The Perfect Present (3 page)

“Jayla is the girl rocking the outfit,” Tionna said.

Jayla was standing bedside a tattered quilt that hung in a cabinet. My grandmother's class had knitted that quilt when she was a student at this middle school. That's how old the quilt was. But Jayla was standing, staring at it like it was the newest ‘It' thing.

“Well, my momma told me that she is having some family issues and we had to be nice to her,” Vanessa said

Teresa was nodding her head in agreement.

“Didn't she come over to your house for dinner?” said Teresa.

“Girl, yes. She and Jazz got into it,” Tionna said. I gave Tionna the eye, but she ignored me and kept talking. “I had to step between them. It was bananas.”

“What!” the twins said at the same time.

I dropped one of my Poetic Justice Braids that I had been twirling in my hand and said. “I can't even. I was not going to turn up for her.”

Vanessa quickly said, “Jazz you can tell us. We are fam.”

I didn't want to be messy, but Teresa and Vanessa were like my big sisters, so I could tell them. “Well, she acts like she is better than everyone just because she is from California. She gets on my nerves!”

“She looks like she is scared to me. Look at the way she looks up and then looks back down to her feet,” Vanessa said. We all turned to stare at her. Jayla was just standing there, looking stupid.

“I think we should go and say hello,” Tionna said.

I gave her a mean look.”

“You know grandma will ask us about it later. We just need to do it,” Tionna said.

I waved her off. “You do what you want. I am not fooling with her. You go over there. I am not trying to start my day off wrong.”

“Jazz, it is not that serous. We are just going to say hello. Girl, get yourself together,” Vanessa said.

Jasmine said, “I am staying in this spot.”

“Well, we are walking over to say hello. Tionna, are you coming with us?” Teresa asked.

Tionna looked at me, then looked at the twins. She hesitated, but then said, “Come on, I will introduce you to her.”

I stood alone and mad. I could not believe Tionna was acting like Jayla was cool.

Girl, your outfit is the most!” Vanessa said.

“Thank you. I have another skirt like it if you want to borrow it,” said Jayla.

“K. That's what's up!” Vanessa said.

“You want to hang with us sometime?” Teresa asked.

“Sure, I don't know a lot of people here in this town,” Jayla said.

“Cool, we'll talk after school,” Vanessa told her.

“That's what up,” Jayla said.

I wanted to scream
who was this chick and what had she done to the monster I met the other day
. Vanessa, Teresa and Tionna were talking and laughing like Jayla just fit right in.

The first bell rung.

“I guess I need to go to my class. We will talk after class,” Jayla said.

The girls hugged and Jayla walked off.

“Why are y'all hanging out with her?” I snapped as soon as she left.

“Why don't you like her? She's nice. You just stood there making faces while she was talking. You are the one who's being mean,” said Vanessa.

Tionna said, “The girl did not do a thing to you. You were acting real - ”

Before my cousin could finish her sentence, I exploded. “If anybody should say hey first, it should be her. I could see something in her like grandma sees in people and I am trying to save all of you from being fooled,” Jasmine said.

“Jazz, Grandma told us to be her friend. So she must not see what you see,” Tionna replied.

“Whatever, Tionna!”

The twins looked at us and shook their heads. There was complete silence for about a minute.

Finally, I said, “Who has seventy-five cents? I need it for a drink. I'm tired.”

“I have a dollar you can have. You know you are still my girl,” Vanessa said with a hug and walked away. Teresa followed her.

As soon as they left, Tionna just stood staring at me. “Maybe you should give Jayla a chance. She's not that bad.”

“You are really doing the most right now, Tee. Leave me alone,” I said.

“Fine, keep your funky attitude.” Tionna rolled her eyes at me and stomped off to her class.

I stood alone in the commons, wondering what had just happened.

Chapter 3

I was at praise dance practice, the one place I felt at peace. I loved dancing, talking and laughing with the girls in the ministry. They were my sisters and I needed some new ones since my cousin, Tionna, and my friends, Vanessa and Teresa, had turned on me (I mean, they were even over the twins' house today with Jayla). Traitors.

