Page 97 of Pride High 3: Yellow

“This many,” Keisha said, holding up her middle finger.

“Damn!” Omar cackled. “You’re lucky I didn’t get that on video!”

“True, but if you keep the camera on Little Bee, there’s a fifty-fifty chance you’ll catch her doing the same thing.”

“Who?”

Keisha’s expression was incredulous. “Little Bee,” she repeated. “You know, the birthday girl you’re supposed to be filming.”

“Oh!” He raised the camera again. “I thought her name was Beatrice.”

“It is, but she’s named after my grandmother, who is still kicking, so it’s too confusing to call her that.”

“Gotcha.” Omar could already imagine putting a text overlay on the footage of the family walking in that saidLittle Bee’s Big Day. This was going to be so rad!

“Welcome to Archie’s Pizza Pi!” A pair of servers cried in unison, before one of them said, “Let’s get the party started with some drinks!” The servers began moving down the table to take everyone’s order.

“You’re not going to help them?” Keisha asked.

“Nope.” He jiggled the camcorder. “This is my job.”

“Until they replace you with a tripod,” she said with a smirk.

“Hey, actual skill and experience are involved here. It takes more than just pointing this thing in the right direction.”

“Does it though?”

What the hell? Omar hid his face behind the camera so she couldn’t see his expression. “Would you mind sitting down?” he asked. “I want to get a shot of the whole family together.”

Keisha wordlessly complied. He waited until the servers had left before walking a circle around the table. Judging from how many people waved or smiled, most of them had already gotten used to the camera. He had the inspired idea to rush to the kitchen so he could follow one of the pizzas down the hall and onto the table as it was delivered. With the new setup, he should be able to speed up that footage. It was going to look so cool!

He was circling the table again to film everyone eating when Keisha waved him over. “You should be getting close-up shots,” she said. “My family will actually want to see who is who instead of a distant blur of motion.”

“Leave the poor boy alone,” Mrs. Hart said before patting his forearm. “You’re doing just fine.”

“Thanks,” Omar said. But he was still annoyed, because Keisha was right. He’d only been waiting until everyone was done eating. Having a camera in your face while you were cramming pizza in your mouth would make anyone self-conscious.

When the birthday cake entered the room, carried by none other than Archie the Pizza Panda, he kicked himself. The cake would have been better to follow here from the kitchen. Then again, he would have missed the awesome shot he had now. The two servers were back. One held a boombox that was already playing a funky instrumental version of the traditional birthday song. The other server helped Archie get the cake on the table safely, since the costume was kind of unwieldy. Then the servers and Archie backed up and began a dance routine while singing along to the song. Omar had to bite down on his tongue to stop himself from joining in. This was the best place in the world! Little Bee seemed to agree, bobbing her head and singing louder than anyone.

She blew out the candles on her first try, which hedidget a nice close-up shot of. Little Bee sure had a set of lungs on her! Archie sat on a chair and patted his lap.

“Time for your birthday spanking!” the father of the family said.

“Noooo!” Little Bee cried, but she didn’t resist when her mom picked her up and laid her face-down over Archie’s lap. Such a weird tradition! Omar was glad he’d outgrown it. Archie pretended to smack her buttocks, once for each year, even though it was only a gentle pat. Little Bee seemed to think it was pretty funny.

“Ever heard Silvia giggle like that?”

The camera jolted before he steadied it. Omar didn’t realize that Keisha was standing next to him. “Uh… No.”

“I have,” she continued. Keisha leaned close and whispered, “When she was high.”

“When she waswhat?”

Keisha batted her eyelashes innocently before using a finger to raise the camera again, since he’d let it droop.

The scene had changed anyway. Archie had a big pink box tied with a bow. Omar had gotten a few of those over the years, although in blue. Inside were various toys from the prize counter, a T-shirt, and best of all, a pouch stuffed full of video game tokens. He took the opportunity to move away from Keisha, so he could capture the most important details.

The family-brought presents were next. Omar couldn’t stop grinning as he filmed Little Bee gleefully tearing open each gift. When he got hitched to Silvia someday, he’d make sure their kids celebrated every single birthday here. Unless she was a junkie by then. What had Keisha meant with that comment anyway? Silvia would have told him if she’d done something crazy. Right? Keisha had to be messing with him.