Chapter 3
“I’m trying to figure out when was you muthafuckas gonna mention that y’all was in a whole fucking brawl last night,” Ms. Raven fussed, as she stood in front of us, already fully clothed in an oversized long sleeved shirt, along with some tiny shorts, looking like a teeny bopper.
I stood back scratching my head, wondering who’d speak up first. I was still half sleep, after falling asleep around eight that morning. Then just as I was going into a deep sleep, Jahrae barged into the room, saying that his mama wanted everybody to come downstairs.
So, there I was, with sex still on my dick, getting fussed at, along with everybody else.
With her eyes barely open, Jahreiah was pouting, and smacking her lips, as she stood next to me. No doubt, she was tired just like me. Especially since she’d just tipped back to her room less than a hour ago.
“We figured that it was nothing to tell, mama,” Jahrae spoke up.
Their daddy, Big Jahrein, stood back, arms folded across his chest, as he shook his head. “Nothing to tell? Why didn’t y’all mention that y’all was going to Acres Homes?”
Jahrae cut his eyes at his girlfriend, Dri.
She immediately rolled her eyes and sassily swerved her neck. “Yeah, Jahrae. Why was you out there, and didn’t bother picking me up, so I can go too?”
He leaned his head sideways. “Really?”
She bucked her eyes. “Yes, really.”
“Dri, I’m asking the questions here,” Ms. Raven interjected. “You can jump on Jahrae when y’all go back to your dorm or whatever.”
Jahrae frowned. “Jump on me?”
“Hell, yeah,” Big Jahrein chuckled. “We all know that she be whipping your ass, boy.”
“Mannn,” Jahrae drawled. “Anyway.”
“Fuck all that,” Ms. Raven waved them off. “Let’s stick to the topic at hand. Why did y’all go to that party in that environment?”
Jaylah sighed. “Mama, let’s keep it real now.”
Ms. Raven arched a brow. “Real about what?”
“Real about the fact that we’re just hood babies. And we love doing hood rat things with our friends.” Jaylah jested.
I smirked, realizing that this wasn’t about to be a major issue. Everybody was literally joking as they were being lectured.
Ms. Raven lightly tittered, as she shook her head.
“Look, whatever. Y’all can love the hood all you want.
Just remember that the hood don’t love you.
Y’all was probably amongst muthafuckas who had nothing to lose, while looking like some walking, and breathing licks.
Yeah, I know it feels good to stunt. Have more than the rest. But showing up and standing out don’t always go the right way.
Muthafuckas are haters. But not just that, some of ‘em are robbers too. Cause everybody wasn’t raised on love.
Some of their hearts aint right. Then imagine y’all thinking that y’all done whipped some asses, and somebody pulls out a gun.
Then what? And I’m not saying to be some pussies.
Defend yourself. Stand your ground. But also know and accept that as fucked up as it may sound, know that you are too good for certain scenes.
Cause the wrong loser wouldn’t give a fuck about who none of y’all are and wouldn’t hesitate to pull that trigger.
All over some bullshit that could’ve been avoided.
So, I’m just saying that y’all gotta move smarter.
Especially cause we can’t hold your hand through life. ”
“Right on,” Big Jahrein co-signed. “And uh…I saw a few videos.” His eyes traveled to me.
“And lil’ nigga I’ma holler at your daddy.
Cause he sleeping like a muthafucka. Aint no way that he shouldn’t have you in boxing.
Knocking niggas out for sport. You was moving with precision.
We definitely gotta pull out the boxing gloves today, and see what you really got. ”
Ms. Raven rolled her eyes. “Oh, God. You always tryna train somebody, Jahrein.”
I nodded enthusiastically. “I’m definitely down.”
Big Jah nodded. “Okay. After we eat, it’s on then.”
Jahreiah
Weirdly, I was sauntering through the backyard, questioning if my walk was different. After the ways that Sin J had played between my legs, one had to wonder.
High-key, I was geeked. After months of living in limbo, I could finally breathe again. In hindsight, I guess that I was breaking my own heart.
For me…I didn’t want to be one of those girls. Everybody knows them. The type of girls that romanticize love. Have unrealistic expectations and wind up with their feelings hurt.
From the start, at just twelve years, Sin J had been it. From the moment our eyes met, it was kismet. We just gelled together naturally. Our crush was hard to conceal, and we hardly tried, for real.
I was down to do whatever he wanted, whenever. By the time we’d graduated to a sexual relationship, I was already head over hills.
