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  Instant fame. Instant drama.

  Some people stand back when problems crop up. Kenisha Lewis steps up. And there’s a lot that needs fixing, from her family’s money worries to the run-down dance studio where she works part-time.

  When the promo she makes for a dance studio fundraiser goes viral, Kenisha can’t believe the response. Who’d have guessed she’d become the latest YouTube sensation—or be asked to star in a video with rapper Taj? And now, Taj wants Kenisha to become her protégée, promising money and fame. Problems solved, right? Not quite. Her exciting new career is taking time away from school, family, friends and her boyfriend, Terrence.… Kenisha is sure she’s this close to having what she’s always wanted. But how much is she willing to give up to get it?

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  DRAMA

  Celeste O. Norfleet

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you readers, parents, teachers and librarians for recommending and sharing the Kenisha Lewis series. I am truly appreciative.

  Writing the stories in the Kenisha Lewis series has been one of my greatest joys. Although her journey to becoming a young woman is filled with struggles and conflicts at nearly every turn, her indomitable spirit continually shines through. She is strong even when she doesn’t believe she is. And it is her boundless determination that makes her such a resilient character.

  Because of the series, I have met so many wonderful young women, who are inspired by Kenisha’s story in their own journey to adulthood. Like Kenisha, they have endured life’s challenges, and I applaud their resolve. Circumstances don’t define who you are, but rather influence the person you become. Even though you can’t always avoid drama, you can overcome it and learn from it. When others say you can’t, believe that you can and will succeed, if you stay true to yourself.

  Please feel free to visit my website, www.celesteonorfleet.wordpress.com, or write me and let me know what you think. I always enjoy hearing from readers. I can be reached at [email protected] or Celeste O. Norfleet, P.O. Box 7346, Woodbridge, VA 22195-7346.

  Enjoy!

  To Fate & Fortune

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  One

  The End of a Not So Good Thing

  kenishi_wa K Lewis

  Note to self: just breathe

  26 Apr * Like * Comment * Share

  so, okay. I finally get it. I’m stuck in Penn Hall’s perpetual cycle of BS for the next year and a half. Hazelhurst Academy—the all-girls private school—is in the past and I’ve reconciled myself to that. So what if Penn is the worst public school in Washington, D.C. I figure it’s all about my state of mind. And right now my state of mind is to just suck it up.

  If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past few months, it’s that my life is not ordinary. Nothing about it is typical for a sixteen-year-old. My family, my friends, my school and even my shrink, Dr. Tubbs, push my buttons so hard that I’m just a split second away from being in a straitjacket for the rest of my life. My therapist, Dr. Tubbs, has a Freudian fixation, but that’s another story for another time.

  Of course, this is just my opinion, but right now it happens to be the only opinion that counts. So the question I keep asking myself is this: How did my life get so twisted and how do I straighten it out? Seriously, I don’t have a clue. And I don’t think anyone else does, either, so I just keep waiting to see what’s gonna happen next.

  Right now I don’t have a job because of the robbery—more about that later. The girl who I thought was a good friend, it turns out she wasn’t. My social life is on lockdown. And my boyfriend, Terrence—well, he’s the lawnmower guy—he’s cool right now. So what’s left? Family? My grandmother’s acting like she’s a prison warden. My sister thinks she’s my bodyguard, and my dad is back to his old ways—sleeping around.

  After that there’s school, and, well, let’s just say it’s not exactly something that makes you want to do cartwheels. So now I mostly just text and tweet my real friends—Jalisa and Diamond—and avoid as much drama as possible. LOL. Like that’s gonna happen.

  I look back at my life sometimes and just shake my head. I wonder why bad things keep happening to me. It’s like my life and everything around me is out of control. No matter what I do, drama happens. I blog, I tweet, I text, I talk, I breathe and drama happens. Seriously, all kinds of crazy stuff happens around me. Robberies, break-ins, fights, arguments, crazy dreams, family drama, baby mamma drama, ex-boyfriend drama, new boyfriend drama, new boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend drama and that’s just in the last few months. I don’t know why, but for some reason I’m always in the middle of somebody else’s stupid drama. It’s like drama has me on speed dial and calls me 24/7. It might sound strange to some. But believe me, it’s the norm for me.

  But that was then. For the first time in a really long time, I, Kenisha Lewis, am having ordinary, boring, drama-free days. For real! Trust me, if you knew my life you’d know that doesn’t happen very often. So when it does, hell, yeah, I’m worried. Most people would be ecstatic about it. But like I said, my life is drama-free now. I’m on a roll and I don’t want to chance screwing it up.

