Chapter 16

Vanessa stiffened and pulled back to examine her mother. She'd told her mama a long time ago that she didn't like Aunt Callista's house and didn't want her as a babysitter anymore … although she hadn't told her the real reason.

Aunt Callista was her mother's half sister. Mama hadn't even known that she had a half sister until after her Daddy's death. Aunt Callista and her mother had showed up at the funeral knowing all about Leelah and her mother. And to Leelah's surprise her mother had known about them as well. There had been no love lost between that 'other' woman and her bastard—which is what Leelah's mother considered them. And so even though Leelah was nearly an adult she had never been informed about the existence of another sibling.

But once she found out about her little sister—despite the fact that it meant that her daddy had cheated on her mama, Leelah instantly took to her—welcoming the existence of a sibling, though no two could look less alike. Leelah was tall with a milk chocolate complexion and hair that curled more than kinked. Callista was much shorter, pudgy and light enough that the scattering of raised moles along her face stood out like a witch's warts. Still, she wasn't completely unattractive, especially when she covered her thinning hair with a long wig and squeezed her uninteresting shape into a girdle which proportioned her fat to appear as if she had hips and a behind.

The two sisters were nothing alike--at least that was Vanessa's thoughts. Aunt Callista was fake; always smiling and laughing and cracking jokes with mama but behind her back she said bad things when she thought Vanessa wasn't in earshot. She also looked at Vanessa with contempt, snapping orders at her and forcing her to do chores that she didn't make Jalissa do. She twisted her skin instead of whupping her and then she would brag to her mama that she didn't believe in whuppings—but she knew how to pull hair and pinch and say hurtful things.

Vanessa found herself swallowing dryly at her mother's revelation.

"Mama you said that I wouldn't have to go over there anymore-"

"I know but these are special circumstances."

Vanessa contemplated breaking the promise that she had made to herself long ago. Instead of telling mama that Aunt Callista was too strict, too distracted, no fun…she could tell her the truth; that Aunt Callista secretly hated them both and took every opportunity possible to cut her and her mother down.

But a very adult reasoning stopped her. She knew that her mother loved Callista and Jalissa Cornel and the loss of that family and friendship would hurt her mother. And if her mother was going to be hurt by aunt Callista, then it wouldn't be orchestrated by her.

"Vanessa I want you to understand that there is a bigger picture." She gave her daughter an earnest look. "I know I moved us out of the projects so that neither of us would never have to live there again. But what my plans are to get us so far away from this existence that nothing will ever drag us back down to the projects. Baby I work day and night so that I can get us up out of here—"

"But … I thought you liked it here, " Vanessa said trying to bite back her distress.

"Baby, they call these townhomes but this ain't nothing but the ghetto. We're just paying more than those people at the bottom of the hill but we ain't no different." Leelah gestured around the room. "This place is not our future. You see I've been working long and hard and putting my money in the bank." She smiled tiredly. "I intend to have your college fund paid for so that you can go to any college that your heart desires without worrying about money. And not just college but when you get old enough you're going to have enough money so that you never have to struggle. I've also been saving for us to have our own house."

Vanessa perked up. "Like grand mama's house in Kentucky?"

"Yep. Except not in Kentucky."

Vanessa grinned. She loved her grandmother's house. Mama said that it wasn't the country just because there was a lot of trees and grass around. She called it the suburbs and grand mamma's house was a pretty ranch style that smelled like cinnamon and cookies. She liked the garden in the back yard where greens, tomatoes and other vegetables grew.

Vanessa hugged her mother in excitement. "When can we buy our own house mama?"

"Well we have to save up enough to make a down payment. Plus we should have enough to buy things for our house, right?"

"Right!" But secretly Vanessa thought that they already had enough nice stuff for a new house. Their stuff was a lot nicer than the floral furniture at grand mama's, which was covered in stiff plastic.

Mama informed her that she wasn't allowed to tell Jalissa about any of this and with the promise of a fat college fund and a house in the suburbs Vanessa swallowed her trepidation about spending her evenings with aunt Callista and hoped that it wouldn't take mama long to get the money for them to move.

Scotty took the Walnut Hills test the next morning, two brand new twenties and a crisp ten-dollar bill was folded in his sock. By the end of the day Mr. Price had the results. Even though the older man didn't tell him, Scotty could read it on his face because he kept staring at him as if he was something interesting under a microscope.

"Scotty can you stay after class, please." He waited for the class to clear out and then went up to Mr. Price's desk. "Scotty Tremont, you passed the Walnut Hills test." Scotty nodded. "But you're not surprised, are you?"

"I felt comfortable with my answers." The reading was a joke but the arithmetic was harder. It covered some questions that they had never even discussed in class—but he worked it out his own way and it seemed right.