Charles had been on the bus for a while now. He watched as everyone else was dropped off and weirdly, he memorized the route of each house. Charles was the second to last to get dropped off and sighed in relief.
It was snowing, but it was lightly snowing. Charles waited for the bus to leave then he walked over to Lee's place.
"Lee, you here?" Charles called out.
"Lee?" Charles called out once more.
"Hey Charles." Lee appeared from out of an open garage with a patch over his right eye.
"Uh, what happened to your eye?" Charles asked, motioning towards the patch.
"Nothing, I use it to help me from scratching it-"
Charles got a hold of the patch and pulled it off, cutting Lee off. Lee's eye was puffy and black. He had been punched really bad. Charles stared at him for a minute, trying to process.
"This why you didn't come to school today?" Charles grunted.
"It's not that big of a deal." Lee sighed.
"How did this happen?" Charles asked.
"I fell...on my eye."
"Liar." Charles said, looking away.
"I have a guess." He said.
"You and Brandon getting caught up in that gang. I'm not stupid so don't stand there and try to lie to me about it. You're bad at it anyways. So what? You refused to do something the gang leader wanted or something. Then he hit you?" Charles said.
"How'd you know?" Lee questioned.
"It was a guess, c'mon, I'm getting you and Brandon out of this. This gang leader has crossed the line and it will be his final one." Charles spoke, grabbing Lee by the arm like he was his father.
"No, man. Don't get caught up in this stuff." Lee stopped in his tracks.
"See, I don't even know why you guys started stealing in the first place! Now y'all caught up in this gang and think y'all all bad just because y'all steal. I ain't scared and never had been." Charles let go of him.
"How much he paying y'all fam anyway?" He uttered.
"Two g's...a week." Lee lowered his head.
"Bro, two grand. I know y'all fam ain't doing good right now, but this is not the way to get the money." Charles said, placing both hands on his shoulders.
"Sorry, Charles. This is the only way we see to get the most money in a week. What you do anyways?...Oh right, you volunteer at those computer programs and your parents job, right?" Lee said.
"Yea, and ya'll can do it with me, but not now cause of the storm happening." Charles said.
"Right, the storm. Charles get home and call your folks man. Nice talking." Lee walked back inside.
Just after he did, it began to snow hard. Charles started walking back to the apartment complex. He wanted to help his friends so bad. But didn't really know what he was supposed to do. He quickened his pace, turning at the corner of the building.
"Oh, sorry." Charles said, running into someone.
YOU ARE READING
Do What You Gotta Do
ActionCharles, a sixteen-year-old teenage boy has grown up in the hood his whole life. He lived in the city that never sleeps, New York City. Charles never adapted to the hood lifestyle because he promised himself he wouldn't. He wasn't about that life, u...
