Forged by Fire by Sharon M. Draper Page A

you proud of your mama? I gotta go celebrate!”
    â€œThat’s great, Mama,” Angel said, hugging her. “Uh, Mama, can I ask you something?”
    â€œSure, baby, what you need?”
    â€œA lady came to my school today and she told me about this dance class that I can be in. She said I was really good. Can I be in it? Please?”
    â€œDancing? Probably a waste of time. How much is it gonna cost me?”
    â€œFifty dollars,” whispered Angel, not daring to look at her mother.
    â€œFifty dollars! Good Lord! Hey, Gerald—has the rent been paid this month?”
    â€œYeah, Monique. It’s been paid. Let her try it, okay?”
    â€œOkay, baby. Go dance your little heart out! As a matter of fact, I may do a little dancin’ myself tonight! I gotta go change!”
    Angel grinned at Gerald. She was going to dance! A group from the Dance Theatre of Harlem was spending six weeks at her school, working with talented young people. She didn’t tell Gerald that only forty children had been selected for the class from over two hundred who tried out—and that only twenty of those would dance in the show at the end of the program. She had been afraid to hope.
    Monique left, humming the latest song. The click of her high heels reminded Gerald of that day long ago, and he suddenly felt a little dizzy. The dishes finished, Angel took Tiger into her room and turned on the radio. She danced with her cat and danced with her dreams while Gerald wrestled with memories of pain.

FIFTEEN
    â€œY O ! G ERALD
! Y OU need a ride to the game tomorrow?” Andy yelled across the gym.
    â€œNaw, man, I got it covered,” Gerald yelled back. Andy was one of the few boys on the team with his own car. Everybody depended on him for rides, and he loved being the center of that attention. Gerald took the bus to the games. He preferred that to the noise and crowd of Andy’s car. He liked the silence of the bus ride to relax him and prepare him for a really good game.
    Gerald stayed every day after school for basketball practice. It was there that he felt whole and powerful. Rob, who had unanimously been named captain by the team, was tall, skinny, smart, and had the best line with girls that Gerald had ever heard. Andy was Rob’s best friend. He wasn’t a natural at basketball like Rob, but he tried hard and hated for Rob to outscore him. They had known each other since seventh grade and spent weekends at each other’s homes. Both of them lived near the edge of the school district, where houses had neat lawns with trees in the backyard and a fresh coat of paint every other year.
    Gerald no longer felt uncomfortable around them, even though he lived in an apartment building downtown that had a broken elevator, graffiti on the walls, and very little grass anywhere. Andy and Rob breezed through life, collecting friends—and never making judgments about them—with seemingly no problems at all.
    Last month, after a movie one Saturday night, Andy, Rob, Tyrone, B. J., and Gerald had decided they were hungry—maybe even starving.
    â€œWhat you want to eat, man? Fast food?”
    â€œHow much money you got?”
    â€œFour dollars and eleven cents. What about you, B. J.?”
    â€œSixty-nine cents. Hey, Gerald, what about you?”
    â€œI got about eight dollars.”
    â€œWe rich, man. I got an idea. Let’s try that new all-you-can-eat place.”
    â€œDo they really mean
all?”
    â€œLet’s see, man!” chuckled Andy as they headed for the restaurant.
    They paid for two meals, then went through the line slowly. Andy got six kinds of meat, ten dinner rolls, and four pieces of apple pie. Rob piled eight pieces of corn on the cob, a mountain of mashed potatoes, eighteen chicken wings, and three pieces of cheesecake on his plate. Tyrone picked up a stack of napkins and a bunch of silverware. They were laughing hysterically, but quietly.
    â€œThey