Chapter 7
Ididn’t talk on the way home from the game.
I felt like no one should after we lost. The bus should be quiet.
Instead, it was filled with defeated chatter.
Girls were laughing, already over it, but me?
I was pissed. I thought about what went wrong and what could’ve gone better.
Losing wasn’t something I just got over.
I stared out the window, watching the bright lights of the city. My phone vibrated in my lap.
Unknown: You played good tonight, but you forced a few shots. Slow it down.
I still hadn’t added him to my contacts, but I knew exactly who this was. I frowned, my fingers hovering over the screen. They must’ve streamed the game. Now, everyone saw how horrible we played.
Unknown: I know you’re in a sour mood, so let me come hang out and put a smile on your face.
My frown deepened. What the hell did Kane think this was?
Me: I’m not in the mood.
For the rest of the ride back to the high school, I ignored the vibration of my phone, and my mind went back to the L we took.
Mama was off today, which was rare. Because our car was really on its last leg, I knew she wouldn’t drive to Crest Grove for my game.
The way we played, I was glad she didn’t.
Vani was there at the school to walk me home, and then he left with his homeboys.
I made sure to tell him to be safe and to watch his surroundings.
Vani didn’t have much, but still, that didn’t stop niggas from being envious of him.
Vani got bitches. I saw that with my own eyes, and he didn’t care if she was already taken.
Hell, she didn’t care if she was already taken.
The hoes loved Vani. He’d been in plenty of fights in the past behind them, too.
Reason one million and twenty- five why Mama didn’t want me hanging with Vani like that.
She didn’t want me caught up in his bullshit.
“How was the game? I listened to it on the radio,” Mama said when I entered the apartment. She’d been cleaning. It smelled like bleach, Pine Sol, and Windex.
Well, if you listened, then you know it was horrible, I wanted to say. I shut the door and locked it.
“We lost,” I mumbled instead.
Mama released a long sigh. I knew the bullshit was coming.
“It’s just a game, Scottie. You win some and lose some.”
Now, I thought about taking Kane on that offer. Mama would go on all night because I’ll be in my feelings all night. That’s just how I was when I lost. At least Kane would understand.
“Can I go out for a while after I shower?” I spun on my heels and asked her, my backpack hanging from my hand.
“With Vani?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
Mama was in an old graphic shirt with more holes than I can count. If she didn’t have a bra on, her nipple would be poking out of one. She paired it with black tights with bleach stains. This was her cleaning the damn apartment from wall-to-wall fit.
“No. Kane.”
“The boy who bought you that new basketball? Yeah, Ernestine mentioned it to me the other day. Why he buying you gifts, Scottie?”
I snickered because Mama thought she got some tea from Ernestine and got piss.
“Kane was one of the guys I was playing ball with and ended up at the county with me, remember? I lost my ball that night, and just like basketball is important to me, it’s the same with him, so he understood how I felt when I lost my ball,” I said in one breath. “It’s nothing how you’re thinking.”
“Where is he from again?”
I rolled my eyes. “Heart Heights.”
“Heart— What is he doing over here in Love Heights?”
Mama’s jaw was hanging, and I could tell she was genuinely concerned for Kane’s life.
“Are you sure he wasn’t here to buy drugs, or looking for something he has no business looking for, because why would he come to Love Heights to play ball?” she pressed on, and all I wanted to do was get out of these clothes.
I cackled. “I’m sure, Mom. He’s a good guy.”
Her face changed, and I couldn’t explain it.
“What!” I squealed out in a high-pitched voice that even surprised me. “No! Nothing like that!”
“Okay, calm down,” she giggled, holding her chest. “Thought we were about to have girl talk for a moment. Whew, shit. I don’t know if I’m ready for that talk.”
I held a hand out. “Please, you don’t have to.”
Mama dramatically wiped her forehead and released a slow breath. “Ok, cool. Yes, you can go out for a while, but I want this Kane guy to come inside so I can meet him.
I gave her a Really, Mom? look.
“Is that even necessary?” I groaned.
“Yeah, it is, Scottie. I need to know who you’ll be hanging with because if I have to come get you from jail again, I’m mopping the floor with your ass, and then they’ll be putting me behind bars. I’ll ask them to keep me for a few days to calm down.”
We laughed in unison, but Mama was serious. It took her several days to get over picking me up that night.
“I’m about to shower and then tell Kane to come over,” I called out over my shoulder.
“Mhmm, I’m ready to meet this Kane who dropped my baby off a damn basketball,” I heard her say before I shut my room door behind me.
After my quick shower, I was standing in front of my full-length mirror, giving myself a final once-over.
