Page 66 of Pride and Protest

“I know I look better than you in these scarves,” LeDeya said.

Liza threw a pillow at her sister’s head and missed.

WIC took the family to fifty-second street in West Philly, where Granny bargained for cheap knockoff purses and bought shea butter and bags of incense. Then they went to a café where they bused their own tables and washed dishes in a collective afterward.

He was the perfect freedom fighter. Fist bumping old men and rubbing the heads of young boys with fresh cuts—in her world, WIC made sense. But a slow shadow still slid over the day for Liza. Not just because she was exhausted, but because she was trying so hard towantto like it.

Time is Isaiah’s enemy.

By four p.m. she’d just hit a wall. Janae had fidgeted with her phone all day, and she seemed pretty out of it too.

Liza caught up to her in front of everyone. “Janae, are you ready to leave?”

“Yeah, I guess I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, and it’s catching up to me.”

“Yeah, me too, you ready to go?”

“Almost.” She looked down at her phone. “Actually, yes.”

“Janae?” Liza held her sister’s shoulders.

“I just thought we’d talk more, David and I, I thought he would invite me over after the gala. And now I haven’t really gotten a text since last night...”

Liza laughed. “He’s probably still asleep.”

“Probably.” Janae didn’t look convinced.

The Bennetts drove home to DC in a slightly less luxurious manner than before. Granny didn’t trust her new plants to survive the frigid airplane cargo section, so they sat in a cramped van. Bev and the pastor chatted about the gala the entire time and speculated on the price of every morsel of food.

Liza, Janae, and LeDeya were glued to their phones. Liza was alternating between mean comments and uplifting cat GIFs.

The phone vibrated in her hand, and she nearly threw it down at her feet. Gosh, she was on edge.

Leaving my city?

Dorsey’s number popped up. She had refused to save his contact info. It was like an admission of some sort.

Yep, if only you’d do me the same favor

Ouch.

Liza’s smile broadened, and LeDeya smirked. “You look so goofy right now. WIC isthatfunny?”

“Mind your business, Deya.”

Am I bad for your street cred?

Yes

Does this feel too complicated?

Yes

Do you regret our dance?

No

Three wavering dots.