Grown(22)

I twist my fingers, watching him set up a tripod.

“Why?”

He grins. “What? You camera shy?”

“No . . . but . . .”

“Please, baby? It’ll make me really happy.”

My heart squeezes. He called me baby. I’m his baby.

“Yeah, of course.”





Chapter 25


Youtube




We don’t spend nearly enough hours in the day thinking about kissing.

My body was in the water, but my head was in the clouds. I glide through the chlorine, my strokes soft, but not as soft as Korey’s lips.

Ariel was sixteen when she married Eric in The Little Mermaid. When she gave up her tail for a pair of legs. Maybe that’s what it’s like to be in love. I couldn’t imagine anything I’d give up my tail for . . . other than Korey.

Somewhere on earth, I hear my name.

“Jones! Jones!” Coach growls.

“Yes?” I cough, slipping off my goggles.

Her hands are on her hips. “You feel like joining us today?”

I look around and realize I’m the only one left in the pool. My teammates are on the sideline.

“Sorry,” I mutter, scrambling out.

Coach shakes her head.

“Dude, what’s gotten into you lately?”

Mackenzie flips back her fresh blow-dried hair, scraping it into a ponytail.

“What do you mean?” I feign innocence.

“You’ve been skipping practice. You haven’t returned Kyle Bacon’s calls. You barely make homeroom, and—”

Hannah screams. We both turn.

“What!”

Hannah, straddling the bench, stares at her phone. “OMG. OMG!”

“What is it?”

“Enchanted! This is you! This is you singing with Korey Fields!”

My stomach drops. “What?”

Mackenzie jumps up to join Hannah, her eyes bulging.

“OMG!”

There I am. In my low-cut tank top, singing “Beauty and the Beast” with Korey.

My eyes are closed, my smile is bright. And Korey looks . . . close. Too close. We’re damn near singing into each other’s mouths.

“You know Korey Fields?” Hannah yells. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

My tongue dries out. “I . . .”

“Enchanted, you sound amazing.” Mackenzie beams.

I want to say thanks, but I’m too stunned by how our private moment was there for the entire world to see. He told me it was just for him, not for YouTube.

Suddenly, I no longer want to be a fish. I want to be a crab, roll up inside my shell and stay there forever.

A wave of buzzing phones hits each row of the locker room, the text messages an incoming swarm of locusts.

By homeroom, the entire school knows.





Chapter 26


Group Text




W&W Squad Chat (w/o the Jones sisters)

Sean: Yo! You see that video of Enchanted singing with Korey Fields?? HOLY SHIT!

Aisha: It has like 5 million views.

Malika: Yeah. It’s cool, I guess.

Sean: Man, the gossip blogs are blowing it up. Seen clips all over Instagram.

Aisha: Everyone at my school is talking about it.

Malika: Y’all don’t think it’s weird, the way they were eye-fucking?

Sean: They were just performing. Chill.

Malika: Nah. It looked real to me.

Sean: Damn, Malika! You a hater!

Aisha: My mom talked to Mrs. Jones and she’s BIG mad. Said she didn’t give permission for him to record anything!

Sean: Bruh! It’s Korey Fields! He’s like a trillionaire. He ain’t asking nobody permission for nothing!

Malika: They got bigger things to worry about now that her dad is on strike. Still, creepy tho.





Chapter 27


Homecoming Dance




What are you wearing?

Black dress. Just like you told me!

The Homecoming committee decked out the gym with gold streamers, a million navy-blue balloons, and twinkling red lights. The DJ is positioned on a platformed stage framed in flashing disco lights and speakers.

Hannah and Mackenzie are on the floor, dancing off beat. Shea is near the stage, flirting with some white boy. We catch eyes, and hers flutter away.

Mom only let me come to the dance because of Shea. Mom’s still mad about the video, and Shea seems almost embarrassed by the attention. I’d thought she’d be happy with a semicool sister.

I check my phone. No new messages from Korey.

I text Gab. She’s also had an attitude with me since the video dropped. Which is now at twenty million views. No surprise she couldn’t take off for the dance. I’m used to doing almost everything at school alone since she’s always working, but tonight, I need my wing woman. The stares and murmuring whispers are suffocating. I fidget in my too-tight black dress. Korey told me to buy a size down, to stop hiding my curves.

I check my phone again. Maybe he’s mad at me, too. Mad that I went to the dance, that I didn’t come to the studio instead. Not that Mom would let me near him. If she had her way, I’d never see him again.

The homecoming committee takes the stage. The king and queen are crowned. I yawn, ready to call Mom for a ride home when the DJ scratches in a familiar beat.