I had tunnel vision, not seeing beyond what was in front of me.
So, I didn’t think twice about falling for someone that I only saw seasonally.
It wasn’t until my sixteenth birthday that I realized that being in a long-distance relationship was hard.
My boyfriend missed a milestone in my life, and I didn’t see him in person until months after.
Then I began longing for something that was closer and physically present.
The more my love grew for Sin J, the more fearful I became.
I’d seen the scenario play out too many times with the people around me, and I wasn’t foolish enough to believe that we’d be any different.
We were young. Attractive. With our whole lives ahead of us.
So, facing temptation was a given. And the distance created distrust. It was driving me crazy, quite frankly. So, I decided to break up with him.
There wasn’t an ultimatum or anything. I wasn’t trying to manipulate him to have my way.
Instead, I was trying to snatch the Band-Aid off, and face the inevitable.
We had too many obstacles to have a successful relationship, right then.
So, I decided to cut him off, before he’d have me sitting in my room, staring at the walls, contemplating about telling my daddy to put a hit on his ass.
I thought that I was protecting myself, but that ended up being the hardest time of my life.
I’d cried myself to sleep. I couldn’t eat.
I couldn’t think. Then one day, I just walked up on Jahrae and JJ discussing Sin J moving to Houston.
I couldn’t believe my ears, and swore that they must’ve had it wrong.
Then I was elated when I heard it from the horse’s mouth. He was here to stay.
And now, I saw the world completely different. There was no longer this glass ceiling hovering over our heads. The sky was the limit, as I could think about the future without butterflies churning in the pit of my stomach.
“What’s up, kinfolk?”
I whirled around and found my big cousin Terio standing there, along with the dude that he called himself managing. Jules.
Jules was about 6’4, medium built, sturdy, abs of steel, with a sun kissed peanut butter complexion. He rocked a crisp tapered fade, was heavily tatted, and possessed the perfect smile. Dressed down in a wife's beater and basketball shorts, he was still somehow fresh.
“Hey.” I hugged Terio, while Jules stared a hole into the side of my face.
He couldn’t help himself eventually. “So, you aint gone speak, Jahreiah?”
I smirked, while he gave me a half hug. “Hey, Jules. What’s up?”
Gazing down at me, he licked his lips. “I don’t know. You tell me? You didn’t see me texting you?”
Biting the corner of my lip, my eyes darted around, canvassing the yard.
I was hoping that I didn’t see Sin J, but there was no luck.
My daddy literally had a boxing ring in the middle of the backyard, and Sin J had been sparring with everybody willing to challenge him for the last hour.
But somehow, he was casually sitting at the edge of the ring right then, staring right at me.
“Yeah, about that—”
“Lil’ nigga, focus,” Terio interrupted. “Lil’ kinfolk’s slick ass is just gonna have Big Jahrein tossing your ass up out of here. Besides, we here to win this easy ten racks.”
I frowned in confusion. “Ten racks for what?”
Terio smirked. “Cause ya daddy done lost his mind. That nigga had the nerve to call me and say that he had somebody that could knock Jules sideways. Mr. 12-0 in this boxing shit. Then I fell out laughing when he said that it was Lil’ Sin.
My lil’ nigga from the trenches is gonna eat him alive, and go home with a extra seven racks in his pocket. Easy.”
Sighing, I realized that there wasn’t much I could say, without appearing weird. But my daddy was tripping. Just because Sin J had won some random fights at a party didn’t mean that he was now ready to go up against a whole professional boxer.
Jules was nineteen and was a contender fighter, who was well on his way to world class. Since Terio had taken him under his wing, they’d been traveling, as he fought all over the country. And that was who my daddy expected to get in the ring with my man. He clearly had lost his muthafuckin mind.
“Are they like gonna actually exchange blows?” I questioned.
“That’s the only way to box, Jahrieah.” Terrio responded.
“Whatever,” I grumbled, as he strolled off, while Jules remained there.
“Anyway.” Jules licked his lips. “Like I was saying. Why you never hit me back?”
Once again, I cut my eyes at Sin J...and he was still staring. Only now, my daddy was standing in front of him, clearly yapping away.
“Jahrieah,” Jules uttered, as he grabbed my hand.
“Jules,” I sighed, while pulling my hand back. “We can’t--”
He frowned. “What’s the problem? We was just good.”
I twisted my lips, as I struggled to find the right things to say. I knew that I was giving weird vibes, after we had been getting closer than close, lately. For the past month, we’d been texting...and I had even kicked it at his apartment a few times.