Download Drama

by Celeste O. Norfleet

  She glares at me, and if I didn’t know any better I’d say she was a half second away from smacking me like I smacked her the first time we met, but she knows better. I have so much anger when it comes to her that once I start I don’t think I’ll ever stop kicking her ass. So we just glare at each other. After a while the boys start peeking out from behind me, giggling. They think this is all part of the Wizard of Oz thing—the good witch verses the Wicked Witch of the West.

  “I hope you didn’t bring that damn movie back in this house. I told your father and he agrees with me,” she states proudly, like it’s never happened before. Oh, right, it never has. LOL.

  “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! It’s movie time. Can we see the movie again? Please, please, please. Wizard of Obs! Wizard of Obs! Can we, can we, can we? Please, please, please.” Jr. and Jason start jumping and chanting over and over again.

  Courtney looks at them fiercely. “Would y’all please shut that noise up. I told you I have a headache.” Then she turns back to me. “Don’t you dare let them watch that movie again.”

  “Actually, Courtney, I have another movie for them to watch. It’s called Jaws.” Her eyes immediately bulge open. So of course I start singing the two-note theme. The boys join in instantly while laughing. They’re so cute.

  “Stop. Shut up!” Courtney screams.

  They do and just stand at my side holding my hands. The thing is I know she would never lay a hand on them and she knows I know it. The repercussions would be too great. Her ass would get kicked out of the house she loves so much and she’d have nothing. There’s no way she’d risk that even to save her sanity. She loves this life too much, even if she’s still only on the fringes of it.

  “Look, Kenisha,” she begins quietly, “we don’t get along, that’s fine. We’re never gonna get along. I get it and that’s fine, too. But you have to respect me in my house, do you understand me?”

  I just smile. Courtney trying to come off all mature just isn’t working. I have to smack her down. But I don’t use my fists; verbally works so much better. “Oh, you mean like you respected my mother in our house? Do you understand me?”

  She doesn’t say anything. We just stare at each other. She knows this is never going to end between us. The harder she pushes, the harder I push back. And now that I have the boys on my side she has nothing. She purposely came after my mother and got us kicked out. Now I’m purposely coming after her. But seriously, I don’t want her kicked out of the house like she did us. My little brothers need a nice neighborhood to grow up in and this is it. And besides, it’s way too much fun with her being here.

  “Go to bed,” she snarls between gritted teeth. The boys don’t move. They stay at my side still. “I said go to bed,” she repeats. They still don’t move. She cocks her head to the side. “I’m gonna count to ten and you had better be moving.” She starts counting, but slows when she gets to six ’cause it’s obvious they’re not moving until I do. “Seven. Eight…”

  All of the sudden I see it in her eyes. It’s only there for a split second, but it is there—a plea for compliance. I swear I don’t know why I’m relenting and being nice, but whatever… “Come on, guys,” I say to them. We start going upstairs. At first we’re quiet and then I start, unable to resist. “Lions and tigers and bears, oh, my…” They immediately start repeating it and I say the “oh, my” part. As we chant the words we move faster and faster until we’re almost running up the stairs. By the time we get to the top step they’re happily laughing their crazy little heads off.

  Of course I’m not going to let the boys watch Jaws. That’s way over the top. We’re probably gonna watch Monsters, Inc. for the hundredth time, but she doesn’t have to know that. I glance back down the stairs as the boys run to my bedroom. Courtney is sitting on the steps with her head on her knees crying. I don’t know why I don’t feel sorry for her. I just don’t. I guess I’m still not that nice.

  Ten

  Party Over Here

  kenishi_wa K Lewis

  It’s been a long time since I let myself relax and have a good time. I’ve been stressed out, beat down and worn out for too damn long. It’s time to change all that.

  28 Apr * Like * Comment * Share

  terrence takes my hand and glances at me as he turns the corner. It’s dark in the car, but I can still see his eyes. He’s smiling and his eyes kinda crinkle and spark. It feels so good being out with him like this. We go out sometimes to the movies or to neighborhood parties, but mostly we just hang at the mall or at my dad’s or grandmother’s house. But tonight is special. Tonight I get to hang with his friends.

