when we all joined the Good Girlz, a community service group formed by Rachel Jackson Adams, the first lady of this church in our neighborhood.

  I know the name may sound a little hokey, but don’t get it twisted. We aren’t some Goody Two-shoes group. In fact, Miss Rachel sta
rted the group as part of a youth outreach program at Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church, where her husband was pastor. Even though her daddy was a preacher, Miss Rachel was buck wild as a teenager; and now that she was grown, she wanted to do something to help teens who were headed down the wrong path. And boy, were we headed down the wrong path.

  I was actually facing jail time when I hooked up with the Good Girlz. It’s almost unbelievable, since I had never been in any major trouble before that, but the dog who used to be my boyfriend had my nose wide open. Six months after me and Keith started going together, he got arrested for carjacking an old lady. He kept saying he didn’t do it. I believed him, but he couldn’t wait for justice to prevail so he broke out of jail. (We later found out he really didn’t do it. It was his stepbrother.)

  After he escaped, Keith had me hide him at my grandma’s house. The thing was, I didn’t even know he’d broken out. He told me they let him go. Anyway, the police eventually found him at my grandma’s house, and that fool took off through a back window and left me to take the rap for hiding him.

  So when the judge told me it was either jail or the Good Girlz, well, you can see that was a no-brainer. Let me just tell you, I’m too cute for jail. (People tell me all the time I look like a prettier version of Kyla Pratt, that girl who played on the TV show One on One.)

  It’s a good thing I joined the Good Girlz because the police later found Keith hiding out at his baby mama’s house. Did I mention that I didn’t know he had a baby? Or a baby mama? So, I probably would’ve been in prison for real for killing him if it wasn’t for the Good Girlz.

  “Look how they’re strutting around like they’re all that.” Jasmine’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

  I grinned as I watched the Thetas walk down the aisle. Everyone was stopping them and giving them props. “They are all that,” I said, my voice full of admiration.

  “Really, they’re not,” Jasmine snarled.

  I blew her off because Jasmine was my girl, funky attitude and all. Miss Rachel had made Jasmine join the Good Girlz after breaking up a fight between her and this boy named Dedrick. At six feet tall, Jasmine wasn’t anybody you wanted to mess with. Just ask Dedrick. She had beat him like he stole something just because he was teasing her.

  Jasmine has actually toned down some of her mean ways over the last year and a half. Although you’d never know it by the way she was sitting over there with her nose all turned up.

  “I didn’t know they even had sororities in high school,” Alexis said.

  Alexis was the rich girl of the group. Her dad is some big-time businessman, and her family has beaucoup money. She resembled Beyoncé (and she didn’t hesitate to let you know it) and was always dressed in the tightest clothes, looking like she had just stepped off the cover of a magazine. But she’s so cool that her bourgie ways don’t bother me. Most of the time anyway.

  I turned my attention back to Alexis, since she was just as hyped as I was.

  “Yeah, lots of high schools have sororities,” I said.

  “Have you ever thought about joining?” the fourth member of our group, Angel, leaned in and asked. She’d been so quiet I’d almost forgotten she was there. But that was Angel’s nature. She was the sweet, quiet one of the group. Getting pregnant at fifteen had made her grow up pretty fast, especially because her baby’s daddy was this triflin’ boy named Marcus, who didn’t even claim their daughter, Angelica. I loved Angel, and her daughter was so adorable, but I wouldn’t trade places with her for anything in the world.

  “I think it would be cool to be a Theta,” Alexis said wistfully. “But they don’t have them at my school.”

  Alexis was the only one of us that didn’t go to Madison High School. She went to a private school called St. Pius on the other side of town.

  “I told you about that new rule the school district has that lets students participate in extracurricular activities at another school if your school doesn’t offer it,” I said. “So, you could join the Thetas at our school.”

  “For real?” she asked, wide-eyed.

  I nodded as the next sorority made their way on to the stage. Sure, I’d watch them perform; but for me, the Thetas had already stolen the show.

  2

  Camille

  I couldn’t stop talking about the Theta Ladies. As a matter of fact, the whole school was talking about them. Surprisingly, they didn’t win first place in the step show. They’d come in second behind a sorority from Booker T. Washington High School. Still, after the step show, the boys had been all over them like they were celebrities or something.

  I’d filled in our fellow Good Girlz member, Tameka Adams (she was Miss Rachel’s niece and had joined the group about six months after we started). I’d told her all about the show and now she was just as hyped as I was, and sick that she’d missed it in the first place.

  “Dang, I didn’t know the Thetas had it goin’ on like that,” she said. “I can’t believe I missed it.”

