Page 32 of Grace

“Then she’ll understand.”

“She should’ve come with an open mind!” Noelle yelled before catching herself.

And…—I looked over to Witherspoon.—Yup. She’d heard it and was shooting daggers our way. I didn’t want her tripping, so I waved her off and tried to include a friendly smile. Her little sister and I were good.

“Again, I feel you. Just give her sometime—”

“Oh, fuck you!” she whispered hard to her phone. Her dark, angry eyes met mine. “Would you believe this asshole is texting me right now? Like…really?”

“Uhhh…” Stuck, I found myself looking over her head. Then I turned to see just how far away Witherspoon and Mehki were, needing help.

“Hey! You!” Noelle called my attention back to her. “He lied on me.”

“How?” That seemed like the only logical response to her aggressive energy.

“Okay.” Noelle took a deep breath, rolling her eyes as she straightened her spine. “So, Darius McCoy’s a new kid atYancy Academy. He transferred in last November from Yonkers.” She rolled her eyes again. “His mother got hit by a bus and successfully sued for a couple of millions. So anyway, my best friend, Brandy, thought he was cute at Joshua McMillian’s birthday party in December. He asks for Brandy’s number, and because she’s with Levi Washington, she decides to give himmynumber.” Rolling her eyes again, she breathed out. “And let the drama begin. So for months, when Bran’s with me, she uses my phone to text Darius. I don’t think much of it. It’s not really cheating. Right?”

I blinked, shocked as hell that little mommas could run the ball like that. “I—uhh—”

“It got a little messy because he’s texted me a few times asking for her, but she wasn’t with me. And he’s dumb. He’ll text at like eleven at night on a weekday. Like…wouldn’t she tell you if she was staying over at my place or I was gonna sleep at hers if it was going down?” Another eye roll. “Well, this morning when I got to school, shit was all abuzz about me texting Darius McCoy. Everybody was talking about it: Marjorie from the cheer squad, Anthony from the football team, Lauren from drama—everybody. So when I asked where it came from, they showed me screenshots of him texting he liked me and me saying I liked him, too.” Her mouth opened wide in shock.

I started to ask if she was in the drama club with Lauren, because her high energy screamed theatrical. But she was cute and so was her problem.

“Oh, word?”

“Word! So, you know the first thing I do. Right?” I wanted to remind her I didn’t know her, but by this time, I didn’t think I should try little momma. “I went straight to his locker and asked him what the hell. Would you believe all he did was laugh in my face then walked away? The unmitigated gall of that new rich/soon broke motherfucker! I lost it. I told that prick I’d call my family from Newark to run down on his ass!”

It took so much for me not to laugh. Witherspoon’s little sister may have been fiery, but she was for sure a prep schoolgirl, too. I tossed my chin at her, thinking. “Is that all he said when he texted youwhere your girl at?”

“Sometimes he’d ask what I was doing.” She shook her head, eyes closed in irritation. “But I always ignore him. It’s weird.” I nodded. “No, the fuck—” Before I knew it, she’d answered her phone and was goinginon her screen. “Igot sent home and you still want to call and fuck with me? Waittil—”

“Man, would you chill the fuck out?” I heard the squeak of a young boy’s voice.

“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?” Noelle grounded out from the pit of her belly.

“Yo, Noelle! I ain’t call you for all this hype, man.”

“You didn’t have to hit my phone at all, creepycaller—”

“Yo! It was just ajoke—”

“A joke! So my reputation is a joke to you? You may be new,but—”

“Yo, lighten the fuck up and let me talk!”

I took the phone from Noelle when it hit. “Yo,” I spoke before I even saw the little nigga. “Why don’t you say what the fuck you gotta say and cut the fuckin’ line?”

I was sure Noelle behind me, standing on the stool, didn’t help his discomfort. His mouth hung open. “Yeah, nigga! I told you I’d call my people. Who the fuck do you take me for?”

“Noelle!” Witherspoon shouted from afar.

Both Noelle and I were too far gone to give her any attention. Little nigga’s eyes blew the hell up.

“Like I said, young hoppa. Say what the fuck you gotta say before I hop in my ride and pull up to ya crib. I know where you stay, too.”

“What you mean?” I could see the hike in his breathing.

The shit was too easy. I owned the art of intimidating men, so scaring kids shitless wasn’t even a challenge for me.

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