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minutes of heaving and sweating, Secret finally flushed the toilet and pulled herself off her knees. She was startled by her mother standing in the doorway when she turned around to go to the sink.
    â€œYou pregnant?” were the distinct, clear, cut-to-the-chase words that came out of Yolanda’s mouth.
    Still, Secret’s reply was, “Huh?”
    â€œWhat the fuck I tell you about ‘huhing’ me?” Yolanda said. “Besides, bitch, you heard me.” Yolanda walked closer to her daughter. “You knocked up, ain’t ya?”
    â€œWhat makes you say that?” Secret had a stupid look on her face and let out some nervous laughter. Her first instinct was to say, “No, I’m not,” but she really didn’t want to lie to her mother.
    The last time she lied to her mother was when she was in ninth grade. Shawndiece had talked Secret into going to a skip party.
    â€œYour mom has to work today, right?” Shawndiece said to Secret.
    â€œYes, but—” Secret started before her best friend cut her off.
    â€œGood. That means when the school calls your house to see why you’re absent, she won’t be there to take the call. If they leave a message, you get home first, so you can just delete it. Miss Yolanda will never know. Come on, girl. You’re in high school. Have a little fun for once.”
    It all sounded easy enough, so instead of getting on the school bus that morning, Secret met up with Shawndiece and they headed over Tico’s house, the guy who was hosting the skip party. By the time they got there the party was already jumping. The house was packed with about twenty of the most well-known kids at school. Needless to say, Secret was like a rose in a field of dandelions; she just didn’t fit in. Always one to keep her eye on the prize, which was her education, anything outside of school work, homework, and a mall outing here or there with Shawndiece was foreign to Secret. She’d never witnessed this side of high school, and she was in awe.
    The other kids were drinking, smoking, and eating the mini-cereal-breakfast buffet Tico had set out. The television was tuned to some BET 106 & Park recordings. It couldn’t be heard, though, over the music that was coming out of the living room speakers.
    â€œYou cool?” Shawndiece would come over and ask Secret, who’d made permanent residence over in a chair that sat by an end table.
    â€œYeah, I’m good,” Secret would reply, willing herself not to go into her book bag and pull out schoolwork or a book to read. As entertaining as it was to watch the boys and girls at her school who never noticed her—and still weren’t paying her a lick of mind — flirt with, touch and grind on each other, she’d prefer to be in class obtaining whatever it would take to get her one day closer to fleeing Flint.
    Secret got home that day at the exact same time she would have had she gone to school. Upon walking in the door, she headed straight to the telephone where, just as she’d thought, a message from the school secretary awaited. Secret deleted the message without even listening to it in full, grateful she’d beaten her mother to the message. She’d phoned a couple of her classmates whom she shared most of her classes with and had even been in study groups with before. She managed to get the day’s assignments for all her classes and get her work done by the time Yolanda walked through the door that night.
    â€œSo how was school today?” Yolanda walked into Secret’s room and asked. That alone should have been a red flag for Secret. She couldn’t remember the last time her mother had inquired about her and her schooling.
    â€œUh, it was uh, good,” Secret replied, thrown off by her mother’s query.
    â€œSo what were your assignments today?” Yolanda came and flopped down on Secret’s bed.
    â€œJust the same ol’ same