But no matter where we move, Kenya spots Denasia and glares at her. Tonight, Denasia’s dancing with some guy halfway across the room and paying no attention to Kenya. I don’t remember much about Denasia, but I remember that she and Kenya haven’t liked each other since fourth grade. Like at Big D’s party, Kenya is giving Denasia Allen some serious stank eye. Still, you don’t see me going around starting shit. Everybody knows you don’t mess with my dad, Big Mav, and you definitely don’t mess with his kids. Yeah it’s true, but I wish she’d stop picking fights so she can use her trump card. Always fighting somebody and quick to say her daddy will whoop somebody’s ass. It’s easy to hang out with Kenya because of our connection to Seven. Kenya is about the only person I hang out with in Garden Heights-it’s hard to make friends when you go to a school that’s forty-five minutes away and you’re a latchkey kid who’s only seen at her family’s store. She’s the perfect height for modeling too, but a little thicker than those toothpicks on the runway. She’s got flawless dark-brown skin-I don’t think she ever gets a pimple-slanted brown eyes, and long eyelashes that aren’t store-bought. Kenya could be a model, if I’m completely honest. “Well, I ain’t babysitting you all night, so you better do something,” Kenya says and scopes the room. Plus, if I pull it over my nose, I can’t smell the weed. The hoodie’s way too big, but I like it that way. My Jordans are comfortable, and damn, they’re new. “Whatever.” If I knew following her to this party meant she’d be on some Extreme Makeover: Starr Edition mess, I would’ve stayed home and watched The Fresh Prince reruns. “Do I look like I care what people think?” Got folks thinking you’re my girlfriend.” Her momma is Seven’s momma, and my dad is Seven’s dad. Kenya and I share an older brother, Seven. “And it wouldn’t kill you to not dress like . . .” She turns up her nose as she looks from my sneakers to my oversized hoodie. I’ve been hearing that for six years, ever since my parents put me in Williamson Prep. You act like you don’t know nobody ’cause you go to that school.” I put it on the coffee table and say, “Folks kill me, thinking they know what I think.” I knew there would be more than Hawaiian Punch in it, but this is way stronger than I’m used to. “I didn’t know so many mind readers lived in Garden Heights.” Or that people know me as anything other than “Big Mav’s daughter who works in the store.” I sip my drink and spit it back out. “People already say you think you all that.” “Stop following me and go dance, Starr,” Kenya says. He always has it on the Friday of spring break because you need Saturday to recover and Sunday to repent. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of them are conceived the night of Big D’s party. Spring in Garden Heights doesn’t always bring love, but it promises babies in the winter. My nana likes to say that spring brings love. Guys in their freshest kicks and sagging pants grind so close to girls they just about need condoms. Got me feeling basic as hell with my ponytail. Girls wear their hair colored, curled, laid, and slayed.
I’ve always heard that everybody and their momma comes to his spring break parties-well, everybody except me-but damn, I didn’t know it would be this many people. Between the headache from the loud-ass music and the nausea from the weed odor, I’ll be amazed if I cross the room without spilling my drink. Kenya holds up her cup and dances her way through the crowd. Some rapper calls out for everybody to Nae-Nae, followed by a bunch of “Heys” as people launch into their own versions. A haze lingers over the room, smelling like weed, and music rattles the floor. I squeeze through sweaty bodies and follow Kenya, her curls bouncing past her shoulders. Big D’s spring break party is one of those places. There are just some places where it’s not enough to be me. I’m not even sure I belong at this party. THE HATE U GIVE goes on sale February 28, 2017, but you can start reading below! And don’t forget to add it to your Goodreads shelf here! Soon to be a major motion picture from Fox 2000/Temple Hill Productions. The Hate U Give is about an ordinary girl in extraordinary circumstances and addresses issues of racism and police violence with intelligence, heart, and unflinching honesty. Read the first three chapters from THE HATE U GIVE by Angie Thomas, a young adult novel inspired by Black Lives Matter.
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