With Friends Like These (2 page)

I
can’t believe I ate so much. My stomach feels like if I hiccupped, it would explode.” Jasmine rubbed her stomach as she leaned back in the seat.

I shook my head at her. It just didn’t make sense to eat like a pig. I tried to tell her that, but of course, she wasn’t listening to me.

We were leaving Jasmine’s favorite restaurant, the Golden Corral. As far as she was concerned, no restaurant in town could compare to the all-you-can eat buffet.

I was dropping Jasmine off in front of her apartment complex. Tameka had gone home with Rachel and Julia was a no-show at this morning’s community service project. We’d gone to the Julia C. Hester House, a senior citizens’ center, and played bingo with the residents. It wasn’t the way I’d prefer to spend my Saturday morning, but it hadn’t been as bad as I thought it would be.

Angel and Camille were in the back seat, stuffed as well. I was the only one who didn’t look like I was about to pass out. Probably because I had only eaten a salad. Jasmine had said that made no sense to her.

“Why go to an all-you-can eat buffet if all you’re gonna eat is lettuce?” she’d asked.

They just didn’t understand. I may have been slim and trim now, but I was a straight butterball just two years ago. People don’t even believe it, but I weighed two hundred pounds by the eighth grade. It was horrible, and my mother tripped all the time, which only depressed me and made me eat even more.

But luckily, I took up running and started loving it. I ran every chance I got, and the weight just started dropping off.

“Hey, what’s going on over there?” Camille said as she leaned up and pointed at the basketball court in front of Jasmine’s apartment complex.

“Oh, that’s all the guys around here and their Saturday-afternoon basketball game,” Jasmine replied nonchalantly.

“Oooooh, looks like a lot of cute guys over there,” Camille said, swooning.

“Yeah, right.” Jasmine turned up her nose. “You don’t want any of these bustas from my neighborhood.”

“Can I just look, dang?” Camille smiled. Jasmine shook her head at Camille’s boy-crazy behind.

“I’m with Camille,” Angel said, leaning up as well. “Let’s go look.”

“Bet,” I said as I pulled into a parking spot in front of Jasmine’s apartment. I shut off the car and grabbed some lip gloss. I dabbed it on my lips before passing it on to Camille and Angel, who did the same.

Jasmine groaned as we started climbing out of the car. “Y’all act like you ain’t never seen no boys before,” she mumbled.

“Look, just because you got your nose wide open behind Donovan, don’t hate on us,” Camille joked.

“Whatever.” Jasmine waved Camille off, but I couldn’t help but notice the smile that crept up on her face. I knew she was thinking about her boyfriend, Donovan. He graduated this past May and was now away at college. Personally, I didn’t know how they handled a long-distance relationship, but Jasmine seemed cool with it.

Camille was about to say something, but her eyes lit up at the sight of all the shirtless boys running up and down the basketball court, so whatever she was about to say must have no longer been important.

“Girl, look at that dark-skinned one right there,” Camille said as she walked over and grabbed my arm. “He is so fine.”

“Ewwww,” Jasmine said as she walked up behind us. “That’s Ricky. He calls himself Pretty Ricky. That alone should tell you something.”

“Shoot, I see why he calls himself that,” Camille said, eyeing him up and down.

Angel nodded. “You got that right. But I’m checking out the one over there in the white Nike tank.”

We all turned toward a short curly-haired boy who was taking a swig from his Gatorade bottle.

“You would choose the shortest one on the court,” Camille laughed.

“Whatever,” Angel responded, running her fingers through her long, wavy black hair. “Short or not, he is too cute.”

“That’s Jose. And he has a baby,” Jasmine responded.

“Ummm, so do I,” Angel said. “So we could have a ready-made family.” She grinned.

“Don’t make me throw up,” Jasmine said. “You think Marcus is a deadbeat dad,” she said, referring to Angel’s baby’s father, who didn’t want to have anything to do with her or their child. “Jose’s son is nine, and Jose still won’t claim him.”

