by K'wan
Jonas wasn’t quite sure what to expect when he stepped to Jewels and asked her for her help in their scheme, but she was surprisingly receptive to it. Mostly because she was so head over heels for Jonas that she would’ve done just about anything to get in good with him. That, and the fact that Ace had promised to give her fifty dollars for her time. Once Jonas showed her who Black was, Jewels handled the rest. She arranged a “chance meeting” with him at the bodega across the street from his building. Black took one look at her in her skintight jeans and was all over her, as Jewels knew he would be. They exchanged numbers, and so the courtship began.
They hung out a few times, always in his project. Jewels wasn’t stupid enough to ever let him know where she rested her head. Black turned out to be a big trick. They had only been talking for about a week, and he was already giving her gifts: sneakers, a chain, and cash whenever she asked. All they had done so far was kiss and play a game of stink finger. Jewels hadn’t let him sleep with her, and he was acting like they were exclusive. Black’s nose was wide open. Jewels had even jokingly asked Jonas if they could delay their plan for another month or two so she could get a summer wardrobe out of him.
Whenever Jewels and Black hung out, Jonas was always somewhere in the cut watching them. During his observation of the couple, Jonas often found himself getting upset. He knew that Jewels was only doing what he had asked her to do, but it still bothered him to see her with Black. Every time he kissed her, Jonas felt ill. It suddenly dawned on him that he was having his first experience with jealousy. All the time Jewels had been trying to get on Jonas’s radar, he hardly gave her a second look, but now seeing her with someone else made him mad. He wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be able to watch the show before his emotions caused him to do something stupid.
The day had finally come when they were supposed to spring the trap. Black had been pressuring Jewels for sex, and it was becoming harder to keep making excuses without him becoming suspicious. She finally agreed to let him cross the finish line. Black had a romantic evening planned for them. They were to catch a movie, then grab some food from Red Lobster before going to one of the short-stay motels on 145th to consummate the relationship. That was a nut he would never get to bust.
Jonas could remember waking up that morning filled with a sense of dread. That should’ve been the first sign that it was going to be a bad day. There was a ball of ice in his stomach that spread through his fingertips and toes. For a minute, he thought he was coming down with something, but when Sweets took his temperature, it was normal. He got up and went to school like any other day, but found that he couldn’t concentrate. The feeling that something bad was about to happen continued to linger. He reasoned that it was just his nerves over what they had planned for that night.
When the bell signaling the lunch period had begun, Jonas headed down to the cafeteria. Most of his classes were for gifted and talented students, so he rarely got to see his friends in school outside of the lunch period. That was where they would meet up to plot mischief, play cards, and trade war stories. There was always a gang of them huddled up at the back table in the corner, but their numbers had recently thinned. Since Cal had gotten locked up, and Ace dropped out of school to hustle full time, it was just Jonas, Prince, and a few stragglers who they probably would never keep time with outside of school.
While Jonas was waiting for his gang, he struck up a conversation with a kid they called Sticky. He’d gotten the name because of his sticky fingers. Sticky was always looking to sell hot shit that he had stolen. Normally, Jonas had no use for him, but that day, Sticky approached him with an interesting proposition. Sticky had come up on a pair of brass knuckles that he was looking to let go for the low price of ten dollars. Jonas managed to haggle him down to seven bucks plus the Salisbury steak from his lunch tray. After what had happened to Doug, all their crew had taken to carrying a weapon of some kind. Jonas wasn’t big on knives or guns because of the trouble they would cause if he were caught with them, but the brass knuckles suited him just fine.
Prince finally came strolling into the lunchroom. Instead of slacks and loafers, as was his usual dress, he was wearing new jeans, a crisp polo, and white Nikes. Since he had taken over for Doug, Prince had started spending a little money on clothes. Of course, he usually had to wait until he was out of the house to change so that his parents didn’t get wise to what he was doing in his spare time. On his arm was a young, big booty girl, who normally wouldn’t have given Prince the time of day, but money tended to change things for the better. Jonas saw the girl slip Prince something, likely her phone number, before smiling and walking off.
