by Darrien Lee
“Sure.”
“I have a job interview tomorrow for a management position at the automotive plant.”
“For real?” Julius asked with excitement.
“You bet, and when I get the job, we’re out of here. No more gunshots in the middle of the night, and you, your mom, and your sister will be safe and sound.”
“That’s my dream too, Dad, because I don’t think those cops are going to let up.”
“What cops?” Zakia asked.
“The ones on the TV show,” Julius replied to throw her off. He’d forgotten she was in the car since she’d stopped singing.
Mr. Graham put the car in park and said, “Zakia, run on in house. I want to talk to your brother for a second. We’ll be in shortly.”
“Okay, Daddy,” she replied as she opened the car door and made her way into the house.
Mr. Graham turned to his son and asked, “Have the police tried to contact you at school?”
“No, sir, but they know I know something. I think it’s only a matter of time before they try to talk to me again.”
“If they do, you don’t say a word. Just call me and I’ll come right away. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Listen, son, we haven’t had a chance to talk about what happened in the store that night. Your mother told me you haven’t been sleeping much. Do you want to talk about it?”
Julius laid his head on the headrest and sighed. “It’s bad, Dad.”
“It’s okay. No matter how bad it is, I’m your father, and I’ll die before I let anybody hurt you. I don’t want you feeling burdened with this. What you saw was tragic and scary, and as long as the killer’s on the street, I won’t rest knowing you don’t feel safe. You’ll probably feel better if you talk about it, son.”
With tears in his eyes Julius told his father exactly what had happened. He even revealed to him that it was Viper who shot the store clerk and that word on the street confirmed it was him as well. Mr. Graham knew Viper well, and so did most families in the area. He felt his blood pressure rise because of the possible threat if Viper ever found out his son was a witness.
“It doesn’t surprise me that Viper was involved, because that kid’s been on the fast track to nowhere for years. Julius, I’m glad you told me. That kid is dangerous, and I don’t want you to tell anybody you were anywhere near that store, especially those detectives. You feel me?”
“Yes, sir.”
Mr. Graham opened his car door and said, “Great. Now, don’t say anything to your mother about this, because she’ll really freak out. I’ll tell her information on a need-to-know basis. Besides, she’s worried enough already.”
“I won’t, Dad,” Julius replied as they walked into the house to the smell of fried pork chops, macaroni and cheese, and green beans.
It was an unusually warm fall afternoon, and Detectives Daniels and Young were back in Julius’s neighborhood, looking for anyone that could provide them with clues to the homicide. It wasn’t the first time they had canvassed the area, and it wouldn’t be the last. They knocked on doors and stopped everyone on the street for any information they could gather on the murder. On this day they parked on the corner near the store to watch the daily traffic of people going up and down the block in the hope of finding someone they hadn’t already spoken to. There was one group of young men making their way down the block, bouncing a basketball, and they noticed a familiar figure in the group, so they exited their vehicle and made their way across the street in their direction.
“What’s up, guys? Where are you headed? ” Detective Young said to the young men.
“What’s it to you?” Domingo asked.
Detective Daniels pointed at Julius and asked, “You’re Julius Graham, right?”
Julius opened his mouth to answer, but nothing came out. Detective Young knew his partner had made a potentially fatal mistake by insinuating that they knew Julius.
Domingo and his friends looked at Julius, confused about how the detectives would know him, and the last thing Julius wanted his friends to think was that he was some type of informant for them.
“Julius, how do you know these cops?” Domingo asked.
Detective Young stepped forward and said, “We don’t really know Julius. We found a job application with his name on it in the store where that homicide happened the other day. We asked around, and someone pointed him out to us. That’s all. We’re following up all leads in the case until we catch the shooter. Have you guys heard anything on the streets about the shooting?”
Domingo answered, “Hell no! You guys are crazy if you think you’re going to get anyone to talk around here. We know nothing about nothing. Let’s go, guys.”
“We’re just making conversation, kid. Chill out,” Detective Daniels replied with a firm tone.
Angry at the detectives for drawing attention to him, Julius answered in anger, “You cops need to back up off me and my boys and get the hell away from us. If you keep this shit up, we’re going to have the NAACP, the ACLU, and everybody else on your asses. Now step!”
“That’s right!” Domingo yelled to support his best friend.
Detective Daniels put his hands up in defense and said, “Look, we’re only here to help the community. I heard Remy was good to you kids. I would think you would want to make sure the person who killed him is arrested.”
Julius stepped forward and said, “What we want if is for you to leave us alone. We have to live here, and if the wrong people see us talking to you, it could get us killed.”
“Forget it, Julius. These clowns don’t have a clue,” Domingo said to back up his friend. “We know you have snitches. Go ask them, because we’re no snitches!”
With that statement, Julius, Domingo, and the other young men walked away from the detectives, leaving them empty-handed. They had hoped to scare Julius into cooperating with their investigation, but they were unsuccessful once again.
