Meeting Kerri

Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE:

Cover to the right done by MiyukiMomoko (:

Kerri's p.o.v.

It was the dead of night and when it got dark in New York, it got dark. Not only that, but our little saying in the hood around here is that when it gets dark and the lights go out, horrible things happen. My big brother, Jay, always has my back though, and when he's not around my daddy orders me to carry around a switch blade behind mom's back, or she'd go ballistic thinking about her little sixteen year old girl caring around a sharp object in her pocket.

Basketball was something that kept me occupied when my dad was working at the Mechanic's Shop and my brother was helping mama take care of our little three year old brother, Jeremiah. "Come on, Kerri. What's up with you zoning out on us tonight?" My best guy friend, and my second protector, Zack complained.

I go out of my daydream and smile as warmly as I can manage. With the baby finally being ours again after winning custody above my drunken Uncle, I really haven't gotten much sleep. I rub my eyes and try to stifle a yawn, but it comes out anyways. "Are you gonna play, or sit there like the dumb little girl you are?" A bully at our school, Natasha wondered. She was always picking on me-and she's eighteen years old.

I'm sixteen, not too far behind.

Dribbling the ball beneath my hand, I lick my lips from the dry, humid, air and continue to prance across the court like a pro NBA player. Preparing to shoot the ball, the ground comes closer to my face than the net, and I prepare myself for my fall by squeezing my eyes shut tight.

It comes hard and fast; I can already feel the unforgiving cement scrape my hands and knees, the feeling raw as little pebbles stuck themselves to my skin, attracting to me like the accident magnet I seemed to be lately.

"Was that necessary?" Zack questioned annoyingly at Natasha. He threw the ball towards Natasha when it rolled his way, and it hit her square in the forehead. She knew what she was doing. All the basketball players knew too, she was only jealous because I was real good at basketball and she was an amateur.

I run up to her, finally having enough. "What was that for?" I spit to the side of the sidewalk where I had fallen, leaning against the wire fence for support.

Natasha pulled at my ponytail, yanking it hard. All of the basketball players were now gawking at me, obviously worried. Natasha was known to be one of the toughest fighters in our school, and that wasn't saying much because at least three fights occurred every single school session. "Man, don't mess with her, little K." That was his nickname for me.

"Why don't she just get off the damn court?" Natasha whined, spitting as well. She was a good few feet taller, and stood above me, hovering like a shark trying to catch it's prey.

Zack stepped in between us, "Oh, lay off the poor girl. She's lucky if she makes it out of here unlike the rest of us." He was real big on making sure that I got my education, because no one around here had actually made it to college. No matter what, I kept my priorities straight and got straight A's in school to please my parents.

I just wanted to have a good reputation. But Natasha was making that want a very difficult desire. "No, I won't lay off." She raised her tone, and began throwing random punches my way. Oh no, Kerri Stephen's did not stand for being a wussy who didn't know how to throw a punch. Shoving Zack's off guard stocky body away from me, I got closer to her and shoved her.

"Okay, now you've done it." She growled, tackling me onto the cement, my head running into the wire fence with a rattle of itself. Struggling underneath the iron grip she had on my wrists, the other, stronger boys were coming up to help me, surrounding us.