Chapter 12 #3
Pointing at me, he said, “You behind. That don’t make you mentally challenged or unable to learn. Remember that. I’m proud of you.”
“Thank you.” I cheesed, grabbing my pencil.
“Nawl, put that pencil down. You finna read to us. I got som’ questions fo’ you after. Crack this open,” he said, sliding Gertrude Chandler Warner’s The Boxcar Children in my direction.
With all eyes on me, I became nervous. I didn’t like the read-aloud thing unless I was one-on-one with him or August. I didn’t want them to silently judge me.
“Mona, we know when to joke an’ when not to. Keep in mind, Thiago’s our brother. There ain’t shit we ain’t heard or been through. We fam. Push us from yo’ mind an’ read,” Tiberius voiced, hopping on the counter.
“Um, okay,” I spoke in a tone that wasn’t foreign to me. I was scared and bothered by what they would think about my grown ass tumbling over words.
“You got this, Momma. Let me hear you read to me, guh.” August Junior grinned before kissing my cheek.
“Guh, the same way you whooped ass at Walmart an’ up in here, you better have that same damn energy while tossin’ them lurkers out of yo’ mind so you can read to us! Nih, let us hear you!” Momma Orthella sassed, causing all to do the mannequin challenge while looking at me.
Opening the book, I lowly said, “Yes, ma’am.
As I stared at the first page, analyzing how long it was, Thiago coached, “Remove us from yo’ mind. Sit back, cross yo’ legs at the ankles, an’ read, Mona.”
Licking my lips, I nodded. My right eyelid twitched as I sat back and crossed my legs at the ankles. Needing my tone not to come out choppy, I drew in a deep breath. Slowly, I counted to six. When I arrived at seven, I smoothly exhaled. Those around me became a blur.
My shoulders were relaxed as I began to read the first sentence.
Diving further into the children’s story, I realized my siblings and I related to the kids a lot.
I enjoyed how much they resembled my siblings and me so much that I read until I was three pages into chapter four. I only stopped because Thiago said so.
“Mark that page. Your read-aloud is done.” He grinned as my supporters hooted and hollered.
“You didn’t skip a beat wit’ readin’. So, let me ask you this. Can you relate to that book?”
“Absolutely.” I nodded rapidly as Thames smiled and winked.
“Why you feel that way?” Thiago inquired, relaxing in the chair while never removing his eyes from me.
“My siblings and I were sort of homeless. We had to fend for ourselves. Even though I’m the baby, I was the leader like Henry Alden. Every hardship they faced, my siblings and I faced, but on a larger scale,” I answered as the others hooted and Thiago smiled and winked.
“Mona, you can understand what you read. Bust that vocabulary book open. Go over last week’s words. Spellin’ an’ definition test finna pop off in five minutes,” he ordered as Min hugged me while flicking my ear gently.
“I’m proud of you, girlie,” she cooed before kissing my temple.
Feeling proud and overly happy, I smiled. “Thank you.”
“You are welcome,” she voiced as the goons smiled and tipped their heads in my direction.
Tapping his fingers on the table, Thiago lovingly said, “My lil sister from different parents. I need you to keep yo’ composure when that feisty shit come out.
Pick yo’ battles. When you jump off the poach sideways, you put yo’ man in a tough position.
Him being yo’ man, he gon’ jump beside you.
You see, that’s amazin’ an’ all, but you ain’t fully built tough.
What I mean by that? You ain’t no killah fo’ real.
You ain’t never pulled the triggah. I ain’t sayin’ you won’t do it.
By yo’ ability to orchestrate shit so well gon’ make you a phenomenal consultant to X.
She won’t let you go ‘til she done wit’ the streets.
I’on want you, King, Kingdon, an’ August in the same clothes as us.
August do what he do wit’ the dope that I supply him.
That’s him maintainin’ life. King work an’ go to school.
That nigga gon’ be fie in his career’s field.
Kingdon got his shit together, finna get married, an’ got twins on the way.
I said allathat to say this … you got one mo’ time fo’ me to call X to make sho’ you ain’t in a jam befo’ she gon’ come see you.
When she come, she ain’t askin’ if you wanna join her crew.
She gon’ demand it ‘cause she been coverin’ yo’ ass ‘cause of me. When you join her affiliate team, August gon’ follow ‘cause you his woman. King ain’t finna let him go into shit by himself.
Kingdon ain’t finna let his twin an’ cousin go into shit alone, much less together.
Y’all ain’t built fo’ the life we live. We, The Quad Ts, ain’t have to survive shit.
We just love the street life, the fuckin’ power, an’ knowledge of knowin’ that we can whack a bitch off in front of the police, an’ we won’t get a charge much less be mentioned in paperwork.
Real lesson over. Study those twenty vocabulary words. ”