“She did! She did!” Jamee sobbed. She struggled free of Darcy, ran to her room, and slammed the door. In a minute, Darcy heard the bone-rattling sound of rap music.

Chapter 2

“You still up?” Darcy’s mother asked when she got home.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Darcy said.

Mom settled into her recliner. “I need to sit down and catch my breath, baby, before I shower and go to bed. What a night we had. Two boys in critical from drive-bys, a four-car accident on the freeway, a broken neck, plus the usual fevers and chest pains. And then we had a memo from our new administrator—seems like we’re wasting money. ”

Darcy hoped she might get the chance to talk to her mother about the problems at school, and maybe about Jamee’s attitude. Darcy went to get some hot chocolate for them, but by the time she returned, her mother was dozing. “Mom?” Darcy asked softly, but Mom’s even breathing continued. She was exhausted. Darcy did not have the heart to rouse her.

There was so much Darcy wanted to talk about. When Mom was sixteen, was she popular at school? What do you do when you’re a loner and you cannot seem to break out of it? And Jamee. She was worried about Jamee. A few times Darcy saw her riding in a car with some boys from Bluford. Jamee was only in middle school. Those older guys scared Darcy—some were gangster wanna-be’s. One of them, Bobby Wallace, had already been in trouble with the police for something or other. Once, last week, Darcy had tried to talk to her mother about Jamee, but Mom just said, “Oh, she’ll be okay. She’s at that age when kids try to rebel and take things to the extreme. I was lucky with you, praise the Lord. You never went through that phase, Darcy. Your sister is a different story. Y’all have always been as different as night and day. But Jamee’s a smart girl, and she’ll come out of this phase pretty soon. ”

Darcy drank down her hot chocolate and rinsed out the cups, then she headed for her room. She sat on the edge of her bed for a few minutes, staring at the photographs on her dresser. Mom, Grandma, her, and Jamee. There had been older family photographs with Dad included, but they were all hidden away somewhere. Darcy remembered the last photo taken with Dad. It showed eleven-year-old Darcy in braids and blue ribbons, wearing a lovely blue dress with a lacy collar, and Jamee, nine, her big brown eyes bright with mischief. That was taken a few months before Dad left.