Growing Yams in London Read Free

followed him across the living room, Tanisha pulled me aside.
    ‘So, you got the blanket, but did you get the boy?’
    ‘What are you talking about?’ I said, desperately trying to hide my smirk.
    ‘I wanna know everything, Miss I-don’t-fancy-him!’
    Before I could reply, Mel grabbed us for a dance as the latest Lush track flooded the room. Several songs later, Tanisha and I collapsed on to the couch.
    ‘You don’t think he’ll think that I don’t like him, do you?’
    ‘Huh?’ asked Tanisha.
    ‘Well, I didn’t go with him to the decks . . .’
    ‘Makeeda, what do you know about DJing?’ Tanisha interrupted.
    ‘Nothing.’
    ‘Exactly! Stop stressing and get us some drinks,’ Tanisha said, dismissing me.
    I wasn’t convinced. I headed for the kitchen and on my way back I was stopped in my tracks by seeing the DJ talking to a girl dressed in stretch jeans, three-inch heels and an
off-the-shoulder top. Every time she moved her head, her long, blond hair with subtle streaks of vanilla, cream, and honey caught the light like something out of a shampoo ad. She turned and I
recognised her. Laura.
    ‘Who’s that?’ Tanisha said, grabbing the drinks from me.
    I could tell she was impressed by Laura’s look. Laura always looked at least ten years older than the rest of us. She was never scruffy, her make-up never melted and it was always subtle
enough to not be noticed at school by any of the teachers. Laura knew things about being a woman that Mel said her sister Shanice was only just working out. Shanice was twenty-two.
    ‘That’s Laura.’
    ‘Why do you look so worried?’ Tanisha asked.
    ‘Look at her! She looks great and he’s enjoying her company!’
    ‘Oh puhlease! His body language is screaming “push off”!’ Tanisha said.
    ‘Who am I kidding? I don’t stand a chance if she gets her claws stuck in him.’
    ‘Ohmigod Makeeda, you can’t give up already! Haven’t you ever heard of a fight? So who is this girl?’
    ‘The one who kissed Nick’s exchange student, the French guy everyone knew I fancied.’
    ‘What, Parisian Pierre?’
    ‘Shh! That’s what Bharti and I called him. If anyone hears you, I’ll never hear the end of it.’
    ‘Sorry. It doesn’t mean that Mr DJ is going to . . . Don’t freak out, but he’s staring right at us. Quick, smile he’s looking our way,’ Tanisha said.
    I didn’t have time to stretch my features into a smile, but I made an attempt.
    ‘Ohmigod, what was that?’ Tanisha asked, horrified. ‘You looked like you’d just swallowed a lemon!’
    ‘Shut up! Hi!’ I said, as Mr DJ was now standing in front of me.
    ‘Hi.’
    ‘Um, I’ve gotta . . .’ Tanisha said, quickly disappearing.
    How obvious was that? I’m going to kill her later.
    ‘So are you taking another break?’ I asked.
    ‘Yeah, I think Stephen should be OK on his own for a bit,’ he replied.
    ‘Right,’ I said, noticing that the volume had increased sharply.
    I looked at him. He was saying something, but I couldn’t hear him properly.
    ‘What?’ I shouted at the top of my voice, just as the track stopped abruptly. It suddenly felt like millions of eyes were burning into me. I knew that this moment would be repeated
to everyone at school, and end up being made into an e-mail. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Tanisha cowering with embarrassment for me and Laura giggling with some boys.
    Ohmigod, he’s definitely going to walk away from me now! I could barely look at him.
    ‘Do you want another drink?’ he said, whispering in my ear.
    I nodded. I was stunned and too afraid to speak.
    He smiled at me. We went to the kitchen and he poured me a drink. We stood around kind of smiling at each other and all I could think was, ‘say something, Makeeda!’ I heard another
song being played.
    ‘How long have you been DJing?’ I asked.
    ‘Um, about six months alone, but I used to help out my cousin.’
    ‘Makeeda!’ I spun round to see Mel’s mum, Auntie Angie,