The Diary of Aaliyah Anderson Read online

  Jamal said, “No! Don’t do that! He’ll go apologize, I promise. Isn’t that right, ‘Donnis?”

  He sighed. “If it’s such a big deal, I’ll do it.”

  I didn’t think that would work, especially with Adonis being so difficult, but it did. I got them to apologize to Allison and she felt way better.

  “How’d you find them? I looked everywhere!” she asked me with a smile.

  “Let’s just say it was an accident,” I replied as she got up to hug me.

  “I apologize for what I said earlier. I believe I went too far. It’s just that…I’ve been going through a lot at home recently… Listen, I know I’ve been real quick tempered lately…”

  “Naw, Allie, it’s cool. I totally understand what you were saying. Listen, I got Theresa upstairs reading a book so she can do her report. You can take the rest of the night off if you want to. I’ll stay with the twins until they fall asleep.”

  She smiled. “It’s okay, ‘Liyah. We’re a team. You found them for me; I’ll put them to sleep. It’s cool.”

  ♠♠♠♠

  Major Progress

  When I went back up to check on Theresa, she was done with the book. She had just started doing her report. I was extremely surprised! I’d only been gone for about forty-five minutes!

  “Theresa, you’re finished with the book that quick?” I said as I walked through her room door.

  She smiled at me. “Yup! It was so good that I couldn’t put it down! Jayd and her friends are really cool, her Momma puts roots and spells on people, Trecee’s crazy, KJ’s fine but arrogant, and Misty got what was coming to her in the end. That girl was hating on Jayd like crazy! I’m halfway done with the report.”

  “I thought you didn’t like to read? You read that book faster than me.”

  “You were right. I haven’t really tried to search for good books. After doing all that reading we do in school, I just get tired of it. The books they assign to us are always boring! I just assumed every book was lame and uninteresting. But now I know that’s not true! I have to get the second book in the series. Do you have it?”

  “I don’t have it right now, but here’s what I’ll do. If you finish your book report and get a one hundred, I’ll take you to the bookstore on Saturday and get you some more good books. We can talk and hang out too. You cool with that?”

  She smiled. “Yeah, that’ll be great! I’ll ask my mom if she can take us.”

  “You gotta pass though.”

  “Aaliyah, I swear I’ma pass. You gave me a reason to do my best.”

  I smiled, feeling so accomplished.

  All of a sudden, we heard D and Polo’s voice coming from her radio. Theresa immediately ran over to her table and turned up the volume so we could hear them more clearly. They sounded great! They were taking phone calls about teenage relationship drama. It seemed if they were having a lot of fun while also informing people. I felt so proud of D!

  When Hot 97.3 went on a commercial break, Theresa turned down the radio and asked me a question that I’ve heard about a thousand times over the past few years.

  “How does it feel being D’s younger sister?”

  I shrugged. “It just feels normal. I love D very much and talk to him about pretty much everything, but outside of that we have a normal older brother/younger sister relationship.”

  “I bet you still have a great, exciting life though. Damon Anderson is your older brother and Natasha Anderson is your mom? Come on, that has to be special!”

  I sighed, thinking about everything that’s been going on in the past year. “Honestly, things are really complicated with my family right now. Listen, I’ll tell you all about my home life on Saturday after you get a one hundred on that book report.”

  She smiled. “I guess that’s more to look forward to!”

  “Since you wanna ask me so many questions, answer this: how does it feel to be in your position? I mean, you live in this huge house, your parents are happily married, and you seem to actually get along with everybody in your family. That has to be special.”

  She chuckled. “You make it sound too good to be true. I have a lot of thoughts about my life that I’ve been dying to tell somebody about. But, I guess you have to wait until Saturday after I get a one hundred on this book report.”

  I laughed. “Oh, you’re trying to be funny now.”

  She smiled, “Exactly!”

  “Alright now, you need to go on and finish this report so you can actually have the chance to get a one hundred.”

