That Girl Is Poison (8 page)

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Authors: Tia Hines

BOOK: That Girl Is Poison
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“The heffa is not worth it. Don't let her get to you. I heard you beat her up already anyway.”
Aaron was right. She wasn't worth it. There was no need for me to waste energy on her again. I would have gotten suspended, sent home, yelled at when I got home, and then put on punishment. Yeah, she wasn't worth it.
I walked to my sixth-period class wishing the day would hurry up and be over. I made a detour to the bathroom to take a quick tinkle. I walked in on two girls talking about what had just happened during fifth period.
“That girl Jen wrote this nasty note about Desire.”
“Who?”
“You know Desire? So-called Greg's sister.”
“Oh, that chick? What did the note say?”
“Something about her sucking dick.”
“Ooh! What? You read it?”
“No. Ms. Drimmer read it out loud.”
“Are you serious?” The girl laughed.
Spare me the humiliation.
I didn't even bother using the bathroom. I just walked out, pissed. Then I ran into “Mr. Piss Off” himself, Malik.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I'm tired of this bitch Jen spreading rumors about me.” I started crying.
“Stop crying and check her on it. Tell that bitch to stop spreading rumors, or you gonna whup her ass again.”
I didn't say anything, but as I thought about what Malik had said, I was motivated. I forgot all about the advice Aaron had given me. It was like he'd said nothing, because I went searching for Jen.
I inquired through some people in the hallways what class she was in and made my way there. I walked into her class as if I belonged there, and with no shame in my game, I gave her a few choice words.
“You better stop spreading rumors about me, bitch, or I'm gonna bust your ass again.”
“Desire, young lady, get out of my classroom!” the teacher yelled.
I walked out, obeying the command.
“Kiss my ass, bitch!” Jen yelled to me.
I did a U-turn. “Say it to my face.”
“Do not step foot back into my classroom, Miss Jones. Go to your sixth period.”
I did as I was told, pulled myself together, and made it to my last class late. I got in trouble, of course. I got sent to the office and was mandated to stay after school for a mediation session with Jennifer. You know I was pissed. The damn thing was going to be pointless. I was never going to be her friend again. She was practically the root of all my problems, and the situation that brought it about couldn't be mended.
After school I sat in the mediation room aggravated, waiting for Jen to show up. I had been waiting for at least fifteen minutes. I was getting impatient. She had one more minute, or I was out. My countdown started from sixty, and once I hit zero, I was headed toward the door.
My guidance counselor stopped me and made me sit back down. I tried to argue my way out of leaving, telling her that this was a waste of my time, and obviously Jennifer wasn't coming. Little did I know, Jen had already been there waiting in the office with her own guidance counselor. Somebody should have said something. Hello. Why have me waiting, thinking the girl wasn't showing up, when she was already there?
The other guidance counselor, Ms. Burgess, walked in the mediation room with Jen. “Hi, Desire. How are you?”
“Fine. Can we get this over with?” I rudely greeted.
“Sure can.” She ushered Jen to sit down opposite of me.
Jen sat quietly staring down at her fingernails as if she was nervous. I sat tapping my feet and hands, waiting impatiently for this mediation bull to start.
“First, I need to know why you think there is a problem between yourself and Jennifer.”
“I know there is a problem. The bitch—”
“Absolutely no profanity. It will not be tolerated.”
“I won't tolerate her. I'm tired of her. She keeps spreading disgusting rumors about me. And I'm sick and tired of it. She's always staring at me, throwing up her middle finger.”
“Is this true, Jennifer?”
“She be staring at me too and talking about me.”
“Talking about you to who? Puh-lease! You ain't a topic of discussion.”
“What?” she yelled and stood up.
I took a stand too.
“Wait, hold on. Let us keep our cool here. Take a seat, ladies.”
“This is stupid. Can I please leave?” I asked.
“No, this mediation session is not over.”
We both sat back down with our faces screwed up and mouths poked out.
“Now, ladies, I understand that you two used to be friends.”
