into the house, she noticed a crowd of boys gathered in the living room. They were all drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. Some were smoking weed. Alessa felt intimidated by the group. The boys gawked at her but seemed happy to see Tasha, who handed her a beer before they sat down on the living room floor. There were no other girls around, but this didn’t seem to bother Tasha. When she handed her new friend a joint, Alessa took a long drag on it, just the way Rhonda had taught her to. Alessa didn’t care for pot, but she smoked it anyway. She needed to dispel Harlin’s doubts about her, and if she didn’t join in, she feared she might be asked to leave. Tasha stayed close to Alessa, sensing she was not comfortable with Harlin and his tough friends. They were people you didn’t screw with.
Before the girls left, Harlin handed his half sister a bag containing smaller bags. Alessa could see they were bags of pot. In return, Tasha reached into her purse and handed him a wad of money.
Harlin smiled at Tasha. “You’re the best little sister. Keep up the good work, girl.”
Tasha beamed as her brother hugged her goodbye. He didn’t as much as look at Alessa as she left with Tasha.
Once outside, Tasha said, “I love Harlin. He is the greatest brother in the world. He makes me feel safe.”
“I don’t think he liked me going there with you,” Alessa murmured. “Everyone seemed annoyed that you took me there.”
“They’re always like that around new people,” Tasha said. “Until they know they can trust you, they consider you the enemy. Don’t worry about it. They knew you were with me anyway.”
She walked Alessa back to her apartment. Alessa looked up at the house. Her lips sunk into a frown and she averted her gaze to the sidewalk. “I’d invite you up, but Lea said I can’t have company.”
“Yeah, she’s an old bat. She’s afraid of us people from the street. We ain’t all bad, though,” Tasha said. Then she gave her a broad smile.
Alessa agreed and quickly went up the steps to the front door. Before going in, she turned back to Tasha. “I had fun tonight. Thanks for stopping by and taking me along for dinner. Maybe we can hang out . . . if you want.”
Tasha’s smile lit up her face. “Sure, we can hang out. I’ll see you around.”
Alessa went over the events from the evening in her mind. She liked Tasha and hoped they could become close friends like she and Rhonda had been. She was a smidge scared of Harlin and his friends, though. They weren’t like the boys at the Rope. They weren’t like boys. They were more like men. They were rough around the edges, and the way they talked made her uncomfortable. They seemed like the guys who could kill you without second thoughts and forget about it in a minute. Harlin seemed less rough than the guys in his gang, but the others looked up to him. When he talked, all the gang members listened, and when he said he wanted another beer, one guy always sprang up to get it for him.
The next day, Alessa woke up, took a shower, and sat at her kitchen table until it was time to leave for her new job. When she got to the Dollar Basement shortly before noon, she was greeted by two miserable cashiers.
An older Hispanic woman approached her. “You Alessa? You’re working with me today.”
Alessa followed the woman around all day and learned how to use the cash register, restock shelves, and greet customers. Not that anyone who worked there actually greeted customers, except for the Hispanic woman. By the end of the day, Alessa had learned her job. There wasn’t much to it, and she was happy to have the training behind her.
When she stepped off the bus that night, she saw Tasha standing on the opposite corner. Several teenage boys were hanging around her. Alessa saw her take money from them and put it in her purse.
Tasha looked over and noticed her new friend. She smiled and waved Alessa over.
“Hi, Tasha,” she said. “I finished my first day at work.” Alessa rolled her eyes.
Tasha grinned at her. “Oh yeah? How was it?”
“Pretty simple. Nothing much to it.”
Tasha nodded and walked Alessa home. “Do you want to go get some ice cream at the Dauphin Mini-Mart?” Tasha asked.
Alessa grinned at her. “Um, yeah, I’d love to get ice cream.”
The girls walked the half block to the store. They bought their ice cream and were eating them outside.
“How old are you anyway?” Tasha asked between licks of her cone.
“Seventeen.”
“No shit? I’m eighteen. Do you know what we should do? We should go to Pulsations. How about if I ask Harlin to give us a ride?”
“What’s Pulsations?”
“It’s this cool nightclub. It has all these levels and different kinds of music. At midnight, this robot comes out of a spaceship from the ceiling and dances around. It’s kind of corny, but so much fun. Harlin never goes there before ten o’clock. So that will give you time to get home from work and get dressed. Do you have an ID?”
“It sounds great, but I don’t have any ID. How old do you have to be to get in?”
“Twenty-one, but don’t worry. I can hook you up with a fake ID.”
