Body By Night by Zuri Day Read Free Book Online

she didn’t need a machine to do it. She added the scale to a basket filled with a case of Slimfast, a case of water, low-cal popcorn, toiletries, and a varied assortment of Just My Size workout clothes. At the last minute, she veered to the toy aisle and picked up Hannah Montana gear: a guitar for Kayla, a doll for Tonia, and a Transformer set for Antoine. She thought about buying an outfit for each of them, then decided to wait until they were with her. Instead she chose a couple kid-friendly DVDs. Just as she was about to turn into the center aisle, she heard a familiar voice.
    “…you should have tried to make the show. Tevin Campbell, Al B. Sure and Keith Sweat brought it back for real, but Bobby Brown was a hot mess. He was up there spilling his business, putting Whitney on blast. He needs to forget about her and concentrate on getting his own act together.”
    “But did he sing my jam, ‘My Prerogative’?”
    Chanelle. Even with the painful events that caused their separation, D’Andra smiled at the memories hearing her former best friend’s voice evoked. Bobby Brown and “My Prerogative” is how they became best friends at Marcus Garvey Elementary School when they were both ten years old. The school held a talent contest and what would later be dubbed the Fabulous Four—D’Andra, Chanelle, Connie and Dominque—created a fancy and fiery dance routine to their then-favorite R&B hit and favorite singer. Chanelle—who was nicknamed Nelly—especially had been in love with Bobby Brown. He’d even inspired her first romantic encounter with Phillip Jackson, if two ten-year-olds pressing closed lips together at the downtown skating rink can be called romantic. The only reason the kid got play at all is because he had his hair cut in a fade just like Bobby Brown.
    “Ooh, I saw you kissing Phillip. You like him.”
    “So.”
    “So you like him, that’s so.”
    Chanelle had giggled childishly. “You think he’s cute?”
     
    D’Andra had nodded. Of course he was cute. His hair was cut like their idol. He even looked a little like him: tall, skinny, his skin a Bobby-colored brown. But D’Andra would have found little wrong with what Chanelle did or who she liked. She’d been the first person who made D’Andra feel pretty, in spite of her weight. This had also happened during the making of what would become the first place dance routine, when they tried to learn the Running Man.
    D’Andra had fallen on Chanelle’s bed, dejected.
    “I can’t do that stupid move.”
    “Yes you can.”
    “Uh-uh.”
    “Why you think you can’t do it D’Andra?”
    “Cause I’m too big, that’s why.”
    “Girl, you ain’t big,” Chanelle said with a serious face, even as her eyes bore into D’Andra’s jelly belly stomach. “My mother is twice as big as you. She can’t even cross her legs, they so big. Can you cross your legs?”
    D’Andra sat up, pushed herself to the edge of the bed and promptly crossed her legs.
    “See? If you can cross your legs, you ain’t too fat, you just got cushion for the pushin’.”
    Neither girl knew exactly what that meant but Chanelle had heard her mother refer to herself that way. “Plus you’ve got pretty eyes. I wish my eyes were that color.”
    “Really?” It was the first compliment D’Andra received from a peer and it moved Chanelle to the front of her friend line. Especially since everyone thought Chanelle was one of the cutest girls in their class, with her mocha brown skin, wavy hair and lean limbs.
    “Uh-huh. Now come on, let’s watch the video again so we can do that part just like Bobby does.”
     
    Filled with newfound confidence, D’Andra had danced as if her life depended on it. They’d rocked the Running Man, the Alf, the Smurf and a floor maneuver that involved a roll and a twist that D’Andra had at first felt impossible for her to achieve. D’Andra really gained points when it turned out she was the only one who could Moonwalk. The rest of the