I was the first person to arrive at church. My grandmother and mother both had missionary meetings, so I went upstairs to loosen my limbs. As I stretched, I couldn't help but think about how lonely I'd felt these past two weeks. Christmastime was supposed to be a time of family and friends, but I wasn't in the Christmas spirit because Jayla had stolen my joy.

Tionna was spending a lot of time with Jayla and the twins. At first, she tried to get me to go with them, but I refused, so she eventually stopped asking. Tionna would come home bragging about how much fun they'd had. I would just put my pink Beats on my ears and not say a word.

I was starting to feel like an outsider. Jayla had joined the afterschool book club at the library, she'd gotten a spot in band, and she'd even taken my spot as teacher's pet in Mrs. Wilson's class. She was not only stealing my joy, she was stealing my life.

All that stuff bothered me, but not as much as the book club did. The book club was a place for us to read and discuss our favorite books. Mrs. Jackson, who was over the club, also encouraged us to write. When Jayla first popped up at the book club meeting, talking about she had just finished writing a book, I knew there would be trouble.

I was the treasurer of the club. Each girl paid one dollar a month. The dues helped pay for a fun trip to a reading and science expo in Durham, North Carolina in the summer.

It was my job to collect the money and give it to Mrs. Jackson. I collected the money as usual and placed it in the red moneybag. We had just wrapped up the meeting and Mrs. Jackson had brought us pizza to celebrate. Some of the boys from the basketball team must have smelled it, because they came in begging for some pizza. I ignored them and finished writing my treasurer's report. I laid the moneybag down on the table near the back of the room and walked to get a bottle of water. When I returned back to the table, the bag and money were gone. I panicked.

“Where are the bag and the money?” I asked frantically.

Tionna and the twins came over to where I was standing. Jayla stayed in the reading corner with the cushy chairs.

“Did you take it anywhere?” Vanessa asked.

“No, I left it on the table!”

Everyone started looking around the table and the floor. Mrs. Jackson came over to see what was going on.

“I. . . I lost the money. It was sitting right here, but now it's gone!” I cried.

Mrs. Jackson hugged me. Tionna and the twins had sad looks on their faces.”

Vanessa said, “Don't worry, Jazz, we will help you find the money.”

I nodded, but the big tears kept falling.

“Did anyone leave the room?” Mrs. Jackson asked.

“The other book club members left,” Teresa said.

“Maybe it was one of boys from the basketball team who'd come in to get some of our pizza,” Tionna said.

“Let's go catch them and ask them,” Vanessa said. The girls left the room on a search for the money. Mrs. Jackson left to report it to her boss.

I plopped down in the hard chair behind the desk. Tears were still trickling down my cheeks.

“Well, looks like somebody can't do their job. Who leaves a bag of money laying around? How stupid can you be?” Jayla asked.

From the smirk on her face, I knew she had the money.

“You're a thief,” I said, standing up to go get Mrs. Jackson. “And I'm going to tell.”

“No one will believe you,” Jayla laughed. “Remember, I'm the nice girl. You are the mean girl.”

I stopped and looked at Jayla. The sad part was, she was probably right. Everyone would think I was just making up stuff about Jayla because I'd been so mean.

“Jayla, you think you are so smart,” I snapped. “All of your mess will catch up with you.”

She laughed and went back to reading her book. Later, I told Tionna that I thought Jayla had taken the money, but she just rolled her eyes and told me, “Don't start.”

I got my momma to pay back the money, but I stopped coming to the weekly book club meeting. I heard that they elected Jayla to be treasurer. I cried when I heard the news and wondered if this Jayla nightmare would ever end.

Our ministry leader entered the room, jolting me out of the past and back to the present. She greeted me with a warm smile.

“I see someone is anxious to start,” she said.

Mrs. Jones was a tall woman. She always wore her hair in a nice, short cut. She also wore cute outfits. All of the kids thought she looked like Rihanna.

I laughed and kept stretching.

“Where is your cousin?” she asked.

“She is with the twins.” I sighed. “I guess they're coming. I don't know.”