  My girls are in the backseat talking and laughing. They’re really excited. It’s our first real frat college party. We’ve gone to supposed-to-be college parties before, but they were just dull wannabes. There the guys were either drunk or high and trying to get us drunk or high just to get in our pants. So I don’t count them. But tonight is the real thing. It’s like stepping out in society. This is our time.

  I look down at the outfit I chose to wear. It’s hot and just about sexy without being over the top. It’s definitely too tame for Courtney, who was screaming her head off when I left. She threatened to tell my father, who has yet to show his face, I was going out. I had to laugh. She hasn’t heard from him since I got there last night. Any bit of self-respect would have her walking out on him, but I can’t really talk since my mom never did, either… Whatever.

  I guess my mood kinda changes ’cause Terrence squeezes my hand gently and speaks softly so that only I can hear him. “Hey, you okay over there?”

  I nod. “Yes, I’m great.”

  “Did I tell you that you look good tonight, girl? I don’t want to have throw-down with any of my brothers up in there trying to get with you.”

  I smile. “Don’t worry, you got me.” I squeeze his hand gently. He nods and now I just can’t stop smiling.

  He turns a corner and cars are already lining up along the streets. “All right, here we go. Are you ready for this?” Terrence asks. I nod, then turn and look in the backseat. Jalisa and Diamond are smiling like crazy. We nod our heads excitedly. “All right, let’s do this,” he says as he pulls into a parking space. We get out and walk down the block and around the corner. The houses are massive here, nowhere near the size of my old neighborhood. It’s a few miles from my dad’s house, but not too far from where LaVon, my ex-boyfriend, lives. It’s one of those minimansions that looks small on the outside, but is probably huge on the inside. “Here it is,” Terrence says.

  We walk up the long driveway path and as soon we get to the open front porch there are about six guys standing there. They greet Terrence and do this handshake kinda thing that I don’t recognize, then he introduces me and my girls. A couple of the guys are instantly on Jalisa and Diamond, then Terrence steps in. “Yo, my brothers, respect,” he says, and tells them they’re here with him. They nod and take a step back.

  So we walk to the front door and, okay, first of all there’s no other way to say it—the party is slammin’. Seriously, as soon as we walk into the house, I’m like, oh, my God, you gotta be kidding me. The music is blaring loud and the place is packed. It looks like just about all of Howard University showed up and that’s definitely major.

  We start walking around the house going to the different rooms. It’s got everything—game room, heated pool, solarium, family room, exercise room, theater—and those are just the rooms I saw. There are people all over the place. Then after a while we split up. Terrence goes to talk with some of his friends and Jalisa, Diamond and I hang out by the dance floor.

  We’re laughing and talking and having a great time. Terrence comes over, bringing a couple of guys from his dorm and we all start dancing. Of course we’re all over the place. People are stepping back and giving us the floor. Terrence and his two friends are smiling and joinin
g in but they know they can’t keep up with us. We start doing one of the routines we’ve practiced. It’s pure hip-hop and it’s really hot. Some pull out their cell phones and start taping us. We don’t really care, ’cause we’re having too much fun.

  Then a slow song comes on and Terrence takes my hand. He pulls me farther to the dance floor. We stand there a few seconds and then he leans down and kisses my lips as he wraps his arms around my waist. I move closer and our bodies touch. After the kiss we just stand there looking at each other. “You look good dancing, girl. Got me all impressed with you.”

  “You’ve seen me dance before.”

  “Yeah, but not like all that,” he says, then looks around. “I think there are a few guys still watching you and licking their chops. I think you got their attention.”

  I reach up and turn his face back to me. “You are the only guy whose attention I want.”

  He smiles and nods. “A’ight, I guess I can handle that.”