My hair was slicked into a high, makeshift bun.
I never wore it like this. It made me look too girly.
I’d traded my sweaty gym clothes for a pair of fitted black joggers and a Kobe graphic shirt.
I sat down on my bed to put on white socks, and then I slid my feet into my Walmart slides.
My phone chimed on my dresser.
Unknown: I’m outside.
I left my room and walked down the hallway to the front. Mama was sitting on the couch now. She was no longer in her holey shirt and bleached tights. She’d changed into a Heartville Hawks t-shirt and grey sweats.
“He here?” she quizzed, eyes stretching. It was actually humorous.
“Yes,” I answered. “Don’t embarrass me.”
Mama placed a hand on her chest and reared her head back.
“Me? Embarrass you?” she squealed, then waved a dismissive hand.
“Girl, go get that boy. He drove over here?” She jumped up and looked out the blind.
“Ohhh, Ernestine wasn’t lying at all. When she told me he came over here in a Maybach, I thought her eyes were playing tricks on her.
He ain’t scared to be over here in that type of luxury?
He must haven’t have crossed paths with Bolo and them. ”
“Let me go outside and make sure he isn’t messed with,” I muttered.
Bolo was one of those niggas who was outside that night I had Vani walk with Kane out of the projects. He and the dudes he ran with were some ruthless ass niggas. They scoped out the projects daily for people like Kane.
“He doesn’t even need to leave his car. Let me just go outside and speak instead,” Mama suggested, following behind me.
Bolo and his boys were outside, smoking and their eyes zooming in on Kane.
“Aye!” Bolo called out. “Who this nigga who keep comin’ over here puttin’ this rich shit in our face?”
“No one you need to mess with, Bolo,” Mama told him. “He’s just a kid.”
“Well,” he said, pushing off the wall and passing the blunt to one of his boys, “he needs to stay from ‘round here in that shit, if he knows what’s good for him.”
“Get a job, and you wouldn’t be so envious,” I snapped, and Mama smacked my shoulder, warning me with her eyes that we didn’t need problems with Bolo. “It’s the truth,” I muttered under my breath.”
Bolo started laughing as if what I said was a joke. “Aight, Slim. I’m a let you make it off the strength of Vani.”
Mama’s head swung in his direction then. I could see Kane out of the corner of my eye exiting the car.
“What does that mean, Bolo. You ever touch my daughter, I promise you gon’ fuck the whole city up being on a t-shirt.”
My hand flew to my mouth because Mama really ate with that one.
Bolo’s boys chuckled, and he just offered Mama a smile. If he had said some disrespectful shit to her, I’d have to try my best to fuck him up.
“Everything good?” Kane asked, his tight eyes set on me.
“Yeah,” I let him know, not sure what he would do if I had said no.
“Mama, this is Kane. Kane, this is my mama. She just wanted to meet you since we were hanging out today…and you bought me a ball.”
“You can call me Ms. Scottland,” Mama said, holding her hand out and giving him her first name.
“Nice to meet you, Ms. Scottland. So she’s named after you.” Kane smirked.
“Yes, she is,” Mama beamed. “I wasn’t going to name her after her daddy.”
I rolled my eyes. She was lucky she didn’t because that man has never been in my life.
“So you play ball too, huh?” she asked him.
He nodded, a smile spreading on his lips. I shifted from one leg to the other, wanting the interrogation to end before it started.
“Yes, ma’am. I play for Heart Heights,” he answered, pounding one fist into his other hand.
Mama’s eyes darted from Kane to his car. “Who your people?”
“Mama,” I snickered. “You don’t know them.”
She put a hand on her hip. “You don’t know, Scottie. Anyway, do you drink or smoke, Kane?”
He shook his head vehemently. “No, ma’am.”
“Good,” she stated, nodding her head in approval. “Well, don’t stay out too late, Scottie. You got your key?”
I sighed and ran back in the house for my key. I sprang because I wasn’t sure what else Mama was talking to Kane about. Snatching my keys off the hook by the door, I ran back outside.
“—and you make sure you drive safely,” she was saying as I made it back to them. “These streets out here aren’t like the ones in Heart Heights. People don’t know how to act.”
“People don’t know how to act over there either,” Kane commented. “Some deserve to get punched in the face every now and then.” His eyes fell on me, and my heart began thumping a frantic rhythm against my ribs. If she knew I’d punch someone, she’d be dragging me back into the apartment.
“Yeaaah, but I’m not picking anyone else up from no county jail. No later than ten, Scottie.” She kissed my forehead, which made me cringe.
Once we were in his Maybach, I relaxed.