Hidden Valley (D. SWING)

V. Bruce Lee Loves Me

Javon picks up the pillows and places them on the couch. I keep stacking the magazines in a neat order just like he told me to. I've been getting bored lately because Dalvin and Don had to sit in rehearsal for two days straight. Today, all of the boys are coming over to spend the night with Javon in the livingroom. Dalvin gets to come because Derek and Don are coming. I'm excited because that means me and Dalvin get to sit in the kitchen and play our own games but we don't get to stay up all night and giggle like me and my girl friends. Javon says it's because I'm a girl and he's a boy. This boy, girl stuff is really starting to suck eggs!

What sucks even more is that three days have passed and I still can't figure out which one of the DeGrate brothers has a crush on me. Boy, do I hope that it's Don. I just hope it is! It's the only reason that makes sense! Look how nice he is to me. He treats me like a princess.

"Javon," I call out.

He doesn't even look at me when he answers me from across the room. "What?" He's still setting the pillows the Big Mama likes. She had him put on a new coat of plastic this morning.

"Is it true that a DeGrate brother likes me?"

Javon drops the pillow and looks at me. "Who told you that," he asks.

"Nobody."

I keep stacking the magazines. The way he responded makes me not want to look at him because I don't want to see the face he is making at me. "Somebody had to tell you for you to be asking me."

"I heard Talia–"

"Don't listen to her," says Javon with a quickness. "She doesn't know what she's talking about. She's just mad at Lil' Don over some squirrel crap."

My head tilts and I look up at Javon. "Are you sure?" He gives me the look and I know that he's not playing. "Stop looking at me like that! I was just checking!"

"You don't need to check, Cynthia. Even if Dalvin did like you, it doesn't matter. You guys are ten. There's no reason for you to know because you aren't going with anybody no time soon."

Chewing on my lip, I ask, "Why does it have to be Dalvin? She said a DeGrate not Dalvin. Dalvin's my friend."

"Don's gonna' be thirteen and Derek's... Derek is Derek. Do you want it to be another DeGrate?"

I shake my head.

"Okay then," Javon says. He picks the pillows back up and continues his job. I cross my legs as I place the magazines on the coffee table. "I don't want you hanging around Talia."

"But I wasn–"

Javon interrupts me. "I don't care if you were or you weren't hangin' with her. She's crushing too hard on Don and the moment she says something bogus about you, we're going to have to swap bodies so I can shove her into her shoes." I laugh at Javon's words because I know he's very, very serious.

Honest to God curious, I start asking questions. Something about what he said doesn't make sense to me. "Why be mean to me if she likes Don? What's that got to do with me?"

"That's another thing you're about to learn, Cyn. Boys are bad but girls are evil," Javon says with a shaking head. "Don't let that girl say anything about you or us that isn't true, you hear me?"

Nodding my head, I say to him, "I do."

We finish cleaning up everything and the whole time, I'm still wondering why nobody will answer my question. Does Don DeGrate like me? I hope that if he does, Javon doesn't find out. I know that he would freak the freak out. We can't let that happen because then I'll lose the only friends that I made this summer. Do you know how much that would kill the mood? He probably wouldn't even let me hang out with Dalvin anymore because he's Don's little brother and that's what I can't let happen. If Don likes me, I wish he'd tell me but we would have to keep it a secret.