Kendra

I avoided the mud puddle that had been made in the last ten minutes since I started walking. The rain was really starting to come down, making me regret not taking my car. I was on my way to work just a few blocks away, but of course I had forgotten my umbrella, never once looking up at the sky to see what it was going to do. My hair was wet and I could feel it sticking to the sides of my face and I finally just went into an all-out sprint the last block and a half to the Harris County Youth Shelter, also known as Link. I was already soaked to the bone.

When I got to the door, I had to push the intercom button to get buzzed in. The first person I saw was Craig with a grin on his face and a towel in his hand.

“Come on Kendra. You are looking like a drowned rat. Get out of the rain. Didn’t you see the weather channel?”

My eyes met Craig’s and I smiled at him. “Thanks. You always know how to make a girl feel good. Always got just the right thing to say. And no, I didn’t watch the weather channel. They are always wrong anyways”

“You know that it is a compliment Kendra. You are the only one I know that can pull off the look of being drenched in a pop up thunderstorm. Every other girl would have melted with all of the makeup that they wear. Why didn’t you just drive in?”

“It’s only a few blocks, but I would have if I would have known. I never do get used to these summer random showers. It seems like they come out of nowhere and I am never ready for them.”

“You will get used to Miami. The weather just takes time and you will learn to always carry an umbrella because it is going to more than likely rain at some point most days.”

“I’m learning.”

He smiled at me and for a minute there was something else in his brown eyes that I had seen before, desires. I knew that Craig liked me, but I tried hard not to encourage it. He wasn’t my type, if I even had one. He was too needy, too nice, too much of all of the good things that you wanted in a man, but somehow it all became too much when culminated together in Craig. I liked him as a friend, but I don’t think that I was going to be able to like him in any capacity past that.

The man wasn’t bad looking, not really. He was tall and muscular with a shock of longish red hair and a few freckles on his face. It was the intensity of everything that made Craig hard to even consider a romantic relationship with. He was a good friend though and great with the kids at work. I liked working with him and over the years working together, we had an easy relationship that I would miss if I didn’t have.

“So how was your weekend?” I was trying to get his mind off of me and back on something that he could have. He was trying to worm his way into my life, a little more every day.

I shrugged and started towards the employee’s locker room. I probably did look like a drowned rat, but I kept extra clothes in my locker just in case. Changing and drying my hair with another dry towel as best as I could, I clocked in and went into the facility. Craig was already doing a roll call and I walked in on the last of it.

“So is everyone here?”

He nodded and I started in on announcements that were posted. It was a big day for many of the twenty-four girls in the youth center because it was a field trip day. Every girl there was in their teenage years and had gotten in trouble for one thing or another. It didn’t mean they were bad, but it did mean that their movement was limited to say the least. This was a day that they got to go back out in the real world and see how they did.

It was a good time and it was a stressful one for me and Craig because we had a lot of kids to be responsible for without the benefit of the center to help keep them contained. After the roll call was done, everyone was given some time to get their things together before we left. We planned a skating party at the nearby skating rink. We had tried to get it for the whole two hours exclusively, but there was another party going on, so there would be more than just the girls there. I was anxious how everything was going to turn out. These things would either be really good or really bad. Link was just that sort of place and I had learned to take the good with the bad and prepare for the worst.

Craig asked me if I wanted to drive and I agreed. He drove too slowly in my opinion to ever get anywhere on time and I knew that this way we would get there at a decent time, even though we were already running a little late.  We all lined up and went to the van, counting heads one more time before we took off. It was procedure and even though it was tedious most of the time, I had gotten so used to the constant count that it was almost like second nature.

“I guess we are all here. Why doesn’t everyone take a seat and we will be on our way. If everyone follows the rules, we will stop for pizza and ice cream on the way back.”

There were several cheers and I looked back through the rearview mirror of the bus, studying everyone’s face to give me an idea of who was and who wasn’t going to mind. Sarah and Jessica were looking moody today and I told myself that I was going to have to keep my eyes on them.

We got there in record time and the girls were excited to be out. I tried to get a tally as they raced off of the bus, but I knew there was no use. They had seen boys, the bane of all our existence and instead of going in, they were far more worried about standing outside of the bus, giggling and looking towards the teenaged boys that were there for a birthday party. My day just went from bad to worse and I looked over at Craig.

“This is going to be fun.”

He nodded and I could tell that he was thinking about the same thing. It was going to be a pain in the ass and I guess I was going to have to be ready for it. There was nothing else to do then to get the girls inside and at least have them contained in one place for a little while.

I had a feeling with the addition of twenty or so boys, this outing was going to be interesting.

***

“Miss Kendra, they are about to start fighting in the bathroom. I don’t want to get anyone in trouble, but I don’t want us all to have to leave either. I am having a good time.”

“Who?”

