It's All Good (15 page)

Authors: Nikki Carter

BOOK: It's All Good

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Hope says, “Bring your plates downstairs so we can open our gifts.”

“But Kevin isn't here yet,” Ricky objects.

“Yes he is! He's downstairs on Daddy's couch taking a nap. Y'all know Kevin is always the first one here. Deacon and Mother Witherspoon already came to say Merry Christmas.”

We take our plates down into the game room, where there is a table already set up with a tablecloth.

“Wake up, Kev!” I shout when I'm close to Kevin's ear.

He sits up straight on the couch and has a hilarious, disoriented look on his face. He's been chilling so hard that he's got couch lines on his cheek. Not a good look.

“Present time!” Hope sings.

She makes little piles of gifts for everyone. We'll open our parents' gifts later, but this is the time when the crew opens gifts. This is Candy's first year, so she's got to learn the rules.

Ricky explains. “Everybody picks a number, and then we go around in order, opening one gift at a time, until everything is opened.”

“Cool,” Hope says.

Kevin passes around the hat and we pick the numbers. GreatâI'm number five, so I won't get to see Ricky's gift until last. Because of course, I'm opening his gift last. Candy picks the number one.

“I'm opening my sister's gift first,” Candy says, “since this is our first Christmas as a family.”

Okay, that almost made me get a little emotional. But I'm too fly for that. I give Candy a little wink and nod.

Candy claps her hands together. “A House of DerÃ©on tee! It's cute. Thank you, Gia.”

And then she jumps up and kisses me on the cheek. Aw, dang. Didn't expect that, and now I'm losing all kinds of cool points for tearing up. Ack.

Kevin is next and he opens Hope's gift. He holds up a fly Fossil watch that we scored on sale. “Thanks, Hope. That's hot.”

Hope opens Ricky's gift first. “Paris Hilton perfume! Yay! You're good, Ricky.”

Ricky and I share a glance. The perfume is an inside joke between me and Ricky. We always say that Hope thinks she's a black Paris. But of course, we always say this behind her back.

Ricky opens Kevin's gift, and it's a pair of leather driving gloves. “Good looking out, Kev. I wonder when Gia will need driving gloves?”

“Why the jokes? It's Christmas Day!” I fuss. “I'm opening Candy's gift.”

It's a very cute jean miniskirt. It's fresh, but something I'd absolutely never wear. I smile anyway.

“Thank you, Candy!”

“You're welcome. I noticed that there weren't enough minis in your closet. One can never have enough minis.”

“Is that so?” I ask.

“Yeah. So once you break it in, I'll borrow it from you. I've got some little pink boots that would look flawless with it.”

I chuckle to myself. Isn't it just like a little sister to buy a gift for you that she really wants for herself? It's all good though. I'm not mad at her.

Now it's Candy's turn to open her presents. She snatches Kevin's gift. “This is a big ol' box.”

Kevin grins. “Hurry up and open it.”

Inside the box is a huge teddy bear holding a heart in its hands. Um ... I'm not sure if I authorize this gift!

“Thank you, Kevin. This is sweet! I'm gonna put him on my dresser so I can hug him every night before I go to sleep.”

Ugh! Kevin is totally blushing. Are they crushing for real? Go figure!

We go back around and everyone else has their turns opening gifts. I get a purse from Hope and a pretty stationery set from Kevin.

Finally, it's time for Ricky to open my gift. He's saved mine for last, too. I feel like I'm sitting on pins and needles as he tears open the paper. He pulls away the tissue paper and gives a huge smile.

“Gia got me a Titans jersey! And a hat. This is fresh to death, Gia. Thank you!”

I'm so glad that he loves his gift! I get the feeling that if we weren't in a room full of our friends, he'd show me his appreciation with more than a smile. I guess that means it's a good thing that we're all down here together. Right?

Okay, I just gave myself the tight-lipped side eye.

Everyone's eyes are on me as I open the tiny box that has Ricky's name on it. I wouldn't be mad if it was another charm, because he picks the prettiest ones. But once I get the box open I see that it's not another charm. It's a beautiful, jeweled butterfly hair clip.

“It's gorgeous, Ricky,” I gasp.

“There's a story behind it, and we're all fam here, so I'll tell it to everybody. It's supposed to be like symbolic of when a caterpillar turns into a butterfly.”

