Cressie said, “Y’all go to my mom’s church, right?”

Like good criminals in the making, they kept their mouths shut. I answered, though. “Yes. We’re all in Purity Pledge together. We dipped out because we saw our Purity Pledge teacher there.”

“Purity Pledge? As in the sworn denial of any physical urges or pleasure to please a patriarchal oppressor?”

Mya, full attitude, said, “So?”

Cressie nodded, chuckled in a humorless way. “It’s a choice, I guess. My bad. I don’t want any problems.”

“You can’t tell Mom and Dad you saw us here,” I said. “There could be trouble.”

“I won’t snitch. I’m glad you got a chance to come and expand your mind. I gotta get back; they’re going to wrap up soon and I want some one-on-one time with Jaylan. You can hang here. No one’s gonna bother you.”

“Thanks, Cress.”

She hugged me. No sneak pinch. No soft jab to the solar plexus. Just love. “It’s good to see you here, baby bro.”

Cressie began to step away when Shanice stopped her. “Ms. Rainey?”

“Oh no, sweetie. Let’s not do that. Cressie’s fine.”

“Okay. Um, will Jaylan come back soon? I still want to ask my question.”

Cressie frowned.

I said, “Shanice, probably not. She’s pretty busy and—”

“Hold that thought, baby bro,” said Cressie. “Don’t hit the road until you hear from me.”

“I gotta have them back before their parents try to pick them up from the library.”

“Boy, wait!” She stomped off, leaving us irritatingly perplexed and cautiously hopeful. My sister, a woman of contradictions.

Twenty minutes later Qwan and Angie entered the gym. His hands were stuffed deep in his pockets, like he was trying to scratch his knees from inside his jeans. Angie smiled when she saw us, a forced thing.

Kiera said, “Did you get to ask your question?”

Angie nodded. We waited, melting her with expectant stares. Maybe it was rude, but she’d asked the question in public. She could repeat it.

“Wow,” she said, “you’re like puppies waiting for kibble. I asked how she made difficult decisions. She seems to be killing the game, so I was curious about how someone like her thinks.”

Mya piped in. “What’d she say?”

“I said”—Jaylan entered the gym with my sister on her heels—“Examine, evaluate, extrapolate.”

The girls perked, with Shanice squealing a little.

Angie shrugged. “Well, there you go.”

“Examine all of your current options.” Jaylan paced before us like a drill sergeant. “Evaluate the pros and cons of each. Extrapolate each pro and con out one year, three years, and five years to determine the possible results. Thinking about it that hard, that clinically, will make things so much clearer. In case any of you were wondering.”

The girls applauded. I had to admit, her swagger was crazy. It was like being in the presence of a future movie star, or president of the United States.

“Cressida tells me you all couldn’t make it into the Q and A line. I wish I’d known. I don’t get to speak to groups your age too often.”