Operation Get Rid of Mom's New Boyfriend Read online

  Operation Get Rid of Mom’s New Boyfriend

  By N. Joy

  The author of the American Library Association Coretta Scott King Honor,

  The Secret Olivia Told Me

  Smashwords edition

  Operation Get Rid of Mom’s New Boyfriend©Copyright 2011 by

  End of the Rainbow Projects

  P.O. Box 128

  Reynoldsburg, OH 43068

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system without prior consent of the publisher, except for brief quotes used in reviews.

  ISBN: 09781301326648

  First Published December 2011

  This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places and incidents is entirely coincidental.

  Submit Orders to:

  End of the Rainbow Projects

  P.O. Box 128

  Reynoldsburg, OH 43068

  614-806-6204

  Dedication

  For Daryn, Joy, Hennessey and Kennedy, better known as the DJHK Gurls. Thank you for letting me be a part of your young lives, which was just the tool I needed to complete this project that was almost five years in the making.

  Acknowledgement

  Regina Brooks, thanks for not letting me walk into the world of Tweens with my slip showing. Your time, insightful thoughts and ideas concerning my first draft helped me to make the story what it is today.

  Chapter One

  Meet the Soul Sisters

  It was Monday morning and the three sisters, Kennedy, Daryn and Joy Soul, were all doing their own thing before heading out for school. So far, the girls’ mother, Sammi, which was short for Samantha, hadn’t heard a peep out of any of them. That only meant one thing; that they weren’t in the same room together. Because my oh my, when the Soul Sisters were in the same room together, everyone would know it. Matter of fact, they would hear it!

  “Stop looking at me!” would probably be something Daryn, the youngest of the sisters, would be yelling out. Being the fashionista that she was, she always felt that all eyes were on her. She loved it; but hated it if the eyes belonged to her menacing big sisters.

  “If you don’t turn back to the sports highlights, I’m going to take this basketball and bounce it off your big head, you loser.” Now that’s definitely something Kennedy, the oldest, would be saying. She’d have her basketball in hand to back up her threat.

  “How in the world did someone as smart as me end up having two big mouth dummies for sisters?” A tsk and the shaking of her head would follow Daryn’s, the middle child’s, comment. This straight ‘A’ genius had no problem rubbing her intellect in her sisters’ faces.

  These three girls couldn’t be in the same room without finding at least one thing to argue, bicker or complain about amongst each other. And these little ladies took no prisoners, nor did they take sides with one another. It was every Soul sister for herself. Each was well equipped with her very own opinion that was sure to differ from that of the others’. Getting these three sisters to see eye to eye or agree on anything was like getting a fat kid to give up his last slice of pizza.

  Kennedy felt that she was the boss of her sisters, and rightfully so, being that she was the oldest of the three. However, Daryn and Joy saw her as nothing more than an overgrown bully. The thing was, Kennedy was a totally different person at school, hardly ever saying two words to her sisters, let alone trying to bully them.

  “And it’s a good thing too,” Daryn would always say, ready to report even her own sister to the school principal, which is what the anti-bullying program their school had in place suggested.

  Daryn was convinced, though, that her older sister’s age had nothing on her own degree of wisdom, intelligence and wit. Daryn was undisputedly the most studious of the three. In addition to earning good grades, she was the first seventh grader to be voted in as captain of the debating team. This was a first in the entire history of St. Amos Private School. This was the school each of the Soul Sisters attended.

  Their mother was pleased that the girls were all able to go to school together, being that it ranged from kindergarten to twelfth grade. It was her prayer that the girls would look out for one another. They looked out for one another all right, but not in the way Sammi had hoped. If one girl didn’t want to get blind-sided by the other, she had better keep a look out, that was for sure. In order to do so, the girls had to keep both eyes open at all times.

  Joy, even though she was the youngest, was much wiser than her years and too sassy for her own good. Sometimes the words that came out of her mouth even surprised her mother, who would often have to warn Joy that she was getting too big for her britches.

