November Blues Read online

  November Blues

  For my children,

  Wendy, Damon, Cory, and Crystal

  ALSO BY SHARON M. DRAPER

  Copper Sun

  The Battle of Jericho

  Double Dutch

  Romiette & Julio

  The Hazelwood High Trilogy:

  Tears of a Tiger

  Forged by Fire

  Darkness Before Dawn

  Atheneum Books for Young Readers • An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division • 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 • This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. • Copyright © 2007 by Sharon M. Draper • All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. • Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data • Draper, Sharon M. (Sharon Mills) • November blues / Sharon Draper.—1st ed. • p. cm. • Summary: A teenaged boy’s death in a hazing accident has lasting effects on his pregnant girlfriend and his guilt-ridden cousin, who gives up a promising music career to play football during his senior year in high school. • ISBN-13: 978-1-4391-6435-8 • ISBN-10: 1-4391-6435-5 • [1. Pregnancy—Fiction. 2. High schools—Fiction. 3. Schools—Fiction. 4. African Americans—Fiction.] I. Title. • PZ7.D78325No 2007 • [Fic]—dc22 • 2006101343 • “You Are My Sunshine” by Jimmie Davis © 1940 by Peer International Corporation. Copyright Renewed. Used by Permission. All Rights Reserved.

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  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1: NOVEMBER NELSON TUESDAY, MARCH 30

  CHAPTER 2: TUESDAY, MARCH 30

  CHAPTER 3: TUESDAY, MARCH 30

  CHAPTER 4: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31

  CHAPTER 5: JERICHO PRESCOTT THURSDAY, APRIL 1

  CHAPTER 6: THURSDAY, APRIL 1

  CHAPTER 7: NOVEMBER FRIDAY, APRIL 23

  CHAPTER 8: SATURDAY, APRIL 24

  CHAPTER 9: SATURDAY, APRIL 24

  CHAPTER 10: SATURDAY, APRIL 24

  CHAPTER 11: JERICHO FRIDAY, MAY 7

  CHAPTER 12: FRIDAY, MAY 7

  CHAPTER 13: FRIDAY, MAY 7

  CHAPTER 14: NOVEMBER MONDAY, MAY 10

  CHAPTER 15: MONDAY, MAY 10

  CHAPTER 16: MONDAY, MAY 10

  CHAPTER 17: JERICHO TUESDAY, MAY 11

  CHAPTER 18: NOVEMBER THURSDAY, MAY 13

  CHAPTER 19: FRIDAY, MAY 21

  CHAPTER 20: FRIDAY, MAY 21

  CHAPTER 21: FRIDAY, MAY 21

  CHAPTER 22: JERICHO MONDAY, JUNE 14

  CHAPTER 23: MONDAY, JUNE 14

  CHAPTER 24: NOVEMBER MONDAY, JUNE 28

  CHAPTER 25: MONDAY, JUNE 28

  CHAPTER 26: FRIDAY, JULY 2

  CHAPTER 27: FRIDAY, JULY 2

  CHAPTER 28: FRIDAY, JULY 2

  CHAPTER 29: SATURDAY, JULY 17

  CHAPTER 30: SATURDAY, AUGUST 7

  CHAPTER 31: JERICHO FRIDAY, AUGUST 27

  CHAPTER 32: FRIDAY, AUGUST 27

  CHAPTER 33: FRIDAY, AUGUST 27

  CHAPTER 34: NOVEMBER MONDAY, AUGUST 30

  CHAPTER 35: MONDAY, AUGUST 30

  CHAPTER 36: MONDAY, AUGUST 30

  CHAPTER 37: MONDAY, AUGUST 30

  CHAPTER 38: JERICHO FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3

  CHAPTER 39: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4

  CHAPTER 40: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4

  CHAPTER 41: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4

  CHAPTER 42: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4

  CHAPTER 43: NOVEMBER SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4

  CHAPTER 44: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4

  CHAPTER 45: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4

  CHAPTER 46: JERICHO SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5

  CHAPTER 47: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5

  CHAPTER 48: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5

  CHAPTER 49: NOVEMBER SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5

  CHAPTER 50: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2

  CHAPTER 1

  NOVEMBER NELSON

  TUESDAY, MARCH 30

  NOVEMBER NELSON LURCHED TO THE BATHROOM, feeling faint and not quite in control of her suddenly unsteady legs. She touched her forehead and found it warm and glazed with sweat. Sinking down on the soft blue rug in front of the toilet, she was grateful for the momentary stability of the floor. But her head continued to spin, and her stomach churned. She lifted the toilet lid, gazed into the water, and wished she could disappear into its depths. Her breath became more shallow, and her nausea more intense. Finally, uncontrollably, and forcefully, all her distress erupted and she lost her lunch in heaves and waves of vomiting. Pepperoni pizza.

  She flushed the toilet several times as she sat on the floor waiting to feel normal again. Finally she stood up shakily, gargled with peppermint mouthwash, and peered at herself in the mirror.

  “You look like a hot mess,” she whispered to her reflection. Her skin, instead of its usual coppery brown, looked gray and mottled. She hadn’t combed her hair all day, so it was a halo of tangles.