Inside the store Julius hurried over to the refrigerator and pulled out two large bottles of Gatorade and a bottle of water to purchase. His throat was dry, and he was sweating profusely. He was standing almost in the exact spot he was in the night of the shooting. All the emotions of that night came back to him like a flood, and his heart started pounding in his chest.
Domingo walked over to his friend and patted him on the shoulder, snapping him out of his trance.
“Bro, I like how you handled yourself with those bigheaded cops. They love sweating brothas.”
Julius turned to his friend and said, “I know.”
Domingo pulled a Gatorade out of the refrigerator and asked, “Why didn’t you tell me you put in an application to work here?”
Thankful that one of the detectives was able to divert suspicion from him, he continued the lie and said, “Since my dad has been out of work, I thought it was a good place to work after school to try to help out. Too bad Remy never got a chance to hire me.”
Walking toward the register, Domingo asked, “Yeah, that’s too bad. So are you still going to try to work here?”
Julius sat his purchases on the countertop and said, “No way. Besides, my mom freaked when I told her I had put an application in here.”
Domingo pulled his money out of his pocket and said, “Good thing you weren’t working here that night, huh? You could’ve got shot too.”
Domingo had no idea how close his statement was to the truth. The two friends paid for the Gatorade and bottled water and headed back toward the exit. When they walked outside to join their other friends, they found them occupied with a couple of girls.
Julius opened a bottle of Gatorade and said, “Looks like it’s going to be a minute before we’re ready to play ball.”
“Those girls ain’t about nothing,” Domingo said before sitting down on a bench.
“My dad said as soon as he finds work, we’re going to move,” Julius announced.
“Move? Where?” Domingo asked.
“We don’t know yet, but it�
��ll be out of here. I’m tired of dodging bullets.”
“How are we going to play ball if you move out of the neighborhood?” Domingo asked before taking a sip of Gatorade.
“We’ll work it out,” Julius assured him. “Come on. We have time for one more game before dark.”
“Count me in!” Domingo answered as he climbed off the bench and yelled for their other friends to join them. Unfortunately, it took a few minutes, because they were working hard to get cell numbers from the girls they were talking to. After some clever begging from the guys, the girls happily scribbled out their numbers on their store receipts.
Just then Julius noticed a dark Dodge Charger coming down the street. It came to a stop right at the corner, at the stop sign. Behind the wheel of the car sat none other than Viper, and one of his boys was in the passenger seat. Just the mere sight of him made Julius extremely nervous. Viper looked over and noticed the young men hanging out outside the store, but it was Julius that he made eye contact with. Before driving off, Viper nodded at Julius, who seemed to be the only one in his group who noticed the two pull up.
“Did you see that?” Julius asked Domingo.
“What?” Domingo asked as he finished texting.
“Viper just rolled by in his car with one of his boys. Do you think somebody told him about those cops talking to us?”
“Nah. He would’ve come over here if he suspected anything.”
Unconvinced on the inside, Julius had no choice but to hope that Domingo was right. The young men made the short walk to the basketball court and put their drinks and bags down on the bleachers. Domingo immediately threw an alley-oop pass to six foot tall sophomore Jeremy Green, who dunked it, drawing a lot of screams and high fives from spectators.
Julius glanced at the time on his cell phone and yelled, “Let’s do this!”
The teens started playing the last game of the evening.
Chapter Four
Dear Diary,
School was all good today. I’m tutoring a new student named Julius. He’s cute, but he’s too young for me. I would introduce him to my neighbor, Kane, but she’s in love. LOL! Maybe my matchmaking days are over (sigh). Anyway, he seems nice and he’s very smart, but there are times when he totally shuts down on me, which leads me to believe there’s something else going on with him. I don’t know if he’s being bullied or if there’s trouble at home. Whatever’s going on, I want him to see me as a friend and mentor. Who knows . . . He just might open up to me in due time. You know I’m all about helping my friends. Then again, that’s what usually gets me into trouble. LOL! Well, got to go. I see my student coming.
Smooches!
D
Julius walked over to the table and slid into his seat without making eye contact with Denim. He’d been stressing ever since the shooting, and it was beginning to take a toll on him.
“Well, hello to you too,” Denim said to him with an agitated tone of voice.
“Hey, Denim. Sorry,” he mumbled.
She studied his expression and asked, “Are you okay?”
He sighed and said, “Yeah, I’m cool.”
“Look at me,” she demanded.
Julius slowly looked up at her and could see that she was not amused by his behavior, and he realized that his parents wouldn’t be, either, if they saw how he was treating her. Then, just as he was about to speak, she put her hand in front of him and stood.
“Hold that thought. Our conversation needs to take place in private,” she announced. “Let’s go.”
Stunned, Julius continued to sit.
Denim tugged on the hood of his hoodie and repeated, “I said, let’s go.”
Julius closed his books like a chastised child and slowly followed Denim toward the library exit. Once outside she pointed over to a picnic table underneath a row of trees near the soccer field and said, “Let’s do this outside today. You seem like you need some fresh air, because your mind seems clouded.”
