14

It wasn’t like I fainted or anything. Or even passed out. It’s more that I went into a hyper state so pumped with adrenaline that my head short-circuited. I could hear the Tokers hooting and hollering in the background. And I could feel the Knockout King’s arm holding me tight. But other than that, I was somewhere else.

We were walking and walking, and it was starting to get dark outside; then we were inside and suddenly, I felt a jolt and there I was again, sitting on someone’s bed, and that someone was in the shower.

Something was going on outside and I walked over to the window and saw I was in a small apartment building. The window overlooked the rooftop of a lower story and there was Prince in the middle of a bunch of Tokers on the roof deck as the sun was setting. Tyreese was standing next to him, looking small. C-Jay and Doughboy were wearing boxing gloves.

I thought maybe they were training or something, but as soon as Prince left the ring, C-Jay and Doughboy went at Tyreese. They circled around him like wolves. I thought he was gonna piss his pants. Suddenly C-Jay lurched and got him good on the side of the face. Doughboy quickly landed a punch to his stomach. Tyreese’s knees buckled.

I guess that’s what you get when you fail your mission. Harsh.

The shower stopped. I heard Kalvin’s voice in the bathroom—singing. I couldn’t make out the song. I was in his room, his apartment. I remembered him pulling me along, totally out of it.

His room was just like any young guy’s. Posters of LeBron, rappers and MMA fighters, and of course, swimsuit models. The guys on his wall were all black, the girls all white. Underneath those, there were some framed pictures on his shelf—him and Teacher Man outside a boxing ring. K had a medal around his neck. There was a middle-school graduation picture of him next to it, where he was all dressed up and beaming—the kid next door. And then there was one ripped in half and pinned to the wall. He looked about twelve. He was standing on that roof, with a white man’s arm around his neck, the man’s face torn out.

I heard a commotion outside and I peeked out the window again. Tyreese was lying on the ground, the other two hovering over him. C-Jay kneeled and propped him up. He was woozy, bleeding from the nose. The guys were cheering him on and slowly, he got up onto his knees. Finally, he stood and shook it off. The crew rushed in, patting him on the back and head—he’d survived.

“He has work to do, but he’s got spirit,” said Kalvin.

He was standing right behind me. I could feel the heat from the shower coming off his body. “You alright?” he asked.

I nodded, a bit woozy.

He was naked except for the towel around his waist. “Let me look at you.”

He turned me around to face him. I had to rest my hand on his shoulder to steady myself, but it stung like hell and I pulled it back. It looked swollen.

He held my hand gently, looking at both sides like he was a doctor. When he touched my knuckles, I flinched. He pulled on each finger, one by one. That didn’t hurt so bad.

Turning my hand over, he pressed on the top of my palm.

“I don’t know what happened back there,” I said.

He smiled. “What happened was you finished the job when little Ty couldn’t.”

K curled my hand into a fist. I winced from the pain. “I had to do something. The guy was gonna smash him with his metal detector.”

“All I know is you finished that dude off.” He soothed my hand by blowing on it.

“Someone had to,” I said. But now I was worried. “What if . . . he goes to the police?”

“Oh, he’s definitely going to the police,” said Kalvin. “Thing is, when you get knocked out, you don’t remember a thing. Last thing he probably remembers is looking for some old coins or something.”

“Or some strange girl with red hair coming up to him trying to bum a cigarette.”

He shrugged. “Hey, no one’s ID’d us yet. I don’t think it’ll start with you. Can you imagine him saying he was knocked out by some girl?”

That still didn’t make me feel any better. “Do you think he went to the hospital?”

“What do you care what happens to him? You don’t know him. He could be a child abuser for all you know.”

“Or he could’ve been a war veteran or something . . .”

Kalvin made a dour face. “Just stop talking. You’re still probably in shock. Come here.” He led me to his bed and sat me down. “Don’t worry so much about it.” He shuffled through his nightstand until he found a prescription bottle of something. “Percodan,” he said. “Take this; it’ll help.” He handed me two pills and a bottle of water. I did what he said.