I narrow my eyes. “You calling me a caterpillar?”

“No, but when we were in the ninth grade, you didn't have your style yet and you were still figuring out who Gia was,” Ricky explains. “Now, you know who you are, and you're out of your cocoon, like a butterfly.”

A single tear slides down my face. Yeah, a single tear. Don't hate. Please do not hate.

Hope gushes, “Aww ... stop it!”

Kevin hurls a couch pillow at Ricky. “Yeah, man! You just broke man law with that gift. A butterfly?”

I wipe the tear away and crack up laughing with everyone else. My friends are the bomb diggity.

But back to Ricky and the random sentimental gift. I don't know what to say. He's been completely scary these past few weeks. First, he was on some “don't go acting all weird” stuff and now he's buying charms, planning birthday parties, and telling me I'm a butterfly. What gives?

I grab his arm, pull him into the pool-table room and close the glass door. Everyone can still see us, but they just can't hear our conversation.

“Ricky, what's up?” I ask.

“What's up with what?”

“Right before we went to state you asked me if I was gonna start acting weird over that charm bracelet. But you're the one acting ... well you're not acting like yourself.”

Ricky sighs and leans on the edge of the pool table. “I really like you, Gia.”

“I know.”

“You know? Wow, you're cocky, aren't you?”

“Not trying to be cocky, just trying to help you along.”

Ricky laughs. “I like you, but I don't want us to stop being friends. So, I'm like really tripping on doing any of this stuff. But then I saw that bracelet, and I just had to get it because it made me think of you.”

“And the barrette?”

“I thought it would look pretty in your hair,” he replies. “Gia, you got me doing all kinds of sucka type stuff. That ought to count for something.”

“It does count.”

We're silent for a moment, but it's not awkward. It's like we're trying to regroup for round two. The lightning round.

“Can we not make it official just yet?” Ricky asks.

I bite my lip, not quite sure why we're waiting. “Sure, Ricky. I can wait.”

He exhales a sighâit sounds like relief. “Good. Because I wouldn't want you going off with some other dude, just because it wasn't official.”

“Never that, Ricky Ricardo. Never that.”

I don't know what to make of this conversation. Ricky just asked me if his gifts count for something. I guess they count toward him learning how to crush. But then he almost asked me to be his official girl.

Wow to infinity.

If my life was like a Disney sitcom, this would be the part where the magic of Christmas touches Gwen's cooking skills and she pulls off the perfect dinner. Um ... yeah. Operative wordâif.

My mom had refused any help in the kitchen from any of us, especially Aunt Penny. I think it mostly had to do with the fact that Aunt Penny bought her a cookbook for her Christmas gift.

Speaking of gifts, I got a whole bunch of clothes from my mom and LeRon, and gift cards from everyone else. Score! They know me so well.

On the table is a deeply browned turkey. Actually, it's nearly blackened. The pans of dressing and macaroni and cheese have a wet, soupy consistency and the yams look mushed and sticky. It's some of Gwen's best work!

Our whole family is seated around the table. Kevin and Ricky escaped soon after my mom declared she didn't want any help.

My uncle clears his throat. “Uh, let's bless the food.”

“Somebody needs to read that turkey its last rites,” Aunt Penny says with a giggle.

My mom glares at her sister all the way through the prayer.

After we say “amen,” Grandma Stokes says, “Everything looks good, Gwendolyn. I'm proud of you.”

I'm praying that a lightning bolt doesn't crack the sky and scorch my grandma for lying.

Pastor Stokes hands LeRon the carving knife. “Since your wife did the cooking, you can do the honors.”

LeRon slices thin pieces of turkey and puts them on everyone's plates. From what I can tell, aside from the dark skin, the turkey seems to be fine. At least it looks done all the way through.

We all pass the side dishes and mostly everyone only takes enough for a bite or two. Everyone except LeRon, that is. He piles his plate high and stuffs his face like it's the best meal he's ever eaten. My mom's smile beams over in his direction, and she looks super happy.

I guess eating food that technically could be listed as a biohazard is the definition of love.

Sweet!

O
n the first day back from winter break, the hallways are buzzing with something. I don't know what, yet, because I just walked into the school. It must be high drama because Jewel and Kelani, wearing their matching Christmas outfits, are standing in front of my locker looking twisted.