“What up?” Prince gave Jonas dap.
“Waiting on your slow ass,” Jonas replied.
“My fault. I was handling something.” Prince cast a glance in the direction the girl had gone.
“She ain’t gonna let you fuck,” Jonas said with a bit of envy in his voice. Jonas gave Prince grief, but he was actually glad that his friend was starting to come out of his shell. Prince laughed good-naturedly before the youths continued to their table, where a card game was already in progress. Jonas had just called “Next” and settled onto a bench when he spotted Alex come into the lunchroom. She was looking good in a pair of tight jeans, high top Nikes, and one of the school’s basketball varsity jackets. She had taken out her braids and was rocking her hair in a side ponytail with a lollipop tucked in it like a hairpin. He saw her just about every day in school, but since her brother had gotten hurt, they hardly spoke anymore outside of the occasional small talk. It was like she had been trying to avoid him. He thought about going over to say “Hello,” but Alex wasn’t alone. She was with her friend Sheila and two dudes named Ryan and Bo. Ryan was a nobody, but Bo played for the school basketball team, so he thought he was hot shit. Jonas couldn’t stand Bo. It wasn’t because they had ever had an issue, but he noticed Bo had been playing Alex close. Seeing that she was wearing his jacket told him that it was closer than he had thought. As they went to stand in the snack line, he watched from across the room like a sad puppy.
“You, a’ight?” Prince noticed his expression.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Jonas lied.
Prince followed his line of vision and laughed. “Damn, that’s cold. I thought Alex was your girl,” he teased.
“She ain’t my girl!” Jonas snapped.
“Then why you sitting here looking like somebody just kicked you in the chest?” Prince asked. Jonas didn’t respond. He just kept staring. “Go talk to her.”
“I’m good,” Jonas said.
“You scared?”
“You know better than that.”
“Then prove it and go talk to her,” Prince dared him.
Jonas didn’t even remember getting up. The next thing he knew, he was on his way across the cafeteria, heading in Alex’s direction. Inside his chest, his heart thudded, and his palms were sweating so badly that he had to wipe them on his jeans. He considered turning around and going back to the table like he hadn’t even seen her, but it was too late. Sheila spotted Jonas and gave Alex a nudge. Alex turned, and for the briefest moment, he saw a twinkle in her eyes that had always made his heart flutter. When she saw it was him, the light dimmed a bit. Jonas swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat and forced himself to speak.
“Hey, y’all,” he greeted the girls, purposely ignoring the boys. Sheila rolled her eyes in response. At one point, Jonas and Sheila had been cool, but that changed when she let Ace sleep with her, and he told the whole school. Jonas hadn’t had anything to do with it, but she still held it against him. It was a guilt-by-association situation. “Damn, no love for the kid?” Jonas teased when Alex still hadn’t said anything.
“Hi, Jonas,” she said awkwardly.
“I’m about to go grab a couple of sodas,” Bo cut in. When Alex went to reach into her pocket, he waved her off. “Nah, you know your money ain’t no good when you’re with me.” He bumped Jonas when he passed to get to
the snack window.
“So that’s your new little boyfriend?” Jonas asked her, shooting daggers at Bo.
“No, Bo and I are just friends. So, what have you been up to lately?” Alex changed the subject.
Jonas shrugged. “Nothing, just hanging. How’s your brother? I called him a few times, but your mom always says he’s sleeping or can’t come to the phone. I don’t think she likes me very much,” Jonas joked, but Alex didn’t laugh.
“Mom has really been on us since he got hurt. The doctors are saying he may have permanent nerve damage in his hand,” she said with a hint of sadness in her voice.
