Chapter 10

DANICA

Trevon and Mayir didn't let go of my hands, only for me to open the door. My mom was sitting on the couch, watching the Food Network.

"Hello, sweetie." She said, inclining her head to look over the top of the couch and smiling. "Oh, who are these people?" she said, her smile stretching.

"New friends." I said, trying to keep my voice cheery.

"Really? That's great! I'm Angela, Danica's mother." Everyone somberly nodded at her, then introduced themselves.

"Mrs. H, we got somethin' to tell you." Trevon said softly. Him and Mayir squeezed my hands. Nadeyah and Jovita were looking at me; concern blotching their faces. Nadeyah had her hand on my shoulder.

"Yes, Trevon?"

"Um..." Trevon scratched the back of his neck. "You see…Danica…" At this point, my mom had gotten up from the couch.

"Trevon, I'll tell her."

"Danica…"

"No. I gotta. You guys stay here."

"Danica, sweetheart, what's happening?"

"Mom…" I felt my fingers roll in Trevon's palm. "…I'm pregnant." She didn't speak. I handed her the test. She looked down at it, and then looked up at me.

"And Malcolm's…" her voice trailed off. I nodded.

"Sorry." I whispered. "Mom…Sorry…"

"Danica…everything will be okay…Everything will be okay…" she said softly, wrapping her arms around me. My new friends let go of me slowly.

"I'm scared, mom." I said.

"I know…Anyone would be though, you need to understand that." She said. I felt her hand on the back of my head. She turned to my friends. "Thank you for bringing her home." Jovita nodded.

"No problem, Mrs. H."

"Is she gonna be in trouble?" Mayir asked, craning his neck as if he couldn't see something. Angela shook her head.

"Grounding can't fix pregnancies, now can it?" she said. I shook my head, close to collapsing again.

The only difference was, I was home.

On Monday, mom woke me up to get off to school. There was no word from Malcolm or his usual knock on the door, so I had no reason to cut school. Instead, there was another knock on the door. Thinking it was my father that had run home in a violent, blind rage; I flinched, dropping my backpack to the floor. My English project was really done. My mom watched me do it.

She opened the door. Instead of the bold, bulky figure of my father, it was the tall, skinny, do-rag-wearing-basketball-team-jersey-sporting figure of Trevon J. Samuels. A red backpack was dangling from his hand, complete with the infectious smile that reminded me of Malcolm.

"Morning, Trevon." Angela said. "Danica, it's alright. It's Trevon."

"Hey, Danica." He said, stepping over the threshold. "Thought I'd walk you to school. Seein' as Malcolm's in Philly. Also, seein' as we live in the same place."

"Wait. Trevon." I paused to get my backpack on my shoulders. "You live here?"

"Yeah. With the old lady…I mean, my ma, my dad, and my little brother, Yanik. Jus' about a floor above you." He said, pointing to the ceiling. "Sorry, we never met before."

"You don't gotta apologize. Nadeyah introduced us, it's all cool now." I told him. He smiled and I felt something fluttering in the pit of my stomach. A sensation only Malcolm could give me before I met Trevon. I kissed my mom goodbye and Trevon held the door open for me like a gentleman and we walked to school.

"Yo' pops know about the baby?" he asked quietly. It was still early and only teenagers were forced out this early for school. I shook my head.

"My mom only knew last night." I said. "I'm just prayin' he don't react too badly."

"What's too badly?" he asked.

"Yellin' too much and throwing stuff around. Cursin' out Malcolm and draggin' me to a clinic or somethin'. That's the mild version of it." I said, sighing, hopelessly combing back my hair I had forgotten to brush this morning.

"Damn girl. Well I'm sure God won't let him react like that. You are his daughter, after all. He can't be too bad." He said. Trevon. In the mere hours I'd known him, he made me feel better than anyone had ever made me feel before.

"Thanks, but you're jus' sayin' that to make me feel better."

"No, Danica, I'm not. All dads can't be as bad as they're thought to be. Really."

"You think so?"

"Well…yeah." He said. "Have you been thinkin' about…you know, the clinic stuff?" I nodded.

"I was up all night Saturday and Sunday. I'm not gonna get an abortion. I couldn't do that."

"So are you gonna raise the baby?" he asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, it's mine. I should, shouldn't I?" Trevon shrugged.

"It's up to you. But jus' look at Nadeyah. She's raisin' Tyjon, by herself. Sure, she's got her dad but he pays this woman Clara to baby-sit for him. So it's mostly her. And she's doin' a good job."

"Yeah, she is. I haven't met Tyjon, but knowin' Nadeyah, she would be."

"Tyjon's great. You'll love him. Hell, I do and I can hardly stand Yanik." He chuckled. "Hey, I actually, uh, volunteered to baby-sit for Tyjon on Wednesday night. Would you wanna….?" His voice trailed off, but I knew what he was asking. I smiled softly, and looked at him, stopping just as we were about to cross the street to school.

"Yeah. I'd love to."

"Great. Listen…My parents are takin' Yanik with them to their friend's house. Their kid's friends with him. Derek, I think. So I told Nadeyah I'd baby-sit Tyjon at my crib. Her an' her pops are goin' to visit Nadeyah's grandmamma in Yonkers. So, around six on Wednesday, sound okay?" he told me. I smiled softly again.

"It's a date."

As we crossed the road, the very meaning of the words I'd just said sunk in to me.

It's a date.

I was going on a date with Trevon…