The birthday party is for a friend of Dell’s from band, Carla. She’s into retro glam, so this is the perfect event for her. There’s a three-layer cake with a pink sculpted roller skate at the top. All the decorations and party favors say, “This is how Carla rolls.” There’s a mountain of colorful gifts near the cake being guarded by Carla’s rough-looking brother, Thump.

However, the main attraction is the glitzy photo booth. We wanted to go inside, but the line was stupid long. So instead we dance and skate to the point of exhaustion. When the DJ plays the new Lil Baby joint, everyone rushes back to skate. Dell, Naija, Shawn, and I seize our chance and pile into the booth. Every pose we strike is goofier than the next.

When we’re done, we hit the food table—hard. Then we spill out onto the street and sit on the park tables across the street from the rink. Dell “liberated” a number of snacks and hid them in various pockets in his jacket; every time we think he’s done unloading, he reveals more stuff.

“Damn, yo, how much junk food do you need?” Shawn asks.

“I’m a growing boy,” Dell replies. Naija and I exchange a look. Dell stares at her and puts his hands up, signaling he will not get in the way of her taking whatever she wants. I think he’s a little afraid of Nai since that day in the cafeteria. She tears into a packet of M&M’s, and the rest of us follow. We recall the number of times Dell fell and start to laugh.

“I didn’t fall,” Dell swears. “I was paying homage to the ‘gangsta lean’ on roller skates. See, y’all don’t know about that,” he says as he unwraps a Twinkie.

“C’mon, yo, just admit you fell. We saw you grab hold of Carla’s little cousin before it happened. You almost took her down too,” Shawn says, shaking his head, amused.

“Did you see what that little monster did when I got back up?” Dell asks. “She kicked me!”

We try hard not to laugh, but then he says, “She hit me in the balls!” We burst out laughing. “Nah, man, this is serious. I might not be able to have children.”

The three of us can barely catch our breath, and when Dell vows to sue the little girl, we straight-up die laughing.

When we finally get it together, Shawn turns to me and says, “So, even though you left See Us, you and moms are still cool?”

I nod. “Yeah. I think we’re good.” I shrug, partly still in disbelief that she actually let me go.

Dell adds, “I’m glad you and your mom are still together, because if you two broke up . . . well, I’ll be honest, your mother would win me in the divorce.”