Who Am I Without Him? Read Free

go and have some fun. She wrote me every day like your mother did. I still have the letters. Girls always keep letters, you know. Do you have the letters your mother wrote to you?
    Dear Devita Mae:
No.
    Nov. 10
Hey, J:
Answer me this. Why do boys lie? Earle said
he’d call my girl Marlina. That was two weeks
ago. How come he didn’t call?
    It ain’t your business. Mine neither.
    Dear Jaquel—
Y do boys do girls like that?
    Devita Mae Eyes of Gray,
Just ’cause a boy says he’ll call doesn’t mean a
girl’s gotta bum-rush him. He’ll call. . . . Give
him time.
    Time? He had two weeks. That’s 336 hours. That’s enough time.
    Why you care? U want him to call you or something?
    Dear Jaquel—
Boys don’t know nothing about girls!!!
    Hey, Devita Mae.
Then girls should only date girls. That way they will always get what they want, and not have to explain stuff so much . . . and not bother boys and try to make us act like girls.
    Jaquel:
Here is what I’m thinking. Sometimes we can write long letters, other times we will keep it real short. Anyhow, guess what? I saw a girl on the bus the other day. This guy was staring at her, and told her she was cute. She licked her lips and said thanks. Then she went over to him and like five minutes later they was kissing— hard wet kisses. People on the bus kept staring ’cause they knew she just met him. I was like, girl you are nasty. Then my friend said, he’s nasty too, kissing a girl he don’t even know. What makes a guy do that? I mean, what makes him want a girl like that?
    Was she pretty?
    Dear J:
She was pretty.
    Was she stacked, Devita Mae? Top and bottom?
    Yeah.
    Devita Mae:
There’s your answer. A cute girl you just met
lets you kiss her—man that’s living!!!
    A nasty cute girl lets you kiss her. She might have a disease. She might do that with every boy.
    Devita Mae:
I wouldn’t care if she did it with every boy, as long as she did it with me. Anyhow, who’s gonna turn down free candy?
    Dear Jaquel:
You are nasty, too.
    Devita Mae:
All boys is nasty!!!!
    Nov. 15
Dear Jaquel Dickson—
My eyes are real.
    What about your hair? In the bathroom we bet sometimes. I bet that your eyes were fake, but your hair was real. My boy Reggie said it wasn’t true ’cause your hair is too long to be real.
    Why are you and your boys talking about me in the boys’ room, anyhow?
    â€™Cause when you are taking a leak, Devita Mae, you have to talk about something. Ain’t you sick of writing, Devita Mae? I am. So I made up my own rule. I will not write to you for the rest of this week. I will text-message this girl I met in Chicago last summer. See ya.
    Nov. 18
    Dear Diary:
    The girl in Chicago is named La Donna. I hear she is cute. I hear she is smart, and that she’s got Jaquel wrapped around her little finger. My friend Florence talked to Jaquel’s friend Michael and he told her about La Donna. Florence didn’t say it was me asking the questions. Good news though. Michael did say that La Donna broke off with Jaquel three times last month. Maybe she will dump him again, real soon. Or maybe I will just steal him away from her. I am cute, you know.
    Nov. 19
Dear Jaquel:
Your boy Earle called Marlina. He talked for two
hours. Could you talk to a girl for that long?
    No!
    You never had a girlfriend, huh, Jaquel?
    Plenty!!! Got one right now. And any girls that call me talk quick! But you’re not that kind of girl. I see you in school—can’t shut up, like most girls.
    Yo, Jaquel.
How come you checking me out?
    I gotta watch u. You sit across from me in class. Duh! Besides, dudes always gotta be looking. You never know when you need a replacement girl.
    A replacement girl? You make her sound like an extra pencil. I would hate to be your girlfriend.
    You would love to be my girlfriend, Devita Mae. Every girl wish she was mine.
    Watch out, Jaquel. That big thing