Fair-Weather Friends (11 page)

“Angel, can I holla at you for a minute,” I said, stopping her as she approached me.

Before she could respond, Christina stepped in front of her again.

“What do you need to holla at her about?” she said.

I put on a confused look. “I'm sorry. I thought I said,
Angel
, can I holla at you.”

Christina wiggled her neck as she stepped in my face. “Well, Angel don't wanna holla at you.
Comprende?
”

I suddenly wished Jasmine was around. Christina was at least five feet, eight inches—a good five inches taller than me. But even though I may have been a little scared, I wasn't going to let her punk me, especially not in front of the nosey crowd of people that had started to gather around us.

“No, I don't ‘
comprende,
' ” I replied. “This is between me and Angel.”

“Well, Angel's business is now my business,” Christina said defiantly.

I was just about to say something else when Tori, Raquelle, and Alisha walked up. “What's going on, Camille?” Tori asked, eyeing Christina and Angel. “Is there a problem?”

“It's only a problem if you're about to make one,” Christina replied as she stared back at Tori.

The last thing I wanted was to get into it with Christina and her friends. And I dang sure didn't want the Thetas getting into any trouble over this. I just wanted to talk to Angel.

“Naw, Tori, I'm straight. I was just trying to talk to Angel, that's all.”

Christina laughed as she turned toward one of her friends and said,
“Ella necesita hablar a esa muchacha negra acerca de que alzó teje.”

I had no idea what she said, but the way they were looking at Tori and laughing, it had to have been about her. Tori must've sensed it, too, because she stepped closer to Christina.

“What did you just say?”

Christina just kept laughing.

“She said something about a negra,” said Alisha.

“Are you calling me names?” Tori said, balling up her fists. I didn't take her for the fighting type, but I knew she wouldn't let Christina punk her.

Raquelle commented, “She said that Camille needed to
be talking to, and I quote, that black wench about her jacked-up weave.” She cocked her head and stared at Christina. “You're not the only one who can speak Spanish.”

The smile left Christina's face. “
And?
I don't care if she knows what I said.”

I knew I needed to do something or things were about to get straight-up ugly in here. “Y'all, chill. This is between me and Angel.” I looked at Angel, who had been silent this whole time. “Can we please go somewhere and talk?”

Angel looked at Christina, then at Tori, before turning her attention back to me. “You know, Camille, Christina is right. There's really nothing for us to talk about. You guys have made it clear where I stand, so I don't think we have anything to say to each other.”

I stared at her in disbelief. I couldn't believe that we'd come to this. “Angel, this is crazy. We're best friends.”

Christina glared at me. “You
were
best friends. But I guess becoming a Theta made your true colors show. Angel can now see you for the racist that you are.”

“I'm not racist,” I protested. “Angel, you know that.”

Christina rolled her eyes as she pointed toward Tori and the other Thetas. “Birds of a feather.” She turned and walked away with Angel right behind her.

“Oh, and Miss Thang,” Christina said, stopping and turning back toward Tori, “this ain't over. Believe that.”

She laughed as she walked off and I couldn't help but get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

J
asmine stared at me like I was stuck on stupid or something. “Come on, Camille, can you really blame Angel for hanging out with Christina and her friends? I mean, what your little stuck-up sorority sisters did was low down. Even you have to admit that.”

I sighed. I was still trippin' over Angel's funky attitude. I tried to tell myself she was just mad right now as I stuffed another mozzarella stick into my mouth. We were hanging out at T.G.I. Fridays, along with a ton of other young people.

Me, Jasmine, and Alexis were sitting in a booth sipping on virgin strawberry daiquiris and eating appetizers. It felt good for us all to be hanging out again. The only thing that would've made this just like old times was if Angel had been there.

But that wasn't happening. And it looked more and more like it wouldn't happen ever again.

