Bad Girlz

Informationen zum Autor Shannon Holmes, author of B-More Careful and Bad Girlz, is copublisher, with Vickie Stringer, of Triple Crown Publications. Klappentext The bestselling author of "B-More Careful" presents a journey into the seedy world of strippers--a milieu of sex, money, and murder. Holmes shows how good girls who grew up in the harsh urbanscape of the Philly Badlands become bad girlz. Leseprobe Chapter One "C'mere, Tonya!" her mother yelled, as she passed her coming out of the bathroom. The woman's eyes focused like laser beams on her daughter's neck. Tonya pulled up her shirt collar in response, desperate in her attempt to hide the focus of her mother's attention. Veronica Morris had forewarned her daughter time and time again about being fast with boys. "Stay away from them. Keep your legs closed. I'm not trying to be a grandmother yet," she repeated. But like any single mother raising a teenaged daughter, she was overwhelmed. Ms. Morris was as strict with Tonya as she could be. She made no concessions. Tonya was seventeen years old, and still not allowed to have a boyfriend, to date boys or even have them call the house. She was a typical teenager though; she found a way to do the normal things that young people do for fun despite her mom. Tonya had always managed to hide any disobedient act from her mother. That is, until now. Veronica grabbed Tonya by the shirt collar and snatched her back into the bathroom to examine her in the light. "What the hell is this?" she asked, touching the discolorations along the right side of her daughter's neck. "Nuttin!...I...I...I was fightin'," Tonya stuttered. "These ain't no damn bruises or scratches," her mother said. "You think I'm stupid? Huh? Huh?..." Her head jerked and she began viciously slapping her daughter in the face. "You little hussy! You think I don't know passion marks when I see 'em?" She continued slapping her. "But Mommy, I didn't do nuttin..." Tonya cried. Veronica Morris was a heavyset woman, who was once endowed with a lovely figure, to match her face. But Father Time and neglect had conspired to rob her of her beauty. Her once shapely butt, thighs and hips were sagging under the weight of cellulite. The excess weight that she carried made her heavy-handed; she hit like a man. Tonya was dizzy from the punches against her body. The mother beat her daughter like she was a stranger, hurling her against the bathroom walls, knocking down shelves and toiletries. She flung the girl to the hard floor and pounded on her back. "You come home pregnant, heifer, so help me God, I'ma stomp it outta you!" she promised. Tonya curled up into a fetal position, and wondered what she had done to deserve a beating like this. She let a boy pet and kiss her. And now she was getting the beating of her life. Veronica was immune to her daughter's pleas and cries. She broke a wooden toilet plunger over the girl's back. She wanted to teach her a lesson, one she would not soon forget. Veronica knew that there was no better time than the present to be a woman, especially a minority woman. The window of opportunity was wider than ever. She wanted Tonya to avoid the mistakes she herself had made. She became a teenaged mother and was robbed of her once promising future. She didn't want her daughter to follow in her footsteps. The last thing she wanted was for Tonya to succumb to the soft touch, the careless whisper, the lies and deceit of a boy, who had vowed they would be together forever, only to abandon her in her time of need. No, she longed for Tonya to go to college, graduate, get married, make it out of the ghetto, and not get stuck in some menial job, living paycheck to paycheck. After Tonya's father left Veronica, she ate. Food became her friend. Her weight then ballooned to outrageous proportions, making her unattractive to most of the me...

Product details

• Authors: Shannon Holmes
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 15.03.2004
• EAN: 9780743486200
• ISBN: 978-0-7434-8620-0
• Dimensions: 135 mm x 210 mm x 16 mm
• Subject: Fiction > Narrative literature