29

As soon as I hit the sidewalk, I saw there were more of those Eyez papered on the trees up and down the block. I ripped them off as I passed. I didn’t want anyone watching me now.

I knew I’d need help on this and there was only one person to help me.

Destiny lived in the worst block in Tower Grove South. Even though I was used to hanging out with Kalvin and the crew, I began to notice I was the only white person here. And without TKO around, I started feeling out of place and a bit nervous.

So I put on my game face, hid under my hoodie, and kept walking. The streets were wet from the rain but it had let up, so people were out and about.

“Wussup, girl? You lost?” Some dudes with their pants hanging around their butts were giving me a hard time. I ignored them.

“Come on, girl. Wha’cho got for me? How ’bout a taste?”

“Man, check out that hair! Mmm, girl, you ghettofabulous!”

They started to follow me. I had no time for this shit. I stopped in my tracks and spun around. “Listen, fuckheads. You want some of this? The only way that’s happening tonight is if you jack off in bed, dicks!”

They stared at me in shock—then burst out laughing. “Did you just call us ‘dicks’?” one of them said. “Oh, damn, she called us dicks!” They circled around me. “We ain’t dicks, honey. But we got some if you want. . . .”

He got real close. I could feel his breath on me.

“Come on, bitch. You came down here for something, am I right?”

I was about to crack him in the face. Then I saw Destiny standing behind them.

Thank God. “Destiny.”

The boys stopped and turned toward her. They knew each other.

She popped her gum and folded her arms. “Don’t mind me. My TV’s broke, so I got nothing to watch.”

What? She was going to play me now?

“I was coming to see you,” I said as the boys turned back to me.

“So? Now you seen me.” She turned and started walking away.

There was a moment when I thought, they’ll find my body and then she’ll feel bad she hadn’t said something. Maybe I deserved it, but—

I stared down the wolf pack. That wasn’t going to happen today. “Fuck ... OFF,” I told them, slowly and deadly. I meant it too. And in that moment where they didn’t know what to think, I just walked right through them and followed Destiny to her house.

They backed away, muttering “Dykes!” as they headed back to their den.

“Thanks for nothing,” I said to Destiny’s back.

“You a big girl. Looked like you could handle yourself.”

I had a comeback. But I swallowed it. “I need your help,” I said instead.

“You sure about that?”

“Please?” I asked.

She took a few steps, then stopped and turned. She looked me over. “You look like shit.”

I glanced at my torn clothes. There was blood on my shoe.

She sighed. “Come on.”

“No,” I said. “We have to go to the library.”

I could tell by her reaction that she’d heard something. She didn’t question me, just nodded. “Let’s go this way.”

We walked away from the boys and headed down an alley. I stopped her. “No alleys.”

The alley was empty and overgrown. “I told you to stay away.” So she did hear. “Where were you? Prince said you were gonna be there.”

“Shit, and you believed him? He was just playing you.” She quickly walked down another street toward Grand Avenue.

I had to catch up. “Destiny, are we still friends? I’m sorry if I . . . did something I wasn’t supposed to.”

“You sleep with him, shit happens. Did he use that I usually carry a condom line?” She stopped when she saw the look on my face. She sighed, pulled me along by the arm. “Forget it. It’s just . . . me. You were just being yourself and I guess I got a little jealous.”

“Of me? I’m nobody.”

She shook her head. “You ain’t nobody. You my Fish, remember?”

“I wasn’t gonna go along this morning, but he just . . . I don’t know.”

“He knows how to push your buttons and get you to do what he wants,” she said like she’d experienced it many times herself. “Shit, the things he had me do. It’s fucked up.”

Like what? I thought.

“I’m sorry I dragged you into all of this,” she said. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I just didn’t want to be the only girl in the crew anymore. . . .” She drifted off, deep in thought.

“It doesn’t matter now,” I told her, burying my head in her shoulder. “I got big problems.”

She eased up, came to a stop again. “So it’s true,” she said, looking me dead in the eyes. “Prince texted me that some woman died, but I thought he was just full of shit.”

“It was Mrs. Lee!”

It took her a few seconds to process that. “What?” she whispered.

“I didn’t know she was going to be there. It was Kalvin’s fault—”

“Are you sure she’s . . .?” she asked.

I buried my head in my hands.

She paced back and forth a few times. “I never liked her, but still—that’s sooo messed up.”

I had to say it. “I recorded the attack.”

She made a face like she didn’t want to hear any more. “After all a that, you still went ahead—”

“No, that’s not the worst part.”

“What? What could be worse than that?”

I gathered my thoughts. “When she grabbed me, I. . . dropped my camera. It’s . . . still there.”

She froze. “And the whole thing . . . is on that camera?”

“Yes.”

“Girl. You are fucked.”

We stood there in silence, heaviness in the air.

“Shit, Fish, come on,” she started walking again. “It can’t get much worse, so we might as well try to get your stupid camera back.”

I hurried after her, afraid of what we might find when we got there.