Flyy Girl (8 page)

During one of her days home from school, Tracy played with her cousin Marcus while staying over at her Aunt Joy's house. Marcus was two years old and fun to play with. After being with him, Tracy felt delighted that she would soon be having a little brother of her own.

Tracy hadn't seen some of her cousins for years. Their number had increased to ten. Tracy had only been with two of her four new cousins. They were all boys, except a baby girl that Marsha had had.

“Can I help you, Aunt Joy? My mom lets me help her,” she asked her aunt inside of the kitchen. Joy's older children were off at school.

“No, I'm almost finished,” Joy told her, stirring dark brown beef gravy. “So why were you fighting yesterday, princess?” her aunt asked her.

“Because, this girl was teasing me.”

“She was
teasing
you? What was she teasing you about?”

“Because,” Tracy said with a helpless grin. Her aunt was trying to get the truth out of her.

“Oh, I'm beginning to see now,” Joy responded.

“See what?” Tracy quizzed her.

Joy smiled at her with shiny white teeth. “You were fighting over a little boy,” she said.

“No I wasn't,” Tracy quickly responded, startled by it.

“Come on now, Tracy, you can tell me. I won't tell your mother,” Joy promised her.

Tracy giggled, covering her mouth to hide it. “I wasn't trying to talk to that
boy.”

“Mmm hmm, I know you were. I was trying to do the same thing when I was young,” her aunt said.

Tracy gave in. “Well, I didn't like him
anyway.”

Joy chuckled. “Yup, those little boys can tear your heart out, but no girl can live without them.”

“I can,” Tracy proudly announced. “I'm not
ever
gonna talk to another boy again.”

Tracy was not allowed to return to school until Monday. She felt like a new student when she had returned. Everyone was ahead of her in class assignments as if she had been left behind. Even the smell in the hall seemed different. And everyone was staring at her.

Curious students whispered about her as she walked through the halls. Her mother had told her to ignore them, but it was aggravating. Tracy wanted to lash out and finish off the entire hallway. But then she would end up suspended again.

Tracy was unusually quiet in class. She was silent at recess as well. Her friends were scared to talk to her. They all figured she was still mad about Aaron not teaching her to play football, so they sat and watched without speaking. Pam made sure she went nowhere near Tracy.

Tommy stopped playing football to talk. He smiled at Tracy and said, “I heard you beat up Pamela.”

“Yup, that's why I got suspended last week,” Tracy told him, pleased that someone was willing to talk to her.

“Well, if you still wanna play football, I'll teach you.”

“Okay,” Tracy said, forgetting that she hated boys.

Tommy had a red-headed temper, but he was sweet when he wanted to be. The other boys dared not to say anything about him taking the ball to play with her. They all mumbled under their breaths.

Tommy and Tracy played catch all through recess. Tracy's friends watched, hesitantly. Anything could trigger Tracy's wrath. None of them were willing to take that chance.

Tommy even walked Tracy home after school. He was as nice as any
boy
could be. Tracy started to like him. He was wonderful. She had no idea that a boy could be so friendly and understanding toward
girls.
He then sat outside of her house with her. Tracy felt like she was grown. Talking to Tommy was relaxing.

After going in the house, Tracy went up to her room and dozed off as she watched
Tom & Jerry.
Then suddenly she was shocked to attention, sitting up wide awake in her bed.

I forgot about something,
she thought to herself, frantically.
Or did I
forget to do something? No! I forgot to see somebody
.

Tracy stared at her television trying to remember what it was. Something was missing from their normal school day and she couldn't figure it out.

“AARON!” she yelled at her television. “Aaron Barnes wasn't in school today,” she reminded herself. Her little heart began to patter. No wonder school had been so dull. Aaron made school exciting. Without him, there was little to talk about and nothing to remember.

Tracy grew restless. She knew she had to face him. She couldn't get Aaron Barnes off of her mind. In her daydream, she imagined
him
teaching her to play football. It was the strongest feeling that Tracy had felt for anyone besides her father. And it was the first dream she had had of any
boy.
Aaron Barnes was
it!
Tracy Ellison had been bitten by the love bug.

