My jaw drops. I’m shaking with anger. I can’t begin to find the words to express my outrage. She takes my lack of communication as a possible confession. Her tone goes from anger to deep terror in a matter of seconds.

“Girl, you better answer my question!”

“You know I would never do that,” I tell her.

“I don’t know what you would and wouldn’t do anymore. That’s the problem. I have no idea who is standing in front of me right now. You skip the meeting, you lie to me about it, then you come home late—and yes, I heard you come in. And now, you try to cover up your lies with even more lies. Now I want to hear an answer from you.”

I reply between gritted teeth, “I’m. Not. On. Drugs.”

“Okay, if not that, then what? Where were you? And just so you know, I’ll send you to your maker long before I let you disrespect me with another lie. Now, I’m gonna ask one more time, where were you?”

“I was with . . . Devonte Evens.”

She sighs deeply and looks to the heavens. “Good Lord, why couldn’t it be drugs?”

“Seriously? How can you say something like that?”

“Drugs you can get off of. Stupid, however, is a lifelong condition, with no cure.”

“So I’m stupid for being with him?”

“That boy is just using you to get the letter signed. Don’t you get that?”

“He was before, but . . . it’s not like that now.”

“The hell it isn’t.”

The anger is growing inside me. The room is red and starting to spin. But there’s no way the Hulk could win against my mother—she created him.

“Hold on, did something happen between you two?” she asks.

“Yes—no, I mean . . . We didn’t have sex, okay?”

She studies me closely. “But something did happen . . . ?”

My reply should be filled with frustration and anger, given what is going on, but instead, there is whimsy in my tone—actual whimsy.

“I got my first kiss.”

“Oh, Getti . . .”

“You can say what you want about him, but he made me laugh. He made me feel . . . special. I won’t let you take that feeling away. I won’t.” I run back upstairs to my room and close the door.

I have no idea why I didn’t just walk out of the house. Why did I go back into my room? Well, I’m here now, and I need a few minutes before I go back downstairs and face my mother. I text Nai to let her know I’m running late. My cell dings, and I look down at the screen, thinking it’s Nai replying, but it’s not.

It’s my mom.