Chapter 1 #4
“Umm, yeah. We have to get going. I’ll talk to you some other time, East. Thanks for the snacks.
” I rushed out before grabbing Shaylyn’s hand and running off.
We were out of breath by the time we made it back to the house.
We ended up sitting on the porch and eating our snacks, while we people-watched.
There was always something going on in her neighborhood, and we loved having front row seats to the drama.
“What was that about at Richie’s? Ol’ boy looked like he was ready to take your head off or something. I didn’t realize you two were an item.”
My head shot up as I glared at Shaylyn.
“We aren’t anything. You know East is Nauri’s best friend. He and Logic are basically like brothers to me,” I expressed, although I didn’t look at East the same way I did Logic.
“It seemed like a little more than brotherly love. He wanted to take your head off when you mentioned selling pussy as if he hadn’t been the one tryna be funny.”
“They are all overprotective of me. The shit is irritating, if I’m being honest. I couldn’t date if I wanted to because they are always ready to fight someone on my behalf.
The boys at school barely want to talk to me because Nauri has beaten a few of them up for bothering me.
It’s getting out of hand at this point.”
“Well, I don’t think it’s a bad thing. My brothers are the same way when it comes to me, and these niggas know to fall in line.
My granny said it’s not safe out here for young, black girls, and she wasn’t lying.
One of the girls I used to be cool with started talking to one of these young dope boys.
Her name was Natasha, and she thought Nico was in love with her because he was buying her all types of shit.
Her momma begged her to stay away from him and told her he was only gonna use her, but she refused to listen.
“I’ll admit, at first, I was a little jealous.
She would come to school dressed in designer outfits with a fresh sew-in and diamonds on her neck.
We thought she was living the good life until a few months passed and no one had heard from her.
Her momma was putting up missing signs and everything.
We even had the police come to the school and interview us about the last time we saw her.
When they found her two weeks later, she was dead, and her body had been thrown in a dumpster.
It turned out he was pimping her out, and when she tried to get away from him, he killed her.
“The police closed the case without even bothering to arrest him, claiming they didn’t have enough evidence.
The truth was, her life didn’t matter to them.
She was nothing more than a prostitute, and they were happy to have her off the streets.
That was the reason I turned down ol’ boy at Richie’s.
I recognized him as being one of the dudes who hung out with Nico.
As far as I’m concerned, he’s guilty by association, and I’ll be damned if I let somebody take advantage of me. ”
I sat there listening to her words, and it scared me. Keynauri always called me green because I couldn’t tell when someone was dangerous, and she had proved his point. All I saw was a handsome boy with money and tattoos. I would have never assumed he was into anything harmful.
We continued to talk until I saw a car pulling up.
I swallowed the lump in my throat when I realized who it was.
Aunt Trina’s boyfriend came over often, and it made me uncomfortable.
Nathan was a good-looking man, but there was something about him that gave me the creeps.
He was always staring at Shaylyn and me whenever Aunt Trina would leave the room.
When I mentioned it to Shaylyn, she gave me the rundown.
Nathan and Trina had been messing around for years, but he was married. Shaylyn called him “Nasty Nate” and told me he loved young girls. It confused me because Aunt Trina was nowhere near young.
“What’s up, pretty ladies? What are the two of you getting into?” His eyes lingered on me, but I kept my head down and pretended to be engrossed in eating my snacks.
“We were talking about how we wanted to go to the mall. My momma said she didn’t have any money, so we’re tryna figure out how we can get the money,” Shaylyn answered. She lied so easily, it caught me off guard.
“Oh, yeah? How much money do you need?” Nathan inquired.
“Well, we each need a hundred and fifty dollars so we can buy some new shoes for school. You know my cousin doesn’t have much since her momma is gone.”
My face was twisted up, and I wanted to go off on Shaylyn for telling him my business.
“Is that right? Well, I might be able to help. Give me a few days, and I’ll see what I can do.” The look in his eyes scared me because he didn’t look at us the way a person normally looked at a young girl. It reminded me of the way Tone looked at me the day he died, and it frightened me.
“I’m gonna go in the house.” I scurried off, hoping Shaylyn would follow suit, but she lingered out there a little longer. I sat on the couch with my legs tucked under me, trying to understand how life became so hard. Tears fell as I closed my eyes and made a wish for better days to come.