“I wish you would quit saying that. The Thetas are not stuck up.” That's all I could seem to come up with. I didn't have a defense to their reasons behind rejecting Angel. I cut my eyes at Jasmine. “And you forget, we're Thetas now,” I said, pointing to Alexis. “So if you talk about them, then you talk about us.”

“Then I'm talking about you,” Jasmine pointedly said. She was really about to make me mad. Her not liking Tori was one thing but this bashing the Thetas was getting real old. I was just about to tell her that when Alexis pulled my arm.

“Look, there are some AKAs and Deltas,” she said, pointing to a large group of women being seated at a long table across from us. They all wore pink-and-green or red-and-white T-shirts.

“Oooh, wow,” Jasmine sarcastically said. “I guess that's your next goal in life, to become college sorority girls. Way to strive for what really matters.”

“I wonder what they're doing hanging out together. I thought AKAs and Deltas didn't like each other,” Alexis continued, totally ignoring Jasmine's sarcastic remarks.

“Alexis, you are so naïve. You watch way too many movies,” I told her. “Don't believe everything you hear.”

At that moment one of the AKAs spotted us looking at their table and waved like she knew us.

“Oh my goodness, that's Crystal waving at us,” Alexis excitedly said.

“Who?” I asked.

“She used to go to my school. She was my senior mentor when I was a freshman,” she explained. “Let's go talk to her.”

Jasmine frowned up. “Don't even look at me.” She stuffed another cheesestick in her mouth. “I don't feel like jockin' nobody today.”

Alexis pulled me up from my chair before I had a chance to protest. I was a little skeptical myself about going up to a bunch of strange women asking them dumb questions in the middle of a crowded restaurant, but Alexis seemed determined to talk to them.

“Hey Crystal. Do you remember me? We went to high school together,” Alexis babbled.

“Alexis, right?” Crystal replied.

“Yes, and this is my friend Camille. What are you doing here? I thought you were off at college somewhere.”

“I am,” Crystal replied. “I'm a sophomore at Prairie View A&M. We're just here for the weekend, hanging out.”

“Excuse me,” one of the women at the table, a Delta, interrupted, “but what is a Theta Lady?” She pointed to our jackets.

“Oh, it's the sorority at our high school,” I said proudly.

“Oh, that's so cute,” another one of them, an AKA, replied. “We didn't have sororities when I was in high school. I had to wait until I got to college.”

“So how do you like being in a sorority?” the Delta asked us.

“Well, to be honest,” I said, glancing back at our table where Jasmine was sitting, looking more than a little agitated that we left her alone, “it's been great so far, but not everyone is as happy about it as we are.”

The girls at the table started to giggle and gave us a “we know how you feel” look. “Girl, get used to that. There are a lot of haters in this world who don't want to see you succeed,” Crystal told us. “I take it your friend over there isn't a member?”

“Naw,” I said. “Jasmine started out with us, but she quit because they were making her do some really stupid stuff and picking on her.” I really did feel bad for Jasmine. I know she tries to act all hard, but deep down, she really wanted to be liked and accepted.

“Good for her,” another Delta replied. “I can't believe hazing has made it all the way down to the high schools. It's just stupid. Y'all do know that's not what being a part of a sorority is all about, don't you?”

Alexis and I both looked at each other. “Well, yeah, we know there are other things, community service and stuff,” I said. “But what else were we supposed to do? We didn't want to get kicked out before we even made it,” I added defensively. I was beginning to feel a little dejected after talking to them. And a little angry with Alexis for dragging me over here.

“I thought being in a sorority would be fun,” Alexis added. “But it's causing all kinds of problems, especially because another one of our friends didn't make it either, and we think it's because she's Hispanic. Now she's barely even speaking to us.”

I didn't understand why Alexis was telling them all of our business but before I could shoot her a look telling her to chill, Jasmine cleared her throat loudly from our table. I guess that was her way of signaling to us that it was time for us to cut the conversation short.

“Well, ladies, they just brought our food so I guess we should get back to our table,” I said.

