Schoolyard Blues

Chapter Eight: Problem

"What is problem?!" Monkey Man shouted into the phone, hurting my ears.
"Calm Ajax down, please," I begged Monkey Man, "You're the only one who can get through to him."
"Ajax no do business no more," Monkey Man confessed, "Ajax called Monkey Man a homosexual and Monkey Man got angry but Monkey Man can give him weed to get him off of twink gang's backs."
"Still not a twink," M.C. groaned, "Fat asshole."
"Monkey Man say suck his dick," Monkey Man replied, "Eat his banana!"
Monkey Man chuckled, before hanging up, leaving us in the dark about what would truly happen next.

"We heard about your fight yesterday," the principal, Mr. Lawson, informed me, Slim and M.C., "Needless to say we didn't appreciate it. Can you explain why you stabbed Mr. Ferris?"
"Who the f-" I began, before M.C. interrupted and exclaimed, "It was in self defense! It was his knife."
"And how was he attacking you boys?" Lawson inquired, "Enlighten me."
"He was bangin' on the bathroom stall my man M.C.- I mean Matthew was in," I explained to the principal, "They was tryna get Matt out, Ajax and CJ was."
"Ajax?" Lawson asked, "You mean Aaron Jackson Ferris?"
I burst out laughing at Ajax's real name, followed by Lawson continuing, "And who is this CJ?"
"Clinton Johnson," M.C. explained, "Aaron Ferris and Clinton Johnson were harassing me, one of which had a knife. It was completely self defense in every way, and I could have gotten seriously hurt if Xavier didn't step in."
"One day of in-school suspension," Lawson convicted us, "Matthew gets a day of lunch detention instead as he was the one being targeted. All of you are free to leave the school, as you will be required to stay away from Aaron and Clinton while we figure out what to do from here on."

"Fuck, man," I sighed to M.C. as well as Slim, who was barely listening, "I guess this makes it take longer for us to see Ajax, but fuck."
"Not much we can do about it now," Slim stated as he popped some unknown pill and we dug through my grandpa's closet.
"What are those?" M.C. asked Slim, slightly worried, before Slim replied, "Xanax, maybe? I been poppin' random shit recently, takes the edge off."
"You're gonna fuck your brain up," M.C. warned Slim while I opened a box, taking the contents out just in case I need protection, "I wouldn't be taking random pills with a fragile mind like yours."
"Oh so my mind is fragile, motherfucker?" Slim defensively antagonized, "You just sponged up everything Michelle thinks and got all soft on us, kid."
"Michelle is right about a lot of things," M.C. defended himself, "Damn sure knows more than you."
"All she knows is how to get fucked and get pregnant," Slim bashed M.C., "She's nothing but a slut."
"Fuck you, Slim!" M.C. yelled, "If it wasn't for you we wouldn't be in this fucking mess but you're so morally corrupt and self righteous that you think you can't do anything wrong when most of the time you do fucking everything wrong! You're a womanizing, drug addicted, wannabe gangbanger piece of shit and I only hang out with you because X does!"
"I see how it is," Slim responded, before suddenly swinging at M.C., busting his nose.
Slim continued to punch M.C., before eventually I stepped in and pulled Slim off of him, tossing him to the ground.
"What the fuck is wrong with both of you?" I rhetorically asked as I sat down with M.C., who's nose was bleeding, "You're not enemies, you're friends."
"I'm not friends with that dick," M.C. remarked, causing Slim to burst up again, before I sat him back down.
"You are friends," I explained, "Whether you like it or not we're all friends. We fight, we bicker, but at the end of the day we're friends."
"If we're such great friends why don't we even know his fucking name!?" M.C. shouted at me, but then he slowed down and turned behind himself.
A big, dark mixed teen with a face tattoo strolled up to us, asking,
"Is you Slim?"
"And who's you?" Slim responded, getting the reply of,
"I'm Mugshot."
"I heard of you," Slim said, starting to get up, "You one of those pussy boys that runs with Aaron."
"Don't you ever say Ajax's name like that," Mugshot reamed Slim, getting in his face, "Disrespectful little shit."
"He can say whoever's name however he wants," M.C. began, stepping towards Mugshot, "You're in the wrong place."
"Oh, I'm in the wrong place here?!" Mugshot shouted at M.C., "Fuck outta here with your cracker ass bullshit, you bitch ass pussy."
"Racism at its finest," M.C. joked, "Doesn't get much better than that."
"Tall talk for someone who gets they ass beat twice a week," Mugshot prodded M.C., walking up to him and getting confrontational, "How many times Ajax gotta beat your ass 'til you realize you ain't got shit on him!"
"How many times we gotta tell you to get the fuck out of here?!" I shouted at Mugshot, before pulling out the 'protection' I took from my grandpa's closet; an old antique revolver.
"Oh wow, baby's first strap, huh?" Mugshot remarked, revealing his own pistol, "Put that John Wilkes Booth headass shit down before I fill you with a couple holes."
Suddenly, I got an impulse, and while aiming the gun at his head, in a split moment, I pulled the trigger.
The bullet flew straight into Mugshot's face, hitting him in the eye and blasting his brains into the cold, winter air.
"Holy shit, dude!" M.C. shouted, physically regurgitating, "That wasn't even necessary!"
"Nah, man, that shit was dope," Slim praised me, proceeding to shake up with me, shouting, "Short life!"
"He's fucking dead!" M.C. screamed, pointing towards the corpse, "Xavier you just killed a man!"
"I know," I told him, half horrified by what I had done and half proud of myself for having the balls to do it, "I know."
"You're fine with just needlessly killing people?" M.C. exclaimed, "What the fuck is wrong with you?!"
"Drop it," Slim explained, walking away, "Let's split."

At my grandpa's house, we pondered what had just happened.
"You killed him," M.C. repeated, followed by me replying, "I didn't have much of an other choice."
"He could have been negotiated with," M.C. responded over the kitchen table, "Why did you even grab the gun?"
"You never know," I explained, "You wouldn't, specifically, because you're some sorta fuckin' family guy now, not a gang member."
"I was never a gang member!" M.C. yelled at me, slamming his fist into the table, "I never wanted to do this shit! I did everything I could to separate myself from it! I told y'all from day fuckin' one someone was gon' die, I just didn't know who. First it's a rival, next it's one of us.
Do you really wanna keep goin'?"