41 pages • 1 hour read
Dana Lynn starts having dreams about her heart as different objects at the same time she starts dating Marcus McCready III, an 18-year-old student at her high school who approaches her in the supermarket, calling her “Jailbait” and asking her for her number. She agrees to be his secret girlfriend in order to protect him from statutory rape laws that he has already broken with other girls. She is titillated when she finds out his father is friends with James.
Dana Lynn makes friends with a bald-headed girl named Ronalda Harris, whom she finds to be “fascinating” but Marcus finds to be “weird.” Ronalda is Marcus’s neighbor, and she sometimes comes to his parties and keeps Dana Lynn company.
One time, Dana Lynn goes to Ronalda’s house to tutor her. Ronalda recently moved to a new school with a much more advanced curriculum than the one she is used to. After studying, the girls get drunk off wine coolers in Ronalda’s furnished basement. For a moment, Dana Lynn is startled by a pornographic photo of an African American woman on the wall that says “Think About It” at the bottom. It makes her think about what type of woman James might hang up in his home.
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By Tayari Jones