“Hey, y'all,” I say.

“Hey, Gia.” Jewel's eyes go directly to my hair. “Ooh, that barrette is fly! Did you get that for Christmas?”

I nod. “Ricky gave it to me.”

I know I didn't have to tell them that Ricky gave me the gift, but I'm ready to put our mutual crushes on public status. It's time for me to claim what's mine so that all the other potential crushees can sit down somewhere.

“You and Ricky are like that now? Okay!” Kelani pounds my fist and laughs.

“It's about time!” Jewel exclaims. “Y'all been playing games since ninth grade.”

“So what's going on? What's everybody talking about?” I ask.

“Oh, you didn't hear?” Kelani says. “Valerie's mom got arrested over the weekend for cyber stalking. The police came right to their door on the day after Christmas and took her away.”

My eyes feel like they're about to pop out of my head. Kelani explains, “Her neighbor's cousin called my mother's beautician and she gave my mom the scoop while she was getting her weave.”

Whoa. Not the ten degrees of separation on the gossip tip.

“Are you serious?” I ask. “Is Valerie okay? Has anybody talked to her?”

“I haven't,” Jewel says. “I tried to call her cell, but she hasn't been picking up.”

“Did your mother's beautician have any details?” I ask.

“Only that whatever Valerie's mom was doing was the reason why Susan Chiang tried to kill herself. It had something to do with Facebook.”

Jewel says, “The police had an anonymous tip, I think.”

I am almost one hundred percent sure that Jewel can neither spell nor define “anonymous,” but that's beside the point. The real issue here is that Valerie's mom got arrested. I thought she might get in trouble, but I didn't know they'd arrest her and put her in jail.

“That is messed up,” I say.

“Here she comes now,” Jewel says.

Valerie struts down the center hallway of Longfellow High and she looks like a teenage supermodel. Her hair is flat-ironed pin straight and parted down the center. She's got on a pink miniskirt (even though it's twenty-two degrees outside) and a shiny top that would look appropriate on most people only at a club.

And no, she does
not
have the audacity to be wearing pink-tinted sunglasses. I almost expect to see a little white dog pop his head up out of her purse.

“Hey, Hi-Steppers! Ooo-OOO!” Valerie says as she stops at my locker.

She seems to be in high spirits. Too high for someone whose mama got taken to the slammer.

“Hi, Valerie,” I say. “How was your vacation?”

Valerie bursts into a flurry of laughter. “Cut the games, Gia. I know you and the twin bobble heads already know what happened with my mom. It's all over town.”

I glance at Jewel and Kelani, who are trying to pretend like they're innocent. “Yes, we heard, of course. Are you okay?”

“I'm great! I just got finished talking to Mrs. Spencer, the senior counselor, and she said that all of those restrictions they had on me are lifted. I can go to the prom, I can graduate, and I can run for prom queen if I want to!”

“But aren't you upset about your mom?” I ask.

“Sure, but my uncle got her a good lawyer. He said that there's not really anything they can charge her with in our state. He said she'd be out on bail sometime this week.”

“Is your mom going to apologize to Susan or anything?” I ask.

Valerie laughs again. “Um, probably not. My mom can't stand Susan or her parents.”

Well, at least Valerie gets her evil honest. Her mom actually has her beat. I wonder how either one of them sleeps at night.

“Susan is back in school today,” Kelani says. “You should probably stay away from her, Valerie.”

“What for? I didn't do anything to her. She's the one who stole my Homecoming Queen title. My mother and I are not the same person.”

I shake my head angrily. “Valerie, when are you going to let that go? Susan didn't steal anything from you. She won fair and square. You need to squash this, because it's way out of control.”

“Shut up, Gia. You're always trying to rule somebody with your goody-goody self. Save it for your goody-goody lame church friends.”

“My
lame
church friends? Why are you coming to our PGP meetings if you think we're lame?”

“I don't know. Tell your mom that I'm dropping out. A cotillion is a stupid idea anyway. I'm going to the prom in a few months.”

I toss one hand up. “Whatever.”

I slam my locker shut and walk away from Valerie, Jewel, and Kelani. Valerie calls after me. “Hey, Gia, do you want to put your detective hat on again? Someone snitched on my mother and I need to find out who it was.”