  “Just because your father isn’t here,” Sammi would point at Joy, “doesn’t mean I won’t put you in your place.”

  Those words always straightened Joy out. Not because she took heed to her mother’s threat, but because her thoughts would always go to that of her father. She missed him so much that she never thought the day would come where she would even miss the disciplinarian side of him. But she did. Unfortunately for her, Joy thought, the only side of her father she had around to remind her of him were her two sisters.

  Although the girls tried to forget that they were related on a daily basis, there was no denying that these girls were, in deed, sisters. They looked so much alike it was scary. Each of them looked like spittin’ images of their father. They each had the smooth, caramel skin with dark brown eyes of his African American heritage. Although some of their mother’s Italian American genes peeked through here and there, the girls had definitely taken on more of their father’s traits.

  Each of the girls had always had shoulder length brown hair, but just recently, Kennedy had gotten hers cut into a short bob style. Daryn wore her hair pulled back into a single ponytail while Joy always wore hers in a different style every day. No matter how much they looked like sisters, getting them to act like sisters was next to impossible.

  “I’m really an only child you know?” Kennedy would tease her sisters. “You two are adopted.”

  Of course that wasn’t true, but Kennedy knew it always got under her sisters’ skin. She knew this because of how angry they would get when she said it and because she’d caught them secretly asking their mother to confirm there was no truth to Kennedy’s taunting.

  With each of the Soul Sisters being so different in personality, it was no wonder they couldn’t get along. So whoever made up that saying that blood is thicker than water, surely had never met Kennedy, Daryn and Joy Soul. The only thing these girls knew how to do was draw blood; and each others at that!

  The Soul Sisters took sibling rivalry to a completely new level. This morning would be no different. In a matter of minutes, Sammi would know for certain that her daughters were most definitely in the same room…

  Chapter Two

  Mine, Mine, Mine

  “Hey, that’s my red vest,” Kennedy said to her little sister, Daryn. Kennedy was coming down the steps and into the kitchen. “Take it off. Give it to me now or you’ll be eating a knuckle sandwich for breakfast!” Kennedy approached Daryn with a balled fist. When Daryn just sat at the table totally ignoring Kennedy, her big sister started trying to take the vest off of her.

  “Stop being such a drag,” Daryn told her as she struggled with Kennedy, who was still trying to get the vest off of Daryn. Her older sister’s age might not have been able to stand against Dar
yn’s intellect, but her size sure could. Standing almost six inches taller than Daryn, the four feet and six inches middle child knew better than to put up a physical fight with Kennedy. That didn’t stop her from running her mouth though. “Besides, you weren’t even thinking about the vest until you saw me wearing it,” Daryn continued. Daryn popped her collar and brushed her shoulders off. “You’re just mad I look better than you in it.”

  Daryn had been sitting down at the breakfast table, minding her own business and reading the morning paper while downing a bowl of Cookie Crisp cereal. She sucked her teeth and added, “And on top of that, this vest doesn’t even go with what you’re wearing.” She pushed her dark purple framed glasses up on her nose and continued reading the paper.

  Kennedy looked down at her one-piece, denim, pants jumpsuit with the belt looped around it and her silver platforms that matched the belt. She had chosen pink accessories to highlight her outfit. The accessories consisted of pink heart-shaped earrings with a pink pearl necklace as well as a pink headband. She did look out of sight if she had to say so herself. But no way was she going to allow her little sister to out-do her by trying to look foxy in something that came from Kennedy’s closet.

  “Well, I’m thinking about it now,” Kennedy said sharply, managing to retrieve the red, faux fur vest from off of Daryn.

  Fortunately, Daryn still looked far out with her red and white plaid skirt, white tights, black loafers and long sleeve white shirt with a red and white plaid heart patch in the middle of it. She had only added Kennedy’s vest to the ensemble when she saw it hanging up in the laundry room, calling her name.