“Yeah, used to be . . . until her brother took what was mine.”
“He did it to me too. What was I supposed to do?”
There was silence.
“Did what, ladies?”
Neither one of us answered.
“Can you guys fill me in here?”
We put our heads down.
“I didn't even tell my mother,” Jen whispered.
“Tell your mother what?” the counselor asked.
“That my brother—”
“Was the one who stole this thing I got blamed for,” I said, covering up for her.
Jennifer looked up at me and gave me that thank-you look. “Yeah, this diamond necklace that my mom had.” Then she stood up. “I'm sorry.”
“And what are you sorry for?” the counselor asked.
“I'm sorry for talking about her.”
“Don't tell me. Tell her.”
She turned to me. “I'm sorry for talking about you, Desire, and embarrassing you.”
“Yeah, why'd you do that? You embarrassed me on the first day of school, and today with the rumors, and the notes. Why?” I got very emotional, wanting to make sure her apology was sincere.
“I don't know. I didn't know how to be your friend. I was so happy to see you that I didn't know what to do. I'm sorry.”
Can you imagine that the dummy did all of that to be my friend? Wow! I didn't want to apologize, but what the hell, I had to. I wanted my best friend back. “I'm sorry too.”
We hugged in tears. The mediator looked like she was about to shed a few tears herself. It was a beautiful thing.
As soon as we walked out of the mediation room, we picked up where we left off. It was like we'd never stopped being friends. She owed me anyway. She put me through a lot, and with us being back in the good graces of each other, I had planned to get as much as I could out of the relationship.
I did too. Oh boy, did I. I can't say it was sincere on my part either. All I can say is, Jen had it coming.
Chapter 9
Christmas rolled around, and it was just another day for me. Scrooge lived in my house for the holiday. There was no Christmas spirit whatsoever. I didn't get so much as a pot to piss in. I stayed locked up in my room for the entire winter break. I had phone privileges, thank the Lord, but it didn't really matter though. I felt depressed, not wanting to talk to anyone. I mean, come on. What did I have to brag about? Nothing. 'Cause I didn't get shit.
There was no jolly story for me to tell about getting new clothes or games or whatever other goodies kids get for Christmas. I knew whoever I talked to would run the conversation a mile a minute about how they got this, how they got that, and blah, blah, blah. Then it would be my turn to run down my gifts. So I spared myself the pain of talking to anyone. I couldn't even pull myself together to talk to Jen, who kept calling. I gave her some lame excuse about not feeling well. It was wrong, I know. She was someone I should have been able to talk to, but I just wasn't in the spirit.
The only person I really did want to talk to though was Malik. I cared less if he knew I got nothing. I just wanted to talk to him. I waited days to hear from him too, but he never called. I only called him like every hour on the hour, just to get none of my calls returned. I ended up not hearing from him or seeing him until I returned back to school from break.
The first day back to school, we met up in the bathroom, went in one of the stalls, and got busy. That's when I ran into my first problem with him. He gave me crabs.
I never confronted him though. I was too scared. I was afraid he would have turned it around and blamed it on me. I knew I didn't give it to him, but at the time, my mind was playing tricks on me. I wasn't sure what to expect because, the way the doctor put it, I could have given it to him and vice versa. Anyway, I got rid of them.
I used the shampoo the doctor prescribed, and it was cleared up in minutes. Then, within an hour, shaved coochie and all, I was back in bed with Malik. This time, though, he left me burning. Oh my goodness! That's a memory I'll never forget.
My vagina was itching so bad, I could hardly sleep. I think it had to be about ten o'clock at night when I got this horrible, itchy, shocking feeling. I was almost in tears from the discomfort. I called up Jen, and she advised I should go to the emergency room. I didn't know how she thought I was going to get there. I couldn't tell my aunt my vagina was on fire. That would clearly let her know my fast ass was having sex.
Serves me right.
