Back to Me. Earl Sewell

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СКАЧАТЬ gross,” I said.

      “See, that’s what happens when you get a bad reputation. Other girls are the worst. One crazy girl wanted to fight me because her boyfriend was pressuring her. I don’t know how or why, but somehow she got it in her head that when I announced that I was pregnant at the prom, her boyfriend suddenly wanted her to be more like me.”

      “How does that happen?” Keysha asked.

      Priscilla rolled her eyes. “For the life of me, I just don’t understand how people get stuff twisted. I swear, sometimes I know exactly how President Obama feels. If they could blame natural disasters on him, they would.”

      “Wow,” I said. I had never thought about what she was going through. Priscilla finished her hot dog, and the three of us sat around and chatted for about twenty minutes.

      Then, all of a sudden, Priscilla said, “My stomach feels horrible.”

      “Are you okay?” Keysha asked.

      “I just feel like I want to vomit…” A sour expression formed on Priscilla’s face.

      “Maybe you ate a bad hot dog,” I said.

      “No, it’s not that. It’s morning sickness,” Priscilla explained. “Look, my house is just across the street. My mom is there. I’ll see you guys around.”

      “Do you want us to walk you back?” I asked.

      “No,” Priscilla said, rising up. She took a hard swallow, looked both of us in the eyes and said, “I’ll see you guys around.” I watched as Priscilla walked toward the edge of the park.

      Keysha and I finished eating our food and decided to walk around and explore everything at the festival. We looked at clothing, trinkets and other merchandise. We came across a vendor who sold all types of hats. Keysha decided that she wanted to check it out. She and I both tried on several summer hats that we thought were cute.

      “Ooh, that one makes you look grown and sexy, Maya,” she said as I tugged at the brim of a hat I’d tried on. Keysha picked up one just like it and tried it on.

      “Now, you know that’s against the rules, right?” I asked.

      “I know. I don’t want to walk around looking like your twin,” she said jokingly. Keysha looked at herself in the mirror. “Oh, God, I look like my mother wearing this thing.” She immediately took it off and put it back.

      We moved along to another vendor, who was selling sunglasses. Keysha picked up a pair, tried them on, turned and looked at me for approval.

      “Oh, you look like such a diva in those,” I said, complimenting her.

      “Really?” she asked, searching for a mirror.

      “Yeah. You look like a woman who has it all together. Especially with the head scarf you have on.”

      Keysha found a mirror, glanced at herself and began making kissy face gestures.

      “I do look kind of cute,” she said, removing the sunglasses to check the price. “I think I’m going to get them. Do you see anything that you want?” she asked.

      “No. I’m not really shopping for myself. I want to find something for Misalo,” I said, looking around at the other vendors to see where I could go. I spotted a guy who was spray painting T-shirts. “Keysha, I’ll be over there.” I pointed to where I’d be.

      “Okay. I’ll catch up with you,” she said as I stepped away.

      I made my way over to the artist merchant. There were a number of people looking over his shoulder at what he was creating. When I got a chance to take a peek, I realized that he was finishing up a T-shirt with a caricature drawing of Sabrina and Keysha’s brother, Mike. Mike and Sabrina were sitting on a stool. Sabrina was sitting on his lap with her cheek pressed to his face and her arm draped over his shoulder.

      “You guys are going to love the way this has turned out,” I said, admiring how well the designer had captured their features.

      When the designer finished, Mike paid him while Sabrina and I stood off to the side.

      “Hey, Maya. How are you?” Sabrina asked.

      “I’m hanging,” I said, trying not to sound depressed.

      “I’m sorry about you and Misalo. I heard about what happened,” she said.

      “Thanks, but it’s not over just yet.” I didn’t want her sympathy.

      “Even after what he did to you? I mean breaking up is one thing, but doing what he did was just wack.” Sabrina looked at me as if I were dumb for even wanting him back.

      “I love Misalo, okay? I’ve been with him for a long time, and you just don’t walk away when things get tough,” I told her, pleading my case.

      “What’s up?” Mike asked as he walked up and handed Sabrina the T-shirt. While Sabrina was focused on the

      T-shirt, I noticed Mike glancing at me with lust in his eyes.

      “Oh, God! Not you, too!” I said with disgust.

      Shrugging his shoulders, Mike said, “What?”

      “You were just undressing me with your eyes, Mike. You saw the photos, didn’t you?” I asked.

      Mike nervously glanced at Sabrina and then back at me.

      “Come on. Be honest,” I said, urging him to tell me the truth.

      Choosing his words carefully, Mike said, “One of the guys on the football team showed them to me. I told him he should delete them.” I knew Mike was lying through his teeth, but there wasn’t a thing I could do about it.

      “Well, I got the text photos, too. As soon as I saw the first picture, I started hitting the delete button,” said Sabrina. “Me, personally, I think you’re very brave for even coming out in public. You know how rumors spread around this town. People can take something as innocent as the sun shining and twist it into a story about a giant meteorite on a collision course with Earth. But I understand why you took the pictures. I know exactly what true love feels like. I took some sexy photos for Mike. I’m just so glad he kept his promise and didn’t forward them to all of his immature friends.”

      “Well, Misalo said the same thing. I still haven’t found out why he did it,” I said.

      “When I saw him earlier, I was going to ask him the same thing, but the moment I mentioned your name, he cut me off. He said that he didn’t want to talk about you at all,” Mike informed me.

      “Wait, what do you mean, when you saw him earlier?” I asked.

      “He’s here walking around somewhere,” Mike replied, confirming what I was thinking.

      “Seriously?” I asked, glancing around the crowd and searching for him.

      “Hey, guys. What’s up?” asked Keysha, who’d come over after paying for her sunglasses.

      “Damn! СКАЧАТЬ