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  Olive replied, “But that’s what it’s there for ... people like us.”

  “Why should the state have to take care of me because my parents were trifling? I want to earn my own way. And to me, a man who deserves you should want to do that ... legitimately, not like crazy Tiger.”

  Olive hated that Tiger’s name was brought up between the two of them. She knew it was a sore spot. She looked away.

  “You disappointed in me?” Charles asked.

  “No, you go to the military. I’ll support that.”

  “If I go to the military, I don’t think the two of us can be together. It will just be unrealistic for me to ask you to not look at all those college boys.”

  “Then I’ll go to the military too.”

  But Charles just shook his head. “Who’s to say we’ll be stationed in the same places? That makes no type of sense, Olive. You shouldn’t hold yourself back because I didn’t do what I needed to do in high school.”

  “But what about us?” Olive said as she brushed his cheek with the back of her hand and gazed into his eyes. “Don’t you want to stay together? You’re avoiding the question.”

  Charles changed the subject. “What did you girls talk about last night at your slumber thing?”

  “You guys.” She giggled.

  “Yeah, I guess I should have figured that. Is that all y’all do? Sit around and gossip?”

  “No, no, actually ... it got interesting. Toni and probably Hillary and some of the other petty girls at the school came over in the wee hours of the morning and egged Sanaa’s car. Of course, Willow was super pissed. And supposedly Willow’s car got painted earlier in the year, so she’s out for blood.”

  “You guys gossiped and talked about more fighting?”

  “No. We also discussed the swoop list. There’s a lot to it, but long story short, we’re all trying to figure out who put us on it.”

  He frowned. “Why would you have to figure it out? You know who it was.”

  “No, I don’t,” Olive said with a real attitude.

  “Yes, you do. It was Tiger.”

  “It was not Tiger. Why would he put me on the list?”

  “Why did he do a bunch of the things he did to you? I can’t believe that you would even question it.”

  “You don’t need to be jealous of him anymore. Let go of the whole Tiger animosity thing. He would have nothing to gain by hurting me that way. At the time, I was his girl.”

  Upset, Charles lashed out. “You seem like you might still need to be his girl ... defending his behind. You talking about how I need to get over him ... looks like you’re the one who needs to get over him.”

  Charles moved Olive off of him. He got up and paced the floor. She placed her hands on her head.

  Charles ranted, “Here I am, stressed out about wanting to figure out a future with you, and it still seems like you’re thinking about a future with somebody else.”

  “Oh my gosh, you’re a jerk,” Olive said as she took a nearby pillow from the couch and chucked it his way.

  Olive desperately wanted to talk through the discord, but Charles wasn’t interested. He turned and headed out the door. As soon as he was gone and she was sitting there all alone, she knew that their relationship was at its darkest.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Brightest (Octavia’s Beginning)

  “I can’t believe you got me out here fishing,” Octavia said to Shawn, her boyfriend, as she jabbed him in the side with one arm and struggled to hold her pole with the other.

  “You ain’t even doin’ it right. You the one who wanted to come out here, giving me a hard time about hanging out with your dad all the time, and now you don’t wanna fish!” he teased her back.

  “I know, I just wanted to spend some fun time with you,” she said as the sun beamed down brightly on her. “I can’t believe we’re about to graduate! This is crazy!”

  “Yeah, and I don’t wanna think about nothing right now but you.”

  “But I’m a muddy, stinky mess,” she said as he leaned her backwards.

  “And sexy,” he said as he crawled on top of her.

  Although they were in a compromising position, they kept things on the up and up. They teased and bit each other’s ears. They were slobbering as they gave a few pecks on the lips. All clothes stayed on, and no body parts were shared.

  Looking up at the blazing sun, Octavia reflected. “I’ve got to do something with my life so that I can be successful one day. I mean, my dad has had to do a lot on his own, and it’s not like we live in the best part of town. My car looks like it’s gonna fall apart. My poor clothes need updating. We can’t afford that. I hate that I’m sitting here complaining. It could be worse. I think about Olive all the time, and you, and I don’t know. Am I weirding you out talking about this?”

