The Only Black Girls in Town by Brandy Colbert

Author:Brandy Colbert [Colbert, Brandy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2020-03-24T00:00:00+00:00

After the opening, we go to dinner with Verbena Fujimoto. Elliott orders half the menu while Denise asks Verbena question after question about her art and life. Dad monitors his phone for social media about the event, interrupting their conversation every few minutes to show them a new picture or post.

Laramie and I barely talk. I see Dad looking over at us a few times, but I don’t meet his eye. We never used to have moments like this, but it’s happening more and more lately. I don’t like the tension. It’s so thick I can practically see it hanging above us, and no matter what, I can’t win. I don’t want Laramie talking about Edie, but I don’t want her to think I like Edie more than her.

In the car, I notice Denise peeking back at us a couple of times. I sit silently between Laramie and Elliott.

“Thanks for letting me come tonight, Mr. Freeman-Price,” Laramie says when we drop her off after dinner. “It was fun.”

But I think everyone in the car can tell she doesn’t mean that last part.

“Hey, are you coming to the surf festival on Saturday?” I ask before she closes the door.

“I don’t think so,” Laramie says after a moment. She looks at her shoes. “It’s Nicolette’s birthday, so…”

So she’s going to her party without me. I wonder if it’s at Nicolette’s house. Her parents used to make her invite me, but I guess the rules changed last year. I watched from my bedroom window while Rebekah tied balloons to the mailbox and draped a metallic banner over the front door. Then I watched as a bunch of people from school showed up with wrapped presents and gift bags.

“Oh, okay.” I swallow. “Well, is Leif still going to the festival?”

“Yeah, he’s competing.”

Laramie still isn’t looking at me, probably because she’s breaking another one of our traditions. We always used to go to Pismo Beach to watch Leif compete in the preliminary round on Saturday. He usually made it to the finals on Sunday, too, and a couple of years ago, he took home the top prize in his age group. This year, Irene put together a group of kids from surf camp who want to go. Laramie never said she was coming, but when I told her, she said it sounded fun. I guess I thought that meant she would come with Leif and their mom since we’ve always done everything together. Elliott says you should never assume anything, but it’s hard not to when it’s your best friend since fourth grade.

A thick silence hovers between us, and I don’t like it. But I don’t know how to fix it.

Laramie finally looks at me before she heads up the path to her house. “See you at school tomorrow.”

Dad waits until she’s inside before he drives away. Elliott squeezes my arm. “Have a good time tonight, Al?”

“Mm-hmm.” Then, repeating Laramie, I say, “It was fun.”

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