  Just as Kennedy had removed the vest from Daryn, Joy entered the kitchen from the direction of the living room. Initially, she couldn’t wait to see what all of the commotion was about so that she could put in her two cents, but as she entered the kitchen, something about Kennedy immediately caught her eye and gave her grounds for a fight of her own.

  “Is that my chain link belt you’re wearing?” Joy said to Kennedy, her words coming out quickly as always. “I know that ain’t my belt you wearing. There is no way you’d be wearing my belt. I just made that belt last week to go with the black and rose two-tone, twist front crop top I made.” Joy sucked her teeth, folded her arms and waited patiently for Kennedy to respond.

  A self-proclaimed fashionista, Joy loved designing clothing and accessories. It was a natural talent she had. She’d been doing it ever since she was five years old and used the train of her mother’s wedding gown as material to make dresses for her doll babies. She hadn’t realized that she was altering a family heirloom so to speak. To a five year old, it just looked like a strip of extra material hanging from a dress.

  “Kennedy, girl, if you don’t get yo’ hips up out of my belt, it’s gon’ be on and poppin’ up in here. You can trust and believe that!” Joy uncrossed her arms and placed them on her hips. She tapped her foot, waiting impatiently for Kennedy to hand over the belt. “Besides, do you really think my belt is going to go with that basketball you carry around? Maybe if you carried around a purse like a normal girl your age instead of an oversized orange of a basketball, that belt might look half way decent on you.” Joy thought about her last statement for a minute while looking Kennedy up and down. “Nahhhh. It would take a total makeover plus plastic surgery to get you looking half way decent. The other half would be a lost cause.”

  Daryn couldn’t help but laugh at the shot her baby sister had just taken at her older sister. But when Kennedy cut evil eyes at Daryn, that immediately ceased her laughter.

  Realizing she must have been on a roll in order to get a chuckle out of her other opposing sister, Joy continued. “Look at you.” She pointed at Kennedy. “You dressing all flashy but carrying around a basketball like some boy. Humpf! Ridiculous.” She rolled her eyes up in her head and then looked up. “God, why did you give me all the fashion sense? I know I‘m full of it, but was there not enough to go around for my tacky sister?”

  “Oh, you’re full of it all right,” Kennedy hissed. Kennedy hated the thought that maybe her sister, Joy, was right about her wardrobe. She looked down at her girly outfit and then thought about her beloved basketball that was sitting at the front door waiting on her. Yeah, maybe a purse would jazz up her outfit a little, but how on earth could she dribble while carrying a purse? Besides, nothing could replace her basketball. Her father had gone out and bought it the day he found out Sammi was pregnant with Kennedy. And nine months later, when the doctor said, “It’s a girl,” instead of “It’s a boy,” that still didn’t deter him from thinking that he had a little basketball star on his hands. So, from the time Kennedy could walk, he’d play driveway basketball with her. It paid off too. She was now one of the star players on the girls’ basketball team at her school.

  With the huge interest Kennedy took in basketball, Sammi thought her first born was going to be a little Tomboy for sure, but she was wrong. Kennedy’s favorite color turned out to be pink and when she was a little girl, she didn’t throw hissy fits when Sammi went to put frilly dresses on her. Sure Kennedy was a little rough around the edges, but she was all girl for sure; basketball in hand or not. And giving up the belt that she felt was icing on the cake to her outfit, she didn’t want to do willingly.

  Mocking her sassy sister, Kennedy threw a hand on her hip and batted her eyes while saying, “Honey, child, this belt was the last thing on that pea brain of yours.” She used her index finger to slightly push Joy’s forehead back. “You’re just mad that it goes better with my basketball than it does with your basketball head.”

