From the Hills to Crenshaw II: Juniors

14. The Truth

Spencer's POV

My eyes scan over to the dresser where a bottle of pills and cocaine residue is scattered all over.

"Just calm down," I say and he backs away as Olivia, Mr. Baker, and Mrs. Baker run up the stairs.

"What's going on?" Olivia shouts and I strategically place myself between her and Jordan in fear that he's not in his right mind.

He cries and sweats profusely as he stands as far away from us as possible. "This shit has been weighing on me, man! I was doing good! I was doing really good! But he fucked up! He did! Not me!"

Nothing is really making sense to any of us, but by the look on Jordan's face something is seriously wrong.

"Son, calm down! You can tell us anything," his mom says.

He tries to regulate his heartbeat by breathing deeply and leaning his back against the wall.

"I was getting high with Fez one day. He asked about my football career and the family----- I told him I had no football career. I told him my family had moved on to their new and improved son."

"J, what are you talking about?" I ask and he shakes his head in frustration as tears stream down his fire red cheeks.

"Darnell! That's who I'm talking about! —- One day I'm the favorite son. The next day, Darnell is the apple of my dad's eye. A UCLA stand-out. He's his protege. And that was supposed to be me! Not him! Instead, I'm a liability and seen as an addict. They treat me like a fragile box. They locked the liquor and prescription drugs in cabinets, while closely watching my every move. Do you know how that shit feels?" He screams.

"I guess they weren't watching you close enough," Liv shouts.

"Says the girl who hasn't checked on me in years," he counters aggressively. "All you care about is being a football wife. You don't give a fuck about me."

"Aye, calm down!" I tell him as I grow tired of his aggression towards Liv.

"Jordan, tell me what you did so I can help you," Mrs. Baker demands and he cries relentlessly before beginning to pace around the room.

"I didn't do anything. But I didn't stop it either. Fez! Fez did it! He came up with this plan to make Darnell look less like Captain—-fucking America and more like a kid from Crenshaw who can't escape the troubles of his environment." He explains and we all stare in disbelief.

"What the fuck?" I shout and Mr. Baker tries to hold me back. "What the helll did you do, Jordan?"

"Darnell hit me the night of Patience's show. He said yall were pulling up and asked me to join. But I declined because I was chilling with Fez. When I told him about the club, he kept suggesting we go and he would start some shit with Darnell to shake him up. But I declined again, I told him that I could handle my own shit." He explains. "And I was dealing with the idea that y'all didn't give a fuck about me!"

"Jordan, you know we love you," his mom says as she starts to tear up.

"And then what happened?" Mr. Baker asks sternly.

"By the time I got home, Fez was calling me. His tone on the phone seemed more aggressive. Apparently, when he pulled up to the club,  Darnell was talking to his girl out front. He said he had a gun. He just kept telling me I was right about Darnell. And that he would humble him for the both of us. Then he started saying he had to deal with it!----- I tried to talk him down. I swear I did! But he hung up the phone. I called him back and I got no answer. I was scared. I was afraid."

"Why didn't you say anything? You could've warned your brother, boy!" Mr. Baker yells as he start to approach him aggressively, but stops when I start to speak.

"I did see that car up the street for a second. But it left," I say as my mind starts to churn with 'what ifs'. "When we first got there, Darnell saw a chick he knew from school. They might've talked for three minutes tops and then we walked inside. It was nothing."

"Maybe so. But Fez didn't think so," he cries.

"What about the other guy?" Mr. Baker asks as he tries to decipher everything. "This—- uh—- John guy!"

"I talked to Fez after the shooting. And he said if anything goes wrong he's pinning it all on some college kid that owed him money for some drugs.—— he apparently met Fez to score pills around the corner from the club and that's when Fez convinced him to help him with a robbery."

"He convinced him?" Mrs. Baker questions.

"Well, Fez made him do it. He made him ditch his bike and gave him a ski mask."

"So what? You just spent the last month hanging around Fez and getting high off of the story about him attempting to murder your brother and hurt your sister's boyfriend?" Mr. Baker questions as he knocks over the dresser that houses the pills and cocaine. "Have you lost your fucking mind, boy? Is that what this drug shit does to you? It makes you think foul actions should go unpunished?"

"The other day----I saw you in his car----- didn't I?" I shout and he drops his head.

"He kept telling me not to worry. For the past couple of weeks, he's been supplying me with the best drugs free of charge. It helped to ease my mind. I wanted badly for this all to go away. I didn't want Darnell to get hurt. I swear." He cries.

"You stupid idiot! How could you do this?" Olivia screams as she launches a trophy at Jordan's head and just misses as her mom tries to stop her from throwing another.

In the melee, I notice Olivia holding her stomach before running into the bathroom and slamming the door shut.

I want to kill Jordan right now, but Olivia's health takes precedence. "Baby, open up!"

I bang on the door before realizing it's unlocked.

"Breathe! Try to calm down," I instruct her as I hold her hair. "You're making yourself sick."

"He's the reason Darnell's laid in a hospital bed," she cries hysterically in my arms. "I knew Jordan had issues. But this is beyond my wildest beliefs."

The commotion coming from the other room startles the both of us and I open the door to see Mr. Baker and Jordan entangled.

Their punches and bodies knock over any and everything not nailed down and it's almost impossible to stop them. But I manage to pull them apart before the police show up.

And although she's the one that called, Mrs. Baker is in tears as Jordan is hauled off in the back of a police cruiser.
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The Next Morning

I hear Liv coming out of the bathroom and I sit up.

"Are you good?" I ask and she forces a smile.

"I did not know things could ever get this crazy in my life," she whispers and I kiss her forehead as she lays next to me. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" I ask rhetorically. "He may look like you. But he's not you. And what he did or allowed to happen to D has nothing to do with me, you, D, or your parents--- Jordan is a grown-ass man and he has to answer for his own shit."

I lift her chin before kissing her pouty lips.

"Thank you for saying that, baby!" She tells me as I kiss her cheek.