"Do you know how you want to go about this project?" I asked Dianna.
She shook her head no.
"You still staying with your aunt?" I asked.
She shook her head no.
"Where you staying? And open up your mouth."
"I'm staying with Miles and Lauryn, but we're not talking." She rubbed her leg.
"How are you staying with somebody and not talking to nobody in the house? How long you staying there?"
"I don't know, Rakim." She responded.
"Oh, aight" I mumbled and emailed a couple of contractors.
My P. O. stepped into the classroom and I saved my draft before closing my computer. "Rakim, come with me, please. You can take your stuff"
I got up, and went to her car with her.
She handed me a note and I opened it up.
"Recognize the writing?"
I sighed and nodded my head. "It's Pink Bonnet Lady's"
"Any particular reason why she might be in hiding, Rakim?"
"I don't know nothing on her" I admitted. "Since I've been with Khassidy, I kinda just had one foot out the streets"
"What about the guy that hit Ella?" She asked.
"I'm not talking to you about that. You'll hear about it when it happens"
"And what about Travis and his mother? Do you think they're hiding too?"
"Yup" I lied. She looked at me, and I stared back. "I ain't afraid to look at nobody"
"Rakim, this is serious. Your mother and I do not get along like we used to, but she just reached out to me."
"That's not unusual. She hates me, but I let her live under my roof." I said.
"She doesn't hate you. She wants the best for you"
"No, she wants the best crack that she can get her nose on" I responded.
Myra sighed. "Rakim, could you temporarily move in with me? I would just be more at ease if we were under the same roof."
"No. I like staying with my girlfriend."
"I think something big is bubbling up" Myra said. "I want you away from it"
"I'm not running from nothing. Period."
"You are your father's child"
"You are my father's babymama" I said. "We both caught up"
-
"How you doing, cousin?" I asked Travis.
He spat at my feet and refused to look at me.
"Don't do nothing crazy" I wiped my spitty shoe back on him and kicked him in the knee.
"They're coming for you, Rakim. You got a snake in your circle." Travis said.
"Care to inform?" I got the gun off my side and pushed it into his stomach.
"Check them niggas you run with" He laughed. "You'on know everybody"
Something sliced at my neck, and I accidentally let go of my gun.
Travis dove for it, and I kicked him in the head and ended up wrestling him for it.