Tracy wore one of her prettiest skirts to school on Tuesday. It was royal blue with white and gold hemlines. And she wore the rubber-soled blue shoes that her father had bought her, anticipating playing catch.

Tracy walked through the halls with a new attitude, expecting to be
happy. Aaron hadn't arrived in class, but Tommy was there, and he was in her way. Tracy decided to ignore him while she waited patiently for her young Romeo to enter the classroom.

Tommy asked a few questions, trying to get Tracy's attention. She answered him snobbishly, still trying to ignore him. But Tommy stayed right in her face. Tracy then asked to be excused to the bathroom. While walking through the hallway, she spotted Aaron turning the corner. Tracy slipped inside of the bathroom and went to the mirror to see how she looked. She was impressed and confident. But no confidence could match Aaron's. Tracy knew it. She was as scared and as nervous as Celena was.

Walking back into class was like performing on stage for the first time. Tracy felt like everyone was waiting for her to do something. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Aaron looking at her. She quickly turned away from him, acting as though she was still angry. Nevertheless, Aaron's cute brown face and big energetic eyes were glued to hers. As he started to smile in her direction, Tracy held back a bomb of excitement. She was ready to nab Aaron, despite what anyone said.

Tracy walked slowly to where the boys played football during recess. She took Celena with her for security. Aaron played with all of his concentration while Tommy ran near them every chance he got. But Tracy's eyes were for Aaron only.

Every time Aaron did something, Tracy clapped her hands and shouted. Aaron shook his head and frowned at her. She didn't care what he did, as long as he noticed her.

Tommy was getting jealous. Even though they were on the same team, he began to purposefully bump into Aaron. After a while, Aaron realized what was going on. He ignored it a few times because Tommy was his best friend. Yet it was getting on his last nerve. He felt he could easily beat Tommy, but he didn't want to fight over
a girl.

Tommy bumped into Aaron one time too many, and that was it. Aaron had to straighten it out, once and for all.

“Look, I don't like that girl, man, so stop trying to start a fight with me,” he said, loud enough for Tracy to hear.

Tracy's nerves were shot. She had gone through all kinds of troubles for him, and yet he could just throw her efforts away in front of all of his friends. He hadn't even spoken to her. He was simply not interested.

Tracy felt like running away to cry, but her mother had told her to be strong, so she concealed her pain. And she felt dedicated to a new project: to get Aaron Barnes to like her before they graduated from elementary school.

“You want me to walk you home, Tracy?” Tommy asked after school.

“No,” Tracy told him. She then crossed the street just to get away from him.

Tommy responded by following her. “Why not?”

“Because I don't
want
you to,” Tracy snapped. She wasn't interested in Tommy anymore.

“We can go to the store, and I'll buy you some candy,” he told her.

“I don't want no candy, boy.”

“Aw, come on, Tracy, you let me walk you home yesterday.”

“Well, that was
yesterday.”

“I bet if I was
Aaron,
you'd let me walk you home. And he'll
never
do it,” Tommy snapped back at her with gleaming red hair.

Tracy gave Tommy the evil eye. “How
you
know, boy?”

“ 'Cause he just won't. He don't like girls.”

“Well, I don't like you either.”

“I didn't say that I didn't like you,” Tommy said, confused that she had heard him wrong.

“So. I don't like
you
anyway, so leave me alone.”

“Stupid,” Tommy mumbled, turning away from her.

“Who you callin'
stupid,
boy?” Tracy said, facing him.

“I wasn't talking about you.”

“Yes you was. I heard 'ju.”

“Okay, I'm sorry,” Tommy said, hopping back over to her. “Please, I just got mad. So can I walk you, Tracy, please?”

“NO! Leave me alone, boy!”

•    •    •

Tracy felt better after turning Tommy down. She walked into her house and stared out of the window. It was too cold to stand outside. She thought about what she would do the next day at school to get Aaron's attention while watching cars drive up and down her block.

