Stepping to a New Day by Beverly Jenkins Page B

continued to have deep feelings for her even though she’d made it clear she’d rather be friends, which was why he was dating Samantha instead. He and Sam had a good relationship and he thought she was pretty special, but she wasn’t Crystal. Seeing Sam enter the room, he shot her a wink and settled in for the start of the day.
    As always, class began with the pledge and the Negro National Anthem. It was Zoey’s day to accompany the singing on the piano. Eli had been in Henry Adams going on three years now and knew the words by heart. When he and his dad first arrived it had been weird being one of only two White kids in town and he’d been pretty sure he wasn’t going to like it, but nobody made a big deal about it and he’d done a lot of growing up since then. He’d also learned a ton of Black history and realized people were people. As Amari once pointed out, Eli was now bicultural and personally he thought there was a lot of cred in that.
    After their math lesson and the test, it was time for lunch. Having been born and raised in California, Eli still had no love for the Kansas winter but the day’s weather was filled with sunshine and temps that confirmed spring’s warmth would show up for real sometime soon, so they all put on their coats and headed outside.
    Once they were seated at the picnic table, Amari said, “I think we should go big for our dads on Father’s Day.”
    They all knew that the former Detroit car thief seemed to wake up each morning with a plan tied to something big, so Eli said, “Okay. I’ll bite. Big as in how?”
    Amari shrugged. “Not sure. Thought we’d brainstorm. We have some awesome fathers so why not celebrate.”
    Crystal cracked, “Some of you might have awesome dads but mine kidnapped me and held me for ransom, remember?”
    Eli did. Ray Chambers wound up being a tornado snack and impaled on the points of a picket fence for his efforts. As far as Eli knew no one mourned his demise.
    Amari’s little brother, Devon, asked, “Is this going to be a secret?”
    â€œMaybe,” Amari replied.
    Brain, always the voice of truth and reason, offered, “Good luck with that.”
    He was right, of course—there were no secrets in Henry Adams.
    Zoey took a sip from her juice box and added, “Even if we did try and keep it secret, we’d still have to get permission from somebody for whatever it is we’re doing. Probably Tamar.”
    She was right, too. Eli believed the sun didn’t rise without the town matriarch’s okay.
    â€œHow about we have an all-day picnic?” Leah asked.
    Amari’s face brightened at the idea.
    Eli’s did, too. “Maybe Tamar would let us use her field.”
    After that the brainstorming session began to flow hot and heavy. They discussed decorations, maybe having a short program and what kind of food they might want to serve. Tamar’s homemade ice cream topped the list. In the middle of the planning, Wyatt got up and walked away from them without a word.
    Eli asked, “What’s up with him?”
    Zoey speculated softly, “Maybe he’s feeling kind of left out because he doesn’t have a dad.”
    Wyatt’s soldier mom died in Afghanistan and he was being raised by his grandmother, Gemma, one of the clerks at the town’s grocery store. Eli didn’t remember the boy ever mentioning his father.
    â€œDamn,” Amari said. “I forgot. Be nice if we could find him one.”
    â€œTrue,” Brain said as they all watched Wyatt walk stiffly toward the school’s doors. “But it’s not like we can hook him up with one on eBay.”
    Eli felt bad. He couldn’t imagine not having his mom and his dad.
    â€œSo do we call off the idea because of Wyatt?” Leah asked.
    Amari shook his head. “I say we go ahead. We’ll figure outa way to help Wyatt somehow. And Eli, since you