white-passing- jamal turner

twenty-five

Jamal and I were on our way to school when he seemed off. Usually, when we talked to school, he was always chipper and talkative, but not today.

"Nah, but I'm serious, Mr. Hernandez is such a pervert! You should SEE the way he looks at me and Jess," I said, not gaining any response from him.

I snapped my fingers at him, "Hey! You listening?"

"Yeah. Yeah," he said, "AJ, who's in charge of this whole Lil Ricky operation?"

I shrugged, "We're all a team."

"Yeah, but if you had to pick someone to take charge and be the leader, who would you pick?"

"Either you or me," I said, "Because we found the money."

"Thank you!" he said, "I can't stand Jasmine thinking she's in charge. She doesn't know anything!"

"Well, maybe that's something to talk to her about," I said.

"No one ever listens to me in that group," Jamal said, "No one ever takes me seriously. If it weren't for you, I don't think anyone would listen to me."

I sighed and rubbed his shoulder, "I'm sorry, baby. You just keep doing what you can, and remember, I'll be on your side. I'm always on your side."

Jamal put his arm around me and kissed the side of my head, "Love you, babe."

We got to school and met up with everyone except Cesar.

"Holy shit, Monse!" I said, "What happened to you?!"

Monse was wearing a red body suit and thigh highs. 

"She got glammed up, bitch!" Jasmine said, smiling wide, "No more doodoo outfits on my watch!"

"Look, we need a new game plan  ASAP," Ruby said.

"And I have some thoughts!" Jamal said.

"Me too!" Jasmine said.

"I'll go first since I'm the leader!" Jamal said. He even had a name tag. He slapped a name tag on Jasmine too that said not the leader. 

"Oh, and this is for you, babe," he said, giving me a name tag that said assistant. 

"Nuh-uh," I said, taking it off, "I'm your equal, not your assistant. Got that?"

"Guys!" Ruby said, "I don't know what's going on with my family, but I need that money. And fast."

"I have an idea," Jasmine said.

"You don't get to blurt out-

"We track down Lil Ricky through his-

"Relatives!" Jamal interrupted.

"Like his cousin-

"Chivo!"

"Chivo's DNA!"

"That was first on my list," Jamal said.

"Oh, really? Then what was next?"

"Leaders don't share their playbooks!" Jamal said, "But since you asked."

He was at a loss for words, making me roll my eyes. 

"Gimme that!" I said, swapping our name tags. 

"Hey!"

"No!" I said, "We're on a time-sensitive mission, and we can't do it if we have two people constantly vying for the leader position."

Jamal took his name tag back anyway.

"We're gonna have to be stealth since the last time Cesar was there, he stole Chivo's car. I say cut his electricity, his water, maybe even his cable."