Love & Hustle

Jumped.

-Prologue

"Naw fam, why is he looking for you?"

I rolled my eyes as my brother, Tracey, had me jacked up against the wall.

"I told you, I ain't do nothing, Trey. You need to let me go before I hit you with a two piece!" 

"Man, forget you!" He dropped me, "Don't come crying to me when he break your heart." 

"I ain't even dating the boy and you're already predicting my future with him."

He just sucked his teeth and left. He's just tripping because Jerome, a well-known thug, was asking around for me and he caught word. It's nothing though. He was just trying to give me back my phone. I'd actually gotten jumped today...

-Earlier

"Chica, please!"

I laughed as my best friend, Ronnie, did a reenactment of some drama tv show.

"And Chylae was all like, oh no honey! I will beat your culata! Keep trying me!"

I can tell she's trying not to speak in Spanish because last time, the teachers thought she was cursing when she wasn't.

"Hablando del diablo." She stopped. 

"Excuse me?" Myeisha asked. 

"You heard me!" 

"No, wait, Ronnie. Did you forget? Los truco no hablan español."

We both burst out laughing.

"Goodbye." Ronnie said slowly while waving.

We walked off into the the hallway.

"Ooh chica, there he go!" She shook me referring to Jerome. 

"Chill, niña. He ain't stunting me." 

"Cualquier." She rolled her eyes.

Just then, we were both grabbed by our necks.

"Yo!" I screamed.

We started taking blows everywhere! Eventually, we were able to throw some back, but there was to many for us. After about ten minutes, they were pulled off. There was a large crowd around us going wild! I looked up to see Myeisha and eight other girls.

"They sacked my phone!" I yelled after leaving the principal's office. 

"Ooh chica!" Ronnie screeched, "They better pray my daddy semiautomatic is locked up somewhere because a pollito is about to unload like a loco!"

I started getting frustrated. Myeisha has been jocking me since she lost her virginity! Back in middle school, everybody had boyfriends, smoked, and were always smashing. The only ones that weren't were Ronnie, Myeisha, and I. That was, until Myeisha got an older boyfriend that was in high school. They hit and after that, Myeisha was just too good for us. She swore she was fly! 

I looked in the mirror in my locker at the bruises on my caramel colored skin. My long dark brown hair was a mess and so was Ronnie's.

"Ooh, I'm about to kill her!" 

"Calm down, Ronnie." 

"Don't you see what she did to us? She took your phone and now we're looking pathetic!" 

"And we'll look even more pathetic when we locked up, now chill."

As I combed my hair, someone tapped my shoulder. I turned to see Jerome.

"Wassup, you Rose?" 

"Who wants to know?" 

"It's a yes or no question, bae. Is you, or is you ain't?" 

"Yeah, I'm her." 

"Here. I think this is yours."

He dropped my phone in my locker and walked off. I turned to Ronnie and she was smiling ear to ear.

"He wants you, chica." 

"Hush, Ronnie. He was just giving me back my phone." 

"No he wasn't! Everyone knows that if Romeo gets his hands on a phone like that, you ain't getting it back! For him to just bring you your phone personally, something must be up between y'all."

I shook my head.

"Girl, I'm telling you."

That was the first time in a long time that she'd said 'girl' in English. I'm actually pretty shocked.

~*~

I scraped the sharp knife against my pants and started ripping at them. This is how I stay looking fresh. When I get tired of some old pair, I rip them and sometimes, I splash a little bleach on them. 

I was just about to try them on when Tracey burst through my door. And this is how we got here.

"Naw, I don't like this." Trey exclaimed after he'd smoked a little. 

"All he did was give me my phone." 

"Yeah, and just like Ronnie said, your phone would've been took if it wasn't something going on."

I was about to defend my case again, but a knock came to the door. Trey got up to answer it.

"What's up, Romeo?"

See, Jerome and Tracey are pretty tight. It's just that Tracey is so protective over me that he never properly introduced us. I wanted to talk to him, but Tracey always had me locked in my room. So when Jerome came looking for me, we were both shocked. 

He came in the kitchen where I was sitting on the counter. He licked his lips and stood between my legs.

"I ain't know you was down with Trey." 

"Down with him? That's my brother." I smiled. 

"Word?" He backed up to get a good look of me, "Where you be at when I'm here?" 

"In my room." 

"Yeah?"

I nodded.

"Well that's exactly where I think we should be right now." 

"Boy, back-back. I don't get down like that."

He grinned and backed up a little.

"A'ight, baby."

My brother took him in his room and I immediately called Ronnie.

"Chica, tienes suerte!" She screamed. 

"I know, I know. He's with my brother right now." 

"You know what you should do?" 

"What?" 

"You should take your brother's phone, and get Romeo's number!"

I shook my head.

"Girl, be quiet. Don't give me no ideas."

I started going through my contacts, wondering if I had anymore friends other than Ronnie's crazy self. I was just getting in the D's when I read a contact that said, Da Bae <3.

"Uh, Ronnie?" 

"Yeah, Rosie?" 

"I'll have to call you back." 

"Okay."

Da Bae <3... Who in the world is that? I decided to call the number restricted.

"Hello?" A husky voice answered. 

"Oh God."

I quickly hung up and dropped my phone on my bed. I locked my door and slid down it. How did he unlock my phone?