  I get out my cell and hit up Twitter.

  kenishi_wa K Lewis

  i finished my chemistry exam early—it was 2 easy. now im just sitn n class waiting…bored… 10 minutes ago

  kenishi_wa K Lewis

  still waiting & still bored—i have 2 more classes to go but im so ready to get out of here now. 2 minutes ago

  My cell vibrates.

  jalisa_jas Jalisa Saunders

  @kenishi_wa i kno that’s tru. im n humanities right now. we r reading metamorphosis—gross. bored…sleepy. i want 2 go home 2 bed. 2 minutes ago

  diamond_jewels Diamond Riggs

  @kenishi_wa ditto for me. im in advanced algebra. tired of numbers, equations and formulas. i just want to go home & sleep. 2 minutes ago

  kenishi_wa K Lewis

  lol—we gotta stop talking & texting all night.

  1 minute ago

  jalisa_jas Jalisa Saunders

  @kenishi_wa can u c us not talking and texting all night? 1 minute ago

  diamond_jewels Diamond Riggs

  @kenishi_wa nope. not really. 2 much 2 talk about. 1 minute ago

  kenishi_wa K Lewis

  you mean 2 many people 2 talk about—lol.

  1 minute ago

  jalisa_jas Jalisa Saunders

  @kenishi_wa lol & smh. 1 minute ago

  kenishi_wa K Lewis

  5…4…3…2…1 OUTTA HERE! LATER! 25 seconds ago

  The bell rings, signaling that it’s time for fifth-period classes, but I already decided not to go. I’m not in the mood to listen to Mr. Wells lecture us about computer stuff I already know. My dad owns a computer company, so basically everything he teaches is redundant.
I know this stuff. Word processing, Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver—I played with those when I was in elementary school. So skipping his class is no big deal. It’s not like I’m gonna miss anything. Plus, I just found out that Ms. Grayson, my history teacher, is out today and we have a substitute. That means watching a stupid movie for fifty minutes. Yep, I’m skipping that class, too.

  I go to my locker, get my jacket and my backpack and then head to the exit doors. There are a lot of other students leaving, too. They’re mostly seniors with lighter class schedules, so I just blend in with them. Nobody asks where I’m going, not even the aide standing by the door, so I just keep walking like I’m supposed to be leaving. She looks at me but doesn’t say a word.

  As soon as I step outside I feel it—freedom. There’s nothing like it. And in another thirty-two hours I’m gonna be completely liberated. My grandmother’s going to Georgia to visit her sister. She’ll be gone for the next week. She planned it way before my mom died and before I came to live with her. She was gonna cancel the trip, especially after everything that happened. But I convinced her to go. Seriously, she needed a break.

  I zip my jacket up and adjust my hoodie as a chilly breeze cuts through me. I hate this time of year. It’s cold and wet and miserable one day, then warm and nice the next. It’s been raining off and on for the past three days and the sky is a cloudy gray. The ground is wet and there are puddles in potholes everywhere. I start walking across the parking lot. As soon as I get to the other side, it starts to drizzle. Usually, I don’t mind when the weather changes, but today I do. My hands are cold, so I pull my gloves on, take my iPhone out and plug in my earbuds to listen to my music.

  A few seconds into my song I get a phone call. I check the caller ID. It’s my dad. I don’t know why he’s calling me now. He knows I’m supposed to be in class. But since I don’t want to be bothered, I just ignore the call and let it go to voice mail. I really don’t feel like dealing with him.

  It takes about ten minutes to walk home. Well, it’s not actually home for real. It’s my grandmother’s house in northwest D.C. I walk down the empty street and hurry up the front steps to the porch. As soon as I open the door, I know my grandmother is away. Perfect. I disengage the new alarm system we had installed a few weeks ago, then reset it since I’m here alone. I go up to my room, quickly change my clothes and put on my belly shirt, leotards and baggy dance sweats. I grab a couple of bottles of water from the refrigerator and write a note for my grandmother. I’ve been thinking about this all day. The music’s in my head and I can’t wait to get started.

  Dancing is the one thing that I really love. I’m good at it, really good. When I dance, I feel like I own the world. I have no fears, no doubts and no reservations. It’s just me and the music. It doesn’t matter what kind of dance I do ’cause I love them all—jazz, ballet, modern, calypso, tap and especially hip-hop. There’s something about just letting the music move your body that frees your mind of everything. When I dance I don’t worry about money, or family or boyfriends. All that just fades away. And the only place to dance is at Freeman Dance Studio.

  I pick up my bag and lock the front door behind me. I step outside my grandmother’s house, stand on the porch and look up and down the street. It’s still early afternoon, so most of the neighbors are at work. I start walking down the steps and notice just how peaceful it is. I don’t mean just the neighborhood, although that’s quiet, too, but my life is quiet.

  As soon as I reach the sidewalk, I see Cassie Mosley walking down the street with two other girls—ninth graders. I’ve seen them at school and around the way. I don’t know them, but I do know Cassie—all too well. She’s a straight-up hater with major issues, and that’s a dangerous combination. I don’t even look her way. She’s not worth it. But I know she’s watching me. She’s always mugging me behind my back. It used to bother me, but now I really don’t care. I just ignore her and continue down the front steps and head in the direction of Freeman. I get halfway down the block when I hear my name. “Yo, Kenisha,” someone yells.

