Chapter 4
“You just can’t leave me alone, can you?” I challenged Tyrone Monday morning as we waited in front of the house for Terell. “Why do you keep bothering me?”
“I, I, I don’t know!” he exclaimed. “I just get these serious urges and, and, and I just can’t hold back!”
Smack! I just couldn’t hold back. My fist went flying. His body went down. I had finally found a way to get even.
“Dad!” Kriston howled. “Justine punched Tyrone!”
Terence and Austin sat rigid with their mouths hanging open, Tyrone, down on his stomach, lay motionless. He turned his head around to look at me.
“Dad!”
Pop barged out with Terell and saw Tyrone flat on the lawn. He lifted Tyrone off the grass, tested his nose and mouth to make sure there was still air coming out, set him down next to Terence, grabbed my arm, led me in the house, and straightened me out in a way I would never forget.
After a long day at school, with my ears still ringing from Pop’s hard lecture, I sat across from Tanya and Courtney on our way home. But this time instead of sitting in the back like always, we were up front near the bus driver.
“Come on, here’s our stop,” Courtney announced, pressing the bell.
“Wait!” Tanya whispered. “We can ride a little longer.”
“We’re supposed to go straight home after school unless we ask for permission to go someplace else,” Courtney clarified.
Tanya’s bottom lip jutted out, pleading me not to leave.
I clutched my backpack and stormed toward the back door. Tanya caught my arm and gave me a look of desperation. I gave her a look of hate.
“Tch, ooh, I guess we can ride a little longer, Justine,” Courtney said, “as long as we don’t get lost.”
Tanya waited.
Steamed, I slithered back to my seat and tried to guess what punishment I would get for doing this. I couldn’t understand why I gave in to Tanya so much. I didn’t want any more secrets with her. Maybe I should have just gotten up and run like I did from Cheri’s building.
With a grin of satisfaction, Tanya dropped down beside me. “Look at him!” she whispered, “You ever seen anything so fine in your life?”
Courtney clicked her teeth again. I peered through the window to see the next stop. Tanya was sitting too close for me to make a break for the door.
“Look how he turns the wheel,” she continued. “So smooth. We didn’t even hit a bump yet and oh!” she squeezed my arm. “Look at his eyes! Hazel eyes!”
I twisted my arm out of her grip as the bus pulled up to a stop. “Justine?” a voice beckoned. I looked up. Janot’s mother, Mrs. Forrest, had boarded. She had the same cute stubby nose and sparkling brown eyes as Trevor, only hers were more feminine. “Shouldn’t you be on your way home?” she asked, dropping her fare in the slot.
“Yes, Ma’am.”
She shook her head. “Honestly, you kids,” she said and walked to the back of the bus.
I shot my eyes at Tanya. “Are you happy now?” I asked as I wondered who else on this bus might have known me. “You got me in more trouble.” How long would it take for Tyrone to find this out? “Why do you keep doing this to me, Tanya?” I shook my head in defeat. “I’m supposed to go home, sit at my desk, and look like I’m studying. But all you see is some guy you don’t even know, and now you’ve got me on some bus because you’re in love with the bus driver?” I glared at her and continued, “I got blasted at today because of you! Did you know that?”
She wasn’t even looking at me; her eyes were still glued to the bus driver. Only she wasn’t smiling.
I turned around.
My cheeks burned and my jaw dropped. The driver had heard everything.
I cringed and watched Tanya’s face shake from anger and her eyes water. Gripping my book bag tightly, I back-stepped to the front of the bus.
At least the driver was nice enough to open the door again.
I grabbed the handle and stepped down until my heel touched the sidewalk. Then I spun around and broke into a run.
“Come back here!” Tanya screamed. “Come back here so I can kill you! I’ll kill you! How could you do that? I thought you were my friend!”
I winced but I didn’t stop.
Houses and kids became a blur as I reached my yard in time to catch Pop helping Mom out of the car. “Dad!” I screamed, slamming into his hip and holding on tight. “Tanya’s after me!”
She burst into our front yard. I braced behind Pop.
“Hey, hey, hey!” he said, grabbing her by the shoulders. “What is the problem?”
“Your daughter has a big mouth!” Tanya blurted. She swung her fist at me. I ducked.
“Wait a minute, wait a minute!” Pop said as he grabbed her by the arms. “Now calm down,” he told Tanya. “Justine, go in the house,” he ordered, and I obeyed.
“What is all this?” Mom asked, following me into the kitchen.
I explained everything.
“Justine, you can’t let your thoughts just run out like that. You have to learn to think before you speak.”
Me?
“Would you like it if Tanya said that about you?” Mom asked.
“Look at the mess she already got me in.”
“She can’t make you do something that you don’t already want to do,” she said. “You are the only one in control of that.” She turned around and left.
I gasped. How was everything my fault? I didn’t want to stay on that dumb bus; I wanted to go home. And I didn’t want to hide out in the stairway either, but she had begged me.
Tanya was nothing but trouble. Why did I stay friends with her?
The front door slammed and I jumped.
“I’m hungry!” Kriston shouted. The boys busted into the kitchen, threw their backpacks down, and attacked the fridge.
Tyrone wore a patch under his left eye.
Imagining what his sore must have felt like to him, I felt a sting on the left side of my face when I watched him walk in. I was mad but I shouldn’t have hit him like that. I walked up to him.
“Sorry.”
He gave me a bear hug. “I know you can’t help yourself,” he said, patting me on the back. “This disease you and Tanya got . . . pity.”
I pulled away and looked at him.
“Fighting over a man,” Terence said, shaking his head in shame as he poured milk into his glass.
Suddenly Tanya marched into the kitchen. I hid behind Tyrone and he spread his arms out so that she couldn’t get me.
“Justine,” she said. “I’m sorry I wanted to hit you, but I was upset. Your father explained to me how you sometimes say things without thinking, so I understand why you said that.”
But she did things without thinking, didn’t she?
I waited to see what she would do next.
“Are we still friends?” she asked.
I leaned my chin on Tyrone’s shoulder. “Yeah,” I told her. “I guess so.” But I wasn’t too sure.
She smiled and everybody sat at the kitchen table to put an end to one giant bag of buttered popcorn.