Trickin'

by Brandi Johnson

Genres: African American Urban; African American Women's Fiction; African American Romance

Synopsis

What's a girl gotta do to get what she wants out of life? According to Ra'Keeyah Jackson, the answer is whatever it takes.

Ra'Keeyah has million-dollar dreams. She's determined to come up, and she won't stop until she does. Nothing is going to stop her from getting the hottest clothes, the finest men, and money to burn. Easily influenced by her conniving girls Shayna and Quiana, Ra'Keeyah resorts to shoplifting, stealing married men's credit cards, and passing bad checks to get what she wants.

Ra'Keeyah is struggling and has sunk to an all-time low when she meets Brick. He's a savvy, street-smart hustler who will surely take her young heart for a ride and make her want to change. Will she be able to resist, though, when Shayna comes to her with an idea that is sure to keep their pockets on swole? This idea could cost the girls a little more than they bargained for, along with teaching them that not everyone is to be tricked!

Release date: July 1, 2012

Publisher: Urban Books

Print pages: 384

Sample

“Ra’Keeyah, get yo’ butt up and fix yo’ brother somethin’ to eat,” her mother yelled from the comfort of her own bed.

Ra’Keeyah tried her best not to wake up from the dream she was having.

“Girl, did you hear me?” her mother yelled again, right before Ra’Keeyah’s lips met with Usher’s.

“Yeah, I heard you, dang,” Ra’Keeyah huffed as she rolled from one side of her full-sized bed to the other. “She get on my damn nerves,” she fumed as she grabbed her pink, shabby robe from off the foot of her bed.

“Oooh, I’m tellin’ Momma what you said,” Ra’Keeyah’s nine-year-old brother, Jaylen, said, as he stood in the hallway outside her bedroom door.

“Shut up, dummy, and come on,” Ra’Keeyah huffed as she walked out of her bedroom.

“You a dummy,” he retorted following his big sister.

“I don’t know why she couldn’t get her lazy ass up and fix you somethin’ to eat; shit, you ain’t none of my son,” she fussed at her little brother on the way down the stairs.

“I’m tellin’ Momma you said that too,” Jaylen said, as they entered the kitchen.

“Shut up and sit down, snitch!” Ra’Keeyah demanded, and Jaylen complied. “And if you tell Momma anything, I’ma beat you up when she goes to work,” she warned.

Ra’Keeyah grabbed a box of Frosted Flakes out of the cabinet and slammed it down in front of her brother and did the same with a bowl and the gallon of milk.

“Momma said you ’pose to make me somethin’ to eat,” Jaylen looked up at his sister and said.

Ra’Keeyah smacked her lips and grabbed the box of cereal and filled up the bowl with cereal and milk before walking over and turning on the thirteen-inch television that sat on top of the kitchen counter. She hopped up on the bar stool and turned the channel to BET.

“Spoon, please,” Jaylen said as soon as his sister got comfortable.

Ra’Keeyah turned around and looked at her brother like he was crazy. “Look, li’l nigga, I’m sicka’ you,” she said, hopping off the bar stool and walking over to the silverware drawer. Ra’Keeyah grabbed a spoon out of the drawer. “Huh,” she said, shoving it into his face.

“You betta’ hadda’ got me one,” Jaylen said, quickly snatching the spoon from his sister’s hand.

“Oooh, I can’t stand you,” she said, walking back over to the bar stool and taking a seat. Ra’Keeyah picked up a Us Weekly magazine and began flipping through the pages. “Dang, these jeans are nice,” she stated aloud, referring to the ones that Christina Aguilera was wearing. “Available at Macy’s,” she said, reading the bottom of the ad. “I gots to have these.”

“The only way that’s gon’ happen is if you go out and get a job,” her mother said, walking into the kitchen looking like she had been out drinking all night from all the overtime she had been working.

“That ain’t gon’ happen,” Jaylen laughed, before sticking a spoon full of cereal into his mouth.

Ra’Keeyah shot her brother a dirty look. “Shut up, nigga!” she grimaced.

“You shut up,” he shot back.

“Make me,” Ra’Keeyah challenged.

