“Girl, shut up, with yo’ big ole five head.”

“No, you shut up before I tell everybody that you still pee in the bed, with your pissy ass,” Kayla screamed so loud that the entire neighborhood probably heard it through our cracked window. I walked up to her slowly with my fist balled the entire time. I was going to show her who was pissy.

“Boy, you better not,” I heard my older sister, Danni, yell from the doorway. “Mama gone kick your ass if you don’t get down there and wash them dishes before she gets home. And why are you walking around here in your drawers?”

“Man, Jalen is hogging the room and I can’t get in there.” The next thing I knew, Danni was banging on the room door that I shared with my older brother.

“Jalen, if you got some nasty girl in there you gone get it because I’m snitching.” It was apparent that he did have someone in there because she was making weird moaning sounds. Those were usually the sounds that girls made every time my older brother Jalen took them in our room.

“Keyshia, if you are in there, my mama will be home in thirty minutes!” Danni yelled with a mischievous grin on her face.

“Who the fuck is Keyshia?” we heard the girl yelling from the other side of the door.

The only thing I could do was laugh because Danni knew that Keyshia wasn’t in that room. Only God knew who it was the way my brother moved. He was that nigga in the hood and girls flocked to him.

Some girl stormed out of the room buttoning her shirt.

“You ain’t shit, Jalen,” she continued to yell before storming down the brick stairs so hard that I thought her feet would break. The Park steps were no joke and you could lose your life fucking with them.

“Damn Danni, why you such a hater?” Jalen laughed as if the whole situation was comical to him.

“You’s a dirty dog,” Danni said while mushing him in the face. “Now go and find a shirt, lil’ boy, so that you can wash those damn dishes,” Danni turn to me and ordered.

I didn’t get why she thought that she was the boss of everyone. Jalen was the oldest, then her, then me, and last was Kayla. She and I were only nine months apart from each other, so everyone called us twins. Danni was only two years older than me, so I didn’t get why she thought that she could boss me around. She would get enough of that shit eventually, though.

I found a shirt and sighed while looking at the stack of dirty dishes. It would take me forever to finish them, so I wouldn’t even be able to go outside and catch up with my friends. Just then I heard the sound of the front screen door creek.

“Why in the world do y’all have my door open letting all of the air out?” I heard my mother fuss.

I hurried to her side and helped her with her bags. She smiled before pecking me on the head.

“Baby, where is everybody?” she asked, finally sitting down and removing her slip-resistant shoes.

“They’re upstairs,” I answered plainly.

“And why do you have that look on your face son? You look like you just lost your best friend. I know you want to go outside, so gone ‘head, but you better be back in this house before the streetlights come on Jahfar Gambino.”

“Dang Ma, I’m twelve years old. I should be able to