  “Good.” I lean up and kiss him again. Then all of the sudden it starts to get noisy and people leave and head to the front of the house. “What is it, a fight or something?”

  “I don’t know,” he says. We stop dancing. He takes my hand and I follow him to see what’s going on. There’s a mad rush to the front door. We go along to find out what all the drama is about. As soon as we get to the front porch I see Jalisa and Diamond already standing there. “Hey, what’s going on?” I ask them.

  “Somebody said Taj’s whip just pulled up,” Jalisa says.

  “For real,” I say.

  “I don’t know. I can’t see,” Diamond says.

  “Me, either,” Jalisa adds.

  I lean on Terrence and step up on my toes to see if I can spot her. I can’t. It’s too dark and there’re too many people in front of us. Then there’s a loud cheer and people start dancing and applauding. Taj’s latest song starts playing. I look around. The music is coming from the outside speakers. “Come on,” Terrence says, then grabs my hand and pulls me. “Get your girls.” I grab Jalisa and she grabs Diamond. He leads us down the front lawn and around to the side. When he stops we’re right up front and we can see everything perfectly.

  More lights turn on and now we can really see what’s happening. Taj steps up to perform and the crowd goes wild.

  “Oh, my God, it is her,” Diamond says.

  “Look at her,” Jalisa says, laughing. “What is she wearing?”

  “Oh, my God, I don’t know. I can’t believe we’re seeing this.”

  “Damn, she is still buck wild.”

  She had on fraternity colors—a long black wig with gold streaks, a too-tight gold sequined bra barely holding her extra-large boobs, black shorts that are spandex tight and barely covering her up and crazy high-heel stilettos. I know I mess with Courtney about her trashy clothes, but damn, Taj is way, way over the top even for an entertainer.

  Terrence and a few of his buddies start hollering and it’s like everybody that was inside the house is now outside on the front lawn watching the miniconcert. We’re dancing and singing. The place is a madhouse and we’re having a blast.

  So then she starts grinding and shaking her ass all over the place and acting like she’s making out on the car’s top. I’m watching with my mouth wide-open. I seriously can’t believe she’s doing all this at a private neighborhood party. Then another song mixes in and the tempo changes. She starts walking through the crowd.

  Taj comes to where we’re dancing and playing around. She tries to match our steps, but can’t. Everybody sees that she’s not as good as we are. She starts talking about how well we dance and everybody starts applauding ’cause most of them saw us dancing inside. Now she tries to make it look like we’re part of her group because people start checking us out and not her.

  The microphone is loud and she’s all sweaty. But for real I can’t believe how tiny and skinny she is. Up close she looks like a little kid dressed for Halloween. Then she sees Terrence and goes right over to him. She sings to him and starts unbuttoning his shirt and rubbing her hands all over his chest. Then she takes his hand and rubs it all down the front of her. His boys are going wild.

  She smiles and pulls him back to where she was singing on top of the car. She backs Terrence up against it and I swear my jaw just drops. I can’t believe she’s doing this right in front of me, in front of everybody. Okay, I get that she has no idea that he’s with somebody—me—but damn, girl. A little respect for yourself, please.

  His boys are all hollering for him, but thankfully he’s looking too embarrassed to be up there with her. I guess other guys would be right in there eating all the attention up. Terrence isn’t. He tries to walk away but she stops him and talks about him being shy and how she always had a crush on him when she was around the way, but that he always saw her as just a kid. “Well, T, do I look like a kid now,” she says, and grinds her body against his on the beat of her song. “Do I feel like a kid now?” The guys in the audience go wild.

  There’s no stopping the craziness now. He comes back over to me, shaking his head. All his friends are slapping his back, bumping his shoulder and shaking his hand as Taj continues her performance. But no matter what she was singing or where she was in the crowd, she always had her eye on us. By us, I mean Terrence.