“All right, already, y’all. I ain’t tryin’a hear that shit!” their mother yelled. “And what I tell you about sayin’ nigga?” she looked at Ra’Keeyah and asked.

“You said don’t say it in yo’ house,” Ra’Keeyah replied, throwing the magazine on top of the counter.

“Don’t get jazzy, hefah,” her mother said as she maneuvered around the kitchen, making herself a cup of instant coffee. “Now you know I’m gon’ need you to keep yo’ brother tonight, ’cuz I’m doin’ another double shift.”

“Dang, Momma, I wanted to stay all night at Shayna’s house tonight,” Ra’Keeyah whined. “How come Aunt Nancy can’t keep him?”

“Look, girl, stop all that damn whinin’. Now, tonight is Nancy’s bingo night. She can’t keep him,” her mother explained. “And plus, I done told you that you not gon’ be doin’ all that spendin’ the night over at Shayna’s house. They got a little too much goin’ on over there for me.”

Ra’Keeyah knew her mother was right about all the different types of activities going on over at Shayna’s. Her house was definitely the party house.

“Dang,” Ra’Keeyah huffed and jumped down off the bar stool. “I’m tired of babysittin’ him,” she said walking past the table where her brother sat smiling. “What you smilin’ for? I should slap that smile right off yo’ face,” Ra’Keeyah stated angrily.

“And if you slap him, I’ma slap yo’ ass,” her mother said, before taking a sip from her coffee cup.

Ra’Keeyah didn’t pay her mother any attention. She just continued staring down at her brother. “I can’t stand livin’ here,” she mumbled on her way out of the kitchen.

“I didn’t hear you,” her mother yelled out. Ra’Keeyah didn’t say anything; she just kept it moving to her bedroom.

She walked into her bedroom and slammed the door behind her. “Damn, she act like he my son. Why I always gotta watch that li’l nigga?” Ra’Keeyah was fuming. Her cell phone rang as she looked for something to wear. She snatched it off of her nightstand and quickly answered it. “Hello?”

“What’s up, bitch? We goin’ to the mall today or what?” her best friend, Shayna, started in.

“Good morning to you too, ho,” Ra’Keeyah answered.

“Oh, good morning,” Shayna laughed. “Are we goin’ to the mall today or what?”

“And you know it!” Ra’Keeyah exclaimed. “I just seen these jeans in a magazine at Macy’s that I want to wear to the game next Friday,” Ra’Keeyah said. “You know they cost an arm and a leg ’cuz they got Christina Aguilera’s ass modelin’ in them.”

“I bet they do. Shit, if you want ’em, get ’em,” Shayna said.

“I am,” Ra’Keeyah beamed as she rambled through her closet.

“You still spendin’ the night tonight?” Shayna asked as she rolled a blunt for later on.

“Naw, I can’t. I gotta babysit Jaylen,” Ra’Keeyah said, disappointed.

“Damn, you always babysittin’ his ass. Yo’ mom act like he yo’ son,” Shayna replied, shaking her head.

“Who you tellin’?”

“You gon’ miss out. We gon’ kick it tonight,” Shayna said excitedly

“What’s new? Y’all always kickin’ it. That’s another reason why I can’t stay,” Ra’Keeyah laughed.

Shayna started laughing too. “Anyways, hefah, I’m about to jump in the shower and get dressed. Me and Quiana will meet you at the bus stop at 12:00 P.M. And don’t be late!”

“I’m not. And don’t forget the big purse this time. You know last time we couldn’t hardly get nothin’.”

“I got you,” Shayna assured her.

“All right, talk to you in a few.” Ra’Keeyah hung up the phone and continued searching through her closet. She decided on a pair of black Apple Bottom jeans, a red Apple Bottom shirt, and a pair of red, retro-chic platforms before jumping into the shower. After she got out, she opened up the bathroom door to let some of the steam out so the mirror would clear. She then put on her clothes and started brushing her hair as her mother walked past and stopped. “Where you get that outfit from?” she asked skeptically.

“You bought it, Mom, when we went to Citi Trends,” Ra’Keeyah said, keeping her cool, because she knew her mother was not going to let up that easy.

