Deal With It Read Free

Being on the dance team was the best thing going. Other girls wanted to be in my shoes, but not every girl was cut out to be on the team. Our dance coach, Miss Martin, had picked only the cream of the crop. She got you as a freshman, and most girls remained on the team throughout their entire high school careers, provided they kept their grades decent and stayed out of trouble. You weren’t allowed to get suspended from school under any circumstances. There was also an unspoken rule about managing your weight, so you had to be in shape, too.
    “You think I can get a tattoo right here, on my back?” I asked Mommy, pointing to the small of my back, just above my panty line.
    “Maybe when you’re seventeen.”
    “Daddy said I could get one when I turned sixteen,” I told her.
    “I don’t think he knew where you were trying to put it,” Mommy said.
    “It doesn’t really matter where I put it,” I said.
    “I don’t know, Tameka. Are you sure you want something permanent like that on your body at all?” she asked.
    “Are you serious? You have two tattoos, Mom! You have Daddy’s name plastered right across your arm.” I touched her arm and pointed it out to her, as if she didn’t remember.
    “That’s exactly why I’m asking if you’re sure about it. Tattoos are permanent. And if you’re thinking about putting someone’s name on your body, then you should think again.”
    “Mommy, you don’t need to worry. I’m not thinking about tattooing Vance’s name anywhere on my body,” I said. “I’m just talking about a simple little flower or something.”
    She exhaled. Probably relieved that I wasn’t planning on tattooing my boyfriend’s name on my back or on my thigh somewhere. Although Vance was the most serious boyfriend that I had everhad, I knew that relationships were not always permanent—tattoos were. And even though we’d already talked about spending our lives together and how many kids we were gonna have, I knew that anything could happen between now and then.
    When I was in the ninth grade, I thought that Jeff Donaldson was the only man on the face of the earth. But that soon changed when he started going out with someone else. It was Vance who came along and mended my broken heart. He was sweet and also smart. In fact, he was the only guy I’d ever dated whose grade-point average was higher than mine. He took all of the college-bound courses in school and consistently made the honor roll. He played basketball and was headed for a full scholarship to Duke, although Duke wasn’t really his college choice. It was his father’s. Dr. Armstrong had received a full ride to Duke when he was our age, and wanted the same for his son. He pretty much insisted that Vance attend there simply because it was his alma mater. Vance wanted to explore other schools, like Georgia State or Grambling, but his father wasn’t hearing any of that. And besides, scouts from Duke were already watching him. They were posted up at all the games and had even sent Vance a letter, asking if he was interested in their school. He wanted to go to college, but he wished he had the freedom to make his own choices.
    At least he had goals.
    I had them, too. I planned on attending Spelman, maybe not on a full scholarship like Vance, but I would at least try and compete for a few of the smaller ones. I would do my best on the SATs and see how far that got me, too. Spelman had been my college of choice since I was in Girl Scouts in the fifth grade. My Girl Scouts’ troop leader had graduated from Spelman, and it was all she talked about. She’d told us about all the wonderful things that she had experienced there. She had been one part of my inspiration—that and the fact that Rudy from The Cosby Show had graduated from there, too. The other part of my inspiration was Mommy.
    My mother never had the chance to attend college. In fact, she never finished high school. She was pregnant at sixteen and was married to my dad soon