I got through it though, thanks to good ol' Jen. My girl had my back. She held me down. She stole her mother's car and picked me up at about one o'clock that morning. I had my health insurance card in my purse ready. Uncle Frank had given it to me about a month prior, in case I was ever admitted to the hospital, or if I ever needed some emergency assistance. It definitely came in handy that night, and I tell you, that was damn sure an emergency.
Jen was whipping her mother's car like she had a license for years. We were lucky not to get pulled over from her self-taught driving. Whoa! That would have been a quick lockup.
Anyway, we got to Boston Medical around one thirty and didn't get out until five in the morning. It was all to conclude that I had syphilis. Yeah, you heard right, syphilis. This time, I was confronting him.
The doctor explained that he had to contract it from someone else and pass it to me. He had to have it for a while too. He also said I was lucky to catch it at the stage I did. I didn't know you could die from syphilis. Imagine that, a thirteen-year-old girl in junior high dead from syphilis. What a headline! The risks people take having unprotected sex. I was sure enough a dummy, but like I said, I confronted him this time.
He had no excuse with this one, and there was no way in the world he was going to talk his way out. There was no maybe I could have in this situation. Oh no, Malik was getting a good foot in his ass. I couldn't wait to get to school the next morning to confront him. It weighed on my mind too. I kept thinking get home, get up in about two hours, and dig a new asshole into that bastard Malik.
 
 
Coming back from the hospital, me and Jen pulled up to my house and saw both my aunt and Jen's mother sitting on the porch, just waiting. You know our faces dropped like,
Oh shit!
We were trying to figure out what we could say about where we had gone when they asked, not like it would've made a difference anyway. We were in trouble no matter what. I wasn't going to volunteer the truth though, and neither was Jen. The emergency room and STD thing would raise a bigger issue, a huge issue, so I was good with sticking to “cruising,” as our story.
That was some night, boy. I got the whuppin' of a life time. Thing about it too, my aunt didn't even whup me. My uncle did the honors. Yup, I stood in one place while he lit my behind up with his black leather belt. My butt was sore. I was hurting too. Not so much from the whuppin' though, but for the simple fact that it was my uncle who gave me the licks. He had never before in his life beaten me. I guess there's a first time for everything, right?
Just like being on punishment for life. Yeah, Uncle Frank took it there. I was officially on punishment for life. Shoot, I thought I'd never see daylight again, let alone school. He gave me a good ass-whuppin', and it left my body hurting like hell. Between the welts and the red tender spots, I was all broke down.
 
 
The tears I cried showed the next morning. When I woke up, I could hardly see. My eyes were puffy and swollen. My body ached more, and I was dead tired. Yet, I had to rise and shine to go to school looking a wreck.
The bags under my eyes made me look like I hadn't slept for days. Everyone kept asking, “What's wrong?”
Jen didn't even show up for school. She had gotten a worse whuppin' than I did, and I'm not even trying to brag that mine wasn't that bad, 'cause it was. None of this stopped me from looking for Malik though. I still had to confront him. I had some fierce words for him.
I searched for him in school all day, but he was nowhere to be found. By the end of the day, I realized that there were no seniors in school. They were all gone on a two-week Black college tour. And, of course, Malik said nothing to me about the pre-planned trip. The bastard.
When he got back though, I chewed his ass out. I got bold. Yup, I grew a backbone. I walked right up to him, pulled him to the side and smacked the dog shit out of him. Jen had pumped me up, so my eagle was soaring sky-high.
“Girl, what the hell is wrong with you?” He smiled thinking I was playing.
I guess my slap wasn't hard enough. “This is what's wrong with me.” I handed him the syphilis brochure the doctor had given me.
“Oh, baby, you mad?”
“What? Am I mad? Hell yeah! You burned me. The doctor said if I didn't catch it in time, I could have died.”
“You still standing, right?”
“Oh, this is a joke, Malik?”
“Baby, calm down, okay. I didn't know.”
“What you mean, you didn't know? How could you not know? Didn't it burn when you pissed?”
“Here you go.”
“Here I go what?”
