Fair-Weather Friends (2 page)

“Look how they're strutting around like they're all that.” Jasmine's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

I grinned as I watched the Thetas walk down the aisle.
Everyone was stopping them and giving them props. “They are all that,” I said, my voice full of admiration.

“Really, they're not,” Jasmine snarled.

I blew her off because Jasmine was my girl, funky attitude and all. Miss Rachel had made Jasmine join the Good Girlz after breaking up a fight between her and this boy named Dedrick. At six feet tall, Jasmine wasn't anybody you wanted to mess with. Just ask Dedrick. She had beat him like he stole something just because he was teasing her.

Jasmine has actually toned down some of her mean ways over the last year and a half. Although you'd never know it by the way she was sitting over there with her nose all turned up.

“I didn't know they even had sororities in high school,” Alexis said.

Alexis was the rich girl of the group. Her dad is some big-time businessman, and her family has beaucoup money. She resembled Beyoncé (and she didn't hesitate to let you know it) and was always dressed in the tightest clothes, looking like she had just stepped off the cover of a magazine. But she's so cool that her bourgie ways don't bother me. Most of the time anyway.

I turned my attention back to Alexis, since she was just as hyped as I was.

“Yeah, lots of high schools have sororities,” I said.

“Have you ever thought about joining?” the fourth
member of our group, Angel, leaned in and asked. She'd been so quiet I'd almost forgotten she was there. But that was Angel's nature. She was the sweet, quiet one of the group. Getting pregnant at fifteen had made her grow up pretty fast, especially because her baby's daddy was this triflin' boy named Marcus, who didn't even claim their daughter, Angelica. I loved Angel, and her daughter was so adorable, but I wouldn't trade places with her for anything in the world.

“I think it would be cool to be a Theta,” Alexis said wistfully. “But they don't have them at my school.”

Alexis was the only one of us that didn't go to Madison High School. She went to a private school called St. Pius on the other side of town.

“I told you about that new rule the school district has that lets students participate in extracurricular activities at another school if your school doesn't offer it,” I said. “So, you could join the Thetas at our school.”

“For real?” she asked, wide-eyed.

I nodded as the next sorority made their way on to the stage. Sure, I'd watch them perform; but for me, the Thetas had already stolen the show.

I
couldn't stop talking about the Theta Ladies. As a matter of fact, the whole school was talking about them. Surprisingly, they didn't win first place in the step show. They'd come in second behind a sorority from Booker T. Washington High School. Still, after the step show, the boys had been all over them like they were celebrities or something.

I'd filled in our fellow Good Girlz member, Tameka Adams (she was Miss Rachel's niece and had joined the group about six months after we started). I'd told her all about the show and now she was just as hyped as I was, and sick that she'd missed it in the first place.

“Dang, I didn't know the Thetas had it goin' on like that,” she said. “I can't believe I missed it.”

“You ought to quit sneaking out of the house. Then maybe you wouldn't be on punishment all of the time.” I laughed.

“Now see, you asking too much,” she joked.

Even though me, Jasmine, Alexis, and Angel weren't as close to Tameka as we were to one another, she was still cool and I was glad to see she was worked up about the Thetas, too.

Jasmine had gotten tired of hearing me rave about them, but Angel and Alexis were still excited. Me and Angel were rehashing our favorite parts of the show to Tameka as we made our way into the pizza line in the school cafeteria.

“Hey, isn't that the girl who was leading the Thetas' step team this weekend?” Angel whispered as we grabbed our trays. I looked up to see who she was talking about. She was motioning toward a tall, pretty, mocha-skinned girl who was at the front of the line.

“Yeah. Her name is Raquelle. She's on the drill team with me,” I replied.

“Isn't that Tori Young next to her? She wasn't in the show, was she?” Angel asked.

“I didn't see her, but maybe she was in the back or something,” I answered.

