He placed a soft kiss on her lips and answered, “Mwen remen ou.”
Jessica took him by his waist and feverishly pulled his body into hers.
Chapter 6
The girls rode the cab back to Harlem in silence, and not a single word was spoken. Each was in her own little world because tonight was unlike any other—they were all now women. They remembered all the rumors they heard from other girls about their first sexual encounter—how the experience would be like no other. That it would be a moment to jump up and down about and tell their best friends that they were now a woman and share every intimate detail, right down to the size of their partner’s penis. But, as they now knew, it was something much more than that. It was a personal memory that they would hold dear as they relived the tender moment, over and over again until the day they died.
When they finally arrived in Harlem, they paid for the cab and exited on 7th Avenue and 125th. The breezy pre-summer night air flowed pleasingly through their hair and faces. It was then that the first words were spoken. Vonda looked at her girls and asked, “Are you guys all right?”
One by one, a small smile came over their faces, and Tiny broke the humdrum and said, “I think I’m in love.” It was now in the open, and each girl agreed that they too were in love. Now was the moment they began to shed tidbits of information about their new suitors as the spring in their step gave them an extra bounce and extra flair.
“So,” said Vonda, “what was it like?” She looked at Tiny first, who smiled widely,
“Yo, when he first put that shit in, I said, ‘take that motherfucker out!’”
All the girls began laughing as she continued. “But he kept telling me to calm down and I said ‘I’m trying,’ but that shit was hurting like a son of a bitch.”
They looked at Tiny, who was still silent and Vonda asked, “Then what happened, bitch?”
Tiny snapped out of her fantasy and said, “Then, all of the sudden, I felt it going in and then he had all that shit in me pumping hard as hell, then after while, yo, I ain’t lying, that shit began feeling good as motherfucker.”
All the girls began to laugh again.
Vonda looked at Lynn. “What about you, Lynn? How was it?”
Lynn had a hollow stare then said, “It was kinda icky. I tried to get into it, but I wasn’t feeling nothing but discomfort.” She shrugged her shoulders and folded her arms. “It wasn’t all what I thought it would be.” Lynn then put on a sly smile and admitted, “But when he started licking it? Oh shit! I went crazy!”
Everyone stopped in place and asked, “He ate you out?”
Lynn nodded her head coyly.
Suddenly, they turned their attention toward Jessica and Vonda asked, “It’s on you, Jess? How did you like it?”
Jessica thought about it for a moment and walked as if she was walking on clouds until finally she simply said, “It was as endearing and as personal as I thought it would be, and I think I’m truly in love.”
The girls waited for her to continue, but she didn’t. She only added, “That’s all I’m going to say about that.”
“Come on, Jessica. This is pretty boy Kenny we talking about. Is he as good as all the rumors?” Vonda persisted.
“What he and I shared was really special, and I don’t want to cheapen it by going into details.” Jessica continue to stroll down the block as images of her first time swam around her head. Each time she thought about Kenny touching her, butterflies fluttered around in her stomach. She’d never imagined her first time to be so fantastic.
“There you go again,” Tiny said with a smirk. “Jess, you with your girls. It’s not like we’re going to tell anyone. What’s said between us stays between us.”
“It’s not just that. It’s . . . it’s just that I can’t even seem to find the words . . .” she trailed off, looking toward the sky as if there she would find the answer there.
They nodded, choosing not to persist anymore and remained quiet until Tiny shifted her eyes over toward Vonda. “It’s on you Vonda.”
Vonda looked at Jessica before she answered and said, “Everything Jessica said.”
All the girls began chiding her, but respected her secrecy. A sudden and mysterious feeling overcame them all as they now stepped through the threshold of womanhood. They held hands to show a form of liberation and began singing Evelyn “Champagne” King’s song. “Ain’t no doubt about it, I’m in love!” They were all in such bliss their common sense took a back seat to the elation they were feeling.
They rejoiced on their way home and felt as if they were now ready to take on the world. They finished high school and were looking forward to their graduation ceremony, finally being on their own, and living by their own rules when they would go off to college.
