Diamonds and Pearl (7 page)

Pearl's ass had barely touched the seat before other girls started drifting over, inquiring about this or that. Depending on who they were and what they wanted, Pearl approved or denied their requests. Ruby collected the money while the stragglers were assigned to retrieve whatever was needed. She had learned from her father that bosses never touched product, so if the shit ever hit the fan, she and her inner circle's hands were always clean.

Pearl was just about to send one of the stragglers to fill their lunch orders when she was approached by a girl named Drea. She and Drea weren't necessarily friends, but they'd done business in the past. Drea was one of the smartest girls in the school, and for a few dollars, she would knock out class projects for you.

“Hey, Pearl.” Drea took a seat on the bench, which got her a stink look from Marisa, as she hadn't been invited to sit.

“Sup, ma?” Pearl replied.

“So listen, I know it's about that time of year again, so me and a few of my girls wanted to know what's going on with your annual birthday party?” Drea asked.

“I don't know if I'm having one this year,” Pearl told her.

Drea frowned. “C'mon, Pearl. Don't be like that. Every year you have a dope party, and every year I get snubbed. I need to be in there this year.”

“Even if she does have one, it'll be invite only,” Ruby said, adding her two cents.

“Hush, white girl. I wasn't talking to you,” Drea told her. She meant it as a joke, trying to act like she belonged with their group, but it caused an awkward moment.

“Drea, I know I don't have to tell you that dissing my homegirl is one of the quickest ways to get you touched. You don't really know her to be playing like that,” Pearl said seriously.

“My bad, Pearl. I didn't mean anything by it. So like I was saying, how can I go about getting an invitation for me and a few of my friends? We don't mind paying if we have to,” Drea said, hoping to sweeten the pot.

“Drea, you know I ain't pressed for no cash, but I respect the fact that you even offered. Most bitches want shit for free. Tell you what: I don't know your friends to have them up in my shit, but since me and you got history, if I do happen to have a party, I'll consider you for an invitation. But in exchange, I'm going to need you to knock out this class assignment for me. I'm supposed to do a report on
To Kill a Mockingbird
over spring break, but a bitch got better shit to do than to be all up in some book when I'm supposed to be chilling. Hook me up and you're in, but I don't know about your friends.”

“I don't mind doing the project for you, Pearl, but I think it'd be kind of foul if I left my girls out. There's only three of us. Don't you think you could look out this one time?” Drea asked.

“Nope, take it or leave it,” Pearl said flatly.

Drea weighed it. “Damn, I really wanna come, but I can't do them like that. Thanks anyway, Pearl.” She stood to leave, but Pearl motioned for her to stay.

“Loyalty is a rare trait in people these days, Drea, and I admire the fact that you ain't willing to shit on your friends.
If
by chance I happen to have a party, you and your friends can come, but since it's more than just you, I'm going to need more than one class assignment done. From now until the end of the year, you will be on retainer for me and my whole crew. Whenever we get an assignment we don't wanna do, you'll knock it out.”

Drea frowned. “Pearl, between my own schoolwork and what I take on from you guys, I won't have any type of social life. Let's be reasonable about this.”

“First of all, you don't have a social life to begin with, so stop it, Drea. And second, I am being reasonable. It's like you said: my parties are always over-the-top and you always get snubbed. This is your opportunity to stop being on the outside looking in. Think about how jealous the rest of the chicks in this school are gonna be when they find out that you got in and they didn't. It'll send your credibility through the roof.”

Drea knew Pearl was getting over on her, but she desperately wanted to go to the party and finally feel like one of the in crowd. “Deal.” She shook Pearl's hand to seal it.

“You ain't shit, Pearl,” Ruby said, and snickered when Drea had gone.

“You might be right about that, Ruby, but I just guaranteed your remedial ass will make it out of high school,” Pearl teased her.

The girls continued to chat and crack jokes while they waited on the stragglers to come back with their lunches.

“Peep game.” Marisa nudged Pearl under the table.