Her mother looked the outfit over once more. “I don’t remember buyin’ that.”

“You did, about three months ago,” Ra’Keeyah said, trying to convince her mother of her lie.

“Okay, maybe I did. But if I didn’t, I’ma tell you now, you and them friends of yours better not be out there at that mall up to no good, ’cuz if you are, and get caught, you bet’ not call me to come and get you outta jail,” her mother warned.

“Mom, ain’t nobody out at the mall doin’ nothin’ but window-shoppin’. We don’t steal,” Ra’Keeyah said defensively.

“I’m just lettin’ you know don’t call me if you are, ’cuz I ain’t comin’ to get you!”

“Okay, Mommy, dang, I just told you we don’t be out there doin’ nothin’ but window-shoppin’,” Ra’Keeyah said as her mother walked away.

Ra’Keeyah finished doing her hair and applying her makeup before spraying on a few squirts of her sample bottle of Love Chloe perfume that she’d snatched off the counter at Nordstroms. She turned around to check out her backside before walking out of the bathroom.

Ra’Keeyah quickly walked past her mother’s room, hoping she wouldn’t get stopped. No such luck.

“Hey, Key-Key,” her mother called.

Ra’Keeyah rolled her eyes and stomped her foot quietly. “Yes, Mom,” she huffed.

“Don’t ‘yes, Mom’ me. Bring yo’ butt here.” Ra’Keeyah turned around and walked into her mother’s room. “Are those my gold hoops in your ears?” she asked.

Now I know she didn’t call me in here to ask me about these earrings, Ra’Keeyah thought. “Yes, Mom, they are.”

“Stay outta my jewelry box. You got your own jewelry.” Ra’Keeyah’s mom looked her lovely daughter up and down from head to toe. It seemed like only yesterday when she’d held her beautiful baby girl in her arms. Now she was sixteen with a shape like a Coke bottle.

“What, Mommy?” Ra’Keeyah asked. “What you lookin’ at me like that for?”

Ra’Keeyah’s mom smiled. “I’m just lookin’ at how much you’ve grown up, that’s all. I can remember when you were a chubby little girl runnin’ around here eatin’ up everything in sight,” her mother laughed.

“I ain’t chubby no more,” Ra’Keeyah said, putting her hands on her hips.

Her mother’s demeanor became serious. “Ra’Keeyah, let me ask you a question.”

Here we go again, Ra’Keeyah thought. “No, Mommy, I’m not sexually active, if that’s what you gon’ ask me,” she lied again. Even though Ra’Keeyah had only been with two people, she didn’t have the heart to tell her mother, because she wouldn’t have understood.

“Well, I wonder how you got all them hips and ass, and I didn’t get no ass until I started havin’ sex,” her mother remarked.

“I was blessed with all this,” Ra’Keeyah said, turning around, striking a pose.

“Okay, blessed,” her mother laughed, throwing a pillow at her.

Ra’Keeyah dodged the pillow and laughed. Then she looked at her watch. “Okay, Mommy, I gotta go. I gotta meet Shayna and Quiana at the bus stop in fifteen minutes.”

“All right, but be back here by seven.”

Ra’Keeyah turned around and rolled her eyes as she walked out of her mother’s room.

“Aha, that’s why you gotta babysit me tonight,” Jaylen said, while walking toward his bedroom.

“That’s why I’ma beat yo’ ass when Mommy leave, now, aha that,” Ra’Keeyah whispered before walking down the stairs.

Jaylen made a U-turn and ran into his mother’s room. “Mommy, Key-Key said she gon’ beat me up when you leave.”

Ra’Keeyah smiled, shook her head, and continued down the stairs. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed the Us Weekly magazine and quickly flipped through the pages. Once she found the Macy’s ad, she ripped it out, folded it up, and stuck it in her back pocket as she walked out of the kitchen.

“Shit, I’m gettin’ these damn jeans,” Ra’Keeyah said, grabbing her red Coach bag off the sofa and heading out the front door.