  “No. I don’t need you to take pity on me, and I’m sure Olive doesn’t want you to take pity on her either. Our life is our life. We’re comfortable with who we are, but you got a point. We want more for ourselves, and that’s probably why I feel like a failure.”

  “What are you talking about? We’re about to graduate. We’re in the prime of our lives.”

  “Yeah, but everybody’s talking about what’s next—college, a job, the military. I don’t wanna go into the military like Charles, and I’m not ready for college either. It’s not like I wanna sit on my butt and do nothing, but I don’t want a minimum-wage job. I don’t know. Honestly, if I had another year of high school, I’d be alright with it. Freshmen, sophomores, and juniors just don’t even know how good they got it. This facing the real world thing is no joke.” And on that comment, he sat up and threw his line back into the water.

  She looked over at him and hated that she couldn’t think of what to say to encourage him about what was next. She knew she had to give some hard thought to it. She’d been so consumed with her own life that she hadn’t spent much time reflecting on what was next for Shawn. One thing she knew was that he had a bright future. He needed to believe that. But at least he was being real about what was on his mind.

  Octavia wasn’t being so forthcoming. She’d just left the fun slumber party gone south with the swoop list girls. Octavia shut down after they read the letter from Leah. The letter had challenged the girls to find out who put them on the swoop list and deal with that person. How was Octavia going to tell her girls that she put herself on the list? Octavia had already told Shawn and the school counselor, Ms. Davis. But telling her friends was much more difficult. Once they knew the truth, how could they ever care about her again? How could she face graduation isolated from them? In Octavia’s mind, that was the only outcome she could see if she told them everything.

  “Gosh, I must not be the only one with something on my mind. It’s been fifteen minutes, and you’ve been quiet. What’s wrong? I didn’t mean to bring you out here to depress you,” Shawn uttered in a caring way.

  “There are no answers to my problems. But I have been thinking about yours.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The technical school.”

  “What am I good at?”

  “I don’t know, but there’re lots of trades—automotive, plumbing, culinary.”

  “Wait, don’t sleep. I do love to cook,” Shawn joked.

  “Okay. Well, maybe we should pursue it.”

  “They have a school for that? Like, one you don’t have to go to college for?” Shawn asked hopefully.

  “From what I’ve seen, some colleges do have a culinary degree. But there are technical schools that you can go to just learn how to cook, and it’s not a four-year school. You’d come out and be some kind of chef.”

  “I need to look into that. ’Cause sometimes when I’m sitting at home with Ms. B and she flips to the cooking channels, I stay and watch with her. I get mesmerized and try to make the dishes. Before I got shot, I cooked for the house many days. I pride myself on how I chop my food. I put in other ingredients so it tastes really good. I don’t know, cookin
g school ... you might be on to something,” Shawn said with hope rising.

  “Look at you! Okay, okay. See, you’re smiling.”

  “Now let me help you out. What’s up? You still worried about telling your friends that you put yourself on the swoop list? Or you did tell them last night, and they’re mad at you? Talk to me. Be real.”

  “You think you know me well,” Octavia said, hating to broach the subject. “I haven’t told them, but I really want to. They’re my best friends. I mean, after you of course.”

  “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah,” Shawn played with her and said. “After me of course.”

  “You’re silly, Shawn.” She lifted her hand from the rod to hit him, but when she pulled up she felt a little tugging.

  “You caught something!” he said, helping her reel in the line.

  It was the cutest little four-inch fish. They both laughed. Octavia was proud, though. It was her first time fishing, and she caught a fish. She was ecstatic.

  Octavia smiled. “Can’t wait to tell Daddy I caught something.”

  “That’s right. You put your all into it, and something came back to you. So trust that with your friends. Share from the heart. Put it all out there. You’ll be satisfied with the results.”

