Efrain's Secret by Sofia Quintero

I mean, I’ve hung out with girls, gone places with them, messed around with them a bit…. You know, we bump into each other at People’s Park, grab some Mickey D’s, and then sneak off to a parentless apartment somewhere. Or maybe we sort of agree to be at the same place at the same time. That’s the closest thing to a date I’ve ever had. Despite the fact that I’ve just met her, I already understand that Candace is not just some breezy in the park. No wonder I’m nervous.
    So I just bounce around my room until it’s time to leave, changing outfits, re-counting my money, switching the hiding place of my shoebox, reorganizing my always tidy desk…. About fifteen minutes before I planned to leave, the telephone rings. “Hello?”
    “What’s poppin’, cuz?”
    “Chingy! How’s it going, kid?”
    “I’m here grindin’.”
    “Grindin’?”
    “Yeah, man, I got your last check and something I want to show you. Is it okay if I roll through?”
    “Nah, kid, you caught me just as I was about to walk out the door.”
    “So maybe I can catch up with you.”
    “Nah, I gotta pick up Candace to go see this movie.”
    “Ooooh—”
    “Shut up, yo.”
    “It’s like that, huh? That’s cool, though. Just don’t know why you can’t inform a brother. Keepin’ secrets and shit.” But Chingy’s just pretending to sweat it.
    “What secret, kid? I just told you, didn’t I?”
    “Whatever,” he laughs. “What y’all going to go see?”
    “I don’t know. Whatever the lady wants, I guess.”
    “Daaamn, look at you. All chivalrous and whatnot. I need to try your approach.”
    “What approach?” I tease. “That’s called sincerity, son.” The call-waiting signal sounds. “Yo, Chingy, someone’s trying to call, so let me holler at you later.”
    “Maybe I can swing by tomorrow with the check and this thing I want to show you. Get all the juicy details while I’m at it.”
    Chingy kills me, gossiping like Leti. “Most def.” The line bleeps again. “All right, man, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” I switch. “Hello?”
    “Efrain?”
    I can barely hear her. “Candace?” She sniffles. “What’s wrong, ma?”
    “My mother won’t let me go.”
    “But why?” I hear a woman in the background hurrying Candace to say her piece and hang up.
    “She just won’t.” Her voice breaks. “I’m sorry. I said yes because I really wanted to go, but she won’t let me because she doesn’t know you.” The woman in the background says more that I can’t understand. Suddenly Candace says, “I’ll see you at school.”
    “Candace, wait—” But she hangs up.
    I toss the phone on my bed. No, nope, sorry, I’m not feeling this at all. Where does her mother come off making judgments about me? She don’t know me! Shit, I’m the dude every woman should want for her daughter. I live clean, excel in school…. Didn’t Candace tell her moms all this?
    I leap on the telephone and call back Chingy. The second he answers, I just rip. I don’t know how long I go on before it hits me that we might have been cut off. “Yo, Chingy, can you hear me?”
    “Yeah, man, I’m just listening.”
    “So what you think, bro? Am I right or what?”
    “You right, you right…”
    “Why you say it like that, kid? Like her moms has reason to not let Candace go out with me.”
    “Well, it ain’t like the woman has a reason to say
yes
. I mean, Candace is right. She doesn’t know you.” Chingy sighs, then says, “Look, E., if this was any ol’ chick from around the way, I’d tell you to forget about it. Find you another, plenty of fish in the sea, and all that. But that girl and her family have been through things we can’t even imagine. Maybe Ma Dukes got a right to be a little overprotective.”
    As much as I don’t want to admit it, that’s real talk right there. “Well, I’m glad I didn’t, like, go off on her for standing me up.”
    “Nah, man, that ain’t you,” Chingy laughs. “You really feeling