Angel turned up her nose, like she’d suddenly lost interest in him. “Unh-unh. I definitely don’t want a deadbeat dad.”

“Jasmine, I don’t believe you’ve been holding out on us like this. This is where we should’ve been hanging out,” Camille said as she continued to look around the basketball court.

“I know,” I added. “All this fineness up in one area. Like, oh my God.” I stopped talking and put my hand to my chest. “I think I’m in love,” I said as I stared at the court. “That is the finest boy on the face of the planet, and he needs to be my next boyfriend.”

Jasmine closed her eyes and shook her head. “Girl, please. You don’t know any of these boys. Ain’t none of them boyfriend material. I don’t even know who you are talking about. But I know the boys in my neighborhood, and none of them are people I’d fix my friends up with.”

“Who are you talking about?” Camille asked.

I grabbed Angel’s arm. “Oh, my God. He’s walking over here.”

We all looked at a group of boys who were walking toward us. They were high-fiving each other, I guess because they had won their game.

“The one with the basketball,” I said.

Jasmine looked toward the boys and her mouth dropped open. “Double, triple, quadruple ewwww.”

“Girl, please. You can not tell me he ain’t fine,” I whispered, lowering my voice.

“Yes, I really can,” Jasmine said as the group walked right up to us.

“What’s up, Jasmine?” Ricky said. “Who are your friends?”

“You don’t know them,” she said with an attitude.

“That’s the problem,” Ricky said, looking at Camille like she was T-bone steak and he was a starving dog.

“Boy, beat it,” Jasmine said, flicking him off.

Ricky laughed and turned toward the boy with the basketball. “Jaquan, why yo sister so mean?”

“Mean queen, that’s Jasmine,” Jaquan replied.

“You not gon’ introduce us to your friends?” another one of the boys said.

“No, Kelvin, I’m not,” Jasmine replied. She looked over at me. I know I was still standing there with my mouth hanging open.

“Don’t be like that,” Ricky said.

“Hey, fools, we need to do the best outta three! Where y’all goin’?” Some boy yelled from the basketball court.

All of the guys turned toward the yelling.

“We gotta have a tie-breaker game,” the boy shouted as he threw his arms up in the air.

“So these bustas ain’t had enough, huh?” Ricky said, laughing and shaking his head. “Let’s go again.”

“A’wight, man,” Jaquan shouted to the boy. “Here we come.” He turned back toward his friends. “Come on, y’all.”

Ricky smiled at Camille one more time. “Bye, baby. Hope I see you around,” he said, licking his lips.

“I hope you do, too,” Camille sweetly said as he took off toward the court.

“Y’all are goin’ to make me throw up, for real,” Jasmine said, turning and heading off the court.

I jumped in front of Jasmine. “Oh, no, you don’t. Why did you not tell me that fine thing was your brother?”

“I’m sorry, I would have no earthly idea what fine thing you’re talking about,” Jasmine coolly replied. “Because you couldn’t possibly be talking about Jaquan. Besides, you saw him at the banquet last year.”

I leaned back and looked at Jaquan again. He did look familiar, but I would’ve definitely remembered somebody that cute.

Jasmine shook her head. “He was a lot shorter and a lot nerdier looking. He just sprouted up over the summer. Now he thinks he all fine and stuff.”

“He is.” I glanced toward the court again. “Hook a sista up.”

“First of all, the slang. Not you,” Jasmine said, wagging her finger side to side in my face. “Second of all, I really do like you. And since I wouldn’t fix my brother up with my worst enemy, that’s not an option. Got it?”

“Nope,” I replied with a smile. “He’s the one.”

“You don’t even know him. He’s a jerk.”

“You’re just saying that because you don’t want me to talk to him,” I responded.

Jasmine sighed. She should’ve known I wasn’t trying to hear anything she had to say.