  November knew her mother would be home soon and would be angry to find out she’d skipped school. She didn’t care. Her thoughts were focused on the package in her backpack. Even though she knew the house was empty, she made sure the bathroom door was locked. She dug the little purple and pink box out of her book bag and placed it on the sink. It seemed out of place in her mother’s perfectly coordinated powder blue bathroom.

  With trembling hands she unwrapped the plastic and opened the box. She read the directions carefully. She looked out of the small bathroom window and watched the last of the early spring snow melting on the grass. Everything looked the same, but she knew in her heart that it was all different now.

  November finally turned back to the little white tube in the box and followed the instructions, which were written, she noticed, in Spanish and French as well. Three minutes later the indicator silently screamed the news that she already suspected. She was pregnant.

  CHAPTER 2

  TUESDAY, MARCH 30

  “I BROUGHT YOUR HOMEWORK, GIRL,” Dana announced as she bounded through the front door. “Whew! It’s cold out there. Calendar says spring, but the weather doesn’t seem to know that.” She shivered and tossed her coat on the sofa.

  “Thanks,” said November quietly. “Did I miss much?”

  “Same old junk. Busywork. The chemistry might kick your butt, but everything else is pretty easy. You got anything to eat? I just left the library and I’m starved.”

  The thought of food made November instantly queasy, but she heated up a bowl of her mother’s spaghetti in the microwave for Dana. “Dig in,” November said as she fished for a spoon in the silverware drawer and slid the bowl across the table.

  “Aren’t you gonna eat?” asked Dana. “Your mom makes the best pasta in the world!”

  “I already ate,” November lied. She picked at a crumb on the table.

  “What’s wrong, November?” her friend asked, cocking her head.

  “Nothing. Just thinking about Josh, I guess.”

  “Still hurts deep, doesn’t it?” Dana said, reaching for November’s arm.

  “You don’t know the half of it,” replied November.

  “Well, let’s see what we can do to make you feel better. You ever heard of a brush and comb?” Dana teased.

  November chuckled and ran her hands through her hair. “I didn’t feel like messing with it today. I stayed in bed and watched game shows and soap operas. Talk about depressing!”

  Dana finished her spaghetti, put her bowl in the sink, and said, “Let me braid your hair for you. That’ll make you feel better.”

  November grinned, went to get he
r hair stuff from her bedroom, and returned to sit on a pillow in front of the sofa. “You’re gonna need magic fingers,” she said, handing Dana a comb.

  Dana turned on the CD player, and the two girls sat in silence in the living room, while Dana deftly combed November’s hair. November could feel some of the tension leave her back and neck as her friend worked.

  “Josh used to like your hair braided, remember? He’d call you his African queen,” Dana said softly.

  “Yeah, he was always makin’ up stuff like that.” November sighed. She shifted her weight on the cushion.

  “It’s gotta be hard to lose somebody you love,” said Dana. “I don’t know how you deal with it, girlfriend. I’d go crazy if anything ever happened to Kofi.”

  Despite the music, silence filled the room. “I never really loved Josh,” November whispered to the floor.

  Dana stopped in mid-braid. “What did you say, girl?”

  “I never really loved Josh,” November repeated, her voice full of regret. “I know I said I loved him. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to say when you’re going out with somebody?” And then she started to cry.

  “Girl, you trippin’,” Dana said as she put the comb and brush on the table. Fine strands of dark brown fuzzy hair laced the teeth of the comb. She sat down next to November and put her arm around her friend’s shaking shoulders.

  November pulled a tissue out of her pocket and blew her nose. “I’m for real. I never told anybody this before.”

  “But…but you two always seemed to be so happy together,” Dana exclaimed. “Lots of kids at school envied the two of you because it seemed so deep, so real.”

  “Josh made me laugh. He was so much fun to be with—always cracking jokes and acting silly. But I don’t know if that’s enough to be called love.”

  “He was the most lovable, craziest kid I ever met, that’s for sure,” Dana said with a smile. “Remember when he rode on all the kiddie rides at Kings Island? His legs were sticking way up over the edge, and he kept telling the ride operator that he never wanted to forget what it felt like to be six.”

  “That’s what I mean,” November said, her face a frown of confusion. “I’m all about helping disabled kids learn to walk, or teaching a second grader how to read. Josh was always just looking for the next joke, the next laugh. He didn’t have a serious bone in his body.”

  Dana looked November in the eye. “So why did you stay with him?”

  “Be for real! Josh was fine and he was fun. But I’m sixteen years old! I just wanted to have a good time—I didn’t want to marry him or anything.” She sighed. “Isn’t having a boyfriend just what happens in high school—like doing math homework or going to dances or buying new shoes?”

  “I don’t know. I never really thought about it. Kofi makes me tingle when he touches me. I guess that’s love.”

  November tried again to explain herself. “The girls at school say they love somebody until he makes them mad, or they find somebody better to love, and then they move on. You don’t plan to marry the dudes or have them in your life forever. You just say ‘I love you,’ enjoy the juicy feelings while they last, then you go your separate ways. Sometimes it hurts, and sometimes you’re just glad it’s over.”

