When Vanessa's mother went to work that night she asked her to drop her off at Jalissa's so that she could spend the night. Her plans were to get up in the morning and walk to Scotty's apartment and then find a way to spend as much of the day as she could with him.
Jalissa declined the invitation to go with her to Scotty's especially since every time she spoke they looked at her as if they were surprised that she was there. Plus they were so boring, pretending like they weren't looking at each other.
Vanessa knocked on Scotty's door and when Phonso opened it he didn't step aside to let her in as he usually did. "Scotty ain't here."
"Oh." She paused. That hadn't happened before. "Do you know if he's up the hill playing basketball?" Phonso shrugged. "All right," she said and retreated.
She left and went back to Jalissa's where she sulked because she had waited all morning to see him and had missed him.