Little Divas (14 page)

The anger I felt a minute before vanished, I felt so bad for Mary now. She had bought us those swimming suits and really had wanted us to have fun. No way she would have willingly ratted on us. Uncle Lance and Aunt Honey must’ve really put on the pressure. I probably would’ve cracked too.

But Mary was used to Rikki, so she just ignored her and looked over at Golden and me. A softness appeared in her eyes. “Did you two have fun at least?” she asked.

“I did,” Golden said.

“Me too,” I added.

Mary sang teasingly,
“Did you see Sharee’s little brother?”

I was so embarrassed that my face started burning.

Rikki hit me with another couch pillow. “Yeah, I saw ya’ll go off on the side of the house too. What happened?”

Mary and Golden gasped.

“Cass!” Golden said.

Mary whispered, “Did you let him kiss you?”

“She did!”
Rikki shrieked, satisfaction in her voice. “Look how she’s smiling.”

I really didn’t want to think about Travis right now. I had enough things to fill up my brain. Being in trouble is stressful. But I couldn’t lie. Just the mention of Travis’s name made me remember our kiss. I felt a nice tingle inside.

Mary clasped her hands over her mouth and her eyes started watering. “Your first kiss! Oh,
Cassidy
…”

Golden looked shocked. “Really? Your first?”

“Bet he can’t kiss,” Rikki said. “He’s got those stupid braces now. I bet his breath stunk.”

“Ignore her,” Mary said. She was still able to put up with Rikki, but it was getting harder and harder for me.

Rikki was the one who’d wanted me to give Travis a chance in the first place. Now that she was in trouble she was saying mean things about him? I swear. Sometimes. If Rikki wasn’t my cousin…

Mary said, “So? Do you like him now?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s nicer now. So maybe. Well, a little bit.”

“How adorable,” Mary said.

I showed Mary and Golden the piece of paper I had in my pocket. The ink had smeared, but Travis’s phone number was still readable.

“Oh.” Mary clutched her hand to her chest. “How sweet.”

Rikki fell back on the couch. “Call him. Tell him to tell Darwin how much I love him. I’ll probably never get to see him again.”

“You’ll see him again,” Mary assured Rikki. “Trust me. Mom and Dad are just upset right now. They’ll get over it.”

I heard the doorbell ring and I wondered,
but would Daddy?

fifteen

“Cassidy Carter”
Daddy was talking to me from the doorway of my bedroom, nowhere near as loud as Uncle Lance, but definitely just as upset. “I trusted you,” he said.

The silence during the drive home had been better than those words. Way better.

I couldn’t bear to look at him, so I stared a little to the left at my lava lamp instead.

“Look at me,” Daddy said, and waited until I did. “Can you please explain all of this to me?”

“It was a pool party.” I started with the facts. “A friend of ours from school invited us. His name is Darwin Mack, and he’s really nice. I wanted Golden to meet some of the girls from school.”

“But you
said
you were going to the movies and for pizza. You mentioned nothing about swimming.”

What could I say?

He pulled out the chair from my desk, flipped it around, and sat on it with his hands tucked underneath his armpits. “I’m waiting,” he said.

My voice was shaky, and I knew tears were close. “I was mad at you.”

“At me? Why?”

“Because.”

His tone shifted to being more firm. “Because
why
…?”

“You were trying to send me to private school without even telling me,” I started. “And now this thing with Ms. Carol’s niece…”

Daddy looked completely shocked. “What in the world does this have to do with
Toni?
She’s a good friend, but what has she got to do with any of this?”

“All she wants to do is get you to marry her so she can move into this big new house.”

Daddy’s mouth fell wide open. Then he got a cross look on his face. “Now that’s enough,” he said. “You are out of line. What has gotten into you? And who told you anything about Toni, anyhow?”

Realizing that Rikki would probably get punished even more for this, I kept my lips closed tight. Two months was already an eternity.

“Cassidy?”

“What difference does it make who told me?
You
didn’t.”

He let out a long breath. “Cassidy, I wish that I could understand what it is that you’re feeling right now, but I can’t. Not if you don’t tell me. I’m not a mind reader.”

“You keep doing things without telling me.”

He raised his chin, lifted his eyebrows, and then he flatout looked tired.

“We wanted to talk to you when the letter came,” he said. “But then Honey and Lance found out that Rikki’s aptitude test scores were much lower than yours. We all decided that we didn’t want Rikki to have to feel bad, so we never told either of you.”

“Rikki’s scores were too low to get into Clara Ellis?”

“Quite a bit,” Daddy said. “And we thought it was best not to even bring it up. Honey said we should, that it wasn’t fair to you, that you should still go, but I didn’t agree. For months she’s been encouraging me to send you there, you know, with the reputation of the school. But I just couldn’t. Not with how close you and Rikki are. Not since your grades are already fine. Besides, the public schools need our support.”

This all made sense to me. Rikki felt bad enough, having prison wardens for parents and all. Why make her feel stupid, too? It’s funny. Just a couple of weeks ago, I was ready for some time away from Rikki, but now I felt bad for thinking that. Now I just wanted to see her and to let her know how glad I was that she’s my cousin, but also my friend.