“Don’t worry about it. Me and the fellas are going to make that right real soon,” Jonas said proudly. If he expected Alex to find some comfort in what he had just told her, he was wrong. She just shook her head. “What?”
“Don’t y’all ever get tired of gambling with your lives?” Alex asked him.
“Them niggas ain’t trying to kill nothing,” Jonas downplayed it.
“I’m sure that’s the same thing my brother said before he woke up in the E.R. getting staples in his head,” she shot back.
“It ain’t gonna go like that with us. Ace has a plan,” Jonas told her.
“Doesn’t he always?” Alex gave a sad chuckle.
Jonas sucked his teeth, getting frustrated. “Look, you can come down off your soapbox. All we’re trying to do is look out for y’all.”
“How? By getting yourself killed or arrested behind some craziness that Ace cooked up? One of these days, Ace is going to get one of y’all hurt.”
“I can take care of myself.” Jonas poked his chest out.
“Then why don’t you?”
“Huh?”
“Look, Jonas, I know those are your friends, but you aren’t like them. You’re so smart, and if you could bring yourself to focus even just a little bit, you could be so much more than one of Ace’s minions.”
“That’s what you think I am? Some type of flunky?” Her remark had hurt him, and he couldn’t hide it.
“I don’t mean it like that.”
“Alex, I don’t even know why you’re wasting your time. He ain’t no better than the rest of them dumb-ass niggas from Lenox.” Sheila rubbed salt in the wound.
“Why don’t you mind your own business, bitch?” Jonas snapped. He hadn’t meant to call her a bitch, but the word just fell out of his mouth in the heat of the moment.
“Bitch? I got your bitch!” Sheila hissed and stormed off in the direction of the snack window. Jonas knew how this was going to play out long before she came back with Ryan and Bo following her. “Yeah, him right there,” she pointed to Jonas.
“Yo, what’s good with you?” Bo stepped up. It was Ryan who was supposed to be defending Sheila’s honor, but Bo wanted to play big man in front of Alex.
“Don’t start.” Alex tried to defuse the situation. Bo ignored her and got into Jonas’s face.
“Nah, I heard he likes to call women out of their names. I wanna see him do that shit with a man.” Bo cracked his knuckles. He was obviously spoiling for a fight. Unfortunately for him, so was Jonas.
Jonas never said a word. He dipped his hand into the pocket of his jacket, slipped his fingers through the brass knuckles and fried them at Bo’s face with everything he had. Bo may have had a strong game on the court, but his chin was weak. The taller boy folded like a chair and hit the ground. Ryan stood there, looking from his fallen friend to Jonas as if he were unsure what to do, so Jonas helped him decide and socked him too. Three more members of the basketball team appeared with designs on jumping Jonas and were met by Prince and a few of the stragglers who had been watching the exchange. Within minutes, fists, feet, and food were flying, and the cafeteria was thrown into chaos.
It took half the school’s security force and two teachers to break up the brawl. Bo was taken to the nurse’s office, while Jonas, Prince, and a few others were cuffed. The kids who had seen what had happened cheered Jonas on as he peacocked across the messy cafeteria. He was sure to catch hell for what he had done, but at that moment, it didn’t matter. He felt like a celebrity. As he and Prince were hauled out, Jonas took one last look at the mess he had created. Standing in the center of it was Alex, with a look of disappointment on her face.
Chapter Nine
“I can’t believe this shit!” Janette fumed. She was pacing back and forth in the living room, sucking the life out of a cigarette.
“It wasn’t my fault,” Jonas mumbled. He was sitting on the living room couch, staring down at his sneakers. In his hand, he held a plastic bag full of ice that he had been applying to his busted lip. The injury hadn’t been a result of the fight he’d gotten into in school, but the one that waited for him afterward.
When Janette had gotten the call from the school informing her that her son was suspended for inciting a riot in the cafeteria, she was none too thrilled. She and Slick had been out hustling all night long, and she had just gone to bed when the call came in. She was tired, and the monkey she carried was beginning to scratch at her back because she hadn’t had a chance get a fix before heading out to pick him up.