“Damn, what’s takin’ the bus so long to get here?” Shayna asked, looking up and down the street as they waited on the bus to arrive.

Ra’Keeyah looked at her loud and impatient friend and shook her head. Shayna was Ra’Keeyah’s best friend and had been ever since second grade. Shayna was five feet five, and 144 pounds of pure feistiness. She sported a short haircut and had pretty almond-shaped eyes with a smooth mocha-colored skin complexion. She’d been told on numerous occasions she resembled Nia Long, but had an attitude like Naomi Campbell.

“I don’t know, but I wish it would hurry up,” Quiana added, putting her hands on her small waist. Quiana was the most laid-back of the three, but if anything jumped off, she didn’t mind getting down and dirty. Quiana was light-skinned with hazel eyes. She was an inch taller than Shayna, with long, silky hair that came to the middle of her back. Rumor had it her father was a Puerto Rican trick, and by the way Quiana acted and looked, the rumor could have been true.

The three girls stood at the bus stop chitchatting as a pack of motorcycles came riding down the street.

“Damn, look at all them niggas on motorcycles!” Shayna announced as if no one else could see them.

“Dang,” Ra’Keeyah said, shocked.

“Oh, that’s the Road Runners,” Quiana said, as if it was no big deal. “Them niggas get money and lots of it!” she stated. “They runnin’ the dope game around here.”

“Oh yea, I heard about them. That nigga, Brick, from New York, is the president or something,” Shayna said.

“I done heard about him, but I don’t know him,” Ra’Keeyah said. “I heard his money is longer than the George Washington Bridge.”

“I heard that ain’t the only thing he got long,” Quiana laughed.

“You nasty, hefah,” Shayna laughed too.

“That black-ass nigga is fine as hell,” Quiana smiled. “He got all these hood rats chasin’ after him.”

“Look at the pot callin’ the kettle black,” Ra’Keeyah smirked.

“Anyway,” Quiana cut her eyes and continued talking, “I would love to have that nigga in between these thighs.”

“You would love to have anybody in between them thighs,” Shayna joked.

“Ha-ha. If you wasn’t my cousin I would punch you in the eye,” Quiana joked back.

“Y’all crazy,” Ra’Keeyah laughed.

The three girls looked across the street as the pack of men and women parked their bikes in front of Mr. Wilson’s corner store. The store was the hangout for all the big-time ballas, depending on what side of town they were from. Mr. Wilson sold liquor, soul food, drugs, weave, and anything else you could think of in his store. Ra’Keeyah watched as some light-skinned girl with a butt much bigger than hers got off the back of a black and red bike that she adored.

“That bike is nice as hell!” Ra’Keeyah exclaimed. A rush of excitement swept over her because she had always been fascinated with motorcycles ever since she was a little girl. Her father used to always ride her on the back of his until he’d sold it for a few packs of smack. Ra’Keeyah wanted to know who the owner of that motorcycle was, because whoever it was had taste—good taste at that.

“It is,” Shayna and Quiana agreed.

“That’s the brand-new BMW S100RR,” Ra’Keeyah stated, knowing her brand of bikes.

Shayna and Quiana both shot her a crazy look. “I have never met a chick that loves old-school music and motorcycles more than you,” Shayna laughed.

The mystery man waited for his pick of the week to get off the back of his bike before he got off himself. He pulled his helmet off, attempting to press the wrinkles out of his Red Monkey jeans before looking over at the three girls standing at the bus stop and smiled.

“Damn,” the three girls said in unison.

“That’s him, y’all,” Quiana said happily.

“Him who?” Shayna asked, still mesmerized by the sexy dark chocolate hunk that shot a smile their way.

“Brick. The nigga we was just talkin’ about,” Quiana said, excited.

“Oh, that’s the nigga that got these bitches going buck-wild over him. Shit, I see why. Homey is fine as hell!” Shayna replied with a smile.

“He sure is,” Ra’Keeyah added as the bus pulled up. The three girls boarded, put their money in the change collector, and walked to the back of the bus. The entire ride to the mall Shayna and Quiana rambled on about what they wanted to wear to the basketball game the following Friday, while thoughts of riding on the back of Brick’s motorcycle danced around in Ra’Keeyah’s head.