Three tables over, Kate sat with her ragtag bunch, who were all staring venomously at Pearl and her friends. Kate was a pretty blond white girl who came from a wealthy family and acted like she owned the world, much like Pearl did. The two had so much in common that some found it strange that they were bitter rivals instead of friends. Both Pearl and Kate believed there was only enough room in the pride for one lioness. Kate was so engrossed in the game of cards she was playing that she didn't notice Pearl until one of her cronies nudged her and nodded in Pearl's direction. Kate gave her a dirty look and then went back to her card game.

“Bitch,” Pearl mumbled, and gave Kate her back.

A few minutes into the period they were joined by their fourth member. Sheila was dark-skinned, with short hair, thick lips, and a button nose. She wasn't an ugly girl, but hardly anything to write home about, especially when measured against Pearl. Whereas Pearl was naturally beautiful, Sheila needed a bit of help from time to time, which is why her gear was always on point and she had damn near professional skills at applying makeup. What Sheila lacked in looks she more than made up for in body. She was only slightly older than the other girls but already had the body of a woman in the full bloom of her life.

Like Ruby, Sheila was also the child of immigrant parents who had had to pull themselves up by their bootstraps to provide a better life for their family. They had come to the United States from Haiti, her father finding work as a janitor, her mother as a schoolteacher. They pumped every dime they made into providing their children with top-flight educations. Sheila was the oldest, so they were harder on her than her siblings. They heaped an almost unfair amount of pressure on her to excel in school and set what they thought was a proper example for her brothers and sister, but it had an adverse effect. Sheila coped with the strain of being the reluctant savior of her family by embracing her inner alcoholic. All the girls in the clique enjoyed an occasional sip to get a good buzz, but Sheila drank to get drunk. It wasn't unusual to smell the faintest hints of vodka coming out of her pores in the middle of a school day.

“Why are those hos looking over here like they got problems or something?” Sheila asked once she was seated. Kate and her friends still were staring at Pearl and her crew, whispering and snickering.

Marisa sucked her teeth. “Them chicks is
soft
with a capital
T
.”

“Don't pay them no mind.” Pearl waved them off. “Now that we've got a fourth, we can get a proper game of spades going. Ruby, did you bring the cards?”

“You know I did.” Ruby pulled out a fresh pack of Bicycle cards. She handed the cards to Pearl, who began to shuffle them. They were halfway into the second hand when Pearl felt someone lingering behind her. She peered over her shoulder to see Kate and a girl she only knew by face and not name hovering over her.

“I've got next,” Kate said. It was more of a statement than a request.

“Sorry, private game.” Pearl turned her attention back to the card game.

“How you gonna have a
private
game in a
public
cafeteria?” Kate challenged.

“What I think she meant is,
no,
you can't play,” Ruby capped sarcastically.

“I wasn't talking to you, Oreo,” Kate snapped. “Like I said”—she turned back to Pearl—“I got next.”

“Pwoblèm?”
Sheila asked, reverting to her native tongue. She had worked for many years to drop her accent, but it tended to peek out when she was upset or drunk. Judging by the glassy look in her eyes, she was probably a bit of both.

“This is America, where we speak English.” Kate's friend gave Sheila a disapproving look. She was a short, fat white girl who wore her hair in a bob.

“Well, this is the North Cafeteria, where we whip bitches out for popping shit,” Marisa chimed in.

“What, am I supposed to be afraid of you because they say you cut a girl's face in your last school?” The girl puffed up.

“No,” Sheila answered for her. She rose to her feet, cracking her knuckles. “You should be afraid of her because she has a best friend who will gladly smash you the fuck out if you keep wolfin'.” All the girls were capable of defending themselves, but Sheila was the resident bruiser. They'd seen her knock boys out with her powerful mitts.

Kate knew this about Sheila, but her friend didn't, so Kate interceded before things got out of control. “No, Sheila, I don't have a problem with you. What I do have a problem with is hood bitches walking through my lunch room, sending me dirty looks.” She looked at Pearl.

The gauntlet had been laid. The tensions that had been building between the two crews were finally coming to a head, and though no one in the cafeteria came over, all eyes turned to the confrontation.