But their joy came to a dramatic halt when they realized that right in front of them was Cookie and most of her crew. Only Kimmi was absent. Panic overcame them all, and their first instinct was to run, but the long dresses and the high heels that they wore told them otherwise. Cookie, Denise, Tay-Tay, and Nikki had them surrounded in a matter of seconds and quickly pulled out switchblades. None of the girls could believe what was happening and couldn’t even react.
“Look what the fuck we have here!” spewed the smiling ringleader, Cookie.
Before they could even make a plea, the four of them had the razor-sharp blades to their throats. The girls were shoved so violently that the heels on their shoes began to break away as the five girls pushed them into the closest building they could find. In the rear of the building’s landing, they were pushed up against the wall with the deadly blades still pressed against their bodies.
Cookie stared at Lynn’s cleavage lustfully before snatching her handbag from off of her shoulder. She rummaged through it in search of money, but found little. She came across a book of matches and read it. “The Marriott Hotel?” She leered at Lynn. “Y’all bitches just came back from fucking?”
She tossed the matches and the other unnecessary items to the floor and pocketed the money. Cookie turned her attention toward Tiny and sneered, unleashing a vicious punch to her face. Tiny’s eye began to swell to the size of a small plum before she could hit the floor. Jessica and Vonda made an attempt to avenge their friend, but the knives pressed to their throats prevented them from doing anything.
“Talk that shit now, you li’l bitch,” taunted Cookie. She spat on Tiny, who cradled her eye as she squirmed on the floor in agonizing pain. “Y’all bitches thought that this shit was over? Like you gonna talk shit and we gonna let you get away with it?” She stared at Lynn, who was already crying and trembling, and punched her too.
“Please, don’t hit me,” Lynn begged as she threw her hands over her face to prevent it from happening again.
“Yo, Cookie,” pleaded Vonda, “why the fuck you got to be hitting my girls? They ain’t do shit to you.”
Cookie’s frown turned harder, and she approached Vonda and put the knife in her face. “Who the fuck are you to tell me what I should do, bitch?” Cookie edged the point of the knife up Vonda’s nostril. “Say one more motherfuckin’ word and see if I don’t cut your fuckin’ nose off.”
Vonda looked into her eyes, knowing that Cookie would make good on her threat, and chose to remain silent. It pained Jessica and Vonda to watch their friends being beaten, but there was nothing that they could do. Vonda vowed that when she out of her precarious position, she would get her brothers to track them down so she could whip each and every one of their asses for pulling knives on them. She was sure of it.
Cookie removed the knife from Vonda’s nose and surveyed all four helpless girls. It seemed the more fear they showed, the more powerful she became. Cookie nudged her friend with her elbow and asked, “Yo, Denise, what the fuck you think we should we do with these bitches?”
Denise, who had a knife pressed up against Jessica’s throat answered sadistically, “Let’s cut one of their faces off and send a message to these other hoes.”
Lynn squealed involuntarily.
Cookie folded her arm, tapped the blade against her head, and then smiled wickedly. “No, I got a better idea.” She chuckled and looked down at Lynn with lust in her eyes then turned to her friends and stated, “Yo, remember what we made those bitches from the Eastside do?”
A sickening smile came over all their faces as they nodded their heads knowingly. Cookie turned her attention back to Vonda, Jessica, Lynn, and Tiny. Her eyes fell upon Lynn again and she demanded, “Get on ya knees and start sucking this pussy.”
Lynn began crying louder at the thought of it.
Denise began to rub her pelvis up against Jessica, then placed her hand across her breasts and said, “Oh, Cookie, I want this one. She’s the baddest one out of all of them,” as she examined Jessica up and down.
“Not me,” Cookie replied. “I like my bitches thick. Take that bitch into the corner.”
Nikki grabbed Lynn by her arm and shoulders and tossed her down to the ground in the corner. Lynn called out to Vonda and Jessica for help, but they were powerless. There was simply nothing they could do at that moment with the knives at their throats.