“Okay, now we all know what we want,” Quiana said as they sat in the food court preparing for what was about to go down. “So we need two size nines and a size seven.”

“I wear a five, now,” Ra’Keeyah corrected her.

“Dang, you still on a diet, LisaRaye,” Shayna joked.

“I’m not on no damn diet. I’ve just been watchin’ what I eat,” Ra’Keeyah laughed. “And would you stop callin’ me LisaRaye, ’cuz I don’t look nothin’ like her.”

“She sure don’t,” Quiana said, rolling her eyes.

“Yes, she do,” Shayna disagreed with them both.

“Jealousy is not a good look for you,” Ra’Keeyah replied to Quiana.

“Anyway, you know I gotta keep my bedroom body together,” Ra’Keeyah laughed.

“I don’t know what for. It ain’t like you gon’ let nobody see it,” Shayna laughed.

Ra’Keeyah laughed as well. “That’s okay. Just know when I do decide to let a nigga see all this again,” she said pointing to her body, “they will be pleased with what they see.”

Quiana rolled her eyes again. “And again, anyway. So we gon’ need two size nines, a size five, two large shirts and a small shirt,” Quiana stated.

A strange feeling swept over Ra’Keeyah. “Y’all know what? I don’t think we should do this today. I just got this funny feelin’ all of a sudden.”

“Aww, man, stop actin’ like a scary bitch,” Quiana spat angrily.

“They was watchin’ us kinda’ tough when we was in there pickin’ the shit out,” Shayna added. She’d felt the same as Ra’Keeyah but had kept her thoughts to herself. “So maybe we shouldn’t get nothin’ today.”

“Damn, man, you lettin’ Ra’Keeyah’s scary ass rub off on you. We going in there and get them clothes. I need somethin’ to wear to the game Friday and that’s that,” Quiana stated angrily.

“I’ll tell you what. Y’all gon’ and get y’all shit. I’m not goin’,” Ra’Keeyah stated firmly.

“Come on, girl, you know we gotta be fly for the game Friday. This is the biggest game of the year,” Quiana said, trying to persuade Ra’Keeyah.

“That is true,” Shayna agreed.

Just as Ra’Keeyah was about to give in to the pressure her friends were putting on her, she recalled the conversation she’d held with her mom right before she’d left the house. If Ra’Keeyah didn’t know anything else, she knew her mother wasn’t playing about not coming to get her out of jail.

“I’m cool, y’all. I’ll just wear somethin’ outta my closet or come back tomorrow. I just got a bad feelin’ about today. Me and my mom just had a conversation about me stealin’ right before I left the house,” Ra’Keeyah said.

“Suit yourself then,” Quiana said as she stood up from the table. “And don’t think I’m gettin’ yo’ scary ass nothin’ either.” Quiana threw the big purse on her shoulder and waited for Shayna to follow suit.

“I didn’t ask you to get me nothin’, Quiana. I’m straight,” Ra’Keeyah said, irritated with the entire conversation.

Shayna looked at Ra’Keeyah with begging eyes. Ra’Keeyah shrugged her shoulders at her best friend. “I’m sorry, but I can’t,” she said to Shayna. “I gotta follow my gut on this one.”

“Come on, Shayna,” Quiana said. “I got a couple of other stores I wanna go in too.”

Shayna looked at Ra’Keeyah again before getting up from the table and following her cousin. She looked back at her best friend one last time, hoping she would change her mind before disappearing into the crowd.

Ra’Keeyah looked at her watch and waited a few minutes before getting up from the table. She had half an hour before the next bus would arrive so she decided to walk around the mall and do a little more wishful window-shopping.

Ra’Keeyah walked into Lady Foot Locker and picked up a pair of a hundred-and-twenty-dollar sneakers. She wanted them bad, but knew she couldn’t afford them, and she knew good and well her mother wouldn’t dare spend that type of money on one pair of shoes. “Maybe I can have Shayna get ’em for me next time she takes us on a shoppin’ spree,” she said as she placed them back on the rack.