Kate had been running the social circle in school since she was a sophomore, and if she'd had it her way, she'd have continued running it until she graduated. But Pearl's ever-growing popularity had started to threaten her position during senior year. It was like a presidential race to see who could garner the most votes by June. Kate had worked too hard and her family's money ran too deep for her to accept being prematurely unseated by a girl from the ghetto.

Pearl calmly placed her cards facedown on the table and stood. She was an inch or two taller than Kate, and could see the brown roots spilling out into bleached strands on the top of her head. “You might've happened to fall into my line of view, but as far as looking at you”—she gave her the once-over—“I seriously doubt it. You ain't nowhere on my radar, ma.”

Laughter erupted from the girls who had tried to act like they weren't paying attention to the Pearl and Kate's exchange. Kate's face reddened from embarrassment. “I am so sick of your shit, Pearl. You act like I should respect you because your father is a gangster!”

Pearl laughed. “Silly little girl, my father ain't got nothing to do with why muthafuckas recognize. They respect me because I demand nothing less.”

“Fucking bitch,” Kate's friend mumbled.

“That's
Queen
Bitch to you, chubby,” Pearl shot back. By now everyone was standing. Marisa, Sheila, and even Ruby stood at Pearl's flank, ready to pop off, while Kate's friends stood at her back. It was about to go down.

“I know y'all know better than to start shit in my cafeteria.” Jones walked up and stood between the girls. She was tugging on a pair of black leather gloves and wearing a look that dared either one of them to buck.

Kate continued to glare at Pearl, contemplating whether to swing or not. If they'd had numbers on their side, she might've gone for it, but their ranks were near even. She wasn't afraid of Pearl, but she wasn't exactly thrilled at the prospect of fighting her either. Kate could scrap, but she didn't have the advantage of the combat training Pearl had probably had growing up in the hood. Besides, she knew Pearl had the security guards in her back pocket and that most of the blame would be heaped on her if they scuffled. The last thing she wanted was a suspension marring her near perfect academic record so close to graduation. Reluctantly, she backed away. “See you soon, Pearl,” she promised.

“Bitch, you know where to find me anytime you feel like you want it,” Pearl boasted.

“That's enough, Pearl,” Jones said. She and Pearl were cool, but not cool enough for Pearl to cause trouble on Jones's watch. “And, the rest of you, get back to your lunches or your next classes. The show is over!” she barked at the gawking students, making her way back to her post.

“I've never met such a big hater,” Sheila said, once they were all seated again. She was looking over at Kate, who was shooting daggers at their table.

“For a minute I thought she was going to actually get up the courage to take a swing at you,” Marisa said.

“Nah, you know that punk bitch ain't trying to get into nothing on school grounds. The only reason she was talking shit was because she knew security would break it up before it got out of hand,” Pearl said.

“You think she's gonna try something after school?” Ruby asked.

“If she's smart, no. If she's dumb, then she'll come looking for this ass-whipping.”

Sheila sucked her teeth. “Fuck that white cunt—no offense, Ruby. I got something better for us to talk about. I know where there's a party going on tonight if y'all are down to roll?”

“I dunno. You know how my parents get.” Ruby said.

Sheila sucked her teeth. “But there's no school tomorrow. Why would they trip? Don't be a wet blanket, Ruby. I'm talking about a party, with real liquor, real music, and real niggas.”

“You don't even have to say any more. You had me at party,” Marisa said. “I'm down to roll. Whose party is it?”

“This Jamaican nigga I know named Boom put me up on it. It's his man's birthday, so they're doing something for him uptown at that little spot on One Hundred and Forty-Fifth and Lenox.”

“Isn't that a bar?” Ruby asked.

“Of course it is, silly white girl,” Sheila teased her. “We ain't gotta worry about them asking for ID, 'cause we're rolling in with Boom and his peoples.”

“Ah shit, I'm bout to get my swerve on.” Marisa danced in her seat. “Pearl, I know you rolling with us?”