Street (Urban Fiction)

Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty One

Weeks had gone by since that morning on the beach. I kept finding myself wondering more and more about Trey. He was so private. All I knew was what he chose to tell me, which wasn't much. Chris and I were—I don't know what Chris and I were. We never really talked about what happened. I guess we were friends again. There's something about death that just brings people closer together. I started eating with the group again. There wasn't any noticeable tension, well, other than the awkwardness of watching Chris and Maria kiss. But what could I say when I was dating her brother?

Jordan was back since his mom was doing better. She even started going to Bingo nights again. He flipped when I told him I was dating Mario. He thought I was too young for a boyfriend, and that Mario seemed too good to be true. "It's them goody good ones you gotta watch out for April, I'm tellin' ya," he warned my mom. He even went out and bought another gun. I laughed at the thought because he was the same one that told me not to be too hard on Mario.

"What's so funny?" Trey broke me out of my thoughts. He, Chris, and I were in Chris' room just joking around. We were talking about things we knew nothing about, events that happened at school, and whatever else popped into our minds. We were supposed to be studying for our finals, but I knew off the bat we wouldn't get anything done.

Chris' room was always so tidy. It smelled good too.

"Where's Maria? Ain't she a part of the study group?" Trey asked as he rummaged through Chris' mini fridge.

Chris stretched his body out like a cat as he yawned. I laughed as I pictured him morphing into a cat. He eyed me warily before answering. "She's at cheer practice."

"Aww that's cute. She wanna support her boyfriend." I couldn't tell whether or not Trey's tone was supposed to be sarcastic.

"Why don't you join the cheer squad?" Chris asked me.

Trey snorted. "Risha on the cheer squad? Her antisocial ass? You gotta be able to actually make friends."

"Pshh, I got friends," I defended.

"Me and Chris are your only friends. Maria don't really count 'cause she with Chris and Mario don't count 'cause that's your boyfriend." I rolled my eyes at his response. I could make friends just fine. I just didn't want to. "Bruh, what if they bench you the whole season?" He continued.

Chris clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. "Yo, don't jinx me like that. Go knock on some wood."

Trey shut the door of the fridge after deciding on an orange Fanta. He rolled his neck before hopping onto Chris' bed. "Knock on wood? Nigga," he sucked his teeth.

"I swear if I end up gettin' benched, b," he let the sentence linger in the air. Chris jumped up so quick, my eyes had to readjust after following his movements. He looked like he was ready to lunge at Trey.

I heard choking sounds coming from my left. When I turned, I realized it was Trey laughing while drinking his soda. "Yo, yo chill." He caught his breath. "Man, ain't even no damn wood in this room."

He was right. Chris didn't have any wooden furniture. He did say all of their things burned in the fire his dad was responsible for." Chris rolled his eyes. "Then we gon' go outside and you gon' knock on some damn trees."

Trey groaned. "Damn man, superstitious ass niggas. Where yo moms at? I need to ask her how the hell you got like this."

I laughed at their childish banter. No matter what they were arguing about, you could feel the love and the respect they held for one another.