They made their way over to the picnic table in silence and sat down across from each other. A cool breeze rustled through the leaves, and they could hear a few birds chirping in the trees nearby. It was a peaceful scene, even though Julius’s emotional state was extremely tense.
“Are you ready to do some work now?” Denim asked.
“Not really, but I’ll try,” he answered as he looked into her concerned eyes.
She shook her head and shoved her books into her book bag. “Your mind’s not in it today. Is there something you want talk about?”
“No . . . maybe,” he answered in confusion.
“You’re paying for the time, so it’s your time whether we’re doing math or whatever. Whether we’re successful and meet the goal you want to meet is up to you.”
Julius tapped his pencil on the table for several seconds. He looked into Denim’s eyes and said, “I’m not really feeling it today, Denim. I have other stuff on my mind right now.”
She sat down and asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”
He lowered his eyes and said, “Not today. I just want to chill. Is that okay with you?”
“Like I said, it’s your dime, not mine. So what do you want to do?”
He smiled and said, “Can you shoot hoops?”
She stood and said, “I do okay. Is that what you want to do?”
“Yeah,” he answered as he threw his book bag over his shoulders.
“Let’s go over to the court. I think I have one of Dré’s basketballs in my trunk.”
Julius and Denim slowly make their way out to her car to get the basketball. Seconds later they began a game of horse on one end of the court, while a group of guys played three on three on the other side. After the first game, Julius started to loosen up.
“You’re better than I expected you to be,” Julius stated. “I guess dating a star basketball player has it perks.”
Denim bounced the ball and took a shot, missing the goal.
“To tell you the truth, I could play ball before I started dating Dré. I have an older brother, and we used to play together all the time.”
Julius bounced the ball and took a shot, hitting it. He turned to her and said, “I know you picked up something from being around Dré.”
Denim knocked the basketball out of his hand, and while dribbling it, she said, “You underestimate my skills. I see I’m going to have to stop playing with you.”
“Oh, is that what you’ve been doing?” he asked with a chuckle.
She took the shot from the spot where Julius had previously made his basket and got nothing but the net.
“Damn!” Julius yelled, because he had taken the shot from almost center court.
Denim put her hands on her hips before moving to another area on the court and said, “I tried to tell you. Now we’re going to do this by my rules.” She made a baseline shot and said, “Instead of playing horse, we’re going to do algebra.”
“Are you serious?” Julius asked, pouting somewhat as he dribbled the ball.
“Don’t whine, Julius. Algebra is the reason we’re spending time together, right?”
“Whatever,” he answered as he missed his shot.
“Okay, I’m going to mix things up a little bit,” she explained. “I’m going to ask you algebra questions, and if you get it right, you get to ask me questions. Get it wrong, I get to ask you other questions not pertaining to algebra. Is that fair?”
Julius was a little reluctant to agree to her terms, but he eventually decided to go along with her. Denim wasted no time asking Julius to solve algebra equations they had been studying. Some he got right, and some he got wrong. When he got a particular question wrong, Denim decided to ask him a very personal question.
“Since you missed that shot, here’s your first question not related to algebra.”
Julius looked at her in anticipation of the question and clenched his teeth.
“Why were so tense in the library earlier? And I want the truth, Julius Graham.”
He blushe
d and dribbled the basketball without making eye contact with her.
“Stop stalling,” Denim demanded. “You have to answer the question without hesitation.”
He shot the ball and hit the shot. “I wasn’t tense. It’s just that I have stuff on my mind.”
“What kind of stuff?” she asked, pushing him for a more direct answer. “You’re not being bullied, are you?”
“No, I’m not being bullied. It’s personal, and it’s making it hard for me to concentrate.”
Denim looked at her watch and noticed that their time together had ended and it was time to go. “We don’t have a lot time to waste, Julius, so whatever you have that’s messing with your head, take care of it, because report cards will be coming out soon.”
He stared off across the basketball court at the other students without replying. Denim could tell he was definitely distracted, and she needed to snap him out of it. What she didn’t know was how serious his distraction was.
“I’ll make sure I’m on top of my game before report cards come out,” he finally told her.
The last thing he wanted was to put Denim in danger, and he knew he had to be as elusive as possible.
“I hope so, because I hate that you’re letting something keep you from handling your business with me,” she said as she retrieved the basketball. “I’m here if you ever want to talk.”
“I’ll remember that, Professor.”
Denim laughed.
“We’d better get going. Your dad will be looking for you at the library.”
He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and said, “It’s okay. I’ll text him and let him know where we are. I really had a good time today, even though it didn’t start out so well.”
She bumped her shoulder against his and said, “We got some work done. That’s what is important, but Wednesday I’m going to come down hard on you, so you’d better be ready.”
“I will,” he replied as they walked toward her car.
As they walked past the guys on the other end of the court, one of them stepped out of the group and yelled out to Denim.
“Yo, Denim. Does Dré know you’re kicking with that freshman?”