The whole time Janette sat in with the principal, she gave an Oscar-worthy performance of the concerned parent, occasionally even clutching the fake pearls that hung around her neck. She was appalled at her son’s behavior and promised that he would be well reprimanded. She hadn’t lied either. She kept up the act until they were a few blocks from the school and then let Jonas have it. It was the first time he could ever remember his mother hitting him with a closed fist. Janette was in a foul mood, partially because she had to go all the way to the school to sign Jonas out, but mostly because when they got back to the apartment, Slick was gone, and he had taken with him the drugs that she’d spent half the night on her knees and back to get.
“I’m getting tired of your shit and your excuses,” Janette continued. “I got better things to do than run down to your school in the middle of the day.”
“Like what?” he hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but he did.
Janette stopped her pacing long enough to tag him again. This time, it was an open hand to the cheek. “You keep testing me, and I’m going to make your little ass sorry!”
Jonas tensed as he thought Janette was going to clock him again, but she got distracted. They heard what sounded like the front door opening. At first, Jonas thought Slick might be crawling out from under whatever rock he’d been hiding, but then he heard giggling. Slick was a lot of things, but a giggler wasn’t one of them. A few seconds later, Yvette appeared. She was chatting it up with the two friends she had brought home with her, Doris and Shauna. Doris and Yvette had been friends since middle school, but Shauna had only recently started hanging around them. Shauna was a full year older than Yvette or Doris, but they were in the same grade because she had gotten left back. She was known as a girl of loose principals and wore it like a badge of honor. Yvette might’ve been testing the fast track, but Shauna was already running laps around it.
When Yvette noticed her mother standing in the middle of the living room, her eyes got as wide as saucers. She hadn’t expected her mother to be home. “Oh shit!”
“Shit is right. What are you doing out of school in the middle of the day?” Janette pressed, studying her face. Something was off.
“I-uh . . .” Yvette stuttered, trying to untie her tongue. She was high as a kite and doing a poor job of hiding it.
“We had a half day,” Shauna spoke up. The lie rolled off her tongue so fluidly that it almost sounded like the truth.
“Bullshit! You hussies are ditching!” Janette accused. “And what the hell are you wearing?”
None of the girls were wearing uniforms. They were all dressed like women twice their ages, with their faces made up. Yvette was wearing black hot pants and pumps with a cute leather jacket.
“It was a dress-down day,” Yvette lied.
“You look like a trio of damn streetwalkers.” Janette looke
d them up and down.
“They’re your clothes,” Yvette mumbled.
“You trying to get cute?” Janette stared her down. Yvette wisely remained silent.
“Maybe we should go?” Shauna suggested. She had come to Yvette’s with the expectation of getting drunk and listening to music, not be lectured by her junkie mother.
“Wait, you don’t have to leave. Mom, it’s cool if they hang out, right?” Yvette’s tone was almost pleading.
“You girls get home safe,” Janette replied, giving Shauna a dirty look. She didn’t care where they went, but they were getting the hell out of her house.
Shauna was one of the coolest kids at their school. She always had a line on the hippest parties, who had the best weed, and which boys were handling a few dollars. Yvette had been kissing her ass for weeks to try to get next to her, and her mother was threatening to undo all her work.
“It’s cool, baby girl,” Shauna clicked her gum. “I was once young and still being told what to do, so I get it. Catch you another time.” She started for the door and stopped short. “You rolling with me, Doris? Or you on punishment too?”
Doris didn’t hesitate to follow Shauna out the door, leaving Yvette to her fate.
“I swear, you always gotta ruin something,” Yvette huffed.
“You should be glad I busted up whatever y’all thought you were about to have going on. I keep telling your fast ass that the streets ain’t nothing nice,” Janette warned.
“Then why are you always in them?” Yvette questioned.