  Damn. Of course I know who it is. I turn around and see Li’l T running down the street to catch up with me. I don’t know why, but we’ve kinda connected lately. Well, maybe not really connected. He’s still the biggest gossip in the neighborhood. And he still gets on my nerves sometimes, but not as much as he used to. He’s like a younger brother that’s always following me around driving me crazy. Still, I really don’t feel like dealing with him and hearing about everybody’s drama. But I slow down a second or two, anyway. It’s not that Li’l T is bad or anything, he just takes a lot of getting used to.

  “You cutting class?” he says as soon as he reaches me.

  “No, I’m maximizing my available time,” I say.

  “Yeah, right, that’s called cutting.” He laughs.

  “So what are you doing out of school?” I ask.

  “I had a doctor’s appointment,” he says. “So where are you going?”

  “To Freeman,” I say.

  “You gonna dance?”

  “Yes,” I say.

  “Yo, can I watch?”

  “No.”

  “See you wrong, you know that. But that’s cool, that’s a’ight. So check it out,” he says, showing me his new iPad. “I just got it. It’s tight, right.”

  “Yeah, I’ve seen these. They’re nice,” I say nonchalantly, because I’ve seen a couple dozen computer tablets before. My dad has them at his job.

  “Nah, nah, nah, you ain’t seen this one—not yet, anyway.”

  I check out the front and see that it’s not what I thought it was. He taps the screen and turns it on. The screen instantly lights up. It looks like it’s already loaded with every app program imaginable. “Wait, that’s the new version,” I say in a surprised voice since I know this version isn’t supposed to be released for another eight months, at least. My dad has a computer company, so I usually get stuff early, but never this early. “This isn’t even out yet. How’d you get it already?”

  “My cousin Bo got it for me.”

  I look at him like I know better ’cause I do. “Stuff like this falls off the back of a truck all the time, but not this time. Nah, these can’t fall off a truck since they’re not even supposed to be on a truck yet.”

  “For real, it’s legit. He’s got the serious hookup. Check it out. This baby is fully loaded, too. It does everything, even video and editing. It’s like a mini movie studio, just point and shoot. Then there’s this app that I can upload and send video directly to YouTube and Facebook. So you know I’m gonna rock this baby to start my new business,” he adds excitedly.

  I look at him skeptically. “Your new business,” I repeat. “It sounds like more trouble to me. You better be careful.”

  “Nah, I got this all figured out. See, whenever something jumps off I’m gonna film it. You know I’m gonna be a filmmaker, right.”

  “Really,” I say halfheartedly ’cause every week he changes his career to something different. “Wait, didn’t you tell me last week you’re gonna be a record producer and the week before that a rapper. So what happened to all that?”

  “It’s all the same thing. It’s called talent. That’s what I got.”

  “Right, talent,” I say, mildly amused. I notice that he’s got this big bruise and a puffy eye. “What’s up with your face?”

  “What? Nothing,” he says dismissively.

  “Don’t tell me you got in trouble and got your butt kicked,” I say. Then I see his expression changes like he’s scared or something. He turns his head and looks in the other direction. I stop walking and pull his arm toward me to stop him. “What happened?” I ask. He doesn’t say anything. I know right then I’m right. Somebody beat him up. I also know he’s not gonna tell me who did it. Snitches get stitches. “Are you okay?” I ask quietly.

 
“Girl, I’m fine. Like I said, it’s nothing. I was just messing around.”

  He starts walking. I follow this time. Neither one of us says anything for a while. Then we walk past Darien’s house just as he comes out on the front porch. I haven’t seen him in months and now he just walks out like he owns the neighborhood. He glares at us hard like he’s about to say something, but he doesn’t. He just looks. I look, too. I can’t believe he’s here.

  “I thought he was gone for good. What’s he doing back here?” I ask under my breath.

  “Didn’t you hear? He got off on a technicality. Something about what the cops did when they arrested him for the attempted robbery at your grandmother’s house. Now they’re saying they didn’t have probable cause to search the house the night of the fight, so that’s probably gonna be thrown out, too.”

  “That’s crazy.”

  “Yeah, well, you know he’s getting off on that charge, too. Stuff always happens like that. I swear, it must be nice doing whatever you want and getting away with it all the time because your father just about runs city hall.”

  We walk past him and I hear his cell phone ringing. I turn around and see that he’s still staring at us—no, he’s staring at me. Then he smiles, and I look away. “I really hate that guy.”

  “He’s just a punk-ass bully,” Li’l T says way too loud. “He’s got all these people protecting him and he never gets in trouble. He killed T’s little brother, then he goes up on drug possession charges and breaking into your house and still nothing happens to him. The legal system is bullshit. All you gotta do is know someone like his dad does.”

  “That’s how it always is,” I say.