Dontella just shook her shoulders like she didn’t know. I knew that she didn’t want to be a tattletale, but at the end of the day she didn’t have to be because I was already on my way there. I told Craig that I was going to go check things out and I hoped that I didn’t get there too late. Fights happened in Link, but they never helped anything and it was silly to think that this time around would be any different.

I didn’t know what it was about, but I hoped that I could get there in time to see it de-escalate. Most of the girls were on probation of some sort and I would have to report them. I didn’t want to, but we couldn’t have fighting at the center. If only they would just wait until I got there, maybe I would be able to fix it. I had to try at least. There had been something between them the two girls this morning when we were on the bus and I almost was sure I knew who I was going to find fighting in the bathroom. I should have pulled them aside when we first got here. If they knew that they were being watched by me, they might not have started something because they would have been reminded of the consequences.

I walked into the bathroom just before the first punch was thrown. I could see that it was Sarah that threw it, but by the way that Jessica was talking that made me think she had most likely been the one that started it. I couldn’t tell, but I had to get them broken up, one hit on each side was not enough to call the cops. Not if it never left the bathroom and wasn’t talked about again.

“Stop you two, right now!” My tone changed and I moved in between the two of them. I almost thought for a minute I was going to be the third in the fight, but then I realized that I had to stop this. They were as big as I was, thanks to shortness from my mother’s side of the family. Jessica was the first to pull away and the other wasn’t too far to follow. Sarah apologized, but she was looking at Jessica like she wanted to start it all over again. I was going to have to get to the bottom of this before it did restart.

“What is going on here?”

“She is such a bitch!”

It was Sarah that was madder one and I had a feeling that my first instinct was going to be right. Jessica was a bit of a troublemaker and it didn’t take long into the story to see where it was all going.

“Then she knew that I wanted to dance with Devin and she waited till I went to the bathroom to ask him if he wanted to skate together.”

“Who is Devin?”

She tried to explain the boy to me with his looks and I just shook my head. They were fighting over a boy from the other party that they had just met. The two went to the same school, but of course it would be a stranger that put the two at each other’s throats. That or it was just the last straw for Sarah. She was usually a calm person, but her temper problems are what brought her here in the first place.

“So are you telling me that you two are fighting over some guy that you just met an hour ago?”

Sarah told me that she had known him for some time outside of the rink and that Jessica knew it. I could see her point and side, but it was my job to not take one, even if I really wanted to.

“Jessica, what do you have to say to yourself?”

“Well, he was really cute. I didn’t know that she was going to be that mad. She was looking at other guys here. She is just mad because I wouldn’t let her wear this shirt today. We are always around each other and I think we are just getting to be around each other too much.”

Jessica was a diplomat, but she was slick and I wasn’t sure if I believed either one of them. The truth was usually a version somewhere in the middle of the two stories. This time was no different.

“This is ridiculous. You know that I am supposed to report any physical altercations with you guys. You are both on probation and could get kicked out of here if they find out. You know where they are going to send you next and there will be nothing that I can do about it. All because of some boy! Let me let you in on a little secret ladies, boys are just not worth it. It is that simple and the sooner you come to realize this, the better off you are going to be. Your friends will be there between all of the men in your lives and they are going to be the ones that stay around to have your back.”

Sarah asked me why I was sure of it. “I am not that old. It wasn’t that long ago that I was your age. I lost one of my best friends over some guy and the sad thing is that neither one of us are with him now. Now I haven’t seen her in years and it was all because of some guy that really didn’t mean all that much at the end of the day. Trust me when I say that there are going to be a lot of Devins in the world that are going to try to come between the two of you. None of them are going to be worth losing a good friend for.”

I hoped that I had gotten through to them, but you can never be sure. They didn’t fight anymore and even though I should have reported them, I just didn’t have the heart to. I wanted to see them get out of Link and back on to their lives. I still had hopes that they would do well and one day that would remember Link fondly as the place where they turned everything around. This was my hope anyways and only time would tell if it would become a reality or not.

Leaving work that night, I was tired, but I felt good about the day. Everyone else had a good time and even Sarah and Jessica made up and had a good time themselves after the bathroom incident. It was a good day and even though it was the beginning of the week, I felt like it was the tail end of it already. Work at Link was emotional and draining sometimes. It also brought up thoughts from the past. I couldn’t help but remember when I had let a boy get into the middle of my friendship with someone I had known for years.

The story I told them wasn’t a lie. I had lost a good friend because of a boy and we hadn’t been much older than they were. Amber and I had been inseparable back then. If not for a man getting in our way, I think that we would still be friends to this day. It was all because of Dennis though. He had changed everything. But even now I wondered if I would have done with the same advice that I had given them. Some men had a way of making a girl go crazy. Dennis had been the one to do that to me. Would I have heeded such a warning at their age?