The Diary of Aaliyah Anderson Page 13

  I had to hold back from saying something back to her. This lady is unbelievable! is what I thought to myself.

  She could tell I was holding back my tongue because she instantly leaned in close on my desk and started messing with me. “I know you want to say something - you know, tell me off and get a nice little laugh from your peers. Go on, I dare you. Try it. I’ll make sure your beloved principal doesn’t save you like last time.”

  Everybody in the classroom was in awe, looking at me to see if I’d respond to her like the way I did to Mrs. Conner. She was totally out of line! I was literally shaking with anger, even holding back tears, but I didn’t say a word. This was way worse than the pencil situation. I felt embarrassed and virtually helpless!

  She smiled at my hesitation. “Just like I thought. You’re nothing. All you are is a grown behind li’l girl that needs to be put in her place. Go tell Miss Carter I said that.”

  Why is it that I’m the one that these grown women want to pick on? What did I do to them except stand up for myself? Before this year started, I was the student that almost every teacher loved and expected to do great things. Now, I’m public enemy number one. I swear, I felt like running to the bathroom and crying my eyes out, but I decided to just move on to 2nd period and hope Mrs. Rockwell wouldn’t start with me.

  I’m really conflicted! Do I go and tell Miss Carter about this again and be the snitch that Mrs. Jenkins said I was, or do I just let it ride? Either way, being strong is hard. As of right now, I definitely don’t know about the student election. Latasha has support from pretty much all of the teachers in 8-1. How am I gonna be the president when I can barely communicate with the teachers?

  ♠♠♠♠

  Dasia

  At lunch, I was sitting alone, still angered at what happened in second period. It’s not like I wanted to sit alone, though. I honestly needed somebody to talk to with how I was feeling. But Jakiyah was still suspended and Allison was out and about trying to get the one hundred signatures I needed to qualify for the election. All the other people I talk to have other lunch periods so I was pretty much alone for a while.

  Because I had nothing else to do and due to the fact that I found a huge piece of red weave floating around in my vegetable soup, I got out some notebook paper and colored pencils and just started drawing. I sketched out my name in a purple and yellow design, something similar to how Momma’s logo was in her morning show studio. I made a purple and yellow butterfly too. After I finished, I felt way better. One thing that Mrs. Conner and Mrs. Jenkins can’t take away from me is my art. Sometimes, when I’m in doubt and thinking negatively, it feels like the only thing I have just personally to myself.

  As I was looking over my name sketch, one of my longtime friends that I haven’t spoken to in years named Dasia came to sit with me. Before Allison and Jakiyah, she was my number one best friend. We literally grew up together from Riverstone Creek to Hillsdale! Before she moved from Hillsdale to Brentwood, she used to always keep me on the right track.

  Dasia was to me what I am to Jakiyah now. When I was always trying to fight, she’d talk me out of it, bringing up my dream of being the CEO of a company in the future as a reason not to worry about these hating people. Pretty much, she’s the reason why I have a perfect school record.

  While she did that, I was her personal motivational speaker. Dasia battled depression and low self-esteem when we were little because of her dark brown skin. The ignorant, self-hating folks around Riverstone Creek (both young and old) would always pick on her and talk about her. She was convinced that she was ugly! It was the craziest thing that I’d ever heard in my life!

  Dasia is one of the most beautiful people that I’ve ever met in my entire thirteen years of living. I used to envy her smooth, flawless, radiant skin tone when we were little. I’d even tell her that and she’d swear that I was lying. With the help of Momma, we eventually got her confidence where it needs to be.

  It was great that I saw her because I definitely needed something to lift my spirits.

  “What’s up Aaliyah? It seems like I haven’t talked to you since 6th grade!” she asked me as I got up to give her a hug.

  I sighed and put on a fake smile. “Just trying to make it to Howard-Jones.”

  “Is everything cool, ‘Liyah? Be honest with me now. I’ve known you since we were in diapers; I can tell something’s not right. I heard you were running for president,” she said as she sat down in the booth with me.