  ♠♠♠♠

  Honesty for a Change

  Overall, the appointment was pretty productive. Allison finally got the twins to fall asleep a few minutes before nine o’clock and Theresa finished her book report. When her parents got home, she asked if we could go down to the Barnes & Noble at the outside mall on the Northside. Mrs. Williamson said yes and Theresa was so excited. They even paid us each $200 instead of $175 for keeping things smooth and helping Theresa get her project done. They also said that they’d be calling us back really soon. Even though things were pretty hectic at the start, we worked our way around it like only Beautiful Sistahs, Inc. can!

  Hailey dropped me off in Hillsdale at nine-forty five. D was still at the station, Jeff and Elijah were probably somewhere smoking, and my “father” was out “working”. Since I didn’t have anything to do, I decided to call Deangelo. At first, I was real hesitant because it was so late in the night. But I decided to go on and do it, since he had sent me a text message that I didn’t reply to because around the time I was trying to find the twins. I didn’t wanna make it seem like I didn’t wanna talk to him!

  And I definitely didn’t regret it.

  You know the quote “don’t judge a book by its cover” when it comes to first impressions about people? Well, I found out that old saying was one hundred percent true! Deangelo is so interesting and funny. Honestly, you wouldn’t expect it with how quiet he usually is in class. Well, I guess that’s sort of biased to say that because I’ve only seen him in class! He actually is pretty known around Clarkson, come to think about it.

  In the flow of the conversation, I asked him, “So, what made you start liking me?”

  “Say again?”

  “You know, you said you’ve had a crush on me for the longest time. I mean, what makes me so special to you?”

  “You mean outside of how good you look?”

  I smiled. “Sure.”

  “Well, you’re smart, cool, funny, and classy. You can set anybody straight and still keep it ladylike, you know what I’m saying? Out of these almost three years I’ve known you, you’ve always been like that. I swear, that’s so attractive to me. There’s not really any more ladies around, especially at Clarkson. They usually too busy trying to act like dudes and fight everybody they see. But, you were different. From the beginning I could tell that about you.”

  I was blushing like crazy! He started laughing.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “To be real, I can’t believe I’m telling you this.”

  “No, it’s cool. We’re just being real with each other right now.”

  “Well, since we’re being real, let me say this: I’ve wanted to talk to you ever since 6th grade but it just didn’t work out.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  He chuckled. “Because you seemed to always go out with them lame basketball players that think female’s emotions are just a game. I never could understand why a girl like you would go out with losers like them. I feel like you’re way better than that.”

  “You’re serious?”

  “I’m dead serious. Those clowns definitely didn’t deserve you.”

  He really did have a good point…

  I’ve never had a boy be so upfront and honest with me. For my whole time dating (even though it’s only been a minute), I’ve been fed lies and b.s. by these wannabe players. Hearing honesty for a change really is refreshing.

  After we hung up the phone, I s
at up for about twenty minutes thinking about Deangelo. I swear, I couldn’t stop thinking about him! I’ve honestly never felt that way about a guy before in my life. I kept playing back the conversation we just had in my head over and over again. What Tay said about Deangelo was right; he’s definitely different from the rest of the guys out here. He’s so cool and down to earth, which is definitely different.

  ♠♠♠♠

  The Voice Message

  Before I went to bed for the night, I decided to call Momma because I really wanted to talk to her. Ever since the second season of her syndicated talk show started, it’s been extremely hard to get in touch. Since I was already up and couldn’t go to sleep, I decided to call her.

  When I called her I didn’t get an answer, so I decided to just leave her a message,

  “Hey Momma! Long time no speak! A lot has happened ever since we last talked. I know that you already know that D and I work for Carswell now. Thanks for allowing us to sign the contracts. D just finished his first show a few hours ago and it was great. It sounded like he took a few tips from you! Anyway, I’m also running for president at Clarkson and I gotta write a speech that I have to present to the whole school body at the nomination party on Friday. As you know, I’m scared of speaking in public and I’m afraid that I’ll embarrass myself. Do you think, if you have time in your busy schedule, you could help me? Plus, I just wanna talk to you! It’s been too long without me talking to my Momma! Well, when you get this, call me back if you can. Love you, bye.”

