Raven (Orphans 4)

"I will, but she'll find out she should watch hers, too," I said.

At lunch, Jennifer and her friends walked over to my table.

"I'll take my lunch," she said.

"I don't know which one is yours," I said. "Somehow, my name is on both bags. Luckily, we both have the same thing." I handed it to her. She looked at the girls and then at me.

"I heard you were called to the principal's office," she said. "Why did he want to see you?" She smiled at the girls. "I hope you didn't embarrass my parents."

"No, it was fine," I said, taking a sip from the straw in my milk container. "He just wanted to know what we were having for lunch. He said he heard we had the best homemade lunches," I added, and bit into my sandwich.

Even her friends had to laugh. She fumed, her face so crimson I thought the blood would shoot out of the top of her head like a geyser, and then she pivoted on her heels and marched away. Terri and the girls at my table laughed so hard that others in the cafeteria stopped talking to look our way.

"I guess there's a little snake in you, too," Terri said. "What else? She and I are cousins, aren't we?" I said, and that made everyone laugh again.

But I wasn't finished, not yet, not quite.

On Saturday, Jennifer went off with her friends right after breakfast as she usually did on Saturdays. Aunt Clara tried to get her to take me along, but she resisted and complained.

"She doesn't have the same friends I do," she moaned.

"What does that mean?" Uncle Reuben asked quickly, fixing his eyes on me sharply. "Who are her friends?"

Jennifer shrugged. "She hangs out with black people. I suppose because she's so dark."

"No," I said. "I hang out with people of color who happen to be nice and not phony."

"Oh, and that's supposed to mean my friends are?"

I shrugged. "Because I'm new in the school, everyone is warning me about them," I said as nonchalantly as I could.

Her face looked as if she was facing a wall of fire. Before she could stutter out a response, Aunt Clara spoke. "You two should get along," she said. "You're just about the same age."

"I don't want Jennifer hanging out with any troublemakers," Uncle Reuben said.

"I don't hang out with troublemakers," I insisted. "It's just the opposite."

"Why can't she go with Jennifer and be with young people, too?" Aunt Clara asked softly.

"It's all right. I'm fine," I said.

I don't know why Aunt Clara suggested I go along anyway. She knew that Uncle Reuben would be home and would be watching to make sure I did my chores.

Jennifer wouldn't lift a finger, and she certainly wouldn't have wanted to wait for me.

Shortly after Jennifer left, Aunt Clara and I began our weekly cleaning of the house. William wanted to help with the vacuuming, but Uncle Reuben chastised him.

"That's woman's work," he growled. "Let them do it. Why don't you go play baseball or football instead of spending all your time in your room?" he complained, which only sent William back to his room.

I gazed at Aunt Clara to see if she would speak up for William, but she looked away quickly and continued to clean. We went upstairs to start on the bedrooms, and I began as usual with Jennifer's mess. It was worse than ever, now that she knew I had to do most of the cleaning. Aunt Clara felt sorry for me and joined me in Jennifer's room. She started with making the bed. When she lifted the pillow, she stopped and stared down. I kept picking up clothes that had been flung about with apparent glee. A blouse actually dangled off the top of the vanity mirror.

"What's that?" Aunt Cl

ara asked.

"What?"

I turned and watched her put the pillow down and then pluck the joint between her fingers. She smelled it and looked at me. I approached and leaned over to smell it, too. Then I looked at her, my eyes wide, my head shaking slowly.