Back That Thing

  Text copyright © 2015 by Stephanie Perry Moore

  All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.

  Darby Creek

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  Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA

  For reading levels and more information, look up this title at www.lernerbooks.com.

  Cover: © iStockphoto.com/kate_sept2004 (teen girl); © Andrew Marginean/Dreamstime.com (brick hall background); © Andrew Scherbackov/Shutterstock.com (notebook paper).

  Interior: © Andrew Marginean/Dreamstime.com (brick hall background); © Sam74100/Dreamstime.com, pp. 1, 38, 69; © Luba V Nel/Dreamstime.com, pp. 9, 45, 76; © iStockphoto.com/kate_sept2004, pp. 16, 51, 82; © Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Thinkstock, pp. 24, 57, 88; © Rauluminate/iStock/Thinkstock, pp. 31, 63, 95.

  Main body text set in Janson Text LT Std 12/17.5.

  Typeface provided by Adobe Systems.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Moore, Stephanie Perry.

  Back that thing / by Stephanie Perry Moore.

  pages cm. — (The Swoop List ; #3)

  Summary: The “Swoop List” girls are forced to examine their pasts and why their names are on that roster of so-called sluts, as well as what they should do—individually and in support of one another—to turn things around.

  ISBN 978-1-4677-5806-2 (lib. bdg. : alk. paper)

  ISBN 978-1-4677-6051-5 (pbk.)

  ISBN 978-1-4677-6193-2 (eBook pdf)

  [1. Conduct of life—Fiction. 2. Dating (Social customs)—Fiction. 3. Sex—Fiction. 4. Interpersonal relations—Fiction. 5. High schools—Fiction. 6. Schools—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.M788125Bac 2015

  [Fic]—dc23

  2014027381

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  1 – SB – 12/31/14

  eISBN: 978-1-46776-193-2 (pdf)

  eISBN: 978-1-46777-890-9 (ePub)

  eISBN: 978-1-46777-891-6 (mobi)

  For

  my debutantes

  Autumn Astin

  Kaylyn Becton

  Angel Carter

  Gloria Clark

  Devin Edwards

  Taylor Evans

  Candace Kenney

  Taylor Jackson

  Keyarria Mack

  Sydni Moore

  My’esha Robinson

  Darby Thorne

  You are budding roses, blooming and blossoming.

  Continue to look in the mirror and love the beautiful creation reflected there!

  CHAPTER ONE

  Hater (Sanaa’s Beginning)

  As Sanaa Mathis pulled up to the group home after Olive Bell called her in hysterics, asking her to come over because they desperately needed to talk, Sanaa reflected on all that was going on with her new group of friends, the swoop list girls. These girls had been ostracized by their community after they were put on a list of so-called easy girls, the swoop list. But they’d now come together to help each other. They changed the meaning of the swoop list by swooping into each other’s lives and encouraging each other to take control of their situations.

  However, when Sanaa took a walk down memory lane in her own life, as close as she was to her new friends, she did miss her old friend Toni. Sanaa and Toni had been friends since nursery school. Over the years, Sanaa had gotten used to their healthy competition. Every time Sanaa did something, Toni wanted to do it too. It was like they had the same taste in everything: dresses, extracurricular activities, and—as they got to high school—boys. One boy in particular, Miles, had both of their eyes. Miles had arrived at Jackson High School as a junior, and every girl in the school wanted him. Toni was too shy to go after him, so she asked Sanaa to approach him. Sanaa did, but instead of Miles wanting Toni, he wanted Sanaa. Sanaa could never break it to her friend that she’d liked him all along too. Deep down, she felt like a traitor.

  So with this new group of girls, Sanaa didn’t want to mess things up. She didn’t want to compete with them or compare herself to them. She wanted to be happy for them when they had stuff that she didn’t have. But as Sanaa parked in front of the group home to see Olive, she was reminded again that Olive didn’t even have parents. Sanaa felt privileged. Though her family struggled to pay the bills and she barely ever had new stuff, at least she had a family.

  As soon as Olive opened up the door, Sanaa hugged her tight. Olive smiled and said, “What? I know I sounded desperate on the phone, but I’m okay.”

  “No, I know. I just wanted to tell you I appreciate you.”

  “Well, thank you for coming over here! Girl, you gotta see this. This is crazy, and I’m just stressed because Charles has got to go in front of a judge tomorrow.” Charles had been Olive’s foster brother, but recently they’d discovered they had deep romantic feelings for each other. But after some fights with gang members, Charles was in trouble with the law.

  “Can I help?” Sanaa asked.

  “I wish someone could. I don’t know how this will turn out, but they’re talking about removing Charles from the group home.”

  Clutching her heart, Sanaa said, “Are you serious?”

  Trying not to cry, Olive said, “Yes.”

  As Sanaa thought about it, maybe it wasn’t so bad. Maybe removing Charles would eliminate all the gang tension. Because Charles wasn’t trying to let up on revenge against the Black Oil gang that had shot up the group home and injured his foster brother, Shawn, Sanaa believed things were only going to get more violent.

  Sanaa knew her girlfriend needed her support, so she kept her opinion to herself and changed the subject. “You just said you got some weird message, right?”