As Ra’Keeyah made her way to the bus stop, she pulled out her cell phone wanting to call and check on Shayna. She could have cared less about Quiana. They really weren’t friends in the first place. She tolerated her because she was Shayna’s cousin.

Ra’Keeyah called Shayna’s cell phone two times back to back and each time it went to voice mail. She started to worry, but then it dawned on her that every time they were out stealing, Shayna would turn her phone off. She didn’t want any type of distractions while they were doing their thing.

“Oh well, I’ll call her later,” Ra’Keeyah said as the number five pulled up.

Ra’Keeyah boarded the bus and took a seat in the back. She shut her eyes and said a quick prayer for Shayna. Even though Quiana got on her last nerve, she asked for protection for her as well.

Once the bus stopped, Ra’Keeyah got off and looked over at Mr. Wilson’s corner store wishing she was the one getting off the back of Brick’s bike, instead of the other chick. She smiled and continued on her way home. Ra’Keeyah knew that even if Brick had any speck of interest in her, they would never work. Her mother wouldn’t dare approve of her dating an older man, especially one that sold drugs. She walked up on the porch, and her mother snatched the door open. The look on her face told Ra’Keeyah that it wasn’t anything good.

“Where the hell have you been?” her mother snapped.

Ra’Keeyah walked in and looked at the clock on the wall that read 6:22 P.M. “What? You told me to be back before seven so I’m thirty-eight minutes early,” she said, confused.

“I gotta call from Shayna’s mom, and she told me she was on her way out to the mall ’cuz her and Quiana got caught stealin’! And didn’t you tell me you was goin’ to the mall with them?”

Oh shit, I told them bitches today was not a good day, Ra’Keeyah thought. “I did go to the mall with them, Momma, but I wasn’t stealin’ nothin’. I left them and came home early ’cuz you told me to be home by seven,” Ra’Keeyah lied.

“So you mean to tell me that you didn’t know what they were out there doin’?” her mother asked skeptically.

“No, Momma, I told you I left. I didn’t know they were stealin’,” she lied again, while walking past her mother to go into the kitchen to get herself something to drink. Ra’Keeyah opened up the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water.

“Well, you better be glad you wasn’t out there stealin’, ’cuz I just told yo’ ass before you left this house that I wasn’t comin’ to get you outta jail,” her mother said, following her into the kitchen.

“I don’t steal.” Ra’Keeyah was on a roll with the lies that were coming out of her mouth. “And I told you that earlier,” she said, walking out of the kitchen and heading up the stairs.

“I done told you before I didn’t want you to hang with them fast-ass girls. Somethin’ told me y’all be out to that mall up to no good,” her mother fussed as she followed her up the stairs.

Ra’Keeyah walked into her bedroom and sat on her bed while her mother stood in her doorway and continued to fuss. “I don’t be out to the mall doin’ nothin’. If I was, don’t you think I woulda’ been with them when they got caught stealin’?” Ra’Keeyah asked, before taking a sip of her water.

Her mother thought for a brief moment. “I’m not lettin’ yo’ ass off the hook. I don’t care what you say, you knew they was out there stealin’!”

Ohhh, she gets on my nerves, Ra’Keeyah thought. Why don’t she just gon’ and get ready for work? “All right, Momma,” Ra’Keeyah said, blowing her off.

“All right, my ass. Now you might not be out there stealin’, but yo’ ass can go to jail too for bein’ with them while they’re doin’ it.”

“All right, Momma,” Ra’Keeyah said again, not in any mood to argue with her mother. Her thoughts were on what was going to happen to Shayna.

“I refuse to let you turn out like them, Ra’Keeyah,” her mother said as she turned to walk into her own bedroom. “All we do is window-shop,” her mother said, mocking Ra’Keeyah’s words.

If you only knew that I’m already like them, she wanted to say but didn’t have enough nerve. Ra’Keeyah waited a few seconds before slamming her bedroom door shut.

“Don’t be slammin’ no damn doors up in here. You don’t pay no bills,” her mother yelled.

