Free Butterfly by Sylvester Stephens Page A

what are you doing in here?”
    Ms. Alicia burst through the door and stood in the doorway of the bathroom with her mouth wide open. I was so embarrassed I didn’t know what to say.
    â€œNothing!” I slammed my legs together and then slammed the door in her face.
    â€œShante! Open the door!”
    â€œUh, can I get a minute? Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! Dammit!” I jumped in the shower and then jumped back out. I didn’t know what to do.
    â€œPut on a towel and open this door!” Ms. Alicia yelled.
    â€œOkay, hold on.” I ran around looking for my towel. “Shit!”
    I wrapped a towel around me and cracked the door. I stood behind it and peeked around.
    â€œUh-huhn?” I asked.
    â€œUh-huhn, what?” Ms. Alicia asked.
    â€œDid you want something?”
    â€œWhat’s going on in there?”
    â€œNothing much.”
    â€œNothing much? Girl, I saw you with your legs all gapped open,” Ms. Alicia said, “what you doin’ in here?”
    â€œNothin’! For real! Nothing.”
    â€œIt’s nothing to be ashamed of, Shante.”
    â€œI’m not ashamed. I wasn’t doing nothing.”
    â€œOkay,” Ms. Alicia said, “Well, hurry up and finish doing nothing so we can go. You holding up the party.”
    â€œOkay,” I said. “Can I finish my shower now?”
    â€œGo ’head. But make it a quickie!” Ms. Alicia joked.
    â€œVery funny, Ms. Alicia.”
    â€œHurry up and come on. We’re waiting for you downstairs.”
    I hurried and took a shower. I threw on some short shorts and some open-toed high-heels. I put on a wife beater with no bra and ran downstairs. I stopped dead in my tracks when I got to the last step. Ms. Alicia was waiting for me at the bottom of the staircase with her hand directly in my face.
    â€œErrrrrrr! Where you think you going dressed like that?”
    â€œUh, to the mall?”
    â€œI don’t think so.”
    â€œHuh?”
    â€œFollow me.” Ms. Alicia walked upstairs.
    I followed her upstairs, one step at a time. Brittany followed behind me, grabbing my shorts and nearly pulling them down.
    â€œOkay, here we go.” Ms. Alicia slid her closet door to one side. “Pick out something decent so we can go. If we don’t hurry up, all the good sales will be over by the time we get there.”
    â€œI can’t believe you even buy clothes on sale.”
    â€œGirl, you better get real. I buy on sale! I use coupons! I’ll forget my driver’s license before I forget my Kroger card.” Ms. Alicia sat on the bed and crossed her legs. “Hurry up, pick out something so we can go!”
    â€œCan I wear this?” I picked out a short summer dress.
    â€œNope! That’s my Vera Wang! Here, wear this.”
    Ms. Alicia handed me a short, spaghetti-strapped dress thatwas very colorful. I liked it. Not as much as the Vera Wang dress, but it was cute.
    â€œOkay, I’m ready.”
    â€œYou sure are. Now go take off those stripper shoes and we’re ready to go.”
    â€œWhat’s wrong with my shoes?”
    â€œYou’re going to the mall, not Magic City.”
    â€œI can tell you old. Magic City done played out. Emerald City is what’s happening now!”
    â€œWhatever! Here, put these on.” Ms. Alicia handed me a pair of sandals.
    â€œThese are cute!” I held them up and looked at them before putting them on my feet.
    â€¢Â Â Â â€¢Â Â Â â€¢
    We picked up Auntie Cynthia on our way to Discover Mills mall. Auntie Cynthia brought her three kids with her. The two oldest were not her biological children. They had different mothers from Uncle Mike’s two previous wives: Ms. Tonita, Bri’s mom; and ’Celia, Alexiah’s mom. The youngest one was from her current marriage with Uncle Mike. It is a good thing we were in that SUV. It was a bunch of us.
    The oldest girl’s name