  Olive grabbed her bag and reached inside. “Yeah, earlier I go into my book bag to pull out my book, and I find this.”

  Shaking, Sanaa said, “Oh my gosh.”

  “I think it’s from that girl, Leah, who keeps writing to us.”

  “But she’s dead. How is she writing this if she’s dead?” Sanaa started shaking harder when she took the paper from Olive to check it out.

  It read:

  Dear Swoop List Girl,

  I’m applauding you from heaven, can’t you hear? Y’all have come together. Y’all are believing, but now you need to look within and undo your wrongs. Let’s call a spade a spade. You’re on the swoop list for a reason. You and your friends need to examine what that reason is and take care of it.

  Leah

  “I’m getting a little tired of this guessing game. If she’s dead, she can’t really be the one writing these notes,” Olive said in an irritated voice.

  “I know. But who is sending us these letters, then? Who is she, and why does she care about us?”

  “I don’t know, but we need to find out.”

  Sanaa nodded. “Yeah, we need to find out.”

  The two girls hugged. Sanaa encouraged Olive to hold on. But she believed deep down everything was going to be okay with Charles. That was all Olive needed to hear to reciprocate with another big hug before Sanaa got in her car.

  But Sanaa just didn’t want to drive home. She knew that what she’d been putting off for a long time needed to be dealt with now. So, consciously, she drove over to Toni’s house.

  When she saw Toni’s car in the driveway, she texted her and said, “Hey. R U there? Im in ur driveway. I wanna talk.”

  She waited seven minutes, and finally Toni texted back, “I guess
U can come in.”

  “Are you coming in or what?” Toni said in a nasty way when she opened the door. “I can’t believe you’d just show up to my house. I could’ve been entertaining company, but I guess you think the boys just want you and your friends.”

  “No. I didn’t say that at all.” Sanaa stepped into the entryway. “But it sounds like you’re saying that my friends and I are the only ones that could be entertaining a boy. Contrary to what that stupid list says, we didn’t deserve to be on it. No one does.”

  “But you are on the list,” Toni said as she looked at Sanaa like she was trash. “So now what? What did you want to say to me? Why are you here?”

  Instead of being prideful and turning around to walk away because she knew she already had the one thing Toni wanted, Sanaa breathed deeply and said, “Our relationship has gotten off track, and I’m gonna take full responsibility for that. I’ve been keeping something from you, and—”

  “And what?”

  “Remember when you asked me to talk to Miles for you?”

  “Yeah. You came back and basically said he didn’t give you an answer about me. You told me everything. What else is there to say?” Toni said, looking suspicious.

  “I guess what I didn’t share is that Miles said he liked me.”

  Toni rolled her eyes and yelled, “You mean you gave him things he wanted, so he liked you! You pleased him, so he had no choice but to like you. You trumped me with your body, and he chose you. You never had the gall to tell me. Is that what you’re telling me?”

  “No, it wasn’t like that.”

  “What was it like, Sanaa?”

  “I liked him too. But I wasn’t trying to throw myself on him when I went to him. I told him about you, but he started saying all these things about me, and I just—”

  “What? You couldn’t be a real best friend? You’re nothing but a tramp. Get out my house!” Toni said as she pushed Sanaa toward the door.

  Toni pushed so hard that Sanaa’s head hit the door with a bang. When Sanaa saw Toni charging toward her, she kicked her in the stomach. The two of them started wrestling.

  “I’m so glad we ain’t friends no more. You’re such a traitor!” Toni said as she yanked some of Sanaa’s hair.

  “Stop! You’re gonna pull my hair out!”

  But Toni wouldn’t stop, so Sanaa yanked on Toni’s hair and said, “What? I’m gonna pull your weave out. This is why I didn’t tell you, because it’s always about you! Who cares what Miles and I were feeling. Anything I got, you always want. You were never my best friend. You’re just my best hater.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Spoiler (Willow’s Beginning)

  Willow Dean was sprawled out across her bed, looking up at the ceiling as she talked on the phone with Pia Alvarez, one of the other swoop list girls. A couple of weeks ago, Pia ran away from home because her mother’s boyfriend had crossed boundaries and come on to her. With Willow’s mom being a pastor and all, Pia felt safe staying there, and she did for a week. But then Pia went back home. Willow hadn’t seen her around school and wanted to make sure that she was okay.

  “You didn’t have to leave here, you know?” Willow told Pia.

  “Yeah, but things were getting a little tight around your house too, and I just didn’t wanna overstay my welcome.”

  Willow rolled over and buried her head in her pillow and started kicking her feet. Willow knew Pia was right. Things at her house were far from normal. Her parents had been arguing, practically nonstop. If it wasn’t about dinner, it was about finances. But the biggest blowup of all happened around Willow’s confessions.

  Back in January, when Willow’s parents got onto her about their disappointment surrounding her promiscuous behavior, she shut both of them down, claiming they had no right to judge her. Her mom cringed when she talked about her dad’s porno stash, and her dad was furious when she talked about the sex toys her mom had. At the time, Willow didn’t realize that her parents hadn’t known these things about each other.