  “You ought to quit sneaking out of the house. Then maybe you wouldn’t be on punishment all of the time.” I laughed.

  “Now see, you asking too much,” she joked.

  Even though me, Jasmine, Alexis, and Angel weren’t as close to Tameka as we were to one another, she was still cool and I was glad to see she was worked up about the Thetas, too.

  Jasmine had gotten tired of hearing me rave about them, but Angel and Alexis were still excited. Me and Angel were rehashing our favorite parts of the show to Tameka as we made our way into the pizza line in the school cafeteria.

  “Hey, isn’t that the girl who was leading the Thetas’ step team this weekend?” Angel whispered as we grabbed our trays. I looked up to see who she was talking about. She was motioning toward a tall, pretty, mocha-skinned girl who was at the front of the line.

  “Yeah. Her name is Raquelle. She’s on the drill team with me,” I replied.

  “Isn’t that Tori Young next to her? She wasn’t in the show, was she?” Angel asked.

  “I didn’t see her, but maybe she was in the back or something,” I answered.

  I was glad that Jasmine wasn’t here. She usually ate lunch with us but she had to take a makeup test today. Jasmine and Tori didn’t get along. Then again, there weren’t too many people who Jasmine did get along with. But Tori and Jasmine were definitely like oil and water. Mainly because of Donovan, Jasmine’s ex-boyfriend. He was in college now, but when he transferred here from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Tori had set her sights on him. Only he was trying to get with Jasmine and wouldn’t give Tori the time of day. She definitely couldn’t appreciate that. She and Jasmine had almost come to blows several times behind him.

  “I knew she was a Theta,” I told Angel as we paid for our pizza. “But I just found out yesterday that she’s actually the president.”

  “Wow. They look so cute in those jackets,” Tameka said, admiring the thin pink satin jackets with the word Theta on the front and a white poodle, which was their mascot, on the back. It was hot outside, but inside, our buildings were always freezing, so they didn’t look out of place in their jackets.

  “Are you guys going over there?” Tameka said.

  I debated for a minute. “Maybe I’ll just say hi as we pass by.”

  Tameka looked at her watch. “Dang, I have got to get to detention. I wanted to go talk to them.”

  “Girl, you’d better go,” I said. “You know Mr. Matthews said he was going to add two more weeks of detention if you were late again.”

  Tameka huffed like life was so unfair as she told us bye and headed out of the lunch room.

  We made our way toward our normal seats in the back of the cafeteria. I caught eyes with Raquelle as we passed the Theta table. I didn’t want to be jockin’ anybody, but I did want to let them know how tight their show had been.

  “Hey Raquelle,” I said, stopping in front of their table. She was sitting with Tori and several other girls. All of them were wearing the Theta jackets. “I just wa
nted to tell you all that show you did this weekend was off the hook.”

  Raquelle smiled. “Thanks.”

  “And you all were definitely robbed,” I continued. “Everybody knows you guys should’ve won first place.”

  She looked at the other girls and giggled. “Tell me about it.”

  “Isn’t your name Camille?” one of the girls sitting beside Raquelle asked me.

  “Yeah, it’s Camille Harris. And this is my friend, Angel Lopez,” I said, pointing to Angel, who waved meekly.

  “You’re on the drill team, aren’t you?” another girl asked, all but ignoring Angel.

  I nodded.

  “Well, I’m Lynn. I’m vice president of the Thetas.” Lynn pointed to the other four girls. “And this is Constance, Claudia, Alisha, and Tori.”

  “Oh, I know Camille very well,” Tori snidely remarked.

  I’d been around a couple of the times Tori had gotten into it with Jasmine so she definitely knew who I was. I smiled anyway. I didn’t have a beef with Tori and I wasn’t about to start now.

  “Do you wanna sit with us?” Raquelle asked.

  My mouth almost hit the floor. I knew the sorority girls could get a little snooty and they really didn’t like anyone invading their clique. So I was thrilled that they wanted us to sit with them.

  “Sure, we’d love to sit with you guys,” I said.

  Me and Angel sat down in two empty seats across from Raquelle. I couldn’t be sure, but it looked like Tori and Claudia shot Angel a crazy look. It made me uncomfortable for a minute, but then I told myself I was just imagining things.

  “So how long have you guys been Thetas?” I asked as I bit into my pizza.

  “We all joined last year when we started the organization here at Madison,” Lynn said.

  “Do you all practice a lot to be able to step like that?” I continued.

  Lynn smiled. “We do. But there is so much more to us than stepping. We actually do a lot of community service. You should check out our MySpace page and see what we’re all about.”

  “I’ll definitely do that.”