“I worked hard on that paper,” she says. “You saw me.”
“You did,” I agree.
She shrugs. "She has to pay for this."
"Raya. Just talk to her. She has office hours, right?"
"Not now. I'll have to wait until after the break."
"So make an appointment."
Her jaw is tight. Lips pursed. Eyes wild. I already see the makings of a plot, and I don't like it.
"I don't wanna be mad for two weeks. You know I'm gonna be mad for two weeks, Ace. It's gonna eat at me and eat at me until I explode."
"So put it out of your mind. Stewing ain't healthy."
She sighs loudly, shaking her head. "Fine. I guess I don't have a choice."
"Okay. Good. And do you promise me you won’t do anything crazy?"
She has the nerve to look offended. “Why would you say that?”
“Come on, Raya. It’s a valid concern.”
“Whatever. I won’t." She closes her laptop. "I promise.”
I really wanna believe her.
I tell myself I believe her.
But I don't.
17
Raya
Lemme go see what these two bitches are talking about.
I’m only doing this for Ace. For some reason, he wants me to have girlfriends. I think he thinks it’s gonna make me normal, whatever that means, so I’m humoring him. If I can sit through a night with his raggedy ass family, I can meet up with these two random hoes.
They smile when they see me approaching. They look cute, too. Tiffany’s rocking a faux fur stole that I wouldn’t mind wearing myself, and Katrina has on a newsboy cap and a white button down shirt with a tie. She’s pulling it off, too.
“Yes, blazer!” Tiffany says when I sit down. “I love me a good blazer.”
“What you drinkin’?” Katrina asks as she waves a hand at the waitress.
They look surprised when I order a sparkling water, but that’s what I do when I’m around people I don’t know well. I stay in my right mind.
“Okay, so, I wanted to tell you I’ve been practicing being strict,” Tiffany announces.
“Give me an example.”
“The other day, Bron said he wanted to see me. Now, usually, I’ll be like yay! We can go here and do this and that! But this time…” she trails off, pausing for dramatic effect. “This time, I played it cool. I said, 'I wanna see you, too. I’m free this weekend. Let me know what you have in mind.'”
I nod proudly. “Very good. And what did he come up with?”
“We went bowling.”