The rest of the week was uneventful. Every night, when Alessa got off the city bus, Tasha was somewhere in sight. The two girls hung out and talked. They were getting to know each other.
“So where’s your family? Why are you here all alone anyway?” Tasha finally asked.
Alessa trusted Tasha within a short while. The other girl had kept no secrets from her. Alessa even knew that she sold pot to the adults on the street. She decided it would be safe to entrust her with her dirty secrets.
She related the whole sordid saga of her Uncle Danny, her mother, and even Carl and the kids at the Rope. She told her about what had happened to Rhonda and how Zoe had helped her to escape before she was gang raped in her own home. Tasha listened intently, struggling to believe this girl had put up with so much craziness in her life. When Alessa had finished, Tasha reached out and hugged her.
“Girl,” she said, “that is some messed-up shit you’ve been through. No wonder you’re afraid of everything. I ain’t never had to worry about those things ’cause I always had Harlin. My daddy is a good man, too, and my mama would’ve cut my uncle’s boner off if he ever touched me.” Tasha went on, “Funny how you think that people are so very different from you because they are a different color. Here I was, thinking you were here because you were pregnant or something. So your parents have no idea where you are?”
Alessa explained, “No, it will be a week on Saturday that I’ve been gone. The only reason my mom would look for me is if my uncle threatens to move out. Then she would search far and wide to find me so she could pimp me back out to him. I hate her, Tasha. I know it’s not good to hate my mother. I feel guilty about it because I was raised to love and respect my parents, no matter what, but I hate her.”
“Well, I don’t believe any of that shit about having to love anyone,” Tasha answered. “I don’t blame you for hating her and your uncle. Hell, if that had happened to me, I’d probably have found a way to kill both of those pricks! You have nothing to feel guilty about. You’re here now and I’m glad. We need to think about something happier. Screw your mother and her low-life family. On Saturday night, we’re gonna party and have a blast celebrating our new friendship. We’re gonna need to do something about your appearance for the club, though. We’ll work on that Friday night when you get home, okay?”
“Sounds great. Can you help me with my hair, too? Rhonda used to help me. I never did any of it myself. So I’m not very good at hair or makeup.” Alessa looked down at her own body and added, “Okay, I’m not that good at clothes either.”
The girls belly-laughed as they both assessed Alessa’s appearance.
On Friday night, when Alessa stepped off the city bus at nine thirty, Tasha was waiting for her.
“Okay, girl,” she said, “it’s time to give you a makeover.”
They headed down Dauphin Street and made a right onto Fairhill. The row homes were much nicer on this street. They stopped in front of a row home with gray stucco on the outside, a red door, and brass fixtures. There were bars on all the windows, and four cement steps led to the front door.
Alessa looked at Tasha with a blank expression. “Whose house is this?”
“Mine. I live here with my parents. They’ve gone out to dinner tonight, but they won’t care that you’re over here. My mother would probably be thrilled to see another white girl here.” She laughed.
When they went inside, Alessa noticed that the furniture was worn but well taken care of. The walls hadn’t been painted in a long time, and the green shag carpeting had lost all its shag. But overall, it was a huge step up from where she was living. Everything in the house was old, but it was clean and tidy.
Alessa followed her friend up to her bedroom on the second floor. Tasha pointed to the door next to hers. “That used to be Harlin’s room. My mom turned it into her ‘lady den’ when he moved out. She keeps books and magazines in there. Her sewing machine is in there, too. That’s where she goes to get away from everything. Harlin painted it for her before he moved out, and he also bought her the desk and the chair.” Tasha motioned toward the furniture from the open doorway. Then she turned toward her room. “This here, this is my room. I really only sleep here. Most of the time I ain’t home.”
“What grade are you in?” Alessa asked.
“I graduated high school last June. I ain’t in school no more.”
“So what are you going to do? I mean, since you’re out of high school.”
“I’m gonna keep selling weed for Harlin until I save enough money to buy my own place. I’m not in a rush, though. My mom and dad don’t give me a hard time about it. I can come and go as I please. They know Harlin protects me out on the streets. So they don’t worry none about that. Sometimes, they worry about me selling weed to the wrong person, but Harlin assured them I’d be fine.”
Alessa was horrified. “Your parents know that you and Harlin sell weed?”
“Yeah, girl. Ain’t everybody’s parents crazy like yours. They know what I do, and I give them a little bit of money to help out around here. They say as long as I stay out of trouble, it ain’t no issue for them.”
