“You might as well just tell the truth because we’re going to find it out with or without you. I can take you into that place … New Horizons or whatever it’s called. Were you sleeping with this man and are you pregnant?”

“No,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“What was that, no?” Jewel asked.

“No,” I repeated.

“No you’re not pregnant or no you weren’t sleeping with this man?”

“Both.”

“Because, Shivana, if the answer to either one of those questions is yes, you need to be honest. There are things that need to be done either way. Things you can’t understand because you’re too young.”

“I’m not pregnant ’cause I ain’t never slept with nobody.” I glared at Jewel.

“Well then why would that woman come down here ranting and raving like that? Getting all this mess started. I almost had to kick her ass.”

Hakim chuckled.

“I’m serious, Hakim! She came up in here like she caught ’em in the act! Spreading lies and telling stories. I’m gonna tell you what I think. I think that man of hers is a dog and she’s one of them crazy bitches and looking to blame anybody she can for his hoeing. That’s what I think.”

“That’s what you tink, bebe?” Hakim asked. “That’s what you tink?” He grinned at her, and she grinned back, playfully slapping his arm.

“Hell yeah, that’s what I think.” She rolled her neck straight South Side of Chicago style.

“Well, only Shivana know de answer.” Hakim stared straight at me. “Is Jewel correct?”

I couldn’t look anyone in the eye and so I just stared at my shoes.

“Nakesha was mad at me about something else, so she just started telling lies,” I said. “I was scared to come home because Renelle told me she was gonna kill me.”

I held my breath, waiting for their reactions, waiting to see if I was as good as I thought I was. They all started chattering at once.

“Well, deh it is …”

“Shivana, why would you run away rather than just tell us what was going on?”

“Renelle bet not never bring her ass back down here again and you ain’t babysittin’ no damned more …”

I exhaled.

“But that seems like an awful big lie for someone who’s supposed to be your best friend to tell,” Jewel pointed out skeptically.

“Leroy just like me. He had tried to talk to me once.”

“Talk to you, like how?!”

“Lord Jesus …,” Ma sighed with her head in her hands.