I was about to turn and walk off when Alexis quickly spoke. “Crystal, I know this may be a lot to ask, but we also belong to a youth group called the Good Girlz at Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church. I was wondering if you and some of your friends wouldn't mind coming to one of our meetings to talk to us and maybe answer some questions about sorority life. Maybe that will help ease some of the problems between us. I mean, we'd have to make sure it was okay with Miss Rachel, our sponsor, but I'm sure she won't mind at all.”

Crystal smiled at us and replied, “I think that's a good idea. I know some of my sorors and other Greek members would love to come talk to your group.” All the other women at the table nodded in agreement. “The majority of what all sororities do, not just AKAs and Deltas, is community
service. Mentoring young girls is one of our projects, so that works perfect for us.”

Alexis excitedly pulled out her iPhone. “Great!” she said. “If you give me your number, I'll have Miss Rachel call you to set it all up.”

Crystal programmed her number into Alexis's phone and we went back to our table. I just knew Jasmine was going to have something smart to say. I was right. Before we could even sit down good, she started in.

“Y'all know you wrong for leaving me sitting at the table, looking like I'm out to eat by myself. But I'ma let y'all slide. This time. And only because Alexis is paying for dinner.” She dug into her chicken fingers.

“I am?” Alexis said.

“This was your idea,” Jasmine said. “You know I don't have no money.”

“I guess I am then.” Alexis smiled.

Jasmine took another sip of her drink, then said, “I guess you feel better now since you talked to those uppity sorority girls.”

“For your information, they were not uppity,” I said. “They were very down-to-earth and very helpful. As a matter of fact, Alexis invited them to come to one of our Good Girlz meetings to speak and they agreed.”

“Good grief,” Jasmine complained. “It's bad enough I have to deal with this mess at school, but now I have to deal with it at the Good Girlz meetings? When will this
nonsense ever end? Let me know when they're coming so I can make sure I stay home that night.”

I shook my head in frustration. I knew Jasmine was serious, just like I knew getting Angel there was going to be a task in itself. Honestly, I didn't know what good the sorority members would do by coming to a meeting, but I figured we had to do something to make everything right again. And this was going to be the first step.

W
ill things ever be the same again?
That's the thought that swirled through my mind as I lay in bed. Thankfully, everyone in my family was gone and I had the house to myself for a change so I was able to enjoy some peace and quiet. But now the silence had my mind running rampant. I couldn't help but think about what was happening with my circle of friends.

Even though we'd hung out last night, tonight Camille and Alexis were off somewhere doing Theta stuff and Angel had a new group of friends. Our community service project was coming up and that should definitely give us a chance to bond, but I missed the four of us just hanging out and doing stuff together. Shoot, I even missed Tameka, who was now Tori's flunky. And now with this big black/Hispanic division, the chances of us all hanging out together were looking slimmer and slimmer.

“Maybe Miss Rachel can give me some advice,” I mumbled,
picking up the phone to call her. I punched in her cell phone number and was grateful when she answered on the second ring.

“Hi, Miss Rachel, it's Jasmine. I hope it's not too late to be calling. I really need to talk to you about something,” I said.

“You know it's never too late for my girls,” Rachel replied. “Just hold on a moment.” I heard some shuffling, then she yelled, “Jordan, I'm going to tell you one last time, turn off that video game and go to bed before I beat your behind!”

I chuckled at Miss Rachel, who reminded me of my own mother with her no-nonsense approach to discipline. The only difference was, I could talk to Miss Rachel about anything—something I definitely couldn't do with my mother.

“So, what's the problem, Jasmine?” Rachel asked when she returned to the phone.

I sighed heavily, trying to figure out where to begin. “I'm having some serious issues with the other members of the group and I'm not sure what to do about it. Camille, Alexis, and Tameka are all wrapped up in the Theta Ladies and Angel has started hanging with a new group of girls at school,” I explained. “Ever since Angel found out the real reason she didn't make it into that stupid sorority, nothing has been the same.”