Concrete Rose (The Hate U Give, #0)(50)

The way Pops shrink, I hit him hard. Good. I grab Ma’s key and head for the door. Ma call after me, but I don’t stop till I’m at the car.

That man got some nerve, for real.

I get in the car and pop open the glove compartment. Had to leave my beeper in here. I got a couple of pages while I was inside, all from a number I don’t recognize.

There’s a pay phone here in the parking lot. I jog over to it and put in a quarter. This bet’ not be a wrong number, as many times as they blew my beeper up. That was my last quarter.

“Hello?” some girl answer.

“Ay, this Maverick. I got a page from this number.”

“Hold on, Mav,” she says, and I realize it’s Tammy. There’s a muffled sound, as if the phone being handed to someone else.

“Mav?” Lisa says.

I straighten up. She sound like she been crying. “Lisa, hey. You a’ight?”

“My momma knows I’m pregnant,” Lisa cries. “She kicked me out, Mav.”

Ma come outside around an hour later.

It’s obvious she pissed at me for how I talked to Pops. That ain’t new, she was pissed when we got here. We get Seven situated in the car, and I tell her everything Lisa told me.

Not long after we got off the phone this morning, Lisa threw up again. Ms. Montgomery asked if she was sure this was a stomach virus or something else. Lisa had a feeling her momma knew the truth. She admitted that she was pregnant with my baby.

Ms. Montgomery went off. Lisa wouldn’t tell me what all was said, but it must’ve been real bad. It ended with Ms. Montgomery telling Lisa to get the hell outta her house. Lisa didn’t know where to go, so she walked to Tammy’s. That’s where we headed now.

Ma give me the silent treatment the whole three hours there. Cool with me. She only took me to see Pops so he could “parent” me. She can’t be mad that I called him out when she did the same thing.

She pull up at Ms. Rosalie’s, mumble that she gon’ take Seven home, and drive off.

Ms. Rosalie the neighborhood Candy Lady. It’s nothing to see kids coming outta her front door with Skittles and Doritos. She make the best freeze cups. I think that woman put a whole bag of sugar in the Kool-Aid when she make them. She recently started selling nachos, and them things good as hell. She’ll throw jalape?os and chili on there for an extra dollar. Add a hot pickle and a Sprite on the side, and that’s a whole meal for me. I done spent a hell of a lot of money at this house. Ms. Rosalie might pull in more dollars than some dope boys.

I ring the doorbell, and Ms. Rosalie answer with a warm smile. Don’t let that fool you. Word is she pack heat. “Hey, Maverick baby. How you doing?”

“I’m good. Is Lisa here?”

Ms. Rosalie hold the door open. “She back in Tammy’s room.”

There’s plastic on Ms. Rosalie’s living room furniture. Granny do that to keep her stuff like new. In the dining room area, the table covered with boxes of candy and chips and jars of pickles. There’s a couple of Crock-Pots for the nacho cheese and chili and a deep freezer for the freeze cups.

I go down the hall, and I hear Lisa and Tammy talking hushed-like. When they see me in the doorway, they stop.

“Hey, Mav,” Tammy says. She cross-legged on the floor while Lisa sitting on her bed.

“Hey, Tam. I didn’t mean to disturb y’all.”

“It’s okay. I’ll leave y’all alone.” Tammy get up and close the door on her way out.

Lisa’s eyes all puffy and red. I hate that she been crying. “How did the visit with your dad go?”

I sit beside her. “That ain’t important. You a’ight?”

She hug her backpack to her chest. It’s overstuffed, probably with her clothes. “Not really. I keep thinking of what Momma said—” Lisa get a catch in her voice. “Carlos stood there and let her say all those awful things, Maverick. He never defended me.”

Of course his coward ass did. They lucky I wasn’t there. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. They foul, man, for real.”

Lisa sniff. “I knew Momma would be upset, but I didn’t expect her to put me out.”

“Don’t worry, a’ight? You can stay at my house. My momma would be cool with it.” I think. Real talk, some days I wonder if she cool with me being there.

“Your mom has enough on her, Mav. Ms. Rosalie offered me Brenda’s old room. She moved outta town with her boyfriend. I told Ms. Rosalie I’d take it.”

“You ain’t gotta do that. I’m telling you, my momma would be cool with it. You my girl, you having my baby, you oughta be with—”

“Wait a second . . . Mav. This baby doesn’t mean we’re a couple. You know that, right?”

“My bad. I said it outta habit.” Kinda. Talk about looking stupid. “Still, we having a baby together. It would make sense that you stay with us.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I need some space, and I can’t have that at your house.”

She act like Ms. Rosalie live in a mansion. “We’ll make it work. I’ll sleep on the couch and you can have—”

“I don’t mean that kinda space.”

The way she look at me, it’s obvious what she really mean. “You don’t wanna be around me, do you?”