  “This is heavy, November,” Dana said quietly. “Maybe you’re just overreacting to all that’s happened. Maybe you miss him so much that you’re just saying this to help you get over all the hurt—you know—’cause he’s gone.” She looked at her friend with concern.

  “No, it’s more than that.” November picked up the comb and began slapping it in her hand. “Don’t get me wrong—for a while I really did think I loved him. I figured that love meant going out on dates and getting dressed up and making out in the backseat of somebody’s car.”

  “That’s what me and Kofi do,” Dana admitted.

  “I loved being with him. But I didn’t love him—not deep down inside where those feelings are supposed to be.”

  “But that’s okay, November. That’s no reason for you to feel guilty.”

  “Josh died exactly two months ago today,” said November sadly.

  “I know. It seems like his funeral was just yesterday. I miss him so much.”

  “I do too. But everybody treats me like the brokenhearted girlfriend. I feel like…a fake.”

  “You two had been together for a couple of years, right?”

  November nodded. “But now that’s he’s gone, everybody seems to be expecting me to feel something that just isn’t there—at least the ones who still talk to me.”

  “What’re you sayin’?”

  “Kids treat me funny—like they don’t know what to say or something. It’s like death is a bad word, so they pretend like they’re in a hurry and book out of there instead of talkin’ to me.”

  “Don’t let them stress you, November. Soon enough, when more time’s gone by, people will start to treat you like before, and let you get on with your life.”

  “Somehow I have a feeling that’s not going to happen.” November began pulling hairs from the comb, tears spilling down her cheeks.

  “Girl, what’s wrong with you? What do you care about what people think about you and Josh? It’s none of their business, anyway!”

  “My life is a mess, Dana,” November said deliberately.

  “You flunk that chemistry test that O’Brian gave us last week?”

  “No. I’m pretty sure I got most of the questions right.”

  “Your mother sweatin’ you about your clothes?”

  “No. Actually, she gave me some money to buy clothes just last week. Mama deals with stress—my problems and hers, too—by spending money.”

  “I’ll switch mothers with you any day!” Dana said with a grin. “So what’s wrong? You look like you just found out they’re gonna quit making chocolate chip ice cream.”

  November took a deep breath and looked directly at her friend. “I’m pregnant.”

  CHAPTER 3

  TUESDAY, MARCH 30

  DANA GASPED. “SHUT UP!” THEN SHE whispered, “Are you sure?”

  November nodded, her eyes welling again. “I bought one of those home pregnancy tests, and it came out positive. I didn’t want to believe it, but there’s no mistake.”

  Neither girl spoke for a moment. The CD played in the background—pounding bass rhythms and a soulful singer wailing about hot love. Finally Dana asked quietly, “Josh?”

  November stared at her. “Dana! Who else?”

  “Oh, girl, this is so messed up. You wanna talk about it?” Dana hugged November tightly.

  November began slowly. “I’m pretty sure it happened the night before he died. It had been a while since we had, like, you know, fooled around.” She kept her head down. “Josh was so excited about finally getting into the Warriors of Distinction. We decided to celebrate that Thursday night, even though the formal induction wasn’t until Friday.”

  “You must have really partied hard,” Dana said carefully.

  “Not really. We talked and laughed and ate pizza and chicken wings until three in the morning—right there in his basement—in the rec room of his house. Then we stopped talking and started kissing, and…well, usually we’re better prepared, but this time things just got out of hand. It wasn’t anything either of us planned. Everything just started feeling really mellow and we just rode the wave.”

  “Did you think about…,” Dana began.

  “I didn’t think at all. It was like everything was swirled with color and I was, like, seeing all these different shades dazzling around me.”

  “You make it sound like it was pretty cool that night.”

  November shrugged. “You know what?”

  “What, girl?”

  November looked away from her friend. “I think it’s overrated,” she admitted quietly. “When the colors faded and reality came back, I felt, I don’t know, like, disappointed or something, like it didn’t really mean anything.”

  “What do you mean?” Dana ask
ed gently.

  November frowned, trying to make sense of her jumbled thoughts. “You know when you’re a kid and you put together those jigsaw puzzles?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, I always felt like a piece was missing—that big crooked one in the front that all the others connect to. You feel me?”

  Dana nodded.

  “When you look at movies, it seems like the actors feel some kind of magic when they make love—with violins and pretty music playing. All I ever heard was creaking springs. It was really pretty pathetic.”

  “What does ‘make love’ mean, anyway?” Dana asked, frowning. “Seems to me love is something you ought to feel, not make.”

  “Would loving him have made a difference?” November asked bleakly.

  Dana had no answer.

  November put her hands to her face and wept again. “What am I supposed to do with a baby?”

  Dana let her cry for a few minutes. Then, when November seemed to have calmed down a little, Dana began brushing her friend’s hair again in the uncomfortable silence that followed.

  “Have you told your mother?” she asked finally.

  “No. Just you.”

  “What will she say?”

  “She scheduled me to go on the Black College Tour in a couple of months. That’s all she talks about these days—college and majors and tuition and stuff. This is gonna kill her. And then she’s gonna kill me!”