  “Actually, I like having you here, Pia,” Willow admitted. “At least my parents had to act civilized. But things have gotten so much worse since you’re gone. I don’t think they’re gonna make it.”

  “Please, girl. If anybody’s got hope to make it, it’s your parents. Your mom’s a pastor.”

  “And? You act like people of the clergy don’t get divorces...they do,” Willow stated emphatically before changing the conversation. “Forget me. What’s going on with you? Please tell me that creepy guy your mom liked isn’t around anymore.”

  “No, I told my mom I wouldn’t be coming back if he was. At least she was kind enough to heed my warning for a change.”

  “Well, that’s good. See, she loves you.”

  “Whatever. She just has interest in someone new.”

  “Well, that’s good too, right?”

  “No, it’s not, because he seems just as crazy.”

  Willow shouted, “He’s coming on to you too?”

  “No, he’s just enabling all of my mom’s bad habits.”

  “Hang in there girl,” Willow told Pia, realizing that neither one of them could control their parents, but hoping that, if they held on, things would get better.

  Willow’s annoying younger brother, Will, burst into her room. “Mom is calling you.”

  “Don’t you see I’m on the phone?”

  Before he could shout out the she was basically being disrespectful by telling her parents to hold on, she gave her brother a stern look. Will owed her big time. He had wrecked her car, but Willow had let her parents think she had been the one driving it.

  “Well, just hurry up. I don’t think it’s good news.”

  Willow squinted her eyes, told Pia she’d talk to her later, and went into the family room, where her mother was sitting on the couch and her dad was leaning against the wall with his arms folded like he was disinterested.

  “What’s up, y’all?” Willow said.

  “Sit down, honey,” her mom told her. “Your dad and I are planning to take a break.”

  “That’s good! Y’all need to go away for a vacation,” Willow uttered. “I am old enough to stay here. I’m a senior in high school. You don’t have to worry about the little brat. Y’all take some time. When you going?”

  “You need to tell that girl,” her father said to her mother.

  “Yeah, sweetie, I don’t think you understand,” her mother said. “Your dad and I are gonna take a real break. He’s gonna move out for a little while. We’re gonna be separated.”

  “No!” William screamed. At first Willow didn’t know what to say, but then she felt she needed answers.

  “What do you mean y’all are gonna be separated? Why?” she asked desperately.

  “You don’t need to ask why, pumpkin,” her dad said as he came over to her and lifted up her chin. Willow knew the reason why. Had she kept her mouth closed and not said anything about her parents’ private sex lives, none of this would be happening.

  Crying she said, “But Daddy, you love Mommy.”

  “This doesn’t have anything to do with love,” he said to her. “This has to do with what’s best.”

  “So giving up on your family is best?”

  Her mother added, “We just said we’re taking a break.”

  Frustrated, Willow huffed, “Yeah, right! When people get separated, the next thing you know they’re divorced. I’m not an idiot. Mom, aren’t you gonna try to fight for your marriage?”

  Willow rushed over to her mother, but her mother looked away. Willow jetted out of the house. She ran to house next door to see her neighbor Dawson. Willow banged on Dawson’s bedroom window. He opened up the blinds. She motioned for him to come to the back door.

  “What’s wrong? What’s going on?” Dawson said.

  “It’s my parents. They’re separating!” He reached his arms out to hug her, but she pushed away. “You don’t understand. If my dad leaves the house, I know he’s not coming back. He’s stubborn
. My mom’s stubborn too. She wouldn’t want him back even if he wanted to come back. They’ll be getting a divorce for sure.”

  “Breaks ain’t always bad. My dad left a couple years ago, and there’s been a whole bunch of peace in this house since then.”

  “So? I’m not your family! What’s good for you isn’t good for me. And you had nothing to do with your parents splitting up. If my parents separate, I’ll never be able to live with myself.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Because it’s all my fault. I’m the one who couldn’t stand them getting on me, so I got on them. And maybe I should have done that privately. Or I should’ve kept my mouth shut. I shouldn’t have aired their dirty laundry in front of both of them, because clearly, they didn’t know what was going on.”

  “Maybe they should have.”

  “I know, but I just should’ve stayed out of it. I just should’ve done what I usually do: let them fuss at me, and let it go in one ear and out the other.”

  “How would that have made anything better?”

  “I could’ve handled it, and my family would still be together. But they kept pushing and belittling me, and I just got tired of them, so I pushed back. And because of my insolence, I’m gonna lose my family. Dang, I’m kicking myself, Dawson. I had to be the spoiler.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Encourager (Olive’s Beginning)

  Olive stood with Charles outside of the courthouse with her hands cupped around his face. In the pit of her gut, she was just as frightened as he was, but she wanted him to see her strength. A couple weeks ago, he was arrested at the Valentine’s Day dance for having a knife and attacking Tiger, the leader of Black Oil. Charles had spent two days in juvenile detention. But since the judge thought he was a danger not only to himself, but also to his environment, the Department of Family and Children Services was recommending that he be removed from the group home.

  Olive said, “Everything’s gonna be okay. Just don’t act all defiant. Make the judge know you feel remorseful. You’re gonna be back home in no time.”