  “I don’t know about all that. I really don’t think I’m cut out for the whole entire student president thing. I already got beef with most of the older teachers in my cluster. Plus Latasha’s probably gonna win anyway. No matter what Miss Carter says, student elections are always huge popularity contests, not about school issues.”

  “Why you always underestimating yourself? You’re D’s little sister! Plus, you’re like one of the best tennis players in the city and probably the best artist in Georgia.” She pointed at the picture I drew. “Everybody knows you!”

  “That’s true, but I just can’t see myself as the president of the whole student body. How am I gonna change this school?”

  “Come on, ‘Liyah! You gotta stop thinking negative. I can see you as the president! Remember when we got that racist band teacher Mrs. Evins fired back in 6th grade for slipping up and calling us the ‘n’ word after we didn’t play a note right? We got everybody in the school to sign and support the petition we made. All the news stations in Willowsfield even came down to interview us! You were shaking the whole interview because you’re scared of speaking in public.”

  I laughed. “You still remember that?”

  “How could I forget it? But yeah, I can see you as the president. If we could do all that in 6th grade, imagine what you could do during this campaign. Don’t worry about Latasha or any of those teachers! And then, there’s so much to change about this school starting with this nasty lunch they try to give us. Isn’t that hair in your soup? They definitely need to cook healthier food in that kitchen!”

  “I was thinking the same thing too.”

  “Then, as the president, you’re almost like the CEO of the student body. You have a say in every field trip that the students go on and you’re over all the special activities like the fall festival, Halloween dance, 8th grade prom, and everything similar to that. You know you want that opportunity with you wanting to be the president of a company one day. Like Miss Carter said on the intercom Friday, the president is really gonna have a lot of power and responsibility and I think you’ll be perfect for the job.”

  I smiled. “Why do you always bring up me wanting to be the head of a company when you’re trying to make me feel better? You’ve been doing that ever since we were little.”

  Dasia laughed. “Because I know it works! Every time you’re mad or about to snap, I bring up the dream you’ve had since we were in elementary school and you calm down. I think you’re forgetting that we’ve been friends pretty much our whole life. I know how you think!”

  “You bringing up our whole entire situation with Mrs. Evins makes me think of all the exciting times we had when we were little. We really were a great team.”

  “No doubt!”

  “Honestly, I still think we could be a great team and make some noise in this election. You’re definitely knowledgeable about all of the school issues and I need to nominate a vice presidential candidate. I think you’d be perfect for the job! As you said, the president has a lot of power and we could really change some things around here. Are you up to it?”

  Dasia smiled. “Come on, ‘Liyah! You don’t even have to ask that. I’ll do whatever I can to help you win. But, if I run with you, you have to promise me that you won’t let what anybody says or does get in the way of your goals for this school. If I remember, you tend to get discouraged and quit when things get tough. You can’t do that this time. Too many people are counting on you to represent them right.”

  I looked Dasia dead in the eye an
d said, “I promise.”

  Dasia smiled again. “Well, girl, you got yourself a vice president! I swear, this is gonna be just like old times!”

  I nodded and grinned. “Yup, just like old times.”

  ♠♠♠♠

  Aaliyah vs. Latasha

  As I walked with Allison to get more signatures for the campaign before the late bell rang, I couldn’t help but think about what Dasia and I just talked about at lunch. To even stand a chance in this election, I have to be mentally strong. With me, that’s easier said than done. I don’t take any criticism, adversity, or controversy well.

  For example, Allison and I bumped into Latasha as she handed out flyers promoting her campaign and her speech at the election party on Friday. There’s no way she got to one hundred signatures that fast! I thought to myself. We just got the announcement for the election on Friday. Something was up.

  “Hey, Allison! What’s up with you, girl?” Latasha said with a bright smile. She acted as if I wasn’t even there.

  “Nothing, just trying to make it through this crazy school day.”

