Her Sweetest Revenge (Delphine Publications Presents) (10 page)

“
Look, I brought both of you out to eat for a reason. I need to talk to you about something important. What we discuss is not to leave this table for no reason. Understand?” I gave them both a serious look.

“
Spit it out—” Li’l Bo stopped because the waitress approached the table with our drinks.

“
A’ight, I’ll get to the point,” I said, knowing what Li’l Bo was about to say before the waitress walked up to our table. “Remember when I went to visit Dad the last time?” I paused, and they both gave me a nod.

“
Well, Dad told me he had a friend that owed him some money. Just so happens that friend had come by to visit him to let him know he was ready to pay up. Well, to make this story short, Dad told him to give me the money for us. I met with the guy about two weeks ago, and he gave it to me.”

“
How much money?” Monica asked.

“
Two hundred thousand,” I lied, not giving them the exact amount. I couldn’t disclose the actual amount. I didn’t want my money to add up to the robbery.

“
Stop bullshittin’, Mya,” Li’l Bo stated, giving me a sideways glance.

“
I’m not.” I gave him a smile. “I promise.”

The waitress came back to our table with the food. “Let me know if you need anything else,” she said before walking away.

“
This looks good,” Monica said, staring at her plate.

“
Yeah, it does,” I replied before biting my burger.

“
So what did you do with it?” Li’l Bo said with a mouth full of burger and a few fries also stuffed inside.

“
What did I do with what?” I played dumb.

“
The money,” Monica jumped in the conversation and inserted a fry in her mouth.

“
I put it up and don’t ask me where.” I looked at Li’l Bo knowing that was his next question. “Look, we have to be really careful. No one can know about this, especially Ma. If she knows about that money she will lose it. Dad said not to give her none because she will only smoke it. If she needs something like clothes or Newports we can buy it for her. As for other people they aren’t to know either. We don’t want to get robbed, so we need to continue on like we were doing. Except I’m taking you two shopping,” I informed them, and they both started smiling.

“
When are you taking us shopping, because I need some of everything?” Monica said, giving me an assuring look.

“
No doubt.” Li’l Bo started on his second hamburger since he ordered two.

“
Eat up and we can head to the mall,” I said feeling like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders by telling them about the money. Now that I had got that out, we could move forward. My eighteenth birthday was just around the corner. I didn’t want to feel no burden riding my back. This shopping trip for me was going to be a huge stress reliever.

Chapter 17

When we got back from shopping last night Momma was out so we didn’t have to worry about hiding all the bags that Li’l Bo and Monica had. They were really happy. They both got a lot of what they wanted. By the time we got through shopping they had spent two thousand dollars so I knew it was really time to get up out of the store. We took a cab back home because I didn’t want to ride the bus back with all those bags. In our hood, we would’ve been asking to be robbed. Speaking of being robbed, I knew Momma would notice Li’l Bo and Monica had new clothes. I wasn’t worried about her asking where they came from as much as I worried about her trying to sell them for money. While we were out shopping I picked up locks for our bedroom doors. That would keep her out of our rooms when we were not home.

This morning when I got out of bed I decided to get dressed and head over to Rochelle’s house. I figured we could do some shopping so I could pick me up some new ’fits. Yesterday I didn’t really do any shopping for myself; I just let Li’l Bo and Monica shop. Today is my day, and I’m going to let my girl Rochelle shop as well since she’s been the best friend a girl could have.

When I knocked on the door I could hear Rochelle’s mom, Ms. Wynita, fusing about something. When the door swung open it was none other than Ms. Wynita, and I knew from the look on her face I had come over at the wrong time. It’s Sunday, and Ms. Wynita got this “church/she-will-cuss-your ass-out” thing going on. She has on her Sunday best and her Bible in one hand which means she was ready for war.

“
And why ain’t you dressed for church?” she asked me right off the bat.

“
Uhhhh, I told you before, Ms. Wynita, I wasn’t brought up in the church,” I answered, knowing it’s the wrong answer. But the words escaped my mouth before could I catch them.

“
You wasn’t brought up in the church? Chile, that ain’t no excuse.” She gave me a hard stare like she’s considering what I just said. “Well, what’s Rochelle’s problem? I took her to church every Sunday. Now she done turned into a regular Satan. Going to the club is the only thing she thinks about.”

“
Ma,” Rochelle screamed from the other room, “would you stop terrorizing my company?”

“
Shut up and bring me my baby. You gon’ me make me late for the sermon. And if I’m late, I’m gon’ kick your ass,” Ms. Wynita threatened.

“
Here she is.” Rochelle brought Tiny out and handed her over to Ms. Wynita.

“
There’s Grandma’s baby. She ain’t gon’ turn out like you. Humph,” Ms. Wynita said before storming out the door.

“
Damn, girl, she woke up trippin’ and shit.” Rochelle looked at me and pulled a cigarette out of her pocket.

I immediately started laughing. “Ms. Wynita don’t play. She be hoeing you.” I pointed at Rochelle while laughing so hard I had to catch my breath.

“
Shut up.” Rochelle smiled as she lit her cigarette. “Why you out so early?” she asked before taking a deep intake on her cigarette.

“
I came by to scoop you up. Let’s hit the mall. I need to pick me up some ’fits for my birthday bash. I took Li’l Bo and Monica out yesterday, but I didn’t get anything for myself. So how about you roll with me?” I smiled.

“
Hell, yeah. I got to make sure you pick the fly ’fits,” Rochelle complimented as she got off the couch. “Let me get dressed. I can’t go to the mall lookin’ like no wack ho. You know the whole Detroit be at the mall on Sunday. And you know I’m looking for Tiny’s new dad,” Rochelle joked.

