“Then say hi,” Kayla says. She pats the spot beside her, across from two other girls I’ve seen in passing, who both wave in my direction. “That’s Kenny and Mel, the twins.”
They all chuckle. Since Kenny’s white and her mom’s country club twin, and Mel could almost pass for Deanna’s sister, I assume that’s the joke and laugh cautiously in case there’s more to the story.
“You need me to introduce myself?” Alice interrupts the laughter and doesn’t wait for a response. “I’m Alice.” She points to herself like I’d need any help remembering who she is, and I have to stop myself from rolling my eyes. I wave. She immediately turns her attention back to Kayla. “So, you like her now?”
Kayla shoots Alice a look.
“Shut up, Alice,” Kenny says with a sigh.
Mel rolls her eyes at Alice and smiles in my direction. “I’m still jealous that you have a sister now!” she says, dramatically resting her head on her hand. “Will Travis adopt me?!”
Kayla groans. “You can have him.”
Kenny chimes in and asks if she can get on the adoption list too since her dad is being a jerk, and I let out a giggle.
Kayla leans in. “Laugh now, but soon you’ll be begging them to take him,” she warns teasingly.
“It’s all fun and games until your best friend replaces you with a fake sister,” Alice says loudly to no one in particular. Kenny and Mel both stop laughing to look at her.
“Alice, you need to chill,” Kenny says.
A light cloud of smoke wraps around us as Alice and Kenny continue to puff away. To my surprise, Kayla and Mel each draw a cigarette and start smoking too. I hate the smell of cigarettes. I spent a year falling asleep to staff chain-smoking underneath our windows at the center.
I cringe and glance behind us, making sure there are no adults nearby, but nobody else seems worried. I could get another twelve months of detention for violating the terms of my discharge agreement. On a long list, smoking is in spot number two, right after drinking. Maybe they meant weed, not cigarettes, but I don’t care. I’m not planning to do either.
Alice misreads my look and pushes her cigarette in my direction.
“No thanks,” I say.
She shrugs and takes another long drag.
Mel puts hers out in a plastic cup. She must have noticed my discomfort, and I’m grateful for it. Kayla coughs and opens one of the sodas. She hands the other to me. I open it and take a sip.
“Is Deanna coming?” Mel asks the group, who all kind of shrug like they don’t know.
“Well, we should probably be done before Deanna gets here anyway,” Kenny says as she puts her cigarette out and throws it in the cup. “You know she’s preachy.”
“I’m gonna get my money’s worth!” Kayla declares, taking an extra-long drag.
Alice does the same before throwing hers in. “Better, Jasmine?” Her tone is playful, but there’s an edge to it.
“Just remind me to buy an asthma pump instead of lunch next time,” I tease, taking a bite of my burger. Nobody joins in when I laugh at my own joke.
Okay, please let the ground open up and swallow me now.
Kayla is the first to break the silence. “Buurrnn,” she says, pushing Alice gently in the arm, and they both start laughing too.
“Hi, Dee,” Kenny coos, waving.
“Hey, girls,” Deanna says. She takes a seat on a folding chair, crossing one leg over the other. She looks at me and smiles, her eyebrows rising slightly. I smile back, feeling my heart lift in my chest. I’ll have to thank her later for talking to Kayla.
“We were starting to think you got some sense and ditched us,” Mel says.
“Trust me, definitely one of these days,” Deanna shoots back, sticking her tongue out. “Especially if you guys keep letting Alice talk you into smoking those things.” She points to the cup with the cigarette butts.
Alice flicks her off and the group laughs.
“See, Jasmine? Preachy,” Kenny says as she sits on the grass next to Deanna’s chair. Deanna whines playfully about being called preachy every time she says something and how she’ll shut up from now on.