I was glad that Jasmine wasn't here. She usually ate lunch with us but she had to take a makeup test today. Jasmine and Tori didn't get along. Then again, there weren't too many people who Jasmine
did
get along with. But Tori and Jasmine were definitely like oil and water. Mainly because of Donovan, Jasmine's ex-boyfriend. He was in college now, but when he transferred here from New Orleans after
Hurricane Katrina, Tori had set her sights on him. Only he was trying to get with Jasmine and wouldn't give Tori the time of day. She definitely couldn't appreciate that. She and Jasmine had almost come to blows several times behind him.

“I knew she was a Theta,” I told Angel as we paid for our pizza. “But I just found out yesterday that she's actually the president.”

“Wow. They look so cute in those jackets,” Tameka said, admiring the thin pink satin jackets with the word Theta on the front and a white poodle, which was their mascot, on the back. It was hot outside, but inside, our buildings were always freezing, so they didn't look out of place in their jackets.

“Are you guys going over there?” Tameka said.

I debated for a minute. “Maybe I'll just say hi as we pass by.”

Tameka looked at her watch. “Dang, I have got to get to detention. I wanted to go talk to them.”

“Girl, you'd better go,” I said. “You know Mr. Matthews said he was going to add two more weeks of detention if you were late again.”

Tameka huffed like life was so unfair as she told us bye and headed out of the lunch room.

We made our way toward our normal seats in the back of the cafeteria. I caught eyes with Raquelle as we passed the Theta table. I didn't want to be jockin' anybody, but
I did want to let them know how tight their show had been.

“Hey Raquelle,” I said, stopping in front of their table. She was sitting with Tori and several other girls. All of them were wearing the Theta jackets. “I just wanted to tell you all that show you did this weekend was off the hook.”

Raquelle smiled. “Thanks.”

“And you all were definitely robbed,” I continued. “Everybody knows you guys should've won first place.”

She looked at the other girls and giggled. “Tell me about it.”

“Isn't your name Camille?” one of the girls sitting beside Raquelle asked me.

“Yeah, it's Camille Harris. And this is my friend, Angel Lopez,” I said, pointing to Angel, who waved meekly.

“You're on the drill team, aren't you?” another girl asked, all but ignoring Angel.

I nodded.

“Well, I'm Lynn. I'm vice president of the Thetas.” Lynn pointed to the other four girls. “And this is Constance, Claudia, Alisha, and Tori.”

“Oh, I know Camille very well,” Tori snidely remarked.

I'd been around a couple of the times Tori had gotten into it with Jasmine so she definitely knew who I was. I smiled anyway. I didn't have a beef with Tori and I wasn't about to start now.

“Do you wanna sit with us?” Raquelle asked.

My mouth almost hit the floor. I knew the sorority girls could get a little snooty and they really didn't like anyone invading their clique. So I was thrilled that they wanted us to sit with them.

“Sure, we'd love to sit with you guys,” I said.

Me and Angel sat down in two empty seats across from Raquelle. I couldn't be sure, but it looked like Tori and Claudia shot Angel a crazy look. It made me uncomfortable for a minute, but then I told myself I was just imagining things.

“So how long have you guys been Thetas?” I asked as I bit into my pizza.

“We all joined last year when we started the organization here at Madison,” Lynn said.

“Do you all practice a lot to be able to step like that?” I continued.

Lynn smiled. “We do. But there is so much more to us than stepping. We actually do a lot of community service. You should check out our MySpace page and see what we're all about.”

“I'll definitely do that.”

I wrote down their MySpace address on the back of my geometry folder.

We talked and laughed the rest of the lunch period. I know a lot of people thought the Thetas were snobs, but I really liked them and we seemed to click.

I was kinda bummed when the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. We had been hitting it off so much, I hated to see it end.

“Well, I gotta go. I got a test in Chemistry next period,” Lynn said as she stood up. “Camille, it was nice meeting you. I've seen you around school but I didn't know you were so cool.”

I smiled and waved good-bye to her and the other girls. Even Tori had warmed up to me, and smiled as she walked off.

I turned to Angel. “That was so cool,” I said.

