get a piece of me through you. There’s no harm in that, either, right?”
Sophia exhaled. “I didn’t see the harm.”
“She says with a black eye,” Trina pointed out.
“What do you guys want me to say?” Sophia asked. “I messed up. I admit I messed up. It won’t happen again.”
“Damn right it won’t,” said Trina. “Do you realize what would have happened to your future had they arrested you and found you guilty? No good college would have touched you with a ten-foot pole! And especially not Helmhurst. They would have dropped you like a hot pot.”
“Why would they want you,” Reno asked, “when they can have all the smart black girls they want who don’t have a fucking record? Why would they pick a criminal?”
“I’m not criminal,” Sophia said.
“I’ve got news for you, baby girl,” said Trina, “anybody with a criminal record is a criminal in the eyes of those uppity mucks. And you’re smart enough to know that!”
Tears appeared in Sophia’s big, beautiful eyes. Both parents wanted to go to her and comfort her, but neither one budged. She had to learn. She had to learn!
“It won’t happen again,” Sophia said. “I promise it won’t. Dana and I thought it would be fun, that’s all. But we were wrong.”
Reno frowned. “Who’s Dana anyway?” he asked.
“Her friend,” said Trina. “Had you been around more,” she added, “your ass would have known that.”
“Fuck you,” Reno said to his wife.
“Plenty of men would love to,” Trina shot back.
Reno looked at her with a look that wasn’t sure if she was serious. Although he was flirtatious as hell, he threw a hissy fit whenever a man so much as glanced at Trina too long. Trina laughed when she realized she’d pushed his buttons and his jealousy was showing. Reno wasn’t amused. “Very funny,” he said.
But Sophia just shook her head and wondered how in the world did their marriage last so long when all they did was argue? And what husband would say fuck you to his wife and the wife act as if it was no big deal at all? Her parents, that was who! They had perhaps the worse marriage in America, but somehow it worked for them.
Reno looked away from Trina and over at Sophia. “Why didn’t this Dana call me when you got arrested if you two are so close?” he asked her.
“She didn’t want to get in trouble with her parents,” said Sophia. “She wanted to stay out of it.”
“Now that’s no friend,” said Trina bluntly. “I’m sorry. No way will I see my girl getting arrested and don’t let her people know so they could help her. Even if I had to call that shit in anonymously, I would have called.”
“I would have called, too, Ma, but that’s not how it works with young people.”
“You’re a young person,” said Reno.
“But you guys taught me how to treat people,” said Sophia. “Everybody wasn’t taught that way.”
Reno and Trina stared lovingly at their daughter. She still made them proud. “Tell us how it happened,” Trina said.
“The black eye?” Sophia asked.
Trina didn’t bother to answer that. Of course it was the black eye!
“I went to the restroom and this creep came in behind me,” Sophia said. “The headline band had just taken the stage and the crowd was going wild, so when he punched me and tried to force himself on me, nobody heard my screams.”
Reno and Trina sat in horror. It wasn’t just some guy punching her, he tried to rape her too?
“Nobody heard my screams,” Sophia continued, “except this one guy, who apparently was coming from the men’s restroom or something when I started screaming.”
“What did he do?”
“He ran in and pulled the guy off of me, and then he beat him up. And the guy crawled away like the coward he was.”
Reno nodded. “Good.”
He was a very nice guy, Sophia wanted to say, and very great looking too! But she knew her parents. She kept it shut.
“What happened after that?” asked Trina.
“He told me to go back up front and that the guy would never bother me again. So I did. I wanted to leave, but since my parents won’t let me have a car, I had to wait on Dana. She was on the dance floor. When she finally came back and saw my eye, she agreed that we should go. But she needed to use the rest room first. Then the next thing I know, the cops show up and the place is being raided.”
“How