Love Is a Revolution by Renée Watson

Author:Renée Watson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781547600618
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2020-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Imani doesn’t care that I am already in bed when she gets home. She comes into my room without knocking and starts with, “What is going on with you? Like really—what was that today?”

“I don’t feel like talking—”

“Oh, we are definitely talking. You are not going to embarrass me like that and then act like it’s no big deal.”

“Embarrass you? I embarrassed myself, Imani.” I don’t turn over to face her. I am still in my bed, lying on my side, back to the door.

“Well, I couldn’t tell,” Imani says. “I mean, you just kept going on and on. Were you trying to make fun of our program? Of Toya? Of all the hard work we do?”

I sit up, lean against my headboard. “No, I wasn’t trying to make fun of Inspire Harlem. Everything isn’t about you and Toya, you know.” My room is dark, and I am surprised Imani doesn’t turn the light on. But I am glad. Talking with her like this, not having to really see her, makes it easier. Right now we are just shadows, just ghosts of ourselves.

Imani sits at the foot of my bed. “You’re changing.”

“I thought you’d be happy. Haven’t you always wanted me to be more socially conscious?”

“But not for a guy. You’re just trying to impress Tye.”

“And Toya was just trying to make a fool of me—which she clearly succeeded at. Are you going to talk with her too? Do you even care that she humiliated me by calling me up to the stage, knowing I am not a part of Inspire Harlem? I swear, you are loyal to everyone but your family.”

“Are you serious right now?” Imani gets up from my bed. The mattress shifts, then settles again. “I share my mom and dad with you, and you think I’m not loyal to our family?” Imani walks to the door. She is crying, I think. It is too dark to see her sadness, but I hear her tears. She leaves my room. I get out of bed, follow her.

It is dark in the hallway too. Dark and familiar because I never turn the hall light on when I get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. “Imani, wait,” I call into the night. “Today was all about loving the Earth and loving your neighbor. Well, what about loving your family?” I think about what Grandma and her friends said about being so busy you can forget what’s important. “You’re out there doing all this work for the community so much you’re not even here for the people who care about you. When is the last time you saw Grandma? Aunt Ebony and Uncle Randy hardly see you.” I head back to my room, but before I go in, I turn and say, “I might not know all the social justice quotes and I might not be the world’s greatest teen activist, but I am here for my family. And I’m proud of that.”

Imani’s door slams. I didn’t even see her move.

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