  When I woke up this morning, I saw that she had called me fifteen minutes after I went to sleep. Then, as I was getting my clothes ready for school, she texted me:

  “Hey baby! Sorry I couldn’t get back in touch with u quick enough. Yes, I heard D’s radio show and I was so proud! I’ll call you later on this evening. Do well in school and tell your brothers I love them XOXO”

  I smiled. Boy, I couldn’t wait until I got out of school so I could talk to my Momma! Even if I had a day like how I did yesterday, just hearing my Momma’s voice would immediately make it better.

  Speaking of Momma, I might as well go down and watch her show from yesterday while I wait for D to come down so we can walk to school. Boy, I’m so excited!

  Sincerely,

  Aaliyah Anderson

  ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

  Jakiyah’s Return

  12:29 a.m.

  When I came in the lunchroom for breakfast, I was immediately surprised. Today was just one of those days where the unexpected happened. Jakiyah, who wasn’t supposed to come back until next Tuesday, was over sitting with Dasia in a booth on the left side of the lunchroom. I was happy that my homegirl was back but I also was confused. She was back a week ahead of schedule after all.

  “What’s up, Aaliyah?” she said as she stood up and gave me a huge hug when I walked over to the booth.

  “Just a li’l confused. I thought you were suspended for ten days?

  “Miss Carter let me come back a week early so I won’t miss too much class work. You were right about her too. She came down to my mom’s house in Riverstone Creek to talk to me about how I act in class and all that! You know she’s a straight principal when she comes down to the hood to talk to you face to face. I gotta go to ISS today but it’s straight ‘cause I’m back!”

  One thing I can say about ‘Kiyah is that she has a really energetic spirit. When this girl comes into a room, things just get exciting! ‘Kiyah has the same charisma that Dr. Smith said rappers have. I swear, that girl could be something if she just stops getting into this hood b.s.! It’s a shame that I have more hope for her future than she does…

  “Aye though, ‘Liyah, I heard about you and Dasia running for president. I was like, ‘What? My girl is gonna be the Barack Obama of Clarkson!’ You know you got my vote!”

  Dasia said, “That’s one vote out of like six hundred students and like thirty teachers. Have you worked on your speech?”

  I thought about it then said, “Dang! I knew I forgot about something last night.”

  “Come on, ‘Liyah! We gotta get this speech thing down pat before it’s too late. We don’t want it to seem like we aren’t prepared at the election party on Friday.”

  “I know, Dasia. I’m going to start working on it this afternoon when I go down to the radio station. I just had a lot to do yesterday with babysitting.”

  “I understand that, but we have to get focused if we wanna beat Latasha. With all the help and support she has from those older teachers, she seems to have a clear advantage.”

  “Yeah, I heard about how Latasha tried you yesterday too. You wanna go see if she still trying to talk all hard?” Jakiyah asked me.

  “Come on, ‘Kiyah! You just got back early from a suspension and you’re talking about going to start something with that girl. She’s not even worth it.”

  “I’m just being real! She shouldn’t have said all that to you. You already know I can’t stand her bougie behind. This could be an excuse to set her straight.”

  “I understand what you’re trying to say, ‘Kiyah, but we have to be cool right now. I don’t wanna risk my chance at this election on some b.s.”

  ‘Kiyah smacked her lips, obviously not fully understanding. Dasia tried to continue explaining to her, but I didn’t hear a thing. I was zoned out, looking across the lunchroom. I saw Deangelo walking with Tay and it got me to start thinking about what we talked about the night before.