  “I hear you! But did you know that I was running for president?”

  “You already know I heard about it! I’m surprised you got one hundred signatures that fast, though. Didn’t Miss Carter just give out the sheets today?” Allison replied, stealing the thought right out of my head.

  “Yeah, but I got mine Friday! Mrs. Conner elected me to run for president and she hooked me up with all the forms and information that I need to run. She really believes I can win this thing!”

  Of course Mrs. Conner’s the one that gave her that extra advantage. Miss Carter was right. If she’s hand-picking the students that she wants to be a part of the student council, something definitely has to be up.

  “Do I really need to give you a flyer, Allison? I mean, I know you’re gonna vote for me.” Allison smiled and got a flier from her. Latasha then turned to me and said, “I would give one to you, but then again, I don’t wanna waste paper. I need to give this to someone important.”

  I know she didn’t just say that to me! For a second, I just stood there in disbelief. I got back with her though.

  “Nobody needs that tired flyer! I’m running for president too.”

  All of a sudden, she started laughing. I was instantly offended.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Mrs. Conner’s right, winning this election is gonna be too easy. I’ma beat you with pleasure. We definitely don’t need D’s shadow as the president.”

  “Excuse me?”

  She quickly snapped back, “You’re excused.”

  I swear, even though I love D, I hate being slighted and underestimated because of the fact that I’m his younger sister. Nothing in the world makes me angrier than that. I’ve tried my absolute best to get my own swag and separate my success from his, but sometimes I think it doesn’t even matter. No matter what I do, I’ll still be superstar Damon Anderson’s younger sister. Even though I’ve learned to accept it and appreciate that I have a brother as amazing as D, I definitely don’t wanna be reminded of anything by Latasha!

  Really? This girl is really trying to insult me by saying I’m less of a young woman because D’s my older brother? That’s how I took her comment! This girl has to be the biggest undercover freak in Willowsfield. She’s the last one to talk about anybody with all the things she’s done in her past!

  I told her exactly that too. “You know, I’ve gotten about tired of you and your li’l sly, disrespectful comments. I try my best to be mature and ignore your b.s., but I guess that can’t happen. You always wanna put somebody on blast, but you’re the last person to talk! At least I can keep my legs closed. You let seven Killas run a train on you at a trap house on the westside last year. We most definitely don’t need an undercover jump-off as the president.”

  She then got offended. “What’d you say?”

  “You heard me! If you got a problem, I’m right here!” I said, walking up in her face.

  Allison had to hold me back from knocking that girl out! Looking back at that whole situation, I really believed that I could’ve handled that situation more like a young woman. Five minutes after my talk with Dasia, I went to the place that I promised I wouldn’t go to. Latasha pushed me to go there though! It’s gonna be really hard to keep my emotions in check, especially with Latasha having a lot of support from Mrs. Conner and all the other older teachers.

  Our li’l confrontation caused a lot of attention. As Allison kept me from jumping on Latasha, a few of her cheerleading friends came over. I guess it was to “intimidate” me. I wasn’t even worried about them though. Even though I’m not a fighter anymore, I know I can handle myself. They probably wouldn’t even lay a hand on me if we were to start fighting. But, much to the disappointment of all the other students watching us, the fight didn’t happen.

  After the late bell rang and Latasha walked away with her crew, she said to me, “You just think you’re perfect, don’t you? Just God’s gift to the world! Well, I’ma put a stop to that! I swear on my life that I will win this election and destroy your ‘smart girl, virgin’ reputation! Allison, you need to watch the people you call your friends.”

  Honestly, I just shrugged off her meaningless threat. I got bigger things to worry about – mainly, keeping my li’l babysitting business going with Allison. All these cute clothes, shoes, and jewelry aren’t free! After months of no calls and no money, I finally got us some work! It wasn’t easy at all, but it was worth it. We both got a large amount of money and I helped a 7th grader gain a love for reading!