“Nah, go find another goody-goody to help you out.”

Valerie has sufficiently irritated me, so I appreciate seeing Ricky at the end of first period. He's standing at his locker, dressed in his Tennessee Titans jersey looking extra fine.

“Nice jersey,” I say, sneaking up on him.

He smiles. “Thanks. A good friend bought it for me.”

I lift my eyebrows. Good friend? I thought we'd moved beyond good friend into the almost-crush zone. Ricky stays flip-flopping. He's worse than the politicians my mom made me watch on CNN during the last election.

“Your good friend? Was it a guy friend, because if it was a girl, I'd say she might be more than a good friend,” I reply.

“It is a girl, and she's my friend.”

“Does that make her your
girlfriend
?”

Ricky laughs. “What's up, Gi-Gi? I see you're rocking your barrette.”

“Yeah. Some dude gave it to me.”

“Wow, okay. I'm
some dude
now?”

I shrug. “As long as I'm a good friend, you can be some dude.”

Ricky takes his finger and trails a line down my arm and ends with my fingertips. His touch feels electric.

“You know you're more than a good friend, Gia.”

Kevin, as usual, busts up our moment. “Hey, y'all! What it do?”

Kevin is wearing every single last one of his Christmas presents. New jeans, new boots, new suede jacket with furry collar, and new Cleveland Browns hat. The entire ensemble complements his tall, thin frame and the color scheme brings out the light brown flecks in his eyes. With a little bit more work, Kevin can be upgraded to full-time hottie.

“Hey, Kev,” Ricky says. “Are we forcing Gia to learn to drive this week?”

Kevin nods. “Yep. It's past time, Gia. We need you to go ahead and do that. I'm not going to be driving you around New York City.”

“I'll take the subway, Kevin. Everyone does.”

Ricky interjects, “I know that you two are like the smartest kids in the class, but y'all do know that there is a chance that they might pick somebody else for this summer program.”

Kevin laughs. “Not unless they're smoking something. And I'm planning to go to Columbia anyway, so I'm perfect. How could they not pick me?”

I have to agree with Kevin. If they pick anyone in our class it will be Kevin. Kev's had straight A's since he started kindergarten, and hasn't ever even had a detention. He's the poster child for anyone's enrichment program.

Kevin says, “Did y'all hear Valerie's mother got arrested? That's tripped out, huh?”

“For real?” Ricky asks. “Gia, why didn't you say something?”

“I was about to.”

“You cool?” he asks.

Ricky is the only one who knows that I went to my uncle about this. I know he'll keep the secret, though, so I'm not even worried about that. Ricky is like a vault when it comes to secrets. They go in, but they don't come out. I love that about him.

“I'm good. And so is Valerie, by the way. She's planning to be the prom queen now.”

Ricky laughs. “Dang, that girl stays trying to be the winner. Her mother might go to jail and she's planning for the prom.”

“You can't say she's not prepared!”

Kevin points down the hall. “Here comes Hope.”

She looks funny, racing at breakneck speed. What's even funnier is that I'm almost one hundred percent sure she's coming over here to tell us what we already know.

Hope leans on the locker, completely out of breath. “Did ... y'all hear ...”

“About Valerie's mom?” I ask. “Yes, we heard. The entire school has heard.”

Hope shakes her head. “That's not what I was about to say. Valerie and Susan just got into a fight. Susan confronted Valerie and demanded an apology, and Valerie told her to kick rocks.”

“What! Valerie just got
out
of trouble. Now she's starting fights? I thought she wanted to go to the prom.”

“That's the thing! Valerie didn't start it. Susan swung on Valerie first. Smacked her so hard she flew into the lockers. Then Susan jumped on her and started scratching, pulling her hair, the works!”

Wow! Valerie got the smack-down from a lame. This is going to go down in Longfellow High history.

Kevin asks, “Did somebody break it up?”

“One of the counselors pulled Susan off of Valerie, and it was over. Valerie was screaming that she was pressing charges.”

“I think someone needs to call Aunt Elena,” I say. “Because fighting at school is against the PGP code of conduct.”

Hope gasps. “You want to get Valerie kicked out of PGP?”

“She says we're a bunch of lames anyway. She should be happy we did!”