Salty: A Ghetto Soap Opera (Drama In The Hood)

by Aleta Williams

  "Hi, beautiful." Was the way Pam greeted Jazz.

  "Hi, mommy." Jazz replied, and shut the door.

  Pam couldn't pull off good before Jazz hit her with the question...

  Jazz wanted to know if she had taken the AIDS test, she told her that she did and the results would be back in 72hrs. She also insured her that she wasn't infected. When will I ever get the guts to tell her the truth?

  Pam looked over at her daughter; she could see worry written all over her face. She had to cheer her up.

  "You feel like shopping?"

  Jazz’s eyes got big and so did her smile.

  "Of course, diva." She said.

  They both laughed.

  "Divas rolling." Pam cheered as they pulled off en route to the South Coast Plaza.

  ******

  A few hours later

  Jazz and Pam where leaving out the mall when her cell phone began to sing Soldier by Destiny’s Child. Her hands were full of bags so she couldn't answer it.

  "Yay-Yay is going to be mad that we went shopping and didn't tell her. Pam said.

  "How you know that's Yay-Yay?"

  "The ring tone, duh!”

  "You think you know our life?" Jazz teased and they both laughed.

  By the time the two reached Pam's car and put the bags into the trunk, Jazz’s cell rang again; it was Yay-Yay again. This time Jazz was able to answer.

  "What, chick?" Is how she greeted Yay-Yay.

  "Bitch where you at? You come the fuck to Peter’s house now!"

  “What’s up? I'm with my momma; what happened?"

  Pam looked at Jazz. She wondered what drama her niece had going on today. Yay was always getting herself into some mess and just like her momma; who called on Pam to help her out of a bind. Yay called on Jazz. Yay-Yay was going on and on about some bitch being over Peter's house talking shit. And how she believed she was fucking Peter; that's all Jazz needed to hear.

  "Peter's house." She told her mother.

  What bitches Peter got over here now? Jazz thought. If it ain't one thing it’s another.

  "What happened?" Pam’s question pulled Jazz away from her thoughts.

  Jazz sighed.

  "Yay say some females over Peter's starting ish and that she think one’s messing with Peter."

  “Hmmm” was all Pam said.

  She kept her thoughts about Peter and Yay to herself. She hated to admit that Yay was like her mother. Yay’s mother was always in competition with Pam. Always trying to outdo her, she swore her sister invented Puncha nella 47: "Whatever you can do, I can do or get better." Pam could see Yay was carrying some of the same traits. When would the cycle end?

  When Jazz and Pam pulled up they saw Yay-Yay, Peter, and a light skin girl standing in the yard. Ken was standing on the porch. Pam walked on the porch and sat next to him.

  "What’s going on Yay?" Jazz asked as she approached the trio.

  "This bitch right here being disrespectful." Yay screamed while pointing at the girl.

  "Bitch, being disrespectful, you're the one over here up in me and my dude’s business."

  "Dude." Jazz said looking at the girl like she carried a disease. She then turned to Peter.

  "What she mean dude?"

  Peter was aggravated,

  "Why don't you ask her, she right here?"

  Jazz walked up on him. “No I’m asking you?"

  "It’s a figure of speech. Everybody knows that."

  Peter was telling the truth. Girls on the Eastside called their homeboys their dude and home girls their girl.

  "This dumb bitch,” Kendrick was referring to Yay-Yay, “is fucking up our money”.

  He looked at Pam to see if she heard him disrespect her niece; she did but she let it go, she wanted to see how it was going to play out. Kendrick walked off the porch and over to the four.

  "I wasn't going to say nothing; I thought you could handle it Pete, but I guess you can't so I'm going to handle this." He said. “First off Yay-Yay, you don't run this man or nothing he does. And when it comes to business you just do what we pay you to do, nothing extra. You don’t dictate shit. "

  He looked at Peter who was standing with his arms crossed.

  This nigga was soft when it came to keeping bitches in line, but swore he was hard. Kendrick thought. He gotta stop flirting so much... Hell naw, what he needs to do is leave Yay-Yay dumb ass alone if he can't check the bitch. Looking back at Yay-Yay he continued, “When you come over here with all this nonsense you not only fuck up our clientele, you draw unwanted attention. You start shit that shouldn't be started."

  He looked back at Pam and shook his head.

  "You got your aunt over here and Jazz over on some shit that has nothing to do with you."

  Yay knew he was right. But she would never admit it. She was jealous that Peter was flirting with the girl; he did every time she came by and he even gave her extra pills for free. Peter was a ho and if she let him they would have fucked. She wasn’t about to let another bitch mess with her money. Niggas get new pussy and forget about the old.