“Here you go acting crazy.”
“I ain't acting—”
“Listen, just listen,” he said, cutting me off.
“I'm listening!”
“Baby, I'm sorry, okay. I am truly sorry. I love you, and I didn't know this would happen. You know I wouldn't purposely do this. I love you too much. I love you, Desire. I love you.”
He pulled me closer to him and caressed my cheek. He began French-kissing my bottom lip, and
voilà
. I met him at his house after school. It's sad how naïve I was when it came to Malik. He had so much power over me, it was ridiculous.
Remember now, the entire time he was on his trip, I was on heavy-duty punishment. He wasn't around to influence me, which made it easier for me to stick by the rules. How quickly that changed. In a matter of seconds, he smooth-talked me back into his bed, and I started lying to my aunt and uncle again.
Every day after school I'd go to his house or hang out with Jen downtown. I told my aunt and uncle that I had track practice. I made sure to come back at the time practice was normally over, or else they would have gotten suspicious.
One Wednesday night, I reached home later than usual. I had my track gear on, faking like I was exhausted. I had my lie all ready, about having missed the bus. When I unlocked the door and let myself in, my aunt greeted me with the infamous black leather spiked belt. I knew I was in trouble then. She snatched me up and went haywire.
I went haywire too. “Get off of me! You witch! I'm too old to get a beating!” I resisted.
Uncle Frank ordered her to stop, and Auntie Linda surprisingly listened.
“Where have you been, young lady?” Auntie Linda asked. “Because we know damn well you were not at track practice.”
I stood there looking stupid, while Uncle Frank waited for my reply. They weren't going to get the truth out of me, so I came up with a bold-faced lie. I told them I went to the library after practice because I had to do research for a project. Then my uncle started asking me questions about exact times and all this other crap. It was a wrap for me. I couldn't give exact times 'cause I was lying, and frankly, I wasn't a good liar. Not yet.
I made them furious this time. My television had already been gone, and the only thing left for them to take out was the stereo. I could live with that, 'cause I often stayed in my room writing in silence anyway. That was too good to be true though. They hit me with the big one. I couldn't run track anymore.
How could they? I loved track. It was the only thing close to therapy I had to relieve my stresses. Between the pain of not having a real father and trying to continuously understand why my mother left me, I needed track. It kept my mind off the rape. It kept me from questioning why God took Greg away. Track was my world, and it was taken away from me right under my nose. Why couldn't Greg have stuck around longer? Things would have been much different. I wouldn't have been involved with half the things I was if he'd stayed around. But so be it. The decision was final. Auntie Linda got what she wanted. Uncle Frank backed her up too. You know what that meant. I had burned one too many bridges with my uncle, and he was all set with me.
That was cool though. It was just another hump to get over. When you break the rules, you have to suffer the consequences, right? I can't be mad at that, especially since the punishment didn't last too long. Oh no, Desire was getting the hell out of dodge.
That same night I had decided to runaway to Malik's house. I waited for my aunt to go to sleep, and I got my bike off the back porch and rode to the nearest pay phone. I called Malik, and he gave me the okay to come over. I rode my bike all the way to his house, which was about a half-an-hour ride. Not too much of a ride from Roxbury to his place in Dorchester. My track legs did me well.
Malik did me well too. As soon as I got in his house, we got down and dirty. We had sex about three times, three different ways, and as usual with no condom. Then, you know, we concluded with cuddling and talking.
“I don't want to go back home, Malik.”
“So stay with me.”
“I can't stay with you.”
“Yes, you can. Why not?”
“I mean, I never want to go back.”
“And you can stay with me. I'll take care of you.”
“Are you serious?”
“Of course, baby.”
“What about your mother?”
“What about her? You're my girl. She ain't gonna say nothing. You can stay right here with me. You know daddy ain't gonna let nothing happen to you.”
I looked up at Malik, and he had a big Kool-Aid smile on his face as he leaned in to kiss me. Malik sounded so sincere in his words, I just knew he cared.

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