What Lies Beyond the Veil(Of Flesh & Bone #1)(27)

There’s a group of kids in the pool, three boys and two girls, all with skin like Daddy’s and lips kinda like Momma’s. Two of the boys look like almost teenagers, one maybe older than the other, but the third boy is the baby of the group. He sits on the pool steps splashing water while they play. The girls look like they bout my age. They take turns dipping their heads beneath the water as one of the older boys counts. Ringlets of hair fall straight beneath the water, then coil like a spring soon as the girls come back to the surface. I smile cause my hair coils up like that, too.

Nia is beside me, but not watching like I do. She lays on her back with her eyes closed, knees slightly bent, face offered up to the sky. Even though them other girls are pretty, Nia is still the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen. I wonder if I ask Nia can we go play with those kids, would she say yes? But before I can ask, a voice yells from cross the pool. “Nia!”

I look for the voice, but not faster than Nia. She pops up and yells back. “Brittany!”

A yellow-skinned girl with thick lips and knobby knees hurries over from the other side of the pool. Her bathing suit looks just like Nia’s, but with stars where Nia’s got stripes. I bet that’s not a coincidence. Brittany stands in front of me and wrings her thick, black hair in her hands, letting it cascade down her back. “I’m so glad you came!” she exclaims and rushes into Nia’s arms for a hug.

“Of course, I couldn’t wait to get out of that boring house!” Nia and Brittany giggle and I realize what happened: Nia ain’t ever wanna come to the pool with me. She wanted to come to the pool with Brittany. I stand up and walk away, thinking maybe Nia gon’ be sad to see me go and come after me. But when I turn and look back, she ain’t even noticed I’m gone.

I walk around the pool twice before I find a spot. Right next to the Black kids I been watching. I sit on the edge and poke my foot in the water. I think it’s gon’ be cold, but the water is lukewarm and wraps around my toes like wet dog kisses. I pretend not to listen as the smallest boy whines. The two big boys toss a football back and forth. The little boy stretches his arms like baby bird wings but can’t reach the ball. The girls go under, touch the bottom, and then kick their legs to the top. I think they’re tryna make a handstand, but ain’t neither of their legs staying in the air long enough.

“Dang, Dominique,” yells the biggest boy suddenly, “you splashin’ us!” The tallest of the two girls—Dominique, I guess—shakes her hair to make water spray the boys’ faces. Then she laughs and the other girl laughs, too. But the boys ain’t laughing.

“That ain’t funny!” squeaks the smallest boy. He got a half grin on his face that makes me think he likes the splashing. But the big boys mad, so he gotta be mad, too.

“My bad.” Dominique smiles, diving underwater for another half handstand. The boys watch and so do I. She gets her legs just barely out the water, then kicks real hard and real fast. Water splashes on the boys and splashes on me.

“Dominique!” the big boys scream all at once, while the other girl and the little boy laugh and laugh. I wanna laugh, too, but I think they gon’ notice me watching if I do.

Nia’s still in our spot with Brittany, laying close together on Nia’s towel, whispering and pointing at a group of boys on the other side of the pool. The boys got small hoops in their ears and when they jump in the pool, they yell, “Cannonball!” loud so everybody can hear. To me, them boys are making too much noise. But Nia keeps smiling and whispering and pointing their way. I roll my eyes, then go back to making circles with my big toe in the water. I wonder if Granddaddy is still in the parking lot, cause I’m ready to leave.

“Wanna play with us?”

I ain’t notice the girls coming over, Dominique and the other one. They stand in front of me in the water but don’t smile. The girl whose name I don’t know got tiny braids all over her head, and tugs on them while they wait for my answer.

“My name is Dominique, and this is Porsha.”

I smile and finally they smile, too. Porsha’s smile is wide with teeth too close together in the front. Dominique’s smile is gone before I can figure out what it’s like, so it don’t make me feel as good as Porsha’s smile.

“I’m Kenyatta,” I say. “But everybody calls me KB.” Porsha nods then lowers her head quick. I think she feels nervous just like me. But Dominique ain’t nervous. She starts flapping her arms and legs in the water as we talk. Like it ain’t no big deal to ask a strange new girl to play. Most times, at school, I stay by myself. But I wanna play with these girls today. Maybe cause Nia laughing so loud from cross the pool that I can hear the cackles ringing in my ears.

“Sure, I’ll play,” I say. Porsha smiles but Dominique don’t seem to care. She would be happy either way, I think.

I lower my body into the water, making sure not to get too close to the deep end. Dominique can swim and paddles over to the rope, bobbing her head up and down as she goes. When she dips under the water, she takes a deep breath first, then blows it out loud when she comes back to the top. Porsha follows her close, but it looks like she can’t swim, either, just hops up and down on one foot, jerking a choppy path through the water.

“Let’s play Marco Polo,” announces Dominique. She knows Porsha and me will do what she says. “I’m Marco,” she tells us, then suddenly yells, “Marco!” with her eyes closed tight.