  "Kendrick you need to shut up." Yay-Yay said, "That's your homeboy so of course you are going to make like he was in the right. Peter won’t you tell Jazz why you asked her to step in your office. Everybody knows your office is your bedroom."

  In unison Ken and the girl was like, "Shut the fuck up."

  Yay -Yay threw her hands in the air.

  "What y'all wanna do?" she tested.

  Yay wasn't no fighter. She only bluffed when Jazz or her other friends were around.

  “On my momma, you got one more time and it’s a wrap. Pete go get her work.”

  “Oh so you threatening to fire me?”

  “You heard what I said.” Ken was stern.

  The yard was silent. Jazz felt like a fool. Pam was embarrassed for both her daughter and niece. The girl Yay accused Peter of was through with the whole situation, and Ken hated a scene. Peter came back out the house, handed the girl her work. Ken and the girl walked out the yard together, but went their separate ways. Pam too had enough. She told her daughter that she was leaving and to call her if she needed a ride.

  Peter’s cell phone rang; it was his customer from Culver City. The customer needed 50 pills ASAP. He assured his customer that he'll be there in less than an hour. Ignoring Yay-Yay completely, he said to Jazz,

  "baby I need you to ride to a customers' with me."

  He then kissed her on the cheek and ran into the house to retrieve the product.

  Yay-Yay could see that Peter was pissed with her. He rarely made trips to customers’ houses; he always sent her or another worker.

  He can be mad all he want. He's crazy if he thought I would let him fuck that bitch. If he want to get an attitude so can I.

  Yay-Yay then turned to Jazz.

  “You stupid."

  Jazz had a look of shock on her face.

  “How am I stupid?" She asked.

  “You didn't say shit. You let that bitch lie in your face about Peter being her homeboy. You know damn well they ain't friends. More like homey, lover, and friends."

  Jazz was fed up. Yay- Yay always came at her side ways; especially when it had something to do with Peter. I swear I think this bitch jealous of me and Peter.

  “Let me tell you something. I'm far from stupid. I may play stupid but I'm not. I know you're a hater and wish you had a man.”

  “Yay laughed, she then stepped back and looked at her cousin with pity.

  ”If you only knew boo boo." She said before turning and walking off.

  Peter was listening in the doorway. He prayed that Jazz slapped her one good time.

  After Yay pulled off, he came out the house and handed Jazz the pills. Her expression read "why I gotta hold them?"

  Yay would have taken them with no problem.

  “If the police. I said IF, the police pull us over they won't search you. They'll search me because I'm on probation."

  She gave him a half-smile.

&
nbsp; "K." She said.

  ********

  What you won’t do the next one will…

  About twenty minutes later Peter was handed a visitors past and he and Jazz pulled into the gated community.

  "Get out with me?" He told Jazz. Jazz didn't want to but she did. When they got to the door of the townhouse the door was open. Peter and Jazz walked in. She was a little taken aback by all the white guys that were in the house. The different basketball stuff around the house told her the resident was a fan or a player. A skinny white dude approached Peter. Peter and the dude hugged. He then looked at Jazz but didn't say nothing. Instead he asked Peter,

  "Where's the light one with the big ass."

  Jazz was offended. She wanted to snap on his ass, but didn’t want to come out of character for a stupid white boy. Besides, he wasn’t shit. She’ll never see him again. However, she still felt like she should say something.

  "Oh, my cousin? She's not working today."

  She smiled and held out her hand,

  “I’m Jazz; Peter's girlfriend."

  Again he ignored her.

  "Peter you got that?" He asked.

  "Jazz give him the bag." Peter said.

  Oh the punk know my name now? Jazz thought as she reached in her purse to retrieve the bag of pills. She then handed them to Pete, but his customer snatched them out of her hand.

  “I’m right here." He told her.

  That was it. Jazz was about to say something, but someone else spoke up for her.

  "Man what the hell is your problem? You don't know how to treat a lady?"

  Jazz looked and she didn't know rather to be ashamed or flattered. It was Diesel, Laurie's brother, defending her honor. Diesel put his arm around Jazz neck.

  "This is a good friend of the family. Not to mention a great dancer." He smiled looking at her. Jazz was in love with his dimples.

  “I think you owe my friend an apology."

  “Apology for what, man?" Peter's customer asked.

  "Because you don't treat guest…"

  "She's not my guest. I invited him not her."

  Diesel looked at Peter,

  "She is your woman right?"

  "Yeah she is." Peter responded while he stared at Diesel’s arm around his girl.

  “I can't tell." Diesel replied smoothly.

  "Anyway. She's a guest, not to mention a good friend. Apologize now. Don’t take me there, bruh."

  "Diesel it’s cool." Jazz said softly.

  If she wasn't dancing she hated being in the spotlight. All eyes were on her and she didn't like it.

