I smiled as I wrapped my arms around him. “Everything is great. I have some news to share with you.”
He glanced down at me. “Auntie, can you tell me while I eat? A nigga is starving.”
Toni cut her eyes at him. “A what?”
He cleared his throat. “I’m hungry.”
We all walked over to the table. Jesaiah didn’t even say grace before he dug into the food like it was his last meal. “Damn, this food is good as hell,” he said as he slurped the collard greens down like soup.
I moved closer to him and placed my hand on his shoulder. “I will be the active dean during the spring semester!” I squealed.
Jesaiah’s head shot up in surprise. “So, you’re going to be running TSU?”
I nodded proudly. “That’s dope! Congrats, Auntie,” he said with a mouth full of food. “Niggas won’t fuck with me now,” he mumbled.
Toni sneered at me as she picked over the turkey. I was confident that my job as active dean would be done well. However, with Toni, I never knew what to expect. I loved my nephew with everything in me, but something about the grin he wore when I told him about my new role made me think he somehow thought it gave him power. Now I had to separate the auntie he knew from the job I had to do. If he thought this was a pass to do whatever he wanted, he would soon find out that Dean Cecily August wasn’t the auntie who made sweet potato pies for him on Sundays. This was personal for me. This wasn’t about giving him opportunities to excel freely but rather restoring the meaning of being Black.
CECILY’S INTERLUDE
It was days away from the start of school, and the idea of taking my first seat in the dean’s office weighed heavily on me. With Toni now gone, I had the opportunity to speak with Jesaiah the way I wanted to. I needed to make sure he understood that the relationship we held could not be displayed on campus. Although some knew that he was my nephew, most didn’t put two and two together, while others, if they did know, didn’t care. Jesaiah, however, would try to use this opportunity to his advantage. I knew that with the way I wanted to shape and restore the University back to its purpose, I couldn’t do it if my nephew was one of the problems on campus.
Here I was, the first Black active dean coming into Toussaint State, and I knew the pressure was on. The board was going to have me and the entire campus under a microscope. They wanted our school to be equivalent to schools like Hillsdale and John Stanley. Those schools had the funding, the resources, and a dean who wasn’t a scheming bastard. Most of all, a campus full of kids whose parents' money stretched long. Toussaint State had a mix, and most of the students were coming from broken places, families who could barelyafford tuition, or rich kids who wanted to be swallowed in the Black culture rather than truly finding their place and getting an education. My goal was to find ways of giving the campus a little hope. So, I figured starting with the code of ethics, holding everyone accountable for their actions, and representing themselves in a way that allows them to flourish. This would also include my nephew, Jesaiah. I’ve heard previous stories about how he had been on campus, and my fear was that it was all true. All that I could hope for was that I was given a chance to try, and that my nephew wouldn’t ruin that for me.
Tonight, I did what I do best, prepared a hearty meal that would fill his belly. It was something about my loving food and jazz music that relaxed him, making him easier to talk to. When I heard his car pull into the driveway, I took a peek at the clock to see that he had come earlier than the time I had given him to be here. I removed my apron and stood at the front door waiting for him to step inside. The moment the door opened, his surprised face greeted me. “Damn auntie you scared me,” he said.
I heckled. “Aw, boy, get in here,” I replied, reaching out to hug him.
Jesaiah was such a handsome young man. He had gotten all his features from his father, but the attitude from his mother. I stood back to take him in, and he looked as if he were going out. “Why are you all dressed up?” I asked.
He rubbed his hands together as he walked straight toward the kitchen. “I’m going out. You know Hoodoos is the place we all link up at before the start of school. I came to get a plate because I’m not staying.”
Hearing him say that he had only come for a match disappointed me. I knew it wouldn’t give me time to say what I needed to. I nervously ran my hand down my dress as I walked over toward him while he fixed a plate of food. “Jesaiah, I wanted to talkto you about this semester. I need to make sure you understand that Auntie cannot be Auntie on campus. The rules still apply to you.”
He stopped putting food on his plate, allowing the fried chicken to slam against the mac and cheese. His eyes rose to me as he gave me a short smile. “I’ll be on my best behavior.”
Deep down, I felt like that was a lie.
CHAPTER ONE
“Remember, you are the prettiest girl in the world,” my auntie said as I took one last look in the mirror before grabbing my bags.
I turned to see her standing there, looking like a bag of money. My aunt Nyomi let me stay with her during my school breaks so I wouldn’t have to fly back home. I had admired her since I was young. She carried herself so well, lived in luxury, drove the most expensive cars, and never got involved in any broke-bitch shit. She was everything I aspired to be.
While growing up, I started living as if I were already wealthy. In high school, I wore cheap clothes, but no one could tell because I styled them so well. The girls at school constantly asked where I bought my clothes. Instead of replying, I let them search for similar outfits in expensive stores. I transformed from an awkward, dark-skinned girl into a confident, admired chocolate princess. I led the cheer squad and was valedictorian. I aimed to excel in everything because others perceived me as someone who should’ve been at the bottom.
Before my aunt Nyomi moved from Texas to come here, she and my mother had been close, but after she left, it was as if they driftedapart. My family held decent Southern values, and the main one was family. I used that against them so many times when they tried to talk me out of going to school out of state. Eventually, they gave in. My parents weren’t broke, but they weren’t rich either. They were hardworking people who knew how to prepare for things like me going to college. Luckily for them, there was space between my other siblings and me, so they had time to save for the next round.
I had purposely chosen Toussaint State University not only to be close to my aunt Nyomi but also to experience what the historically Black college had to offer. I heard many good things about the different universities, so it was only right that I found out firsthand. My freshman year was a little tough because no one knew me, but that changed over time. I remained on campus until summer, then stayed with my aunt in Lake Hill and worked at Café Lane, which she owned. I was fully embracing my aunt’s life, absorbing every moment and living as I had always dreamed. Now I was in my junior year, a proud member of the Gray and Gold, and crowned Miss Toussaint State, and in her eyes, I was perfect. The world was in my hands, but the only thing I wasn’t sure about was where I was going from here.
She looked at me proudly. “Spring Semester. You’re almost at the end. Are you excited?” she asked.
I gave her a tight-lipped smile. “Yeah,” I lied.
Carrying the weight of being perfect was starting to take a toll on me because, although that was what I seemed to be, I was far from it. My grades were okay, but my major became uninteresting. I wanted to shift everything, but I knew changing my major now would add more work to my current load and more time to my sentence at school. Getting a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice seemed ideal, but it wasn’t where I saw myself in the future. However, it wasn’t my aunt’s issue to worry about, but mine, so I kept it from her.
She hugged me before letting me go. “Let me know if you need anything. I’m just a call away.”
I nodded. I wanted to ask her if the lady who had locked her in the café had been back. I wasn’t sure what it was about, but I often wondered if Aunt Nyomi had been after someone else’s man. For the most part, I knew she could handle her own, but I’d wonder if she ever got lonely when I was away. Maybe my aunt and I were both putting on a façade.
