Wild One

Chapter 14

Tallulah's POV

"Okay," I light up my brother's joint after I settle into the back seat of Sean's car while he pulls out of Derrick's driveway. "What's the deal with Pete?"

"I think we should start at the beginning, Lulu."

"Which I'm assuming doesn't involve Pete?"

"Not directly, no."

"Okay. Shoot," I take a final hit and pass the joint to Derrick.

"Well, you know how I've been working with Steve..."

Yeah.

"Basically, we figured that a big part of the reason that our side is so shitty is because all our money goes to the other side. They have all the nicer businesses and all that shit, which we can't do much about. But they also had most of the black market."

"Okay, I knew that. That's why you and Steve started dealing," I say, waiting for him to continue, but feeling a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach as puzzle pieces begin to appear in place.

"It was hard at first because it was difficult to compete with their prices, but after awhile sales started to really pick up. After I moved on from the high schoolers, business started booming. We really started to do better... I was starting to save up money and you had money on your school lunch account that year..."

I remember just before I was taken... the luxury of being able to eat meals at school whenever I felt like it. I knew that Derrick was putting the money on my account and I knew where the money was coming from. None of this is a secret to me.

"But..." Derrick passes the joint to Sean before continuing, looking down for a second. "I mean. It's not like we didn't know it would happen... just it happened sooner than I thought it would. People from the other side started getting pissed that we were messing with their income and started coming over here... Getting aggressive... trying to oversell us..."

There it is. I know exactly where this is going.

"And...?" I prod as I reach forward to take the joint back from Sean who has been quietly clenching his jaw and gripping the wheel through this whole talk.

"We had to stop them," Derrick shrugs. "They have no business on this side of town. They don't give a shit about this side and they never have. It's ours and it always has been. We have the rights here, dammit! We fucking live here!"

"And?" I push.

"And we fucking stopped them, Lulu. We took back our side of town. We caught everyone from over there who crossed the tracks to do business and we got rid of them."

"Got rid of them!?" This is more than I thought. This sounds like murder.

"Not at first! At first we just roughed them up and sent them packing, but they started killing us first!"

"Holy, shit, Derrick! You started a fucking gang!?"

"This is my home, Lulu! It's where I'm going to be for the rest of my fucking life! And it's yours, too! I've been trying to build us a future! Best case scenario, you were gonna work at Fifth Street til your hair fell out after twenty years of scowling!" Derrick takes a break and a long hit off the joint. "NO! Fuck that shit!" He exclaims as smoke billows out of his mouth.

"My baby sister is gonna have a good life where she can buy all the fucking paint and crayons she wants. She's going to buy her fucking clothes at the store and she's gonna go to real museums and go to the fair and she's not going to be fucking hungry for the rest of her life!" Derrick stares at me with a fiery determination in his eyes that has goosebumps popping up on my arms.