“For you, maybe,” Angel replied, standing up and grabbing her tray.

I stood up, too. “What do you mean?”

Angel turned toward me. She had a disgusted look on her face. “Am I invisible? Nobody said two words to me the entire time.”

I tried to laugh it off. But now that I thought about it, no one had really talked to Angel. It was probably just because she was so quiet.

“You weren't talking either,” I said, playfully pushing her shoulder. Even though Angel was cute with her long, jet-black hair, olive-colored skin, and light brown eyes, she definitely lacked in the confidence department. The Thetas probably just picked up on that. “You know you're all shy and stuff. They talk so much, they probably didn't even pay you any attention.”

“Exactly,” she snidely replied.

“I didn't mean it like that. You know it takes you a minute to warm up to people.”

She shrugged as she walked over and tossed her plate in the trash. “I guess. I mean, they are cool and all, but I'm not getting a good vibe from them.”

I followed her and threw my trash away as well. “Come on, you're starting to sound like Jasmine. I think you're overreacting. They just need to get to know the Angel we all know and love.”

She finally smiled. “I guess you're right.”

I wrapped my arm through hers as we made our way through the crowd of students filing out of the cafeteria. “I know I am. And now more than ever I'm sure about it.”

“Sure about what?”

I dropped her arm, looked at her, and grinned. “We need to be Thetas.”

She turned up her lips. “Yeah, right.”

“I'm serious.”

Angel looked like she was thinking about it. “That would be tight, wouldn't it?”

“It would be especially tight if me, you, Jasmine, Alexis, and even Tameka were all Thetas.”

Angel nodded. “It would be great to be in a sorority.” The smile suddenly left her face and she looked at me skeptically. “Alexis, I can see. Even Tameka. But good luck getting Jasmine to go for the idea.”

I smiled slyly. “You just leave that to me. I'll get Jasmine to come around.”

Angel shrugged like she'd believe it when she saw it. Despite my confidence, I knew getting Jasmine to warm to the idea of joining the Thetas would be easier said than done.

I
slammed my locker shut and looked at Camille like she was crazy.

“Don't say no yet,” she pleaded.

I pulled my thick, honey brown hair back in my signature ponytail. I tried wearing it down like Camille was always buggin' me to, but it was too hot on my neck. Even though it was September it was still burning hot, at least to me. That's why I couldn't do anything but shake my head as the Thetas walked past me in their jackets.

“Please, don't say no,” Camille repeated.

I stared at her. “No,
you
just say no to those drugs you must be on if you think for one minute I'm trying to be in some sorority.”

I know Camille could tell by the look on my face that I wasn't even trying to hear her. Sure, I'd gotten a lot nicer over the last year, but I didn't ever see myself being some sorority girl.

“Come on, Jasmine, hear me out,” she whined.

“Save your breath, Camille. It ain't happening,” I said, since she obviously wasn't getting the picture. Picking up my backpack, I flung it over my shoulder and made my way out to the front of the school. I ignored Camille's pleas as I looked around for Angel. I spotted her coming out of the front office building.

“Angel!” I called out to her. We were all supposed to be meeting Alexis after school for one of our Good Girlz mentoring sessions with some girls from nearby Dowling Middle School.

I stayed two steps in front of Camille as I made my way over to Angel.

“Would you slow down and listen?” Camille said; she caught up with me just as I made it to Angel.

“Listen to what?” Angel asked. She was dressed really cute in a khaki miniskirt with some beige leggings, black Converse hi-tops, and a beige T-shirt. Her long black hair was tied loosely on her back.

“Listen to Camille talk crazy, that's what,” I replied.

Camille put her hands on her hips and cocked her head. “What is so crazy about joining the Thetas?”

I shook my head as I looked down the street for Alexis. “You can join all you want. There ain't nothing those uppity sorority girls can do for me.”

“They aren't uppity,” Camille protested.

“Yes, they are,” I replied.

“We had lunch with them yesterday,” Angel added. “They really aren't that bad.”

I sighed, not believing I was even having this conversation.