  ♠♠♠♠

  Not Again

  It’s messed up I had to miss my first Carswell radio staff meeting and D’s first show, but I had to. Allison and I run Beautiful Sistahs Inc., a babysitting/tutoring service that’s really made a huge name for itself around Willowsfield for the year and a half we’ve been doing it. It started off as an alternative summer job because we were too young to apply for an actual job but we still wanted to get our hustle on.

  We decided to try babysitting because it seemed like the easiest thing that we could do. Hard work and a steady flow of money have never hurt anybody before. At first, we gained popularity and success with a lot of married couples that have kids and wanted a break. This popularity turned into respect and we started to move up to more big money appointments. Politicians, doctors, lawyers, and even celebrities that happen to live in or close to Willowsfield started calling us. The most money we ever made for one appointment was $700!

  Yeah, we were rolling, but then we started blowing all our money on expensive stupid stuff that we didn’t need. I mean, we are teenagers, after all! We got over $2,000 total for the babysitting service. We didn’t see it all at one time though. For the past few months, we’ve been feeling the pain of the current economic recession. We haven’t been getting any of the big name calls we’re used to.

  Allison blew all her money, so now she’s broke. Because of D, I managed to save $350 and invest $100 of it, but I spent about $130 of that money I saved on back to school clothes shopping. Then I used the $70 I had left to have a Friday girls’ night out with Jakiyah and our homegirls Stacy and Candice in June. We went to see the new Tyler Perry movie and then we went out to eat at Outback, by far the worst restaurant to go to for a teenager with only $50 in your pocket! I only ordered some Aussie Cheese Fries without bacon and a California chicken salad and paid almost $20! I could’ve gotten two shirts from Aéropostale for that much. And let’s not even talk about how much ‘Kiyah, Stacy, and Candice’s food cost me. They were eating shrimp and lobster tails like they were on a Beyoncé budget! I had to make them put some money down on the bill. I see why most of these rappers and singers are broke and on drugs. About sixty percent of that money had to be blown on family and friends!

  So now we’re both officially broke. Things are starting to look up for our business though, since we got a $175 call that was bound to get us back on track. The Will
iamsons are a family that lives on the westside of Willowsfield in Thornton Heights, the second most dangerous neighborhood in the city.

  Allison had a fit when she found out we were scheduled to go down there. When I got the call, I didn’t know anything about Thornton Heights. Even though I’ve lived in Willowsfield my whole life, I’m not familiar with the westside. All I heard was the money they were offering us to come. I kept trying to convince Allison that the money was too good to pass up. She definitely wasn’t hearing it though.

  “No, Aaliyah! We can’t do this again! It’s way too dangerous!” Allison said as I reminded her about the appointment we had last night. She immediately flipped out when it slipped out that we were going to Thornton Heights. Allison knew more about that neighborhood than me!

  “You said that you’d research every neighborhood we were contracted to go to before you confirmed the job. Remember what happened last time?”

  I sighed. Allison’s always bringing up what happened when we first got started with the babysitting service. I got us a job in Riverstone Creek with one of my mom’s old high school friends. She was willing to pay us $100, an increase from the $60 we were charging at that time. I called Allison to tell her the good news and she reacted the same way she did yesterday. I finally convinced her that it was cool to go down there because that was my old neighborhood. I assured her that nothing would go wrong and that it would be the easiest $100 she’d ever gotten in her life.

  But, of course, I was wrong.

  The Rydahz and a li’l street crew called the BBGz (a.k.a. Boss Baby Gangstaz) decided to have a shootout on the same street where we were doing our babysitting thing. Bullets were flying everywhere. Allison had never been more scared in her life! I was used to it though.

  I lived in Riverstone Creek most of my childhood. One night, before Ronald Cleveland finally confessed, we had to roll out the sleeping bags because we heard that King Street was expected to come and shoot the hood up and we didn’t wanna catch a stray bullet. That’s just how life was for us!