Free Birthday Blues by Karen English Page A

she'd buy Deja a birthstone ring if she could keep from biting her nails for a month.

    Every morning at breakfast, Auntie Dee had said to Deja, "Show me whatcha got." Deja would hold out her hands, palms down, to prove she hadn't bitten her nails during the night. She'd really wanted that citrine ring with the fourteen-carat gold band. She'd especially liked the feel of the word coming out of her mouth: "citrine." Maybe when she grew up and had a husband and a little girl, she'd name her Citrine.
    Nikki had said it was stupid to name a baby after a ring.
    "What about Dyamond Taylor in Mr. Beaumont's room?" Deja had said. "She's named after a diamond, only it's spelled different."
    Deja thinks about Griselda Castilla, who sits in her row at school. She was the first to have a citrine ring. It glinted in the light every time Griselda moved her pencil across her paper. But Deja wasn't trying to copy Griselda. She can't help it if her birthstone is a citrine, too.
    "How do you know you're getting heelies?" Nikki says.
    "'Cause." Deja sits down next to Nikki and slips her thumb into her mouth. The citrine ring in its gold setting sparkles on her index finger.
    "Can I wear your ring?" Nikki asks.
    Deja pretends she doesn't hear her.

    "Come on, let me wear it for a day."
    Deja doesn't say anything on purpose. She thinks of her messy room. She could probably get Nikki to help her clean it. Auntie Dee told her that she needed to clean her room before going outside—yet she hasn't done it. She'd known she wasn't going to. When Auntie said it, Deja thought immediately of how she would put it off. She did that sometimes.
    Now Auntie Dee is across the street at her friend Phoebe's, sorting a bunch of stuff for a garage sale that's coming up. She'll be back soon, and then Deja will get in trouble. Probably get put on punishment. Maybe Auntie Dee will even cancel Deja's upcoming birthday party.

    "I'll let you wear it ... on one condition."
    Nikki looks at Deja suspiciously. "What?"
    "You have to help me clean my room."
    "That's not fair. Your room is too messy."
    "You want to wear my ring or not?" Deja holds up her hand in front of Nikki's face with her fingers spread, then wiggles them back and forth like a beauty queen.
    Nikki purses her lips. "Okay. Come on, let's get it over with."
    Deja looks away and smiles.

    "Where does this go?" Nikki holds up a pink pajama bottom. Deja stares at it for a moment, squinting.
    "Put it under the bed."
    "Under the bed?"
    "I have too many things on the hooks already."
    "It can go in the dirty clothes."
    "It's not dirty enough."
    "What about in your dresser drawer?"
    "Just put it under the bed. It's not clean enough for my drawer."
    Nikki shrugs and pushes the pajama bottom under the bed. Then she gets down on her hands and knees and looks. "There's a whole lot of stuff under here. And Bear! How come you don't play with Bear anymore?" Nikki pulls Bear out and leans him against Deja's nightstand.

    "I do play with Bear. I just forgot where he was," Deja says.
    Nikki pulls out a blue sweater, a Monopoly set, a purple mitten, some crumpled scribbled-on notebook paper, broken crayons, an apple core. "Deja, look at all this stuff! I change my mind. Your room is yucky." She flops down on the bed and sticks out her lip.
    "Come on, you have to help me! Auntie Dee told me to clean my room, and she's gonna come back soon, and then I'm gonna get in trouble."
    "You shoulda done what she told you."
    "Plus, if I get in trouble, you'll have to go home, and then we won't get to work on our map."
    This seems to catch Nikki's attention. She looks up at the corner of the ceiling, thinking.
    Deja waits. They're studying maps in Social Studies, and Ms. Shelby has given the class an assignment to create a neighborhood map. She said that they could work with a partner.
    Deja got excited right away. She started making plans. She and Nikki would be partners, of course. They would start their map on Saturday, and they would