“Shut up!” Ra’Keeyah said quietly. She walked over to her dresser and grabbed a T-shirt and a pair of sweats and changed into them. She could still hear her mother fussing as she got ready for work. “Damn, I can’t wait until she leaves!”

“Did you hear me, Key-Key?” her mother yelled.

“No, what you say?” Ra’Keeyah grimaced.

Ra’Keeyah’s mother opened up her room door and stuck her head in. “I said dinner is in the oven. Make sure Jay-Jay eat!”

“All right,” she responded before her mother turned to walk away. Ra’Keeyah grabbed her iPod Touch off the nightstand and put her headphones on not wanting to hear anything else her mother had to say. She turned to one of her favorite old-school songs by Kwamé. “Only yoooooou can make me feel the way that I dooooo,” Ra’Keeyah sang loudly, as her mother walked into her bedroom.

“I’m leavin’,” she looked at her daughter and said.

“Huh?” Ra’Keeyah answered, never taking the headphones off.

“If you take them damn headphones off you can hear me!” her mother yelled.

Ra’Keeyah still didn’t know what her mother had said, but in order to keep her from slapping the headphones off her head, Ra’Keeyah took them off voluntarily. “I couldn’t hear you.”

“I said, I’m leavin’. Go downstairs and fix your brother a plate.”

“All right,” Ra’Keeyah answered.

Her mother walked over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “See you in the mornin’.”

“See ya,” Ra’Keeyah replied and hurried past her mother and went downstairs to fix her brother a plate of food. “Jay-Jay, come and eat,” Ra’Keeyah hollered upstairs to her brother.

“Bye, Mommy,” Ra’Keeyah heard her brother say. Ra’Keeyah turned the television to Sponge Bob, poured her brother a glass of Kool-Aid, and rushed back up to her room. She knew that the cartoons would keep her brother busy while she relaxed her mind. She waited a few minutes after she heard her mother’s car start up before pulling her weed stash from under her bed.

She tore the wrapper off the Swisher Sweet and put it up to her nose. “Ummmm,” she said, as she picked up the razor and cut it down the middle. She quickly ran to the bathroom and poured its contents down the toilet and flushed it. She waited a few seconds to make sure she didn’t leave any evidence behind.

“Are you finished eatin’, Jaylen?” she yelled down to her brother.

“Nooooo,” he replied.

Ra’Keeyah knew her brother’s plate was probably still full, so she had plenty of time to smoke her blunt. She went back into her room and shut the door. She picked up the nickel bag that Shayna had swiped from her mom’s boyfriend and put it up to her nose. “This some fire!” she said excited. She then opened up the little bag and poured the weed into the Swisher. She licked the Swisher and wrapped it to perfection.

As soon as Ra’Keeyah was about to light the blunt, her cell phone rang. “Shit,” she snapped before laying the blunt down on her bed. She calmed down when she saw that it was Shayna.

“Hello?” she quickly answered.

“Bitch, I shoulda’ listened to you,” she said as soon as Ra’Keeyah answered the phone. “But nooo, I had to listen to my dumb-ass cousin. I see why you don’t care too much for her. She just stupid, and I was stupid for followin’ her stupid ass,” Shayna fussed.

“I don’t wanna say it but—” Ra’Keeyah started.

“Well, don’t,” Shayna said, cutting her best friend off.

Ra’Keeyah laughed. “Well, what did they do to y’all?” she asked while pressing the wrinkles out of one of her many motorcycle posters that she had hanging on her bedroom wall as Shayna continued to ramble on.

“Bitch, that is not funny. They called the police and my ignorant-ass mom. She came out there yellin’ and cussin’ like a damn fool! I wanted to ask her when did she start carin’ about what I do, but I didn’t, because I didn’t want her to let them take me to jail,” Shayna laughed. “Thank God they didn’t press charges.”

“Yea, that’s good.”

“But they said we can’t ever come back into their store.”

“Ever?”

“Never, ever,” Shayna responded with a laugh.

“Damn, well, I guess you won’t be gettin’ that outfit for the game Friday,” Ra’Keeyah teased.

“Shit, bitch, I gotta have that outfit. I’ma ’bout to put one of my D. . .