This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2018 by Doreen Spicer-Dannelly
Cover art copyright © 2018 by Vanessa Brantley Newton
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Spicer-Dannelly, Doreen, author.
Title: Love Double Dutch! / by Doreen Spicer-Dannelly.
Description: First edition. | New York : Random House, [2017] | Summary: “Kayla must salvage her double Dutch dreams after her parents’ rocky relationship takes her away from Brooklyn—and her beloved team—to spend the summer in North Carolina” —Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016028497 | ISBN 978-1-5247-0000-3 (hardcover) | ISBN 978-1-5247-0002-7 (ebook) | ISBN 978-1-5247-0001-0 (hardcover library binding)
Subjects: | CYAC: Rope skipping—Fiction. | Family problems—Fiction. | African Americans—Fiction. | Family life—North Carolina—Fiction. | North Carolina—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.S7145 Lov 2017 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
Ebook ISBN 9781524700027
Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter 1: Double the Pressure
Chapter 2: One Jump Closer
Chapter 3: Reality Bites
Chapter 4: Change Is Gonna Come
Chapter 5: Southbound
Chapter 6: North Carolina State of Mind
Chapter 7: Summer Sass
Chapter 8: Color-Blind
Chapter 9: Two Times Two
Chapter 10: Meeting the Boys
Chapter 11: New Leaf
Chapter 12: Country Swag
Chapter 13: Double Trouble
Chapter 14: Love-Struck
Chapter 15: Step It Up
Chapter 16: Second to None
Chapter 17: The Dance
Chapter 18: Mix and Match
Chapter 19: Pool Party
Chapter 20: Bright Ropes, Big City
Chapter 21: The Moment When…
Acknowledgments
Man, it’s hot! The air is thick and sticky like the lotion on my skin, and it’s just the way I like Brooklyn in the summertime. People around Bed-Stuy are always complaining about the humidity, but I love it. It’s like drinking water when I’m jumping double Dutch. Refreshing. But one thing I can’t stand is when I’m still in the house and I’m sweating just trying to do my hair. After three extremely hot summers, I thought my parents would’ve installed air conditioners by now, but no. And my fan is on its last legs. Pitiful. But if I don’t hurry, I’m going to be late for practice, and if that happens, my coach can disqualify me from competition. So I put my hundreds of micro-braids into a ponytail. It’s better this way ’cause it won’t mess me up when I’m jumping. I don’t know how my friends can fuss with their hair and put on makeup in this heat. They do it just to look cute for the boys, who barely pay attention to them anyway. We’re only thirteen; we’ll have plenty of time for boys later. Besides, they have no idea how they look after practice. All those makeup shades and mascara mixed with dripping sweat make for one colorful hot mess.
I rush out of my room to find my little brother playing games. Literally. Cameron is sitting on the steps playing on his kiddie tablet with one sock laid out right next to him and the other at the top of the stairs. “Cameron!” He never does what I ask. Then again, he’s only seven. “Cameron, did you put socks on your feet before you put on your sneakers?” I can see he didn’t. “Cameron!” Having a little brother requires patience, and right now I don’t have any.
“Cam, I’ve got to get out of here. You should have been ready an hour ago, like I asked you.” This boy is not even paying attention to me. So I snatch his toy away. “Go get your other sock and come right back down here. Now!”
“Stop yelling at me.” Cameron hates me yelling at him as much as I hate my mother yelling at us, but it’s just so darn effective. I quickly wrestle the socks onto his feet and tie his sneakers, and we’re out the door. Finally.
—
My mother was supposed to drop Cameron off at the babysitter’s on her way out, but she said she had to leave early. Said she had something important to do. I am guessing it had something to do with my dad, because she had that serious I’m-about-to-kick-somebody’s-butt look on her face. My mother usually acts all dignified, but she’s feisty. And when she’s suspicious of somebody messing around with him, my mother gets really jealous. One time she cursed out a cashier at the supermarket who was flirting with my dad while my mom was standing right next to him. Sometimes I overhear women in my neighborhood talking about how my father is too handsome for his own good and that my mother puts up with too much of his stuff—well, they use other words, but I get their point.
Truthfully, my parents are a soap opera in and of themselves. They should call a TV network and have people follow them around with cameras. They would make one crazy reality show. Especially my father; he doesn’t mind the attention, but my mother does. So when they argue and get mad at each other—which is every other week—they almost forget they have kids, and that’s how I end up stuck with Cameron. A lot. It seems like ever since Cameron came along, my parents have been fighting more often. I don’t think their problems have anything to do with him, but I twist my lips and raise an eyebrow to the possibility that they just might. We don’t look anything alike. When I was about six years old, my dad left my mom and me for one reason or another, and they were apart for some time. They got back together, then Cameron was born. All I know is that I spend more time with
