The Games You Play : A Hood Love Story

Jay (10)

September 17th

Shit. A Monday. I hate Monday's. I got out of my escalade and opened my trunk. When I took my backpack out, I noticed I was missing my history book.

"Shit." I muttered to myself. Then, I heard footsteps behind me. I thought it was my girlfriend so you can imagine my disappointment finding Bryce and Smoke behind me. "Oh. Wassup?" I closed my trunk and locked the car.

"Well damn." Smoke looked me up and down. "Niggas get a girlfriend and don't know how to act. We excited to see you too nigga."

"My bad nigga. Me and Lo been together a month today and I just need to see her."

"Something happened?" Bryce walked up to me and we did our handshake.

"Yeah. Nothing super major it was between us. We didn't fight but she's being a little distant." I turned around and walked toward the entrance of the school.

"She alright man?" Bryce stopped me and grabbed my arm.

"I honestly don't know." I put my hands over my face. Smoke didn't say anything, he just patted me on my back and we kept walking all the way down to the senior hallway. I looked around for Lo. Her locker was closed and she wasn't in her first period early like normal. I called her and she answered the phone so shaken up.

"Jayvin." Her voice shook.

"Baby you okay?" I closed my locker and Bryce and Smoke did the same.

"Come in the bathroom, man. Put her on speaker!" Smoke motioned to the bathroom the bathroom across from our lockers. I ran in there and put her on speaker.

"Baby, can you hear me?" She asked me.

"Yes baby what's wrong?"

"Somebody's following me. I noticed a car on the block I had never seen before when I got in my car this morning. Angelo took his car to school today but this car followed me."

"How do you know it's following you, Loren?" I asked.

"Because. I took the long way here on purpose just to be sure and it keeps following me."

"Well where are you at now?"

"I'm down the block."

"Pull up to the front of the school. We're coming outside to get you." When I hung up the phone, the three of us walked out to the front of the school waiting on Loren's car to pull up. I got anxious. I just needed her to show up safe and I would handle the rest.

After the longest 30 seconds of my life, her car pulled up right where we were standing. She rolled her window down.

"Baby you okay?" I reached into the car for her hand and she grabbed so tightly, it hurt but I didn't care. She was safe and that's what mattered to me.

"Yeah. That was just really scary."

"Where'd the car go?"

"It stopped following me just as I turned into the parking lot."

"Is that it?" I pointed to car driving past us. It was a black Cadillac with windows tinted so dark it was almost black. She looked out her window and squeezed my hand tighter. Then she took a deep breath.

"Yeah. That's it." I let go of her and stood straight up.

"That's King." I whispered as I looked at Smoke.

"Why the fuck he following her?" Bryce asked me. Before I kept talking, I noticed that there was a open parking spot next to my truck. I bended back down to look at Loren.

"Aye there's an empty spot next to me. Go park there and I'll walk you in a'ight?" She nodded and pulled away. I had to start talking quickly before she walked back over to me. "He told me the only way out is death."

"He wants to kill you?" Bryce looked confused.

"No. Her. He knows the way to really kill me is to harm her first. He took everything else from me. What else do I got?"

"I would tell you how offended I am by that statement but you going through something right now so imma just leave that alone." Smoked rolled his eyes and sat on the bench next to us.

"Nigga ian mean it like that." I sat next to him. "She's the only person that I have a deep emotional attachment to. And if something ever happened to her-" I shook my head. I looked at Loren grabbing shit out of her trunk. The thought, sight, and mention of her name made me emotional. Look at this girl, got me feeling a type of way I never felt before. What I look like getting emotional about some shit like this? I never cried about a girl in my life. But she did it to me and there's nobody I want more than her.

"Nothing gon happen to her, man. We got you. Anything you need to protect, we protect." Smoke patted me on my shoulder.

"It's okay, man." Bryce shook my hand. "But.. at some point you gotta tell her. She's getting followed and it's freaking her the fuck out."

"She'll never stay with me if I tell her that shit." I put my head down.

"It ain't all about you." Bryce got up. "She deserves to know the truth." Loren got closer and closer.  She had on a white strapless dress, a jean jacket and Birkenstocks. She changed her backpack to a white Jansport to go with her outfit.

"I know nigga. I know it's selfish. But how do I even tell her that shit?" I got up. 

"I don't know." Smoke said. "But you better figure it the fuck out. Before she finds out on her own." We stopped talking before she got too close to hear. She walked right up to me, stood on her tippy toes and puckered her lips. The funniest part is, she didn't even reach the bottom of my neck when she did that.

"Hey shortie." I bended down and gave her a kiss.

"Hey baby." I loved when she called me that. She hugged Bryce and Smoke and turned around to walk into the building. Damn, her ass looked good in that dress. When we got to the door, she stopped without even pulling it open. "Stop looking at my ass, Jayvin." How did she even know I was looking down there?

"I wasn't even looking at it." I showed a sly smile as she turned around.

"And stop lying too while you at it." She pulled the door open and we all walked in. We parted ways with Bryce and Smoke because they had a different first period than both of us. Me and Loren didn't have first period together either but I needed to get her to a place where I knew she was safe. And I knew she had first period with Layla and Kenya so that made me feel better.

"Hey. Text me if you see anything else suspicious okay?" She nodded. "Promise me."

"I promise." I looked at her and raised my eyebrows. She always seems to think that she bothers me for some reason and I hate that. I don't care how many times she texts me in a day. "I promise!" Before she opened the door to her class, I pulled her close to me. "Baby the bell's gonna ring any minute." Her voice sounded so gentle.

"You think I care?" I bent down and kissed her over and over. When I finally stopped, she put her arms around my neck. I leaned into her and whispered in her ear. "Happy one month pretty girl."

"You remembered." I could feel her smile.

"How could I forget?" I pulled a rose out of my backpack and gave it to her. She smiled and blushed. "May I take you out tonight?" She looked up at me.

"Of course." She put her hand around my neck and brought me down to kiss her one more time. I opened the door to her first period class and she walked in. When I closed it, I made my way down the hallway talking to myself in my head.

' God, she's all I got. Please. Please keep her safe. '