Damaged (7 page)

“That shit ain’t mustard, you stupid bitch,” Rob said, shaking his head. He followed her into the party but turned around
and made a face at me. I laughed.

“You know why Rob never called your girl back, right?” Chu asked, smiling.

“No, why?” I asked, surprised he was gonna tell me the deal.

“All right, but you can’t tell her, though.”

“I won’t.”

“Your girl gave my man chlamydia.”

I opened my mouth, shocked. “You lying.”

He shook his head but kept smiling.

“Wow,” I said, viewing Shakira in a whole new light. “That’s nasty.”

It was so humid that I thought about jumping in the swimming pool myself, but I was too classy for all that, plus I ain’t
want to get my hair all wet. But a lot of the
rollers
wasn’t holding back. Some of them was stripping out of their clothes and grinding in their bikinis. Me and Shakira stayed
classy and cute in our summer dresses. I had on a white one that wrapped around my neck. Shakira had on a red halter dress,
showing her butterfly tattoo on her shoulder. She wore the red stilettos she bought up in Georgetown. All the dudes looked
paid. Fresh to death with their graffiti-print tees, brand-name jean shorts, and right-out-the-box tennis shoes.

There was barbeque ribs and chicken, corn on the cob, and potato salad, and everything looked delicious. Smurf was really
doing it big. He even had a DJ with gigantic outdoor speakers, and he was gonna set off some fireworks later. A group of people
was playing spades and another group was playing poker. There was a bottle or a glass of something in just about everybody’s
hand. I sipped on a Corona with a lime wedge floating in it. The lush smell of weed was heavy in the air, and Chu started
worrying that it might affect his next piss test.

“Camille, baby, let’s go to the truck for a little while,” he said, smiling.

“For privacy?” I asked, giggling.

“Mmm-hm,” he said, leading me in front of him. “You look so damn sexy in that dress, girl.”

I
t was the first time I had ever been on top, and I couldn’t believe how good he was making me feel. Chu stared in my eyes
the whole time. As I eased up and down, he kept asking me if I was okay. But I was more than okay. I felt like it mattered
what I was doing this time, like whenever I sucked him off. It was nothing like what me and Mr. Big had ever did.

When it was over, Chu made sure not to get anything on my dress and he handed me some napkins. He seemed to like it just as
much as me, cuz he kept kissing me. I wanted to be on top from now on, and for some reason I ain’t think Chu was gonna mind.

I climbed out of the truck and went in the house to use the bathroom. On my way, I saw Shakira kissing Smurf in the den. I
shook my head and kept going to the bathroom. That man was entirely too old for her. But who was I to tell her that?

*   *   *

A
fter everyone was full and drunk, and the crowd started dwindling down, Rob was ready to go. He must’ve been mad he ain’t
pull none of the girls at the party or something. I went looking for Shakira but couldn’t find her. I knew she had to be somewhere
in the house with Smurf since I seen her with him earlier. I tried to calm Rob down until I found her, but he wasn’t trying
to hear it.

“You must be crazy if you think I’m waiting for that dirty-ass broad,” Rob said, starting up his truck.

“Please, Rob? Don’t leave yet. Give me two minutes, please?”

“Come on, Rob. Hold up,” Chu said.

“All right, I’m just waiting for you, though, Camille.”

I wasn’t gonna leave Shakira all the way out in no Bum Fuck, Maryland, with some dude she hardly even knew. I ain’t care if
he was Rob and Chu’s friend. I walked around the house and called her name, but besides a couple of people playing pool in
the basement, I ain’t see nobody.
Where could that girl be?
I started to go upstairs, but I ain’t see none of the people from the party going in that part of the house since we got
there. I hesitated but kept going. I swear I wasn’t trying to leave her.

When I got to the top of the stairs, I saw a strange glowing light coming from a cracked door. I started to go back the other
way, cuz whatever it was, was none of my business. I heard Rob blowing his loud-ass Ford horn, telling me my two minutes was
up, so I turned back and kept going down the hall. The closer I got to the dark room with the strange glow, the louder the
moans.

I rolled my eyes, cuz I just knew this hooker wasn’t screwing this man already. I stood in the hallway trying to decide if
I was going to yell her name and tell her we was leaving or if I was just going to go back downstairs. Rob blew his horn again,
long and hard, so I decided to hurry up and just shout real loud that we was about to leave.

