Operation Get Rid of Mom's New Boyfriend

Operation Get Rid of Mom’s New Boyfriend

By N. Joy

The author of the American Library Association Coretta Scott King Honor,

The Secret Olivia Told Me

Operation Get Rid of Mom’s New Boyfriend © Copyright 2011

End of the Rainbow Projects

P.O. Box 128

Reynoldsburg, OH 43068

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system without prior consent of the publisher, except for brief quotes used in reviews.

First Printing November 2016

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places and incidents is entirely coincidental.

Library of Congress Control Number 2016956916

Dedication

For Daryn, Joy, Hennessey, and Kennedy, better known as the DJHK Gurls. Thank you for letting me be a part of your young lives, which was just the tool I needed to complete this project that’s been almost ten years in the making.

Acknowledgment

Regina Brooks, thanks for not letting me walk into the world of Tweens with my slip showing. Your time, insightful thoughts, and ideas concerning my first draft helped me to make the story what it is today.

Chapter One

Meet the Soul Sisters

It was Monday morning and the three sisters, Kennedy, Daryn, and Joy Soul, were all doing their own thing before heading out for school. So far, the girls’ mother, Sammi, which was short for Samantha, hadn’t heard a peep out of any of them. That only meant one thing; that they weren’t in the same room together. Because when the Soul sisters were in the same room together, everyone would know it. Matter of fact, they would hear it!

Stop looking at me! would probably be something Joy, the youngest of the sisters, would be yelling out. Being the fashionista that she was, she always felt that all eyes were on her. She loved it, but hated it if the eyes belonged to her menacing big sisters.

If you don’t turn back to the sports highlights, I’m going to take this basketball and bounce it off your big head, you loser. Now that’s definitely something Kennedy, the oldest, would be saying. She’d have her basketball in hand to back up her threat.

How in the world did someone as smart as me end up having two big mouth dummies for sisters? A tsk and the shaking of her head would follow Daryn’s, the middle child’s, comment. This straight ‘A’ genius had no problem rubbing her intellect in her sisters’ faces.

These three girls couldn’t be in the same room without finding at least one thing to argue, bicker, or complain about amongst each other. These little ladies took no prisoners, nor did they take sides with one another. It was every Soul sister for herself.

Each was well equipped with her very own opinion that was sure to differ from that of the others’. Getting these sisters to see eye to eye or agree on anything was like getting a fat kid to give up his last slice of pizza.

Kennedy felt that she was the boss of her sisters, and rightfully so, being that she was the oldest. However, Daryn and Joy saw her as nothing more than an overgrown bully. The thing was, Kennedy was a totally different person at school. She hardly ever said two words to her sisters, let alone try to bully them.

And it’s a good thing too, Daryn would always say, ready to report even her own sister to the school principal. That is exactly what the anti-bullying program their school had in place suggested.

Daryn was convinced, though, that her older sister’s age had nothing on her own degree of wisdom, intelligence, and wit. Daryn was undisputedly the most studious Soul sister. In addition to earning good grades, she was the first seventh grader to be voted in as captain of the debating team. This was a first in the entire history of St. Amos Private School. This was the school each of the Soul sisters attended.

Sammi was pleased that her girls were all able to go to school together, being that it ranged from kindergarten to twelfth grade. It was her prayer that the girls would look out for one another. They looked out for one another all right, but not in the way Sammi had hoped. If one girl didn’t want to get blindsided by the other, she had better keep a lookout. That was for sure. In order to do so, the girls had to keep both eyes open at all times, even in their sleep.

Joy, even though she was the youngest, was much wiser than her years and too sassy for her own good. Sometimes, the words that came out of her mouth even surprised her mother, who would often have to warn Joy that she was getting too big for her britches.

Just because your father isn’t here, Sammi would point at Joy and say, doesn’t mean I won’t put you in your place.

Those words always straightened Joy out. Not because she feared her mother’s threat, but because her thoughts would always go to that of her father. She missed him so much that she never thought the day would come where she would even miss the disciplinarian side of him. But she did. Unfortunately for her, Joy thought, the only side of her father she had around to remind her of him was her two sisters.

Although the girls tried to forget on a daily basis that they were related, there was no denying that they were, indeed, sisters. They looked so much alike it was scary. Each of them looked like spitting images of their father. They had the smooth, caramel skin with dark brown eyes of his African American heritage. Although some of their mother’s Italian American genes peeked through here and there, the girls had definitely taken on more of their father’s traits.

Each of the girls had always had shoulder length brown hair, but just recently Kennedy had gotten hers cut into a short bob style. Daryn wore her hair pulled back into a single ponytail, while Joy always wore hers in a different style each day. No matter how much they looked like sisters, getting them to act like sisters was next to impossible.

I’m really an only child you know? Kennedy would tease her sisters. You two are adopted.

Of course that wasn’t true, but Kennedy knew it always got under her sisters’ skin. She knew this because of how angry they would get when she said it, and because she’d caught them secretly asking their mother to confirm there was no truth to it.

With each of the Soul sisters being so different in personality, it was no wonder they couldn’t get along. So whoever made up that saying that blood is thicker than water surely had never met Kennedy, Daryn, and Joy Soul. The only thing these girls knew how to do was draw blood; and each other’s at that!

The Soul sisters took sibling rivalry to a completely new level. This morning would be no different. In a matter of minutes, Sammi would know for certain that her daughters were most definitely in the same room.

Chapter Two

Mine, Mine, Mine

Hey, that’s my red vest, Kennedy said to Daryn. Kennedy was coming down the steps and into the kitchen. Take it off. Give it to me now, or you’ll be eating a knuckle sandwich for breakfast! Kennedy approached Daryn with a balled fist. When Daryn sat at the table totally ignoring her, Kennedy started trying to take the vest off of Daryn.

Daryn had been sitting down at the breakfast table, minding her own business and reading the morning paper while downing a bowl of Cookie Crisp cereal. Stop being such a drag, Daryn said as Kennedy struggled, still trying to get the vest off of her. Kennedy’s older age might not have been able to stand against Daryn’s intellect, but her size sure could.

With Kennedy standing almost nine inches taller than Daryn, the four feet and eight-inch middle child knew better than to put up a physical fight with her big sister. That didn’t stop Daryn from running her mouth, though. Besides, you weren’t even thinking about the vest until you saw me wearing it, Daryn continued. You’re just mad I look better in it than you do. Daryn popped her collar and brushed her shoulders off. She sucked her teeth and added, And on top of that, this vest doesn’t even go with what you’re wearing. She pushed her dark purple framed glasses up on her nose and continued reading the paper.

Kennedy looked down at her one-piece, denim, pants jumpsuit with the belt looped around it, and her silver platforms that matched the belt. She had chosen pink accessories to highlight her outfit. The accessories consisted of pink heart-shaped earrings, a pink pearl necklace, and a pink headband. She did look out of sight if she had to say so herself. But no way was Kennedy going to allow her little sister to out-do her by trying to look foxy in something that came from her own closet.

Well, I’m thinking about it now, Kennedy said sharply, managing to retrieve the red, faux fur vest from off of Daryn.

Fortunately, Daryn still looked far-out with her red and white plaid skirt, white tights, black loafers, and long-sleeved white shirt with a red and white plaid heart patch in the middle of it. She had only added Kennedy’s vest to the ensemble when she saw it hanging up in the laundry room calling her