Cookie told Tay-Tay to watch Tiny and walked over to Lynn, who had started to cry out of control. Nikki returned to Vonda, grabbed her from behind, and held the kinfe in place just millimeters from her throat.
“Shut the fuck up!” Cookie undid the zipper of her jeans and approached Lynn, who was on her knees pleading for her not to do that. “Start licking this pussy, bitch!”
“Please, don’t. I’m begging you,” Lynn tearfully pleaded.
Cookie suddenly unleashed a vicious slap to her face and threatened, “If I have to ask you one more time what to do, I’m gonna cut your fucking titties off!” Cookie grabbed a handful of Lynn’s hair and buried her face into her crotch.
Jessica and Vonda squeezed their eyes closed, feeling totally helpless.
Moments later you could hear Cookie moaning. “Oh, shit, this bitch got it going on. Ooh, lick that shit, bitch. Lick it!” After few more minutes, she shifted her attention toward Tiny and ordered Tay-Tay, “Put her on her fuckin’ knees too.”
“No!” Tiny screamed in panic.
Tay-Tay attempted to grab her and force her to her knees, but Tiny’s nimble body and small frame allowed her to slip free. Tiny quickly kicked off her heels and made a run for it out the building’s front door with Tay-Tay chasing behind her. The diversion gave Vonda and Jessica enough time to catch their assailants off guard and make a grab for their knives. Vonda fought Cookie and Nikki at same time, proving to be too much for the both of them as she kicked and punched them as if her life depended on it. Jessica and Denise fought viciously for control of the knife. Jessica held on to the Denise’s hand, refusing to let it go. As they fought, Jessica suddenly lost her balance from the high heels and they both fell backwards awkwardly to the ground with the Denise landing on top of her. The struggle came to an abrupt halt followed by a blood-curdling scream. It was so loud that it caused Vonda, Nikki, and Cookie to stop in their tracks and stare at the two girls on the floor. Denise slowly began rising to her feet. Jessica remained still as her face and white prom dress were saturated with blood.
Vonda immediately broke free of Nikki, went into panic mode, and rushed over to her friend’s side. “Jessica!” Vonda screamed. “Oh my God, Jessica, tell me where she stabbed you at?”
Jessica said nothing and only stared back. Vonda continued to check her fallen friend’s bodily injuries and that’s when she spotted Jessica gripping a bloody knife tightly in her hand.
Everyone’s attention fell upon Denise. It was then that she slowly turned around, holding her neck region. They watched in dread as Denise gasped for a breath with an overflow of blood spewing from her fingers like a water pump. The girl’s eyes pleaded for help as she stepped drearily toward her partners in crime, but they were too shocked to offer her any assistance. It was obvious by the amount of blood streaming from her neck that her jugular had been severed. It appeared she wanted to speak, but the only sound that came out was sickening, gurgling sound as blood began to fill her throat and lungs. She stumbled to the ground and made a feeble attempt back to her feet, but lost her balance again and fell headfirst into a wall before finally collapsing into Lynn’s arms.
Lynn screamed in sheer terror and panic from all the blood that began seeping on her. She pushed Denise’s body away, backed into a nearby corner, and screamed as if she were losing her mind. Nobody moved or reacted, still too shocked to comprehend what was happening. They watched the fallen girl twitch violently before her body became deathly still.
Cookie and Nikki immediately retreated out of the building, leaving their fallen friend behind. As Vonda was helping Jessica to her feet, suddenly a door to one of the apartments opened and an elderly man yelled, “What’s going on out here?”
Jessica and Vonda were still too shocked to respond, and the elderly man’s eyes grew even wider when he surveyed the grisly hallway, with smeared in blood all over floor and walls. But, when he saw the bloodied, lifeless body sprawled across his hallway floor his mouth dropped. He turned to look in the other girls’ direction and saw Jessica, with a bloodied face and clothing, holding a knife. He slammed the door immediately, locking it behind him and the girls heard him yell from behind the door, “Clara, call the police!”