  Once again, Daryn couldn’t help but belt out a laugh. She had to give it to her sisters; they could really come up with some slick stuff when they were going at it. Nothing in that newspaper she was reading was more exciting than what was playing out in front of her eyes. “You do know that possession is nine-tenths of the law, don’t you, Joy?” Daryn thought she’d add in. “So in all actuality, that belt-”

  “Who asked you, geek?” Joy shot to Daryn, cutting her off.

  “Geek? Who are you calling a geek?” Daryn snapped. “You little Tyra Stanks, America’s Next Top Bottle head.”

  This time Kennedy burst out laughing, reminding Joy who her real fight was with. So she let Daryn attend to her cereal while she turned her attention back to Kennedy. “Since you think what the nerd here said is so funny that you have to laugh, take my belt off while you’re at it; Ms. LeBron James in drag.”

  Daryn spit out the bite of cereal she’d just spooned into her mouth at that last snap Joy had thrown at Kennedy.

  Kennedy puffed out her chest, mean mugged Joy and said, “I ain’t giving you nothing, so you can keep on truckin’.” She then took her stiff pointed index finger and pushed Joy right in the middle of her forehead, much harder this time. So hard that she almost made her lose her balance.

  “You better keep your hands to yourself or…” an angry Joy started.

  “Or what?” Kennedy seethed through clinched teeth.

  Joy was at a loss for words. She knew when it was time to back down from her oldest sister. She shooed her hand. “Ahh, who cares about that belt anyway? You can have it. It’s probably contaminated now.”

  “I thought so,” Kennedy said with victory in her voice. “It’s not like you needed to wear it any ol’ way. It don’t hardly go with that get-up you call an outfit.” Kennedy chuckled while looking Joy up and down. “And you’re supposed to have a passion for fashion. Tah!”

  Joy looked down at her tan, corduroy bellbottoms that had little sparkles on them. Peeking from underneath her pants were her brown Hush Puppy clogs. To top it all off, she wore a light blue t-shirt with the words “Sassy Girlz Inc.” that she had bedazzled with rhinestones. Sassy Girlz, Inc. was the name she had given her line of fashion designs. She even had a website; www.sassygirlzinc.com. Right now she just sold things like tee shirts, totes and bandanas, but one day little, sassy divas would be strutting her designs across runways
from Japan to Milan.

  After checking herself out, Joy realized that she didn’t really need the belt. She had enough going on already with her outfit. There was plenty of sparkle and glitter without the added visual distraction of a chain link belt. But who cared? The belt was hers, and the last she remembered, she didn’t recall Kennedy asking her permission to wear it. Even if she had asked, the answer would have been a big, fat ‘NO!’

  “See, I was just going to let you wear it, but since you had to have the last word with your smart mouth, I want my belt and I want it now!” Joy said, snapping her neck, then walking over to Kennedy in an attempt to start undoing the belt.

  “I’ll do it myself,” Kennedy said, pushing Joy’s hand from off the belt and removing it from around her waist. “Take your old raggedy belt.” She threw it onto the floor.

  “If it’s so old and raggedy, then why were you trying to wear it?” Joy swayed her hand in front of Kennedy’s face as she bent down and picked the belt up from off the floor.

  When Joy had reached for the belt, that’s when Daryn noticed something familiar. There was a shiny glare coming from Joy’s wrist. Daryn jumped up from her bowl of cereal and approached Joy.

  “If I’m not mistaken,” Daryn said, pushing her glasses up, “And I usually never make mistakes, but isn’t that’s my charm bracelet you’re wearing, Joy?”

  An expression appeared on Joy’s face that read: “Cold busted!”

  “Uh, well, “ Joy stammered.

  “Um, hmm. I thought so,” Daryn said proudly, tooting her nose in the air. “Now if you’d ever be so kind as to return it to its rightful owner, that would be very much appreciated.”

  Joy shot Kennedy a puzzled look, hoping she’d be able to translate what Daryn had just said. Kennedy shrugged and shook her head, signaling she had no idea what Daryn was trying to say.

  “Girl, what in the world did you just say?” Joy asked Daryn.