Getting Played by Celeste O. Norfleet

This is her second year.”
    â€œYou talked with her?”
    â€œYes, of course. She’s staying with her grandmother for the next few days. She’ll be a comfort. Charlotte is taking her brother’s passing pretty hard.”
    â€œI think I’ll go over tomorrow,” I say.
    My grandmother looks at me and smiles warmly. “That would be nice. I’m sure she’ll appreciate that.”
    â€œOkay,” I say, acting like I’m all right with all this. I don’tthink I really am. The thing is, I don’t know this Gia, and just meeting her today like that wasn’t all that cool. It was obvious she and Terrence had something. I don’t know what it was or is, but it’s something. “Can I get you something, Grandmom?”
    â€œNo, sweetie, I’m fine. Is Jade here yet?” she asks.
    â€œNo, is she coming home this weekend? I just talked to her.”
    â€œHow did she sound?”
    â€œI mean I didn’t actually talk to her, I instant messaged her.”
    She shakes her head. “Good Lord, I don’t know how you young people think you’re communicating with people when you use those computers and cell phones. You have to do more than type in a few words. You need to talk to people, not type at them.”
    â€œOne of these days I’m gonna get you to text message on your cell phone and to email on the computer.”
    She laughs. It is the first time I heard her laugh all day. “In your dreams, sweetie, and speaking of dreams, I need to carry myself to bed. I’ve got an early day tomorrow.”
    My grandmom and I talk about her friend again and then me at the dance studio. After that we head up to bed. It was a long day with a lot of nothing going on. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

CHAPTER 5
    Is It Me Or What?
    â€œThere’s no place like home. I used to think Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz had the right idea. Click my heels three times and everything would be perfect. Right? Wrong! This isn’t Kansas and this definitely isn’t my home.”
    â€”Tumblr.com
    It’s early Saturday morning and I head out first thing. It rained late last night, so the air smells really good, all fresh and clean. The clouds are still heavy, like it’s about to rain again. I could skip it and stay in today, but I’ve been waiting for this all week. It’s relaxing, it’s invigorating and it’s freedom.
    Terrence turned me on to it and now I love it. It’s like a drug, but you don’t pay for it and you don’t get high or anything. You get exhausted and you think. My music plays, but the sound of my breathing and my heartbeat is really what keeps me going. My feet pound the hard pavement, and I don’t see anybody or anything. There’s no destination, only the run in progress. So, I keep running.
    So many things go through my head as I run. My hopes, my dreams, my regrets, they all come to me. I hope and dream all the time, but it’s the regrets that always stay with me. I have a lot of them, and they go way back, back to my mom and her handful of pills, back to my sister who was my cousin all my life, back to my sometimes boyfriend Terrence, lawn mower guy, who I messed over big time. I know I can’t change the past. I can only do what I can right now to make the future better.
    I text messaged lawn mower guy three times last night. He didn’t return any of my messages. I know I’m thinking about him way too much, and that’s getting on my nerves. I’ve never let a guy get to me before. I wasn’t even this attached to LaVon, my ex. I don’t know why I’m trippin’ about it now. He’s just a guy, no big deal. I can do without him.
    It starts to drizzle, so I turn the corner and keep running, heading back to my grandmother’s house. My song comes on. I start smiling. It’s a Tyrece jam and it’s kinda like the music we danced to last night. The