The building’s front door suddenly flew open, startling Jessica, Vonda, and Lynn. It was Tiny, who came back with a broken-off beer bottle in her hand. Tiny approached them cautiously, and it was then that she noticed the blood filled crime scene and body lying on the floor. Tiny dropped the jagged weapon as her hands flew over her mouth and she began to throw up violently.
When the police finally arrived they did a full investigation of the crime scene and spoke to all the tenants who lived in the building, including the 911 callers. As a squadron of uniformed police and detectives did their investigation, the coroner hauled the body of twenty-year old Denise Jackson to the city morgue. The detectives took pictures and blood samples from Jessica, Vonda, and Lynn’s clothing for evidence to build a case against the four other girls being sought.
Soon after the police arrived, the four girls were taken the station to give their statements and go through mug shots. The girls were allowed to call their parents, who came down to the precinct immediately. Once the parents arrived, the police started taking their statements since they were all underage. They questioned the girls for several hours before they were finally released to the custody of their parents under the strict contingent they not leave town and would be available for more questioning as the need arose.
**********
Jessica’s mother and father consoled her in the days following the incident and could never imagine how traumatizing the event must have been on her. Jessica was torn to pieces knowing she took the life of an individual no matter if it was an accident or not. She explained to them everything that led up to the event, only leaving out the part about the hotel.
Vonda, Jessica, Tiny, and Lynn talked on the phone daily and agreed to stay consistent with the story to protect themselves from their parents finding out they had sex in a hotel. They vowed that whatever happened, they would not tell the authorities or anyone else about it.
Several days later they were informed that the ring leader, Cookie, had finally been arrested and refused to give the authorities a statement about the two other suspects.
**********
Exactly one week after that fateful night, Vonda, Jessica, Lynn, and Tiny attended graduation and received their diplomas. After the ceremony, they were outside taking pictures with their now former classmates and families when they were approached by the two New York City detectives who had originally taken their statements the night of the murder, along with two uniformed officers, who informed them that they were all being arrested for the murder of Denise Jackson.
The girls were at loss for words as the detectives produced their handcuffs to arrest t
hem in front of their family, classmates, and onlookers. Each girl’s family member grew alarmed and confused at what was going down and refused to allow the detectives to touch their loved ones, especially Jessica’s father.
“My name is Mr. Jones. What do want with my daughter? She didn’t do anything,” he protested and moved in front of her.
“Sir,” responded the tall white detective, “we have a warrant issued for the arrest of . . .” He paused and read the names on the arrest warrant. “. . . Claresse Maynard, Lynise Davis, Vonda Williams, and Jessica Jones.”
Mr. Jones pleaded, “No, there’s got to be some kind of mistake. My daughter did nothing wrong. She—”
The detective rudely cut him off before he finished. In his experience, it was better to make a quick arrest and let them deal with the court system. “Sir, what you need to do is step to the side before you are arrested for obstruction.” He pushed Mr. Jones aside with a forearm, and the people in the crowd expressed their displeasure toward his callous behavior.
As the officers approached the remaining girls, Vonda’s mother immediately cursed them loudly. “Don’t even think about putting you fucking hands on my daughter, motherfucker!”
A loud cheer erupted from the crowd. The situation grew even tenser when the officers saw Vonda’s three huge brothers surround their baby sister, ready to challenge the officers by any means necessary.
One uniformed officer had the good sense to radio in for assistance. The second detective, black and in his late forties, decided to play peacemaker to circumvent his partner’s insensitive behavior. “We are only doing our job. If you want to be heard, you will have to see the judge at this point and all will be straightened out if they are innocent like you say. Trust me, you don’t want to do this.” He turned his attention to Vonda’s mother and assured her, “I’ll ensure that they are taken care of before their arraignment. The best thing you can do right now is get them a lawyer and arrange bail, and she will be out sooner than you think.”
Harlem Girl Lost 2 Page 5