But I was dying to know what the weird glow was. I peeked behind the crack and almost fell into the room when I saw Smurf
standing over Shakira beating his dick, while one of the girls I seen by the pool with long hair ate my friend out. The glow
was coming from a funny-looking lightbulb that made some of the stuff in the room, like Shakira’s eyes and teeth, light up.
I shook my head and decided if she ain’t have a ride home after all that she was doing back there, then too damn bad.

In the car, Chu asked me if I found “KiKi.” I just shook my head.

He smiled and said, “I bet you did. You look like you seen a ghost or something. What shawty was doing?”

“That damn girl,” I said, shaking my head.

“Oh, Camille, you ain’t got to tell us nothing. We goin’ find out all about it tomorrow,” Rob said, laughing. “KiKi better
hope he ain’t in there videotaping her ho ass.”

I shook my head, disgusted at her. Obviously, I ain’t know Ms. KiKi like I thought I did.

Chu laughed and lit up a Black & Mild as we pulled onto Route 223.

NOVEMBER 2004

I
was so over school, and not because it was my first year of high school at McKinley Tech. Since I had stopped hanging out
with Ms. Thang, I was pretty much staying to myself. Ebony Fire was starting to get on my nerves cuz they wanted to have double
practices on Saturdays. Shakira and me ain’t speak since Smurf’s party, and I still had my issues with Lauren and Nissa. Nissa
wanted me to quit cuz I was only showing up at practice whenever I wanted to. But what can I say? Chu needed me.

I even stayed the night by his crib for a whole entire weekend once. The Brinkleys thought Ebony Fire was having an overnight
retreat for all the dancers out in Front Royal, Virginia. They believed my little lie, too. They ain’t even ask me for a permission
slip or nothing. I had a fake one made up, just in case they did, though. I was surprised when Mr. Big gave me four hundred
dollars for the trip. I ain’t even have to do nothing extra for it, either.

When I found out one of Nut’s girlfriends, Peaches, was a senior at Tech, we both started leaving school together at lunchtime
and going back to the apartment. She wasn’t as skanky as the other girls he brought by the crib, but she still had that look
about her. The look that said she’d been through a lot of shit and dared a bitch to try to take her man. I knew after the
first time I met her that the other girls was gonna disappear. Peaches was marking her spot, cooking big dinners like steak
and mash potatoes one day and smoked turkey wings and candied yams the next. I was watching her. Chu even had the nerve to
ask me why I never cooked. He must be crazy—that mess ain’t for me.

I walked in the kitchen one day just when Nut was killing a mouse with his bare hands. I couldn’t believe it. Blood was running
down his arms and everything. I gasped and ran back out. Peaches was in the living room squirming around, but I had no idea
it was because her man was acting like Zeus on the dipper.

H
oward University’s homecoming was the very next week, and me and Peaches had talked about sneaking into some parties with
my brother Jayson. She got me a fake ID from her aunt who worked at the DMV, so I was straight. At least, I could get in some
of the “eighteen and up” parties.

The night we was getting ready to go out, Nut kirked the hell out and told Peaches she wasn’t “going no goddamn where.” Peaches
kept right on getting dressed. She looked cute in her short chocolate brown Anna Sui dress and her leopard peek-toe pumps.
Chu walked up behind me and kissed me on my neck while I finished putting on my makeup.

“You sure you don’t wanna go?” I asked.

“Nah, I got some shit I gotta do. Me and Rob probably ride through and do a little parking lot pimping later,” he said, laughing.

I sucked my teeth. “Whatever, boy. You better not be trying to holla at nobody,” I said playfully.

“You know I don’t want nobody but you,” he said and kissed my cheek. “Look at how gorgeous my baby is.”

I smiled. I felt so lucky to be with him. He always said the right things whenever I needed to hear it. Every time my foster
parents got on my nerves, and I wanted to vent, he’d just say, “Tell Daddy all about it,” and wrap his arms around me. He
made me never want to leave when I came over. Since he wasn’t smoking weed anymore, I smoked with Peaches whenever Chu and
Nut was out on the block. Sometimes I bought my own bag and smoked it by myself or I smoked with Jayson in our favorite park.

