rebraiding one of the five tight braids wound around her head.
“So listen to this, Flo,” Dresdene said, totally ignoring Sonny, who ducked into her favorite stall. “Keith Johnson came over last night. Believe it or not, he’s acting like nothin’ happened.Nothin’! The bastard. So I says to him, ‘Hey, baby, you been bullshitting me and I ain’t stupid.’ You know what I mean? And he says innocent as a babe, ‘Bitch, I wouldn’t bullshit you.’ ‘What’s this I hear about you and Cheryl?!’ I ask. Well, this dude thinks he’s real foxy. ‘Cheryl who?’ he asks, all innocent-like. ‘You lying black motherfucker,’ I says and rap him in the mouth. ‘The Cheryl you made it with last Tuesday!’ Before I know it, he slaps me across the face and says, ‘Look a’ here, girl. What I do is my business. You dig? You want to go around with me, you mind your own.’”
“Men are like that,” Florenda said matter-of-factly. “That’s what my momma always says. ‘Trust ’em about as far as you can throw them-or you’ll be the one who’s lying in the gutter with your face in piss. Not them. They’s always take care of themselves and if not, there’s some bitch who will.’ Sure, they can say they love you, you’re the one and only. But, like the Shirelles’ song, will they love you tomorrow? It don’t mean shit. I’m sorry, honey.”
“Yeah, but you should have seen this guy, smooth as cocoa butter, talking like you wouldn’t believe, how he gonna take me to the Corso dancing. I even bought a new dress …”
“Well, you was wrong to buy the dress without even having a date,” Florenda interrupted. Her voice was indignant. “It don’t matter what a man says. All they do is bullshit. It comes natural to them. They tell you they’ll put the moon on your little finger like a diamond ring. But until he says when and where, I don’t budge.”
“You smart, Flo.”
“You gotta be smart. Otherwise they takes advantage. And then where are you?”
“Strung out, hung up, and crying in your mammy’s lap.”
“You got it. All they knows is bullshit.”
After they left, the bathroom was quiet as a cemetery.
Ruben was so full of shit, his tonsils were brown. And he just wanted to take advantage of a “free cunt.” But maybe he didn’t. Maybe he liked her forher personality. But suppose she didn’t have a personality. He hated her. She loved him so much it hurt
.
Sonny knew all the graffiti by heart because she wrote most of it, using different-colored markers and disguising her handwriting so no one would know. But above the bowl a new entry had been scrawled over her old standard:
GOOD GIRLS GO OUT ON A DATE,
GO HOME, GO TO BED.
NICE GIRLS GO OUT ON A DATE,
GO TO BED, GO HOME.
TRAMPS DO IT ANYWHERE-EVEN IN THE ALLEY
She immediately recognized the shade of lipstick. Look who’s calling who a tramp. It was like Audrey Hepburn calling Marilyn Monroe flat-chested. The only thing that surprised Sonny was the speed of the Gooch’s meanness. And she was always trying to be friendly to her without being a leech about it. But the Gooch would never accept her. She did it with doorknobs, fire hydrants, and pogo sticks.
Was that possible?
Sonny turned on the water faucets so she wouldn’t feel so lonesome and blue, like that French guy she saw on TV who had to go to prison for life just because he stole a piece of bread. She applied more makeup. But it didn’t help.
She walked out of the bathroom. As she passed her own classroom, Sonny crouched on her knees. Next, she passed Mary Kelly’s classroom. The teacher was writing something on the blackboard, but Mary was whispering to Marilyn, who sat behind her. They did not notice Sonny. Several doors down, in Room 317, Ruben Ortega sat in the fourth seat, second row.
God, is he gorgeous
. He looked out of the window as the teacher wrote a math formula on the blackboard. She whizzed by so he wouldn’t think she was spying on him.
Maybe he liked
“So listen to this, Flo,” Dresdene said, totally ignoring Sonny, who ducked into her favorite stall. “Keith Johnson came over last night. Believe it or not, he’s acting like nothin’ happened.Nothin’! The bastard. So I says to him, ‘Hey, baby, you been bullshitting me and I ain’t stupid.’ You know what I mean? And he says innocent as a babe, ‘Bitch, I wouldn’t bullshit you.’ ‘What’s this I hear about you and Cheryl?!’ I ask. Well, this dude thinks he’s real foxy. ‘Cheryl who?’ he asks, all innocent-like. ‘You lying black motherfucker,’ I says and rap him in the mouth. ‘The Cheryl you made it with last Tuesday!’ Before I know it, he slaps me across the face and says, ‘Look a’ here, girl. What I do is my business. You dig? You want to go around with me, you mind your own.’”
“Men are like that,” Florenda said matter-of-factly. “That’s what my momma always says. ‘Trust ’em about as far as you can throw them-or you’ll be the one who’s lying in the gutter with your face in piss. Not them. They’s always take care of themselves and if not, there’s some bitch who will.’ Sure, they can say they love you, you’re the one and only. But, like the Shirelles’ song, will they love you tomorrow? It don’t mean shit. I’m sorry, honey.”
“Yeah, but you should have seen this guy, smooth as cocoa butter, talking like you wouldn’t believe, how he gonna take me to the Corso dancing. I even bought a new dress …”
“Well, you was wrong to buy the dress without even having a date,” Florenda interrupted. Her voice was indignant. “It don’t matter what a man says. All they do is bullshit. It comes natural to them. They tell you they’ll put the moon on your little finger like a diamond ring. But until he says when and where, I don’t budge.”
“You smart, Flo.”
“You gotta be smart. Otherwise they takes advantage. And then where are you?”
“Strung out, hung up, and crying in your mammy’s lap.”
“You got it. All they knows is bullshit.”
After they left, the bathroom was quiet as a cemetery.
Ruben was so full of shit, his tonsils were brown. And he just wanted to take advantage of a “free cunt.” But maybe he didn’t. Maybe he liked her forher personality. But suppose she didn’t have a personality. He hated her. She loved him so much it hurt
.
Sonny knew all the graffiti by heart because she wrote most of it, using different-colored markers and disguising her handwriting so no one would know. But above the bowl a new entry had been scrawled over her old standard:
GOOD GIRLS GO OUT ON A DATE,
GO HOME, GO TO BED.
NICE GIRLS GO OUT ON A DATE,
GO TO BED, GO HOME.
TRAMPS DO IT ANYWHERE-EVEN IN THE ALLEY
She immediately recognized the shade of lipstick. Look who’s calling who a tramp. It was like Audrey Hepburn calling Marilyn Monroe flat-chested. The only thing that surprised Sonny was the speed of the Gooch’s meanness. And she was always trying to be friendly to her without being a leech about it. But the Gooch would never accept her. She did it with doorknobs, fire hydrants, and pogo sticks.
Was that possible?
Sonny turned on the water faucets so she wouldn’t feel so lonesome and blue, like that French guy she saw on TV who had to go to prison for life just because he stole a piece of bread. She applied more makeup. But it didn’t help.
She walked out of the bathroom. As she passed her own classroom, Sonny crouched on her knees. Next, she passed Mary Kelly’s classroom. The teacher was writing something on the blackboard, but Mary was whispering to Marilyn, who sat behind her. They did not notice Sonny. Several doors down, in Room 317, Ruben Ortega sat in the fourth seat, second row.
God, is he gorgeous
. He looked out of the window as the teacher wrote a math formula on the blackboard. She whizzed by so he wouldn’t think she was spying on him.
Maybe he liked
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