Mrs. Jones noticed the attitude in my words, but kept unpacking her bags. When she found the charger she was looking for, she walked over to me.

You know if you need to talk, I am here for you.”

I looked up and said, “I know. I just feel some kind of way right now. Nothing is going right.”

“Sometimes life has obstacles. You just need to learn to wait on The Lord for instruction.”

“I have been waiting, but nothing is getting better. It seems like everything is getting worse. I feel like I will never get my life back. I mean, I'm not even excited about Christmas. A Grinch stole my Christmas joy.”

She continued smiling. “Well, the way you have that scowl on your face, have you ever thought that maybe
you're
the Grinch?”

Me? “Umm, no,” I said.

“No one should ever be able to steal your joy. Don't give them that power.”

Before I could say anything else, the huge doors swung open and Tionna, the twins and Jayla came in. They were all laughing and talking. Mrs. Jones rubbed my arm and gave me a smile. She turned around to the girls.

“Girls, glad to see you all in such a good mood. Who do we have here?” she asked, looking at Jayla.

Vanessa spoke up first. “This is our new friend, Jayla. She is Mrs. Lois's niece.”

Jayla put out her hand. “Pleased to meet you, Ma 'am.”

“Baby, we hug around here,” Mrs. Jackson said, pulling her into a big embrace.

“I would love to be on the praise dance team,” Jayla said.

I rolled my eyes.

“I will have to ask the deacon in charge of our ministry, but since your aunt is a member of the church, I don't see an issue.”

The girls started squealing and jumping. I couldn't believe what was happening. Jayla was ruining my life! She was fooling everyone! First it was my grandma and mom. Next, it was my cousin and friends. Now it was my place of peace.

“Jayla, you can watch the girls practice,” Mrs. Jones said.

Then, do you know Jayla had the nerve to sit beside me as everyone else started stretching?

I tried to be cool, but I was so mad. This girl was all up in my life. When would this craziness end?

I didn't say a word: I just moved to the other side of the room. Jayla gave me a mean look as other members of the dance ministry started rolling into practice.

The other girls started talking to me, but I was so mad that I could hardly say anything. I knew that I shouldn't be so foul to everyone, but Jayla had completely stolen my joy and happiness.

“Jasmine, I want you to teach Jayla the first part of our dance,” Mrs. Jones said after we'd been practicing for twenty minutes.

My mouth dropped open. Tionna and the twins looked nervous.

“Mrs. Jones, I will show her the first part of the dance,” Tionna said, stepping in. “I can even practice with her after school.”

Mrs. Jones continued smiling. “Thank you, Tionna, but I need Jasmine to show her the dance.”

There was a lot of tension in the air. Mrs. Jones made me and Jayla go to the back of the church to work on the dance. I was not happy about it, but I was raised to respect my elders, so I kept my mouth closed.

“Okay, Jayla, I am going to make this short and sweet. Pay attention because I'm not going to keep going over this,” I said with an attitude. I didn't even give her a chance to reply as I showed her the first eight steps of the dance.

“Do you have any questions?” I asked.

All she said was, “So it looks you are not as cool as you think. Your friends and cousin think I am cooler than you.”

“May the Lord forgive them for their poor taste,” I said with a smile.

Jayla stepped in my face and whispered. “Mess with me and I will show you poor taste.”

I counted to ten. I was not about to let this girl get to me. Plus, I needed to remember where I was. God wouldn't like me beating somebody down in church. I could not make my family or God look bad. I closed my eyes and wished this big head girl would go away. But when I opened my eyes, she was still there.

“I wish you would just go away,” I finally said. “I wish you would have never come to this town. Take your sneaky self back to your abusive momma and daddy so they can beat some class into you!”

Oh, snap. Did I just say that out loud?

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared our way. Jayla played it up and started crying. I'm talking, like seriously boo-hooing. And then my friends, make that my former friends, and Tionna (can you disown cousins?), came over and hugged Jayla while mean-mugging me.

“Jasmine, I can't believe you,” Mrs. Jones said, taking my arm and leading me outside. She didn't say a word as she marched me straight over to my momma.