“And pumpkin, as far as Toni is concerned, your mother and I decided that until we’re really sure that someone is going to be a major part of our lives, we aren’t going to involve you. Things have been tough enough on you as it is.”

“Oh” was all I could say.

He got up, kissed me on my forehead, and sighed, “But you lied to me, pumpkin. So for one week, no phone, no Rikki, no Golden. Understand?”

“Daddy!”

He raised an eyebrow. “Lance and Honey gave Rikki two
months,
didn’t they?”

I sighed and nodded. I’m not stupid. One week sounded a whole lot better than two months, that’s for sure.

Daddy closed the door behind him, but forgot to take my phone. For a while I alternated between eyeing the phone and the door. I kept listening to make sure Daddy was gone, and debated on whether or not to dial.

One quick phone call, I decided, and then I would take the phone downstairs to Daddy myself.

Just like he’d said he would, Travis clicked in from the other line. I was in my closet, with my back up against my shoe rack and my neck cradling the phone. “Hello?”

“Hi,” I said, my voice strained from whispering.

“Who’s this?” he asked. “Cassidy?”

“Yeah,” I said in a whisper.

“You caught a cold?”

“No,” I said.

“Your voice sounds funny. You okay?”

“It’s probably this phone. A cordless.”

“Oh. All right. Cool. So what’s up?”

I settled into a more comfortable position. “Nothing.”

“Where’s Rik and G.?”

“They’ve gone home.”

“I thought you guys were staying the night at Rik’s? That’s what Darwin said.”

“Long story.” I sighed.

“Oh.”

“Yeah…”

“All right, so you never answered me,” he said. “Skittles, Snickers, or Starburst?”

“Well,” I said, “I don’t really like chocolate, so—”

I was cut off by a dialing on the line, and then Daddy’s voice. “Hello? Cassidy? Who’s there?”

Travis said, “Hello? Cassidy?”

This was too incredibly awful. By now my heart was getting so used to racing that it could’ve tried out for the Olympics.

“Cassidy?”
Daddy said. “Who are you talking to?”

I took a deep breath. “Daddy, I’ll be off in a second.”

“Even if you weren’t on punishment, it’s too late for you to be on the phone,” he said. “Who’s on the line?”

I couldn’t believe this was happening!
“Daddy
…” I pleaded.

“Who’s on the line?” Daddy shouted.

Travis hung up.

Great. Now Travis would think I was whack. I swore that I would never leave the house again. Ever.

“Cassidy,” Daddy said as the dial tone kicked in. “I want to see you downstairs in two seconds. Make that one.”
Click.

I hung up the phone. As I was coming out of the closet, I could hear Daddy downstairs warming up on his saxophone. A few uninspired notes morphed into a slow blues song. Definitely not a good sign.

“The important thing right now,” Daddy said as I walked into the living room, “is that you understand how hard this is for me.”

“Daddy, I—”

“Lying to me, calling boys late at night, and who knows what else?”

I swallowed.

“Maybe an all girls school is the best thing for you after all.” He sighed.

“Daddy, no! Daddy, please, no. I swear. I won’t—”

“A change of environment might be a good thing. We’ll try it for a year, see how you—”

“I’ll just run away,” I interjected.

He looked at me.
“What did you say?”

I stomped my foot. “I said I’ll run away!” The tears wanted to flow, but I would not let them. And I did not bite down on my tongue, either. This was business. “Daddy, my worst enemy is going to Clara Ellis, and the only two friends I have are going to King. Do you want me to be miserable?”

“You’re too young to even know what misery is. All you’re going to do is focus on academics. No boys. No—”

“You want me to be a nerd! All the other girls my age talk to boys. I’m the only one who never knows what to say when a boy talks to me.”

“There will be a time for all that, but not yet.”

“Daddy, I’m almost thirteen,” I said. “I’m
supposed
to be around boys.”

“You’re not thirteen
yet,”
he said. “We have another month before we have to deal with that.”

I started scraping the nail polish off my nails. For the first time, being twelve felt babyish.

“I’m sorry, pumpkin. But one day you’ll thank me. It’s the best school in the state. You’ll be glad. You’ll meet girls with goals.”

“Lane Benson
is going to that school, Daddy. And she wears a bikini, in front of boys!”

He cleared his throat. “Well, I don’t know her. I’m not her father. But at least your cousin Tosha will be there. Maybe the two of you can—”

I screamed, “You can’t do this to me, Daddy! You
cannot.
After everything we’ve been through? After I agreed to come live with you?”

“Six years from now,” he said as he pulled his saxophone back to his mouth, “when you’re going off to Spelman or some other fine university, you’ll be glad you went to a college prep school.”

I stormed out of the living room and was all the way up in my bedroom before I realized that Daddy was playing the white and gold saxophone out of Harmony’s window. The one he’d been admiring for weeks. The one that I’d prayed for him to have.

Normally this would’ve made me happy, but right now I didn’t think Daddy deserved such a nice thing. In fact, I was sorry I’d ever moved in with him. Who cared about Tosha? Who cared about college? Who cared about
anything
anymore?