  Throwing the little minnow back, she said, “Look at you, making me feel like my future with them is the brightest.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Steepest (Pia’s Beginning)

  Jackson High was all abuzz as Kenny, Isaiah, and Sebastian were ushered off the premises in handcuffs. Since it happened before the first bell rang, a crowd of students and teachers watched the drama unfold.

  Pia also had a front-row seat. Most of the school knew that Pia had been a victim of rape. Rumors had been flying for weeks. The police had told Pia that she didn’t have to be in school during the arrests. But she’d decided that she wanted to be there. She wasn’t gloating. She wasn’t happy this was happening. It actually brought back memories of the horrifying things that the three young men had done to her back in December. As much as Pia wanted to block memories of the rape from her mind, she was emotionally scarred from their actions. She had become pregnant through the rape and then had an abortion. Recalling that procedure was painful for Pia too.

  Since Pia was a caring person, she didn’t want to harbor hatred in her heart. But some of her classmates rolled their eyes at her and called her names as the police left with the boys, Seeing this, Pia was beyond angry. The boys had violated her, and yet people were supporting them. Pia wondered why she had no support.

  “I can’t believe this! Those idiots took everything from me! Why are folks mad at me? This is so wrong!” Pia cried out.

  Before more horrible accusations could be thrown her way, her boyfriend, Stephen, rushed over to her from out of the crowd. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to an isolated corner. Tears flowed from her eyes, and he held her, wanting to take away her pain.

  “You can’t worry about those people. Who cares what they think? Don’t let them get to you.”

  She replied, “But now they aren’t going to be able to march with our class at graduation because of the pending charges and stuff. Should I have looked the other way after all they did to me? Should I have not cared? Come on, Stephen. Why do I feel like the villain when they were the ones who were monsters?”

  “I’m telling you, you shouldn’t feel that way. Don’t stress. Don’t let it get to you. Come here. Let me take your mind off of it,” he said as he pulled her close and kissed her.

  “This is just sick,” a voice said.

  The loud voice startled Pia and Stephen. They backed apart. Neither were pleased to see Hillary standing there with her hands on her hips. Hillary was always talking smack about the swoop list girls.

  Pia looked at her and said, “What’s your problem?”

  Hillary scoffed, “You are my problem, sitting here all cuddled up with him like the world is okay when you done messed up the lives of the best ballers we got.”

  “You need to keep it moving,” Stephen said to Hillary, letting her know that her jab to him not being one of the best ballers didn’t faze him.

  “Don’t tell me what to do, tattletale,” Hillary replied as she got all up in his face.

  Stephen grunted, “You know what. I’m not even going to let you affect me.”

  “You’re just a punk. Anybody who’s going to tell on his teammates better be watching his back around here,” Hillary said as she shoved him.

  Stephen went to sock her. The last thing Pia wanted was for Stephen to have more trouble because of her. She motioned for him to settle down.

  Hillary didn’t let up. “You need to slow your roll. You don’t want me to tell everything I know.”

  “What you gon’ tell?” Stephen said, blowing her off.

  Confidently working her neck, Hillary responded, “Don’t make me go there. That’s all I’m saying.”

  Frowning, Stephen said, “You ain’t got nothing to tell on me.”

  “What she talking about?” Pia asked.

  He said, “I don’t know. She’s just trying to make trouble. Ignore her.”

  “Oh, I’m not trying to make trouble. But it will be trouble if I tell it,” Hillary smiled and reported.

  “What you going to say? I wanted to be with you one day? In your dreams,” Stephen joked.

  Hillary said, “Oh no, I know you didn’t want a sweet girl like me. You wanted to be with a ho.”

  “What you talking about?” Stephen asked.

  “Tell your little girlfriend who put her on the swoop list,” Hillary demanded, looking like she knew Pia was going to hate the answer.