  I honestly couldn’t take my eyes off of him! He was looking good too! He got a haircut the day before, so his waves were deeper and defined. I could see them over where I was sitting. His outfit was nice too! He was wearing a red Adidas Originals Jacket with tan cargos and matching red Adidas Hillsdales that looked like they were fresh out the box. He even had matching red and white Adidas earrings in both ears. The crazy thing about it was that he was sitting at a table full of Rydahz and it wasn’t even a problem that he was wearing Killaz colors.

  Jakiyah saw me looking at him and started smiling.

  “Uh huh! I see you over there taking a peek at your future man!”

  I tried to play it off like I didn’t know what she was talking about. “Huh? Oh, I was just looking out that window. It really is a beautiful day today!”

  Dasia smacked her lips. Was it that obvious?

  ‘Kiyah had a sly smile on her face. “Something’s going on that you aren’t telling us. At first, you didn’t wanna talk to him because he wasn’t a freakishly tall basketball player. Now, you’re over here looking across the lunchroom staring at him and smiling. Give us all the details.”

  I smiled. These were two of my main homegirls and if I can’t trust them, I can’t trust anybody. So I decided to tell them what happened between us. I told them the whole story, even the phone conversation.

  “Now I see why you couldn’t work on that speech,” Dasia said to me.

  I laughed. “Whatever.”

  “See, what’d I tell you, Aaliyah? I knew you’d like him. You just have to give him a chance.” Jakiyah said.

  I sighed and finally admitted to her being right. “Yeah, you were telling the truth. Deangelo is a gentleman and he’s super down to earth.”

  All of a sudden, I turned and saw Latasha and her cheerleading crew come over to the table Deangelo, Tay, and the rest of the Rydahz were sitting at. Latasha went and sat real close to Deangelo, which got me instantly heated.

  “Isn’t that your girl over there with Deangelo?” Dasia sarcastically asked.

  I smacked my lips, trying to hold in how frustrated I was. “That’s not my girl! And besides, I’m not even tripping. Deangelo and I are just friends for right now. Why would I care who he’s talking to on that level?”

  Honestly, I was flexing like crazy! Seeing her smile super wide and give him those eyes that us girls give guys when we’re interested every time he said something got me even angrier. But, even though I was partly jealous, I had to be real. That’s n
ot my man. To be real, I have a few feelings for Deangelo, but I’m not trying to get my heart broken by another behind-the-back player again. I decided after that I definitely needed to keep my emotions in check.

  ♠♠♠♠

  Dante

  After I was done helping Miss Carter in the office, I decided to visit the school library and look up some famous public speakers - you know, like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X? I decided if I was going to write this speech, I needed to at least know how to conduct myself. Back in the day, Martin and Malcolm were fearless. They led in the civil rights struggle and basically knew that they’d get killed for their brave efforts. But they didn’t care!

  They were determined to make changes in the black community and empower us to become better. We hear Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech all the time, but that’s not all he stood for. As a matter of fact, D showed me a video that he found on YouTube where Dr. King was talking about black people being self-sufficient and doing for themselves. I swear, he was sounding just like Malcolm X! He said:

  “Believe in yourself and believe that you’re somebody. I said to the group last night, nobody else can do this for us. No document can do this for us. No Lincolnian Emancipation Proclamation can do this for us. No Kennisonian or Johnsonian Civil Rights Bill can do this for us. If the Negro is to be free, he must move down into the inner resources of his own soul and sign with a pen and ink of self-asserted manhood his own Emancipation Proclamation.

  “Don’t let anybody take your manhood. Be proud of our heritage as somebody said earlier tonight, we don’t have anything to be ashamed of. Somebody told a lie one day. They couched it in language. They made everything black ugly and evil!

  Look in your dictionaries and see the synonyms for the word black. It’s always something degrading, low-down, and sinister. Look at the word white. It’s always something pure, high, and holy. But I want to get the language right tonight! I want to get the language so right that everybody here will cry out, ‘Yes, I’m black and I’m proud of it! I’m black and beautiful!’”