Losing Romeo by A.J. Byrd Page A

by surprise by this latest revelation. Tyler hasn’t been in school for the past couple of days, and I assumed that she was sick. However, when I went to check on her no one would come to the door. So when Granny drops this news on me at the dinner table I’m left sitting here with my mouth open in shock.
    â€œYes, I’m sure. I got word from Ms. Todd—Michelle Todd’s mother. Michelle, Tyler and some girl named Trisha were arrested at a strip mall not too far from the school. I know I saw Leon hot under the collar a couple days ago. I gather that he wasn’t too happy having to take time off from work to go bail her out of jail.”
    â€œHow come you didn’t go to jail with Tyler?” Gregory, one of my ten-year-old twin brothers, asks me with a mouth full of macaroni and cheese.
    â€œNow, what did I tell you about talking with yourmouth full?” Granny scolds, but with a soft smile hugging her lips.
    â€œSorry, Granny,” Gregory mumbles, again with a full mouth.
    â€œBesides, Anjenai knows better than to get herself tangled up in some shoplifting scheme. Don’t you, Anje?” Granny levels a look at me that’s all the warning I need.
    â€œYes, ma’am.”
    â€œUh-huh.” She keeps her eyes leveled on me to make sure that we have an understanding that she is not going to tolerate any foolishness.
    In my mind she really doesn’t have to worry, because I would never get involved in something like that. When it comes to Tyler I’m surprised but not surprised at the same time. Tyler has been on a self-destructive path for some time now, and clearly things are just getting worse. Michelle Todd, that’s that girl who used to hang around Billie Grant. The same girl whose nose we broke on the first day of school. So what Kierra told me at lunch the other day is true.
    I shake my head and wonder again what Tyler must be thinking. It’s no use because I have no idea. And something tells me that Tyler doesn’t, either.
    â€œHow come you don’t talk about your boyfriend anymore?” Edafe, my six-year-old brother, asks, reaching for his Kool-Aid.
    â€œI’ve never talked to you about any boyfriend,” I remind him. “You were just always putting your nose in my business.”
    â€œIt’s everybody’s business when you’re playing kissy facein his car in front of the apartment so the whole world can see,” Hosea, the eight-year-old, chimes in.
    The problem with living with four younger brothers is that they are always trying to eat into my business—what little I have. And they always seem to think that my life is an excellent topic of conversation for the dinner table.
    â€œYou boys leave your sister alone,” Granny pipes up and then steals a peek at me to check if I am okay. After that disastrous party at Shadiq’s a few weeks ago, Granny was alarmed when I came home sobbing my eyes out. I told her the whole story about how Romeo had embarrassed and abandoned me in the middle of our date to go crawling back to his ex-girlfriend. I didn’t bother telling her about the pregnancy part because that would just alarm her about who was and who wasn’t having sex. That’s one big headache I would prefer to avoid.
    â€œDo you mind if I run over to Tyler’s after dinner?”
    Granny doesn’t look too pleased with that idea. I know that she’s already wondering if Tyler is going to start becoming a bad influence on me.
    â€œCome on, Granny. It’s Tyler. I need to find out what’s going on with her. She hasn’t been acting like herself lately, and I’m concerned.” Expressing concern is a shoo-in to getting her to let me go. No way Granny would suggest that I abandon a friend in need.
    â€œWell…I guess you can run over there for a little while.”
    â€œThanks, Gran.” I quickly start shoveling the rest of my dinner into my mouth.
    â€œSlow