4
Keisha
“Keisha, what the fuck, I waited for yo’ ass like for an hour. Thanks for celebratin’ with me. ¡Lagarta! ” Shawna shouted into the phone.
“Celebrate what? Guess who back?”
“My promotion and the fact that I will be movin’ out soon . . . Who back?” Shawna wasn’t sure who Keisha was talking about.
“Meet me on my floor in ten, in the back staircase,” Keisha insisted.
“I ain’t meeting you in no back staircase. Last time I did that, fuckin’ stupid-ass Jerome walked up on me. You know how pervy he is. Just knock on my door.” Shawna hung up the phone. It was time for all that hood stuff to end. If she was going to make those changes Shore mentioned, they would have to start now.
Keisha looked at her phone with her head cocked to the side. What the fuck is her problem? She threw her sneakers back on and headed out her room.
“Keisha, where you going?” her mother asked, sitting at the dining table.
“Um, I’m goin’ to the store, you need somethin’?”
Her mother stared at her for moment. “I think we need to talk,” her mother said.
“Ma, I ain’t—”
“Look, KeKe, you older now and well . . . I need my space. I can’t have you walkin’ in on me like the other night,” her mother interrupted.
“Ma, I told you I was sorry. I didn’t remember you sayin’ nothin’ ’bout havin’ company,” Keisha said, watching her mother closely.
“KeKe, I can’t have that happen again.” Her mother’s voice turned harsh.
“Ma, you can’t be serious. What’s really goin’ on? Is this ’bout when I cursed whateva his name was the other mornin’?” Keisha’s blood was boiling. I can’t believe this shit!
“Oh, please, I didn’t give a fuck. Why can’t you stay at that girl’s house you had over here the other day?” Keisha’s mom sucked her teeth.
“She wasn’t nobody, and you know that. Why you comin’ at me like this? What happened, yo’ new boyfriend don’t like me or somethin’?”
“Listen, you causin’ me to lose money. You know how this works.” Her mother’s words were bittersweet.
“Ma, I told you, you don’t have to keep doin’ that shit. I make—”
“Do you really think that you can make enough money to handle all the shit we want or fuckin’ need? Don’t be stupid. Now that you older, you can be on yo’ own. I don’t need you cramping my style,” she said, cutting her eyes at her daughter.
“What, you gonna start havin’ orgy parties and shit now? Since when you start bringin’ that shit home anyway?” Keisha asked with a slight disgust in her voice.
“You don’t have a right to ask me that shit. I’m a fuckin’ grown-ass woman and I don’t gotta explain my business to yo’ ass,” her mother reminded Keisha.
“Where the fuck am I goin’, Ma? You know I can’t get no place by myself. Fuckin’ one-bedroom apartment like almost a thousand dollars a month.” Keisha stood there with her arms folded over her chest.
“Look, KeKe, I need yo’ ass outta here by the end of the month,” her mother said with some force.
“Ma . . . Ma . . .” Keisha kept calling her, but her mother stood up and walked into her room, shutting her bedroom door behind her.
Her mother’s words sliced Keisha’s heart like a surgeon—meticulous.
Wow, this is new. Before Keisha blurted out her thought, she hurried out the door, slamming it shut behind her. Filled with anger she walked toward the back staircase, pulling out a cigarette. After a few puffs her anger settled for the moment. It’d been three years since she left school, got her GED, and busted her ass to get a job and help out. Never did she think her mother would turn on her because of some bullshit she wanted to do. I’m the one who kept shit goin’ when she wasn’t doin’ nothin’. This ungrateful bitch!
When Keisha turned thirteen her mother’s big job in the city wasn’t a family secret anymore. Unfortunately, it became known by everyone in the hood. The night of her birthday party Keisha’s mother got real drunk and propositioned most of the men on the arms of her friends’ moms. When she returned to school Keisha had her first fight, because some girls were talking about her mother hoeing herself out to any man. It infuriated her that her mother didn’t care why she had the fight. Her mother was more upset that she had to stay home because of Keisha’s week suspension from school.
A buzzing noise alerted her. SHAWNA flashed across the screen. Keisha sent the call to voice mail. “Fuck that shit, I ain’t tryin’ to hear ’bout nobody fuckin’ accomplishments when I need a place to stay before the end of the week is out,” she said out loud to herself.
Scrolling through her contacts her thoughts were negative. Fuck, I screwed over half these chicks in here. Who the fuck I’ma gonna call to save me now? Keisha’s phoned buzzed again.
“Where the fuck you at?”
“Shawna, some shit just went down so I ain’t comin’ through. I’ma—”
Confused by Keisha’s response Shawna interrupted, “What the fuck happened? Did somebody die or some shit?” Shawna let out a nervous laugh.
Pissed off that Shawna felt it was okay to laugh when Keisha’s tone was nowhere close to joking she blacked on her. “Bitch, what the fuck you laughin’ at? You think you so fuckin’ perfect. Your shit stink just as much as anyone else in this motherfuckin’ hood. Do you know how many times I saved yo’ ass from gettin’ an X marked on yo’ face? Nobody don’t wanna hear nothin’ ’bout yo’ good fuckin’ news.”
“KeKe, what the fuck did I do? You said you was comin’ to see me. You know what, fuck this shit. I don’t need you or Ronnie as my so-called friends anymore. Y’all don’t like nothin’ good for nobody else but yo’self. Fuck you!” Shawna hung the phone up.
Keisha’s phone buzzed again. She picked up without looking at the screen, expecting Shawna to be on the line. “Why don’t you go fuck yo’ daddy again, bitch!”
“Whoa . . . Keisha?” a female voice asked.
“Who this?”
“It’s Nicole. Is this a bad time? Sounds like you in the middle of something.”
“Nicole . . . Nah, it’s all good. What’s up?” Keisha asked, trying to suppress her anger.
“Umm, thought maybe you could swing by tonight and we could finish what we started. Besides, some of my girls want to meet you,” Nicole replied.
“Meet me? Why? I told you I’m not out there like that. I don’t wanna meet yo’ friends.” Keisha’s anger resurfaced.
“Damn, so what was all that talk about the other night? You said you were ready. You still scared about what other people going to say? Keisha, I told you I would help you get over your fear. Besides, who the fuck really cares about who you have in your bed anyway?”
Keisha took a deep breath. “Fine, but I don’t wanna meet yo’ friends. Or at least not yet. I’ll be there later.”
“Well, I guess that’s better than nothing. I’ll see you like in an hour?”
“Yeah.” Keisha pressed END on her iPhone. It can’t be that bad. I gotta meet ’em sometime, might as well start now, her thoughts rolled in.