Alessa tried to imagine having parents who believed in her. The profession Tasha had picked for herself wasn’t the most promising. Alessa was impressed because her friend’s parents supported her. Her mother had beaten her for telling the truth about her uncle. And here was this world, where a daughter could tell her parents she was a pot pusher and the worst that happened was that they were concerned for her safety. It seemed unfair to Alessa that some people’s families were supportive, whereas she had come from one that had abused her in every way possible. She realized how wrong her mother was, and even worse was her nasty uncle.
Tasha sat Alessa down on a chair in front of a makeup mirror. Alessa couldn’t believe the cosmetic products her friend had. She looked over them curiously. Tasha spun the chair around so she couldn’t stare into the mirror.
“Okay, now let’s see,” she said. “I bought a couple of things that I think will match your olive skin. The first thing we need to do is even things out. Your complexion is great, but it ain’t the same tone all over.”
Tasha applied foundation she’d just bought and worked on Alessa’s eyes next. She added a light, shimmering shadow and finished with eyeliner and mascara. Finally, she applied blush to Alessa’s cheekbones. Tasha stepped back and studied her. She seemed pleased. Then she picked up a pair of scissors.
Alessa cringed. “Are you going to cut my hair?” she cried out.
Tasha focused intently on her hair. “Well,” she said, “I could leave it looking like a rat’s nest or I could help you work with those natural curls of yours. I ain’t gonna take much off the length. I just want to give it a little shape and body.”
Alessa smiled at her, silently hoping that Tasha didn’t ruin her hair. When she finished cutting, Tasha picked up a spray bottle filled with water and wet Alessa’s hair down. She pulled out her blow dryer and used a small, round brush. She applied a little lipstick on her lips and stood back to observe her work.
When asked if she was ready for the big reveal, Alessa fidgeted with anticipation, nodding vigorously like a child. Tasha swung her around in her chair to face the mirror. Alessa stared at herself incredulously. The person she saw in the mirror was someone she didn’t recognize. Her large brown eyes looked dreamy, and her lips were lightly covered with a pale pink shade of lipstick. The color was so close to her natural lips you could hardly tell she was wearing lipstick. Yet the shine made them look inviting. Her hair looked like silk and fell in soft curls around her face and down to her shoulders.
Alessa turned back to Tasha and hugged her hard. “I can’t believe you did this. I can’t believe it. You made me look good. Look at my hair. O my God. My hair has never looked like this before.”
Tasha stood back, basking in the sheer pleasure of Alessa’s happiness. She had felt sorry for her friend ever since she heard about her traumatic childhood. She knew it was the root cause of Alessa’s lack of self-esteem, and it was gratifying to see her happy. Tasha knew that a little help would make Alessa hot and desirable. She was content giving her this moment. She would teach her how to do it herself so she could continue to gain confidence. Tasha liked Alessa a lot. The girl was down-to-earth and humble. She was the person who stayed your friend for life. Tasha even liked that Alessa was naïve. It enabled her to introduce her to experiences she hadn’t enjoyed before, like the makeover.
“You’re hot, girl,” Tasha said encouragingly. “Look at you. I’ll show you how to do this yourself. It ain’t hard at all. It only took me fifteen minutes.”
“Thank you so much, Tasha.”
Tasha was struck by Alessa’s overwhelming and sincere expression of gratitude. She wasn’t used to people being that grateful.
Tasha waved her off. “Now, let’s take a look at what you can wear tomorrow night.” She opened the top drawer on her dresser. “You will have to wear your jeans because we ain’t the same size. I got a woman’s ass and you don’t.”
Alessa giggled as Tasha dug through her drawer and pulled out a black bra from her dresser. She told her to put it on and continued with her treasure hunt until she found a black netted shirt. Alessa looked at her in surprise when she was asked to put it on.
“Come on. Do it!” Tasha giggled.
Alessa put the shirt on and looked in the mirror. It was see-through, yes, but the bra underneath covered her breasts completely.
Tasha looked Alessa over. “That looks great. You got black shoes?”
“Yeah. I brought a pair of Rhonda’s heels in case I needed them for work.”
“Okay, wear those and your tightest pair of jeans. Here, wear this belt, too.”
Alessa was excited and couldn’t wait to go out the following night. “All right, let’s get you back to your apartment. Tomorrow night is a big night. We are going to have so much fun!”
Before they left Tasha’s room, Alessa turned and hugged her again. “Thanks for all of this.”
Both girls left the house with warm hearts and a much closer bond.