The phone rang, and Chu answered the collect call from his brother. Chu was still grinding it out even though he was on probation.
His brother, Tep, used to be the main breadwinner between the two of them, but Chu was picking up the weight now. Tep called
the crib a couple times when I was there. I listened to Chu talk in codes and then he said, “Yeah, she’s standing right here.
Camille, here. Tep gotta tell you something.”

“Me?” I asked, surprised.

He nodded and handed me the phone.

“Hello?”

“So you Miss Wifey, huh? How you doing?”

“I’m okay,” I said, blushing.

“My brother can’t stop talking about you. I had to see if you was real, slim.”

I giggled and turned toward Chu. “Yes, I’m real,” I said, feeling extra special.

“Okay, okay. Well, make sure you take care of him. He’s all I got out there.”

“Of course, I will. That’s my baby. He’s all I got, too.”

“All right, all right. I hear that… Let me holla back at my man,” Tep said.

I passed the phone back to Chu and then kissed him on his cheek. While they finished talking, I dug in my overnight bag and
grabbed my accessories. I looked at myself in the mirror and smiled. I did look gorgeous, like Chu said. The turquoise top
was doing magic for my brown skin. I turned and looked at my butt to make sure my Citizens was doing what I paid them to do.
Yeah, they was doing just right. Chu palmed my cheeks and massaged them while he talked on the phone. I could tell he wanted
to hit it before I left, but I just did my makeup, and my eye shadow was perfect.

“Camille?” Peaches called out right on time. “Girl, you ready?”

“Yep,” I said, grabbing my purse, stuffing it with the makeup I was gonna need for the night. “Is Jayson here yet?”

“No. You need to call him and see where he at.”

I dialed Jayson up. “Boy, where are you?”

“I’m almost there. This damn train taking so long. Peaches driving, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Why she can’t just meet me at the station?”

“All right, all right. I’ll tell her, so stay there when you get off.”

T
his was going to be the first time I stayed the night out with no explanation whatsoever. I was willing to take my chances
on this. H2O was going to be cranking, and I was ready for whatever. All week long, WKYS had been naming all the different
celebrities who was supposed to come out, and I wasn’t gonna miss Lil’ Wayne for nothing in the world. I wasn’t too worried,
since the Brinkleys knew I was supposed to be out with Jayson somewhere.

The line in front of the club was already snaking down the street when we pulled up. Peaches decided to valet park, so we
wouldn’t have to spend all night looking for a spot. Top-of-the-line cars of just about every model paraded up and down the
street, with music blasting and sparkling rims spinning. The music was pouring out the door and the loud bass vibrated the
whole building. I passed the ID test with security without a problem. We watched a couple of girls who looked like hookers
prance by, wearing long tracks with platinum blond streaks down their backs. The duo had on bright sequined bikini tops and
shorts that looked like satin panties.

“Skanky bitches,” Peaches mumbled.

“No class,” I said, watching guys follow behind with drinks filled to the brim in their hands and their tongues hanging out
their mouths as they looked the women over.

“Dayum, it’s live as shit in here!” Jayson yelled over the noise of the crowd and the music.

I nodded and then we all headed upstairs. None of us was over twenty-one, so Jayson disappeared to find someone who could
cop drinks for us.

“Shawty crunk on the floor, wide open,” one of the Yin Yang Twins sang.

“Girl, this my song,” Peaches said as she dragged me to the dance floor. “Shake it like a salt shaker!”

There was so many people on the floor, bodies rubbing, hands touching, hips popping in and out, booties twirking. By the time,
the DJ had stopped playing “The Whisper Song,” I was drenched with sweat.

“You look like you need this,” Jayson said, handing both of us glasses of something fruity looking.

“Ooh, boy, what’s this?” Peaches asked, excited.

“Fuzzy Navels,” Jayson said, smiling.

“Where you get this from?” I asked.

“Don’t worry about all that. Just enjoy it,” he said, looking away, sipping on his drink.

“Well, excuse me,” I said and took a long sip from my own drink.

“I’ll be back,” Jayson whispered in my ear.

“Where the hell you going?” I yelled over the loud music. Nelly’s “Hot in Herre” had people bumping up into the both of us.
We swayed with the crowd for a minute, but Jayson ain’t answer me. He waved bye and disappeared into the crowd again.