not too dark for anything. God didn’t think so, or he wouldn’t have made us this color.” Rhoda paused and smiled. “Your skin reminds me of a milk chocolate candy bar. All smooth and silky and not nary a pimple, a freckle, nothin’. And look at that beauty mark!”
This was the first time the wart above my lip had been referred to as a beauty mark. “But you’ve got nice skin, too,” I stammered.
“Yeah but mine’s from the drugstore. If I didn’t do facials and didn’t wear makeup, my face would look like peanut brittle.”
“Thanks, Rhoda. No other girl has ever told me that before,” I said shyly. I inspected my ashy hands, turning them over twice.
“Oh, they are probably jealous,” Rhoda snarled. “Most of these kids are too stupid for their own good. Who needs ’em?”
“I know what you mean. I just wish they would let me go on about my business. I just want to graduate so I can go on with my life. Sometimes I get so angry I feel like dropping out of school. But I am not going to let them break me,” I said levelly.
“I see you sittin’ on your porch lookin’ by yourself all the time. Then I see you in the cafeteria, alone like me. I sit on my porch alone a lot, and I sit in the cafeteria every day alone. I don’t have any close friends either.”
“But you’re so pretty—”
“So?”
“You could probably have any boyfriend you want. I hear all the girls talking about how they wish they had your shape or your hair or your looks. Even some of the white girls,” I blurted.
“But that doesn’t mean they like me. A lot of them don’t like me on account of they are jealous because my daddy’s got a lot of money and everything and my mama’s good-lookin’. Madeline Brewster invited every girl but me in Home Ec. class to her slumber party this weekend. I’ve never been to a slumber party…” There were tears in her eyes. I was so taken aback I almost fainted.
“You want to sit on my porch with me this evening?” A lump had formed in my throat. I had a hard time getting my words out without it hurting. She was the first person I had ever invited home since Mona and Francine, the girls from my church I’d tried to be friends with. She smiled and nodded vigorously.
“You know, other than that Pee Wee and my family, my dolls are my only companions. Isn’t it odd? The kids probably hate me as much as they hate you. And you and I are as different as night and day,” Rhoda told me excitedly.
“I don’t have much of a family. Just me and Mama and this aunt in Florida. I don’t know exactly where my other folks are. Most of them are still down South somewhere. I know my daddy’s somewhere with a white woman.”
“Speakin’ of white folks, wait until you meet my uncle Johnny. Before he got religion, he robbed a bank one time with a butcher knife.” Rhoda laughed. We heard the bell ring. “We better run.”
“You’re in this class now?” I howled.
“I transferred today. Today is dodgeball. Nobody’s goin’ to pick me to be on their team,” she said sadly.
“Me neither. I hope the teacher makes the same team take us both.” I giggled.
Rhoda and I entered the locker room together. She was chattering away about having to rush home after school to help her mother take care of her grandmother and to clean her room.
Most of the girls had already dressed for class and were standing around chewing gum real loud and cussing up a storm. The ring leader was a tall, good-looking Black girl with red hair named Lena Cundiff. Her daddy was a doctor and a preacher, but she was one mean bitch. Lena and her gang glared at Rhoda and me.
“I gotta change my tampon. Watch my stuff,” Rhoda told me. She handed me her book bag and strutted past the girls on to the bathroom stalls. Lena snarled something under her breath, and Rhoda turned around and stopped. “Did you say somethin’, Cundiff?” Rhoda hissed. Her voice carried so much authority it didn’t surprise me when Lena bowed and shook her head. “I didn’t think you did,” Rhoda added.
As soon as Rhoda disappeared, Lena gave me another mean look. I just let out my breath and sat down on one of the benches and started to remove