Tanya
Ah only will talk cuz you said Ah will not get suspended for more than a day. Ma mom would kill me!! But, don’t get mad at me, Mrs. Wall-Smith. You won’t, right, Mrs. Wall-Smith?
Right, Tanya. I only want to know what happened this morning at the cafeteria of Adams High between you and Yesenia López.
Ma mom told me that I’ve to take care o’ my sisters. I’ve taken care o’em since, Ah don’t know. When Ah was five, Ah saw ma mom workin’ on the street. She sold fake jewelry. Actually, now that Ah realize, she was probably a ho.
Tanya, I only need to know about this morning at 11:55.
Anyways, Ah saw’er kicking a man’s butt cuz he was like touchin’ a girl or somethin’. The girl was crying. Ma mom was like a fuckin’ good cop.
Miss Tanya Allen, please tell me about this morning and do not use language that you should not use in school. Slow down a little bit and use proper language, please.
Oh, sorry, Mrs. Wall-Smith. Ma fault. But Ah need to tell you why this happened.
All right. Let’s try again, Tanya. I need to know what happened between you and Yesenia this morning that you hit her several times.
Ah wanna be like ma mom. Ah like ‘er. That Eire… what the fuck is a black girl doing with a white name?!
Let’s make a deal, Miss Tanya Allen. If you tell me the truth and you go straight to the point, I will let you use bad language and talk as fast as you want. I will try to get you in-school suspension, that way you’re mom won’t get mad at you. I will be honest with you, Tanya. We need to get out of here before 2:30 and it’s 2:15 already. Mrs. López will be here at 2:30 and I need to hear your side of the story now. Deal?
Deal, Mrs. Wall-Smith. Well, that Eire says her mom likes Ireland. Yeah, ma mom likes Florida and ma name’s no Florida. It’s Tanya. Plain’n easy. Two weeks ago Ah called ’er “Ireland” and she got mad. Ah shouted, “Yikes, ikes, Ireland! Yikes, ikes, Eire!” So, she got mad and called me a lesbian. Ah told her, “Eire, you said your name mean Ireland. So Eire and Ireland are the same, but Tanya and lesbian are not.” She won’t call me Tanya no more, she calls me ‘les’ or ‘lesbian,’ even in class. Ah no lesbian, Mrs. Wall-Smith! I, I don’t even talk to the fuckin’ lesbians at school. They mean. They like girls cuz there moms like women, or cuz they say guys are dirty. Yeah, boys are dirty, but men are fun! She said she calls me lesbian cuz Ah said ‘I don’ t like boys no more’ the other day. But when I said it, I was talkin’ bout the guys here at Adams. Some boys in my English class have sex with men for money and for video games and for cloths. Not all the guys are like that, but just to be sure. I don’t want anything to do with the boys here. That Eire heard me sayin’ Ah don’t like boys. She told the Burgers. They don’t like me. Ah don’t understan’ why, Mrs. Wall-Smith.
Who are the Burgers?
The Burgers. The lesbians in Yesenia’s group are the Burgers. Some of them work at the ghetto burger joint in the East Side. They live on the same street. I made fun of Eire. Ah think that’s why they no like me.
How do you know they don’t like you?
They said bad things about me here in school and in the bus, in the Internet. They wrote ma name all over the bathroom’s walls on the second floor. “Tanya is a lesbo, Tanya likes pussy.” They told ma sister too.
Did that make you mad this morning?
No. Actually, don’t care ‘bout the Burgers talkin’ trash ‘bout me. I don’t like boys. I like big, old men. We were at the cafeteria and me and ma sister Courtney were close to the lesbians, the Burgers and the other group. That Yesenia got up and told Courtney out loud that I don’t like boys, because I have sex with the teachers.
What did she say?!
She saw me on Friday, in the kitchen, in the cooking class, when me and Mr. Smith were talkin’ bout the cookies we had to bake in the afternoon for the football game. Yesenia came into the kitchen and she saw when Mr. Smith was by accident touching my breast. By accident. I thought Yesenia was not going to say anything today, cuz it was an accident, Mrs. Wall-Smith. It was. I swear to God.
Was that really an accident?
It was. I told Yesenia “it was an accident.” Cuz Mr. Smith said it was too. Then she told ma sister that she should not be like me cuz she’ll end up having sex with the teachers too. I told her to shut up. She didn’t. She said I’m bad influence for ma sister and that them, the Burgers, should take care of ma sister Courtney. I got up to hit Yesenia’s head, but some girls tried to stop me. I shoved ‘em. Then Yesenia shouted, “Hey, Adams, Courtney is a lesbian and she’s with us.” So I jumped over the table and by the time she finished sayin’ that I got her hair and kicked her face, then her stomach, and her face again. I wanted to kick her butt, for real. Just to say that I really kicked her butt.
Did she hit you?
No. I didn’t let ‘er. Ah think Ah hit ‘er like six or seven times. Then Mr. Fieldman came and got me from ma back and stopped me.
Tanya, so you hit her because…
Cause she said ma sister’s a lesbian. Ma sister’s no lesbian. I was right to hit her, wasn’t I?
Actually, Tanya, no. When Mrs. López comes, you will say that you hit her daughter because she said your sister is a lesbian, right?
Right.
We will talk about Mr. Smith after Mrs. López goes home. That is a different problem. Mr. Smith touched you by accident, true?
Mmh… Ah will tell you the whole truth if you say that I was right and Yesenia wasn’t. You don’t want anybody here to know ‘bout me and your husband, Mrs. Wall-Smith. Right?
Fuck! I cannot do that.
See? You sayin’ bad words too. You ‘bout to cry, cuz you need to defend your husband. That’s what I did. I defended ma sister and you have to defend me and your husband.
--Mrs. Wall-Smith, Channel 9 News and Mrs. López are already here.
3/3/07