Mercedes walked up with a boy who handed her a gold chain. She snuck him a kiss on the lips and headed toward her house. Tracy looked at the boy to see if he was cute. After confirming that he was, she ran to the door to invite Mercedes in.

Tracy smiled at her. “Who was that boy, Mercedes?”

“My boyfriend.”

“Why he give you that chain?”

Mercedes tried it on. “Because he wanted to. Look,” she said, pulling out a football jersey from her book-bag. “He let me hold this, too. He's a senior on the football team.”

“Uuuuw, he's too old for you,” Tracy squealed.

Mercedes cracked a devilish grin. “Girl, he's only two years older than me. When you get older, you can go wit' older guys.”

“Where you gonna wear that without your father knowing?”

Mercedes responded with a frown. “Fuck him. I hate him.”

Tracy cringed, shying away from the foul language Mercedes was using.

“He's always trying to tell somebody what to do. That's why he don't know what I be doin' now.”

“What 'chew be doin'?” Tracy asked her.

“Girl, you too young to know.”

“No I'm not, Mercedes. Tell me.”

“Do you have a boyfriend yet?”

“No, but I like this boy named Aaron, though.”

Mercedes took off the chain and put it inside of her small leather pocketbook. “Does he like you?”

“No, because he's into playing football and stuff.”

Mercedes stared at Tracy curiously. “Did you try to kiss him yet?”

Tracy was horrified. “NO, GIRL!”

Mercedes was getting “nasty.”

“Some boys respond better when you kiss them first,” she said, grinning at Tracy's uproar.

“But I don't wanna kiss him,” Tracy whined.

“Well, I guess you can't get him then, 'cause once you give a boy something, he'll give you things, too. I got a lot of stuff, now.”

“Why, you was kissing boys a lot?” Tracy asked her.

Mercedes burst out with wicked laughter. “I've been doin'
way
more than that,” she said.

Mercedes
is
nasty,
Tracy thought. “Well,
I'm
not gon' kiss no boy, just for him to like me.”

“You won't ever get the ones you want then,” Mercedes told her as she left.

Tracy thought it over. She would never go as far as
a kiss
to get a
boy.
Aaron probably wouldn't let her get close enough to kiss him, anyway. He'd probably get mad at her.

“Mercedes! Come in here and sit down!” her mother shouted at her as soon as she walked into the house. “Now I know you've been running around here with these boys lately. And I saw that one give you the chain. I want you to give it back to him.”

Mercedes waited to hear all that her mother had to say. She knew Beth was permissive. Mercedes had little respect for her mother. Beth had never lent a hand to help her in disputes involving her mean-spirited father. She didn't deserve any respect in Mercedes' eyes.

“Now look, your father has given you a lot of time to go out and all, since you're fifteen now, but that doesn't mean you can run around with all these different boys.”

“Aw, mom, ain't nobody runnin' around with a bunch of boys. I know him from school.”

“Oh, you think you're grown now, don't you? Well, I know about them late-night phone calls you make, too. You're not slick.”

“So what, mom? I'm tired of him. I'm ready to move out and go live at Aunt Mary's house and go to public school anyway. I hate going to Catholic school.”

“Mercedes, you don't want to live in that neighborhood with all that shooting and stuff going on,” Beth said, disturbed by her daughter's plans.

“It ain't like I'm gon' walk outside and get hit by a bullet. It ain't that bad!”

Beth pleaded. “They got drugs and stuff down South Philly, you know, and you don't need to be down there.”

“Well, I ain't stayin' here much longer,” Mercedes revealed. She began to take off her uniform.

Her mother continued pleading, “What's so wrong with living here? This is a beautiful neighborhood.”

“I mean, I got no problem with the
neighborhood.
I just hate living with
him.”

“He only acts like that because he doesn't know how to show his love.”

“Mom, I'm tired of you telling me how you understand him and all, 'cause I don't. I'm sorry!”