  Everybody’s hanging out and having a good time. Then after a while we see red and blue lights flashing down the street. Everyone knows it’s only a matter of time before the police show up. They always do. They tell Terrence’s friend that his party is gonna have to go back inside the house and quiet down some. We comply. Some go inside while others go back to their cars and leave.

  Now inside it’s like half the people there and it feels a lot better. We go to the game room. Terrence starts playing pool with some guys and me and my girls are standing around watching, plus talking to some other girls about college life.

  About a half hour later Taj walks into the game room. She’s dressed crazy-ass as usual, totally over the top and then some. She greets everybody in the room, but makes a point of looking around until she spots Terrence. He puts his stick down and eases over to my side. Taj comes over to us. She’s all smiles and almost giddy to see him. “Hey, T, you look good, boo,” she says, kissing his cheek and hugging him way too long.

  “Thanks, you, too,” he says, trying to keep his distance.

  “I was shocked to see you standing there in the audience. I didn’t know you knew my cousin.”

  “Your cousin?”

  “Yeah, this is my aunt’s house. I promised my cousin I’d hang out with him this weekend while I’m in town. Did you get to my concert last night?”

  “Nah, I had to work,” he says, and then he pulls me close. Taj looks at me and actually sees me standing there for the first time. I can see it in her eyes, she wants him. “I want you to meet my girl, Kenisha.”

  “Hey, I’m a big fan,” I blatantly lie, but I guess that’s what people say when they meet someone famous or kinda famous.

  “Hi, you look familiar. Do I know you? Do you live in D.C.?”

  “Yeah, sometimes. I go to Penn Hall.”

  “Oh, my God, for real, that’s my old high school. I dropped out in the ninth grade. How is it, probably the same, huh?”

  “Yeah, I guess,” I say. Seriously, how the hell am I supposed to know if it’s the same or not? For real, it sounds like girlfriend should have stayed around Penn a few more years.

  She turns back to Terrence. “You know we should catch up and hang out while I’m in town. Here’s my cell number. Call me.”

  My jaw dropped. Oh, hell, no, this bitch did not just give my lawnmower guy her cell phone number right in front of me. Terrence doesn’t acknowledge it one way or the other. He takes the paper with her number on it and hands it to me. It’s too obvious. She has
to get that diss. “And these are our friends, Jalisa and Diamond,” Terrence adds.

  Jalisa and Diamond speak, but aren’t as cordial as I’m trying to be. We all stand around and talk some more, then Taj moves on to another group. Terrence goes back to shooting pool, and me and my girls start talking again, this time in French. No one seems to be paying much attention to us.

  Of course we’re talking about what just happened. Then Jalisa reminds me that Taj was trying to get with Tyrece when he was engaged to Jade. I turn around and look at her. She’s with a group on the other side of the room, but she’s looking at the pool table. Correction, she’s looking at Terrence standing beside the pool table. “Putain,” I say.

  Jalisa and Diamond start laughing. Calling her a bitch in French makes it sound a lot nicer than it is. But a bitch is bitch in any language. Terrence walks over. I turn to him and smile. He slips his arms around my waist and holds me close to his body. “Ta petite amie est une putain.”

  He laughs in a way that makes me think he knows exactly what I just said to him. Then he proves it. “Bitch or not, she’s not my girlfriend.”

  Jalisa looks at Diamond, and then they look at me. I’m still looking at Terrence. He’s just smiling. “It’s getting late. Are you ready to go?”

  “Yeah, we’re done here,” I say, looking at Taj looking at me. I see the jealously in her eyes. She wants what I got, and that’s just too damn bad. Terrence is my lawnmower guy.

  Terrence says his goodbyes to his frat brothers and a few other people around. Jalisa, Diamond and I wait out on the porch as he speaks to some guys for a few minutes. When he finishes he comes over to us.

  “Hey, anybody hungry?” he asks when he meets up with us.

  “Yeah,” we say in unison.

  “All right, a couple of my friends are headed over to the fast-food place across from the mall. Do you want to go?”

  “Yeah,” we say in union again.

  “Okay, let’s do this.”