  Stephen’s yellow skin turned red. Pia looked at him with desperation in her eyes. She was basically pleading for Hillary’s words not to have merit. But Stephen said nothing.

  “Oh my gosh. You put me on the swoop list? Wait a minute, all this time you been after me, and you put me on the swoop list? You been acting like you cared, and you put me on the swoop list! Say something!” Pia yelled out as she pounded on his chest.

  “It’s not like that. You don’t understand,” Stephen pitifully tried to explain.

  Hillary grinned and grunted, “Oh, it’s just like that. And I know he put you on there.”

  “How do you know?” Pia grabbed Hillary’s shirt.

  Moving Pia’s hands away, Hillary boasted, “Because I am the author of the swoop list. Booyah! I put you on it after he sent your information to me. He said you were too fast, and now he can’t wait to keep all the guys off you so he can get with you. Have you hit it yet, Stephen? Making her think you really care when you hurt her so bad.”

  Pia was devastated at that moment. For a spilt second, she wished she had a knife so she could stab both of them. She didn’t know what she was more shocked about, who the author of the whole entire swoop list was or who the one who put her on it was. Both were horrifying, so she ran away. She’d been through a lot over the past few months, but now her depression was at its steepest.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Truest (Sanaa’s Middle)

  Sanaa was feeling good, and she had true pep in her step. Graduation was only two weeks away, and although it still hurt that she and Toni would probably never reconcile, she was thankful for what she did have: four other good friends. Although she knew friendships with girls weren’t easy, she was determined to make it work. So when she saw Pia headed toward her in tears, she stopped her.

  “Okay, wait a minute. You’re a basket case, like you’re one of these seniors around here who just got notice that they not gon’ graduate. I know that’s not your story. Tell me what is wrong,” Sanaa said.

  Shaking and with red eyes, Pia replied, “I’m not in the mood to talk right now, so just let me go.”

  “No, I’m your girl. I’m not going anywhere. Talk to me! If you can’t be real with me, what good is friendship? Pia, tell me, what’s wrong?”

  When Pia felt Sanaa’s sincerity, she said, “I just fou
nd out who wrote the swoop list. Also, I learned who put me on the list. With those two things, what could be right?”

  Sanaa didn’t know how to respond to that. All five of them had made a pact to find out who put them on the list. On the surface, she still wanted to find out. However, deep down, Sanaa was so happy about graduation and didn’t want to do anything to ruin that feeling. Sanaa rationalized that if Pia was this upset over what she’d found out, prying into her own painful truth would only bring misery.

  Putting aside her own dilemma of who put her on the list, Sanaa tended to her girl. “So, who was it?”

  “Who was who? Who wrote the swoop list, or who put me on the swoop list?” Pia said with blazing eyes.

  “Is it the same person?”

  Pia shook her head.

  “Okay, so you gon’ make me guess? Is it one of them freaks who got carted out of here not too long ago?” Pia looked away, and Sanaa continued, “Don’t feel bad for them. I hate seeing anybody our age in trouble with the law too, but after what those three did to you, I know they are capable of anything. Putting you on the swoop list. Stupid thing. Jerks.”

  Pia shook her head more and said, “You’d think the person who created the Jackson High swoop list would be a guy. I mean, what girl in her right mind would sell out other girls, right?”

  Sanaa clutched her heart, “Oh, for real, is it Willow’s nemesis?”

  “Yep, that Hillary witch is behind the whole swoop list. At first I didn’t know which betrayal made me feel worse, you know? I do feel bad knowing that Hillary betrayed all of us females. But what really hurts the worst is knowing the one who’s been kissing up behind me like he really cares about me gave her my name!”

  “What are you talking about?” Sanaa asked.

  “I’m saying Stephen put me on the list. I was just about to let my guard down and put my tongue in his mouth when Hillary comes over and makes it clear that all that glitters ain’t gold. Boy, was she right. He was so fake. How could he hurt me like that, Sanaa?”