He had an ice pack in a mini fridge by his bed and put it on my hand. “Bruised, but not broken. It’ll hurt for a while. But you’ll get used to it.”

“I hope not,” I said.

We sat there awkwardly on his bed. I’d never been on a halfnaked guy’s bed before. I didn’t know what to do with myself.

“Hey, you wanna see it?”

My jaw dropped. “Um . . .”

He smiled. “The video, fool.” He dug around in his pants pocket and pulled out his phone.

“I don’t think so.”

“Come on, you were amazing.” He pressed play and there I was talking to the metal detector guy. The camera was behind Tyreese. When he froze up, I saw Kalvin’s hand come in and give him a push.

“Who said you could record this?”

“What? You can record us, but I can’t shoot you? Besides, this is a moment to remember. The moment where the queen rose up! I knew you had it in you.”

My face felt hot. It was weird being on the other side of the camera for once—all I could think of was how fat I looked.

In the video, Tyreese ran at the guy, popped him in the face and then howled like he’d hit a wall. I could hear Kalvin and them laughing as Tyreese rolled around holding his hand.

Then Prince said, “Oh, shit, check it out. That old fucker’s fighting back!”

I saw him grab his metal detector and raise it over his head to smack Tyreese. That’s when I lost it. The guy’s head just snapped back when I popped him from the side, just like Kalvin showed me. I put my whole body into it—Pow! He fell to his knees.

“Holy shit!” K shouted. The crew was hopped up excited, snorting hysterically at the sight of me smacking this old guy.

I kept going at him until he hit the ground. Everyone rushed in. The camera came straight at me and it was like watching a different person. My eyes were all wide-eyed and wild, and then suddenly, I was buried in a pile of boys. The camera went crazy for a few seconds, pointing at the sky and the ground until after I emerged from the pile, pulled out by Kalvin. I kept hitting at the air and stumbling around. Kalvin was chasing me around, “Hold up, hold up. I got ya!” The camera went all wonky and the next image was of him holding me up to the camera. “The new heavyweight champ!”

Kalvin put the phone down on the bed. “Looks like I taught you something.”

“I never hit anyone before,” I mumbled. He took my hand and stroked it softly.

“There’s nothing like it, right? The energy . . . surges through your body and you feel like you can do . . . anything,” he whispered, almost to himself. “That’s the lightning. That’s what you felt back there.”

“Adrenaline,” I said.

“No.” He traced his finger up my arm. “My pops used to say there’s a warrior spirit trapped in all of us. Some use it; most don’t. But when you whup someone good, that spirit gets knocked out of them and the warrior who hit ’em takes on that power. That’s the surge you felt. You took that dude’s power.”

I knew that was bullshit, but I couldn’t deny this crazy feeling I had: I did take that guy’s power. I could almost feel it coursing through my blood—I was somebody to be reckoned with.

Next thing I knew, his lips were on mine. Just like that. My mind kinda went blank but I found myself kissing back. I didn’t really know what to do. I wondered if I was kissing him right, but he was like a dancer, leading me, showing me what to do and I just sank into those lips of his. His arms held me close, his body on mine—but he didn’t try to force anything.

I couldn’t tell him I was a virgin, but he probably sensed I was uptight. I kissed him a little too hard and our teeth hit. I pulled back embarrassed, but he didn’t seem to care. He was all clean and smelled good, and I was still sweaty from the park but he seemed to like that. I let him guide me. His hand drifted down, and I found myself grabbing his wrist when it got to my waist. He eased up. That surprised me, him taking it slow and easy. I liked that.

As soon as it felt like we were just going to make out, I relaxed. I mean, he was naked except for his towel. And I could feel his . . . you know . . . on my leg, but even that didn’t freak me out too much. His kissing put me back at ease.

The only thought in my head, besides how nice this felt, was to flash back to a couple of months ago, when I was so alone floating at the bottom of that pool.

For once, I felt like I belonged.