“So, will you stop being my friend if I talk to your brother?” I asked as I cocked my head at her.

“Huh? Of course not. But I’m just trying to tell you—”

I cut her off. “Then the only thing I ask is that you tell your brother to call me.”

Jasmine looked at me like I was on drugs. “I can’t stop you from talking to Jaquan, but I dang sure ain’t gon’ help you. And if you know like I know, you’d stay as far away from my got-a-different-girlfriend-every-week brother.”

I ignored Jasmine as I took another look at Jaquan’s cute self. Yep, I was determined to get to know her brother a little bit better—with or without her help.

R
achel was bouncing off the walls. She was so excited, she could barely contain herself.

“Miss Rachel, are you going to tell us what’s going on or what?” I said. Her excitement had me curious. We were at our weekly Tuesday meeting, but instead of talking about community service or Bible lessons, Rachel had said she had a major announcement.

She smiled as she looked out the door. “I told you all it was a surprise. One I’m sure you’ll love.”

I took my seat up front, bracing myself for Rachel’s surprise.

“Okay, quiet, quiet,” she said as she stood at the front of the room. By the time Tameka, Jasmine, Julia, Angel, and Alexis had all shuffled to their seats, I was about to lose my mind with anticipation.

“One of Zion Hill’s faithful members, Shereen Young, has an incredible opportunity for you girls. Shereen works at Channel 2, and today she’s joining us to make a very special announcement. I’d like you all to give her your undivided attention, and please save your questions until she’s finished.” Rachel looked around the room. “Okay, it looks like everyone is ready. Let me go and bring her in.”

The minute Rachel left her post at the front of the room, the whispering started. Everyone was more than just a little curious about this “surprise.”

Rachel stepped back in the room, accompanied by a beautiful, heavyset woman who was wearing a long flowing skirt and ruffled sleeveless blouse. Her sandy brown hair was in a curly Afro.

“Hello, everyone,” Shereen said. “As I’m sure Rachel has told you, my name is Shereen. I have been a fan of the Good Girlz program since its inception.”

We all looked on, still trying to figure out what was going on.

“I’m glad to be here with you today,” she continued, looking at Rachel. “Thanks for giving me this time to speak with your girls.” She turned her attention back to us. “I’m here on behalf of my station, KPCR, Channel 2. We are doing a new show called
Teen Talks
, and I’m heading up the new program designed to target issues facing teens today. We had a host scheduled to start in two weeks, and because of circumstances beyond our control, she simply will not be able to do it. That puts us in a bad situation, as we’re scheduled to start taping in a couple of weeks. So I’ve been charged with finding a new host for the show, quickly. We’re looking for just the right person to bring excitement, talent, and personality to the program.”

A huge grin crossed my face. I looked around the room. Everyone, including Tameka, looked as excited as I was. Well, except for Julia. She kept her same weird look. We all started talking and asking a bunch of questions.

“Settle down. I’ll answer all of your questions in a minute,” Shereen said. “But I need to add that not only would you host the show, which will tape once a week in the evenings, but the job also pays five hundred dollars a week.”

That made all of our eyes get even bigger.

“I’ve been trying to find the best way to go about finding the perfect host,” Shereen said. “And since I’m a faithful member of Zion Hill, I decided to start here. You ladies have the first shot.”

“Wow!” I said. “That is so cool.”

Shereen smiled as she folded her arms and nodded. “We think so.”

All I could think was that she was speaking directly to me. I could see myself now in that position as the host of this new teen show. I immediately started thinking about all the great ideas I’d come up with.

“So, are there any questions?” she asked.

Every hand in the room flew into the air. I was honestly too mesmerized by the idea of being able to host my own show on TV. I had questions, but my real question was how I could get the job. That’s all I was really concerned with. Besides, I had a feeling Angel and Alexis or even Jasmine would ask enough questions.

“So, what do we have to do?” Alexis asked.