“
Girl, please,” I laughed. “Hurry up.”

Twenty minutes later Rochelle stepped out of her room looking like she just stepped out of a fashion magazine. “Ya like?” she modeled around in circles.

“
Yeah, I like,” I smiled. “But I don’t know about them heels. We ain’t just going to one store. We about to shop for real.” I dropped a hint to let her know that I’m taking her shopping as well.

“
We about to shop,” Rochelle repeated back to me like I didn’t just hear what I said. “You takin’
me
shopping?” She got excited and screamed. “Girl, these heels are fine. Can’t you see they are for shopping only? Let’s go.” Rochelle, overly excited, grabbed my hand and dragged me out the door.

Three buses later we were at the mall, and it was jam-packed. Rochelle and I didn’t waste any time hittin’ up the stores. Our first stop was Charlotte Russe. They didn’t carry any name brands, but their clothes were stylish. Rochelle and I hung around at Charlotte Russe about an hour before we decided we didn’t want anything outta there.

“
OK, Rochelle, there’s a lot of cute things in here, but I don’t see anything I want. Nothing says ‘Mya’ all over it. And that’s what I need. How about we head over to Macy’s?” I finally suggested. And just like that, we were off to Macy’s fighting our way through the hundreds of people walking through the mall. Like us, they were either looking to spend money or window-shop.

Macy’s was like a dream come true for shopping. Everything you could name in fashion they had it. All the Coogi, Gucci, Prada, you name it, they had it. Rochelle went crazy. She must have put her hands on about everything in the store.

“
Look, I like these jeans. I’m going to try them on,” Rochelle implied about some blue Baby Phat jeans with a purple Baby Phat logo on the back pocket.

“
Yeah, those are hot.” I turned around and glanced at the jeans. I picked up a pair of Guess skinny jeans with no pockets on the back. Then I picked up the shirt that went with it. It was a navy blue and white tee shirt with no sleeves on one side. The shirt was really trendy. All I needed was the right heels to match. This outfit turned out to be one of many I picked up at of Macy’s, but I still hadn’t found the outfit I wanted to wear for my eighteenth birthday celebration. I stumbled upon this Dereon V-neck shirt dress. It was exactly what I was looking for; the color was peacoat navy blue with a belt around the waist. I immediately picked up my size and scattered to the dressing room. Once I tried it on I knew I had to have it.

Rochelle and I wrapped up our shopping at Macy’s once we had spent a whopping thirty-two hundred dollars. The sales lady handed us our bags.

“
Shit,” Rochelle murmured, as she tried to balance her bags in her hands. “Clearly we can’t do anymore shopping.”

“
No way. What are we going to do about shoes? We got to have the right shit,” I replied with a smile. “Flawless, remember?”

“
I remember.” Rochelle almost tripped while still struggling to balance her bags.

“
Tell you what,” I said, as I dropped one of my bags and the saleslady rushed over to help me. I finally gathered all my bags in my hands. “How about we take these home and come back later for shoes?” I suggested.

“
Cool. Hit the exit,” Rochelle ordered as she led the way.

We were almost out of Macy’s when we ran into Charlene, who apparently had been yelling our name from behind us.

“
Hey,” Charlene said out of breath after she caught up with us. “What y’all doing up in here?” she asked casually.

“
Just shopping, picking up some much-needed gear,” Rochelle replied as this other chick approached Charlene, looking like she had been running a marathon, breathing all hard.

“
Damn. Charlene, why are you running? You know a bitch can’t keep up. I’m not young like you,” the girl with Charlene squabbled while fixing her eyes on Rochelle and me.

“
Sorry, I had to catch up to my girls.” Charlene waved her hand toward us. “Sorry for her rudeness,” Charlene apologized to us. “This is my cousin Bambi. Bambi, these are my girls, Mya and Rochelle.”

One good look at Bambi and I immediately knew who she was. Bambi was the same female from Hertz Rental car with the stank attitude. I damn near dropped all the bags out of my hand trying to contain my composure. The last thing I needed was for this chick to recognize me. I tried to remain casual.

Bambi seemed like she was trying to size us up before she finally spoke. “What’s up?”

“
Hey,” Rochelle and I replied at the same time.

There was this odd silence, but Charlene instantly put a stop to that. “So, what y’all out here picking up? I see Macy’s had to kick you out with all those bags,” Charlene said as she eyed all the bags in our hands.

“
Yeah, we picked a few ’fits,” Rochelle bragged. “I see you been hittin’ up the stores your damn self.”

“
You know it. That’s why I got Pig. If nigga can’t keep my pockets laced and me looking fly, then what’s the point, right?” she babbled with a little laugh.

“
I know, right?” Bambi cosigned with a smile. Clearly she didn’t have a baller because her cheap weave still looked jacked up.

“
You bitches musta hit the lotto though, ’cause ain’t neither one of you got no man,” Charlene seemingly joked.

“
You got jokes, right?” I said to downplay her comment to keep from bringing attention to myself. “But we straight. Too bad we can’t all have a baller though.”

“
Yeah, you know how it is,” Charlene bragged. “But anyway, Mya, we kickin’ it for your birthday or what?” Charlene got hyped. “’Cause I’m ready to party and get krunk.”

“
Why you think we in here shopping? It’s on just liked we talked about,” Rochelle replied just as krunk as Charlene.

“
Oh, so y’all been planning my birthday behind my back,” I shot off with a fake angry smirk on my face.

“
Hell, yeah. You only turn eighteen once,” Rochelle beamed. “And I can’t wait.”