  "No it’s not okay." He told her as he admired her silky shoulder length wrap. She had the smoothest dark brown skin he'd ever seen. This girl is gorgeous he thought. Quickly throwing away his thoughts he looked back up at the guy that was buying the product. The guy could see in Diesel’s eyes that he was serious. He knew it wasn’t a good idea to get on his friend’s bad side. He always told D that he had a bad temper.

  “I apologize, Jazz." The guy said. He then reached in his pocket, paid Peter and walked over to the couch.

  "Sometimes you have to excuse us jocks. We get so caught up in ourselves we forget how to treat others." Diesel told Jazz.

  She held her head down.

  "It’s cool." Jazz said again.

  Diesel looked at Peter. He was making him uncomfortable on purpose.

  "It’s never cool to disrespect a woman. I don't care what her status is. Rich, poor, a ho; it’s not cool. Even if she disrespects herself, a man shouldn't help her."

  He then put his focus back on Jazz,

  "Whenever your around me I'll never let a man disrespect you."

  To lighten the mood for Jazz’s sake he added,

  “I know you can handle the females."

  Jazz laughed, "Sure can." She said matter-of-factly.

  Is this nigga hitting on my woman in my face? Peter wasn't going to ask what he already knew. "Come on, Jazz." Peter told her.

  Diesel gave Jazz one last shot of his dimples and told her he'll see her soon. She said ok and her and Peter walked out the door.

  ********

  Feeling some kind of way……..

  Peter and Jazz both rode in silence for a good fifteen minutes before he decided to say what was on his mind. He looked over at Jazz. She had her seat leaned back and her eyes closed. Peter knew she wasn’t tired and that she was feeling some kind of way about what happened in the house. If she didn’t bring it up, neither was he, but he was about to find out who that wanna be black fool was.

  "So who was that nigga all on you?" Peter asked.

  "He was right there. Why didn't you ask?"

  Peter smirked,

  "You trying to be funny?"

  "Nope."

  He took his eyes off the road for a few seconds,

  "I asked you a question," He beamed.

  Jazz waited a few minutes before she replied. She was debating if she should get smart, being that she was mad that he didn't defend her in the house, or just tell him who Prince Charming was. OMG Jazz thought; did I just call Diesel Prince Charming?

  "That's Diesel. Laurie's brother."

  Peter didn't respond. He thought about Diesel’s status, which was one of the star players at USC, and then he thought about Jazz’s status: an above average girl from the ghetto who was Diesel’s sister’s friend. He wrote Diesel’s actions off as being nice.

  "Why did you let that guy disrespect me?"

  I knew that was coming Peter thought.

  To be honest, he would fight tigers and bears for Jazz he truly cared about the girl.

  The only reason why he allowed the guy to be so rude was to see if Jazz would check his ass. If that was Yay-Yay it wouldn’t have went down like that. Yay wasn’t the type you would want to make your girl; she was just cool to be around. He knew Yay was just using him for his paper and his good sex game. He also knew that Yay was a shady bitch and if she even suspected that he would cut her off from the money and dick without her approval, Peter would have hell to pay. Apart from all that she could hold her own. Jazz only did when she was forced. He didn't like that. Sometimes he wished he could take some of Yay qualities( light skin, big butt and confidence) and mixed them with everything he loved about Jazz and then he would have the perfect girl.

  “Peter you heard me.” Jazz snapped, breaking Peter’s thoughts.

  “Heard what?” He said.

  “Why in the hell did you let him talk to me like that?”

  Peter pulled in front of Jazz’s house and cut off the car. He looked at her, “he was just playing. Stop getting mad over small stuff.” Then he had the nerve to try and kiss her. Jazz moved her head back, opened the car door, got out, slammed it and went into the

  *******

  She got that good good…

  Peter pulled up in front of his house, parked his car and got out. He shook his head when he saw Yay-Yay parked blocking his drive way.

  “I don't know why you shaking your head.” Yay said as she waited for Peter to unlock his gate.

  “What you doing over here? I don't appreciate that shit you pulled today.”

  "And I don't appreciate you trying to talk to that ho in my face."

  “You ain't my girl. I don't say nothing about them niggas you mess with. You know why? Because I'm not your man.

  you got feelings?”

  Peter opened the front door, he allowed Yay to walk in first and then he went in after her.

  “Nigga, If I wanted to be your girl I can. You and I both know that.”

  "Yeah; alright." Peter said as he walked over to the bar and made him a drink.

  "You still haven’t told me what you doing over here?"

  "Waiting on you."

  He took a swallow from his glass.

  "Waiting on me? How you know when, or if I was coming home?"

  She flopped down on the couch, and took off her shoes.

  “I knew you were coming back. You only went to drop that b
itch off. I saw y'all on the I105"