Good Girlz Bad Guyz

Chapter 2

As Aaliyah soaked in her warm bubble bath waiting for Shafiq to arrive,she couldn't help but replay all of the events in her past life that led up to this point. As the soulful vocals of Philadelphia's own R&B singer and actress Jill Scott played through the speakers of her surround sound system. Aaliyah allowed her mind to take a little trip down memory lane.

Aaliyah Marie Santana,was raised in the quite suburban city of Smyrna Delaware, about a hour and a half outside of Philadelphia. Aaliyah had the best of both worlds being raised by both of her parents. Her mother and father were both raised in the ghetto of the Dominican Republic,but when Aaliyah's mother found out she was four weeks pregnant her and her husband refused to raise their child under the poverty stricken conditions they two came up underneath in their country and they decided to leave the Dominican Republic and settle in New York city.

Finding work in the United States was not an easy task for Aaliyah's father, but being a natural survivor a necessary skill that her father Juan Santana had developed from being in his country proved to be very useful. He worked so many odd jobs from an independent carpenter,an auto mechanic and he also bought and sold used cars to the local low level drug dealers in the lower east side of Manhattan where him and his pregnant wife lived in a rooming house. As for Sandra Santana, Aaliyah's mother life wasn't all that bad in New York City able to obtain a job at a local grocery store and teach Spanish to the local school kids was like a dream come true for her, having a passion for education pushed her to to become one of the top teachers in their community and also set the pace for outstanding achievements in her daughter's school years. When Aaliyah was just 5years old her mother and father packed up from the big city and settled into the suburbs of Smyrna Delaware where Aaliyah grew up sheltered and away from ill effects of the ghetto.

When Aaliyah was 17 years old she graduated from Smyrna High School at the top of her class and was rewarded with a fully paid college scholarship to attend Temple University in Philadelphia. Never been to Philadelphia before she was excited about her opportunity of being on her own in a big city without her parents being on her back the way they where all her life.

It wasn't until her sophomore year that she started to really enjoy her freedom. When Aaliyah first arrived at Temple University she was 18 years old when she met two other students that soon became her best friends. 19 year old Ashley a Philadelphia native that was always the center of attention; with her dark cocoa color skin tone and a bottle shaped body that had all the men's attention every time she graced their presence. She also had a attitude that demanded respect and nothing less. Her only flaw was, she allowed her beauty and her weakness for money to get in her way at times some was for the good of her pockets and the other was for the worst of her life, but being raised in a big city it was dog eat dog and she refused to be less than the top dog when it came to her financial gain. Ashley's independence and go get it attitude is what drew Aaliyah to her and the fact that they were also roommates was also a factor. Then it was 18 year old Shania, she was originally from Houston Texas. She was the complete opposite of Ashley. She stood about five foot four skin tone the color of butter and a body that was thick and soft in all the right places and a deep drawn out country accent that drove any city boy crazy whenever they were able to hold a conversation with her. Unlike Ashley, Shania, would not let her beauty or the influence of a man's money blind side her of her future; she had goals that she needed to fulfill and the extra things that came with adult hood was far away from her mind. She was quite and very articulate when she talked a lot of people got the oppression that she was raised by a race other than her own, just by the way she held her self with such high standards.

The two completely opposite girls drew Aaliyah, to them even though both different they both had something that Aaliyah, could gain from so she accepted them for who they were and grew to love them flaws and all.

It was a warm summer night Aaliyah,Ashley and Shania decided to go out for a night on the town to unwind before the summer break. Club Red Sky was jammed packed. It's atmosphere was pretty cool a red glow filled the room as the three friends laughed, drank alcohol and danced amongst themselves.

"Damn girl I am so glad that we came out tonight a bitch really needed to unwind those last final exams drained a bitch."Ashley said before gulping down her fourth double shot of Hennessy.

"Don't you think that you had enough to drank?" Shania asked looking at Ashley with a disapproving expression on her face.

" Bitch no, as a matter of fact" Ashley responded to Shania, by taking her apple martini out of her hand and drank it down with one swallow before returning back to the dance floor in search of some male attention that the club had to offer she was like a hungry lion in search of her prey, well for Ashley it was more like in search of the first thirsty nigga with the deepest pockets that played to her game. As she blended through the crowd of the club heading towards the V.I.P section she spotted an almost to familiar face, as the two locked eyes, Ashely quickly walk over to the familiar looking person and embraced him with a hug that almost reassembled a bear hug like the wrestlers do on t.v.

"What up cuz long time no see" Shafiq said as the two broke their embrace.

Ashley stepped back and admired her cousin's presence before she spoke.

"Oh my god cuz it been about two years since I seen you. What you been up to?" Ashley asked folding her arms playing as if she had an attitude with Shafiq, demanding an answer from him.

"You know I be on the move cuz can't make no money sitting still. You know how it is the game. Who you here with?" Shafiq said quickly ending the conversation before Ashley could continue with any more questions.

Knowing his answer was the cut off point to her questions she responded to her cousin's response by simply telling him who she was with at the club.

"I tell you what, go get your girls and meet me in V.I.P. party on me tonight." Shafiq said as he headed into V.I.P. section. As Ashely made her way back through the crowd to go get her friends.

A half hour passed Ashley,Shania and Aaliyah were in V.I.P. with Shafiq and his partner in crime Malik they all partied amongst each other laughing and talking. Aaliyah was intrigued by Shafiq's demeanor it was something about him, that drew her to him she didn't exactly know what it was but something in here told her that he was the one man she wanted in her life.

By the end of the night Aaliyah got to know him pretty well and they decided to exchange phone numbers.

A week after that Shafiq treated her out to a nice dinner at one of the top restaurants in the city. After that the two of them became inseparable.

Aaliyah's brief trip down memory lane was interrupted when she heard Shafiq's voice as he called her name as he entered her apartment.

"Baby where you at," he called out as he made his towards Aaliyah's bedroom where he began filling her Gucci suitcase up with some of her things from her dresser drawers and her closet as quickly as he could trying to get together only the things that he felt as though were important.

"I'm in the bathroom."Aaliyah said as she stepped her naked still soapy body out of the tub and began her way to the bedroom where she saw Shafiq packing her bags.

"Come on baby get dressed and let's get out of here before the police start knocking on doors looking for any witnesses to the murder that took place outside your window.

Without any rebuttal she quickly got dressed and her and Shafiq quickly left her apartment. Once outside her and Shafiq jumped into his Benz and sped off. Aaliyah couldn't help but look out the back window as the bloody crime scene began to fade in the distance.

"The hell with that place,I'm right where I need to be and that's safe and secure with my man, everything else don't matter." Aaliyah thought to herself as she turned around and began settling into the passenger seat as Shafiq maneuvered the Benz through the city streets heading to his condo in the Holmesburgh section of the city.