Tonya didn’t know them, but she laughed with us, and I could tell she was enjoying herself. Ricky’s boys, Derrick and Jon Jon, who were cousins, yelled and cheered for him and after the rope stopped, he jumped around the square, waving his hands up and down like he’d won an NBA championship. We each screamed something, cheering for Ricky or pretending to shoo him away.

In the middle of the noise, I saw Ricky and Tonya look at each other. It was a quick moment, but long enough to embarrass her and to freeze the muscles on Stacia’s face.

We all secretly had a crush on Ricky, but Stacia had verbally claimed him as her man.

“You want to go?” I asked Derrick, who was making fake jump shots toward Precious. They liked each other; their desks were side by side in school, and I’d seen them flirting. One time, Derrick even passed her a note asking, “Do you like me, check yes or no!” She’d balled it up and thrown it in her desk, but I saw these cute patches of red, like cartoon hearts, on her cheeks. We pretended to hate Ricky, Derrick, and Jon Jon but actually didn’t mind that they put on too much cologne and ran around the square, their scent lingering there for hours.

“Nope,” Derrick said.

“We out,” Ricky announced, then stepped back and shot a fadeaway in my direction.

“Get that out of here!” I hollered, pretending to knock it out of the air. He rushed over and pushed me, then we all started shoving each other, play-fighting. Tonya scurried over to the corner, scared, so I said, “Mercy! Mercy!” our code word that made them stop. They laughed and ran down the stairs. We all caught our breath while looking at Tonya over in the corner. She trembled a little, her face serious.

“It’s still Precious’s turn,” I said, and Stacia rolled her eyes. She had absolutely no tolerance for her unusual behavior. I handed Tonya the rope, and she walked over to the spot.

We eased into position and played a few more rounds, until without any warning, Stacia dropped the ropes and said, “I’m going to get a snow cone.”

“I’m coming!” I said quickly, and Precious gave me a look so heavy with warning that I snapped, “You ain’t nobody mama!”

She looked hurt and embarrassed, her face involuntarily contorting, then angry blushing. She spun around, her pigtails flying, and went toward her apartment.