“Well, there is an audition process,” Shereen continued. “And because you’ll be a role model of sorts in this position, we do ask that you be passing all of your classes.”

“That’s no problem for my girls,” Rachel stepped in and said. “Everyone is passing, right?”

We all nodded.

“So, what will you be looking for?” Tameka asked, finally seeming to lose the attitude she’d had since day one.

“We’re looking for a host with personality. One who can draw the viewers in and keep the show moving along,” Shereen said.

“When do we get to audition?” I was so excited. I already wanted to be a television news reporter when I grew up, so this was right up my alley.

“Well, there are three rounds of auditions you’ll have to go through. The first will be a basic on-air test to make sure you even have what it takes to host a show. Some people freeze up on camera, or know this is something they could never do. We don’t want to waste their time or ours. So I guess that would be my first question. Anyone in here not interested in hosting the show?”

We all looked around the room. Julia, who was sitting in the back of the room, slowly raised her hand. “Actually, I won’t be able to do it. This is my last meeting. My parents are moving to Ohio.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Rachel said.

We all looked like we could care less—probably because no one really knew her, and she definitely hadn’t made an effort to get to know us.

Julia shrugged like it was no big deal.

I didn’t mean to sound cold, but I had too many questions to be worrying about Julia. “I think we all are excited about the opportunity,” I said.

“Actually,” Angel interrupted me, “as much as I would love to take part, and I dang sure could use the money, my mom works in the evening. And I know with the baby, I just can’t do it. But I’m definitely here to help my girls out.” She playfully pushed my shoulder.

“Well, that settles it, then,” Shereen said. “We have four candidates for the job. Now, I have to tell you, if myself and the other producers don’t think any of you is the person we’re looking for, we will open the search up to other Houston-area teens.”

“You won’t have to look anywhere else,” I bragged.

“That’s right, because you’ve found your new host right here,” Tameka said, pointing to her chest. “Television is in my blood. My cousin is a reporter for CNN.”

I cut a sideways glance at her. She sure was arrogant all of a sudden. She’d barely said two words since we first met, and now she was all cocky.

“Not,” Alexis joked. “I would say the Teen Talks host is right here.” She stood up and took a bow.

Jasmine stood up next to Alexis and bumped her with her hips. “You mean right here.” She patted her chest.

We all laughed, except for Tameka. She looked like she might be taking this a little too seriously.

“All right. Settle down, girls. Let Shereen finish telling you how the audition will work,” Rachel said.

Everybody took their seats.

“I’m glad to see such enthusiasm,” Shereen said. “We’ll do the on-air test next week. That will be followed by a round of interviews with the producers, and then you’ll actually tape a show.” She started passing out some papers. “If you all would, please, fill out this application and bring it with you to the on-air test, which will be held at the Channel 2 studios on next Friday.”

Shereen answered a few more questions before heading out.

“I trust that you all will represent me well,” Rachel said after she was gone.

“And you know this,” I playfully said.

“And I’m not going to support this unless we all agree this will be a friendly competition,” Rachel added.

“Of course,” I said. Everyone else nodded as well.

After we wrapped up that conversation, Alexis stood up, looking at her watch. “We’ll be all set, Miss Rachel, but for now we have to go. We’re all working a catering event for my dad.”

“Not all of us,” Tameka said.

I raised my eyebrows. Alexis’s father had asked us to help out as waitresses at some business event tonight when his caterers found themselves short-staffed. Alexis had immediately called me, Angel, and Jasmine. I bet she forgot to call Tameka and Julia.

“I’m so sorry,” Alexis said. “I wasn’t even thinking, Tameka. I’m sure it won’t be a problem for you to help, too.”

Tameka stood and grabbed her purse. “No, thanks. Since I’m just an afterthought and all, I’ll just go on home and start practicing for my audition.”

She turned up her nose as she walked out of the room. While I desperately wanted the
Teen Talks
job, if it didn’t go to me, I’d rather it went to anybody but Tameka.