The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth - Alexandra Robbins [113]
JOY, CALIFORNIA | THE NEW GIRL
Because of her challenge, Joy decided to try conversing with some of the most aggressive girls at Citygrove. Joy was walking with Cleo when she saw the girls a ways off. “I wanna talk to them,” Joy said.
“Who, them?” Cleo asked, surprised.
“Yes.”
“I can’t talk to them with you!” Cleo said, laughing, as if it would be preposterous for her to approach black girls known for their attitude.
“That’s why I’m gonna go to them with Latrice.”
Joy and Cleo were still laughing as they passed by the girls. The girls stared at them.
The biggest one frowned. “You got a problem?” she said to Joy.
Uh-oh. “Do you have a problem?” Joy retorted.
The girl stepped forward. One of her friends was watching, while the other one danced, earbuds in her ears. Cleo and Joy stood their ground. “Yeah, I got a problem. I got a fucking problem with bitches looking at me.”
“Oh really now,” Joy said.
“Yeah, fucking bitch. If you got a problem with me, come and handle,” the girl said.
The girl who had been dancing took out her earbuds. “Who?” she asked.
“That one, the one in the pink,” answered the leader.
“Who is she?” asked the dancer. “She looks cool.”
“No,” said the other girl. “Fucking ugly bitch.”
Intimidated, Joy and Cleo walked away quickly. Perhaps, Joy thought, she should approach her challenge less ambitiously.
Meanwhile, Latrice, the black student Joy spoke to most frequently, continued to ask Joy to tutor her in biology. “Aw, Joy, please. You’re so smart,” she wheedled. Thanks to the biology teacher, students were well aware that Joy was the highest-scoring student in the class. She usually scored 100 percent on tests.
Latrice could be flaky, and Joy wasn’t sure if she wanted to invest the time if Latrice would be too distracted to digest Joy’s lessons. But one night before a big test, Latrice called again. “Help me!” she pleaded. “I can pay you! Please, I need to get my grades up.”
Joy sighed. She knew that Latrice could do better if she tried. “It’s okay, you don’t have to pay me. I’ll help you.” That night, at Joy’s apartment, Joy taught her the entire ecosystems chapter in four hours.
When the teacher handed back the tests, Latrice gasped. “Oh my gosh, a B! This is great!” she exclaimed. “Joy, Joy! Look! You’re so smart! Thank you! I feel smart!”
“You should always feel smart,” Joy said. “You’re an intelligent person. You just need to get guys off your mind.”
“Aw, no, I can’t do that. They’re so luscious!”
“Well, I’m here if you need me,” Joy said. Latrice hugged her.
Over the next weeks, Joy got to know Latrice, tutoring her occasionally, doing homework with her in the library, hanging out with her in classes and during breaks throughout the day. Eventually Latrice joined Joy, Anisha, and Cleo for their lunches in the biology room. Latrice confided that it had taken her a while to work up the nerve to ask Joy to tutor her. She said she’d wanted to be friends with Joy from the time they met in Joy’s first English class, but, while now Joy was easy to talk to, back then she thought Joy was distant. Joy was glad that Latrice was honest.
Joy was also glad to have a black friend at Citygrove. Sometimes D’Arnell, a congenial sophomore, also made small talk with her, but most of the other black students still scowled at her. Joy liked to think she was the type of individual who could “look past skin color and see the person, but sometimes,” she said, “you can’t help but feel more comfy with people who are like you.”
A few weeks later, Joy was walking to Ross to shop for clothes when she ran into Ariana, the foster girl from PE. “Hey! How are you doing? Where do you live?” Joy asked.
“I’m okay,” Ariana said. “I live like two hours away.”
“So you’re going to the bus stop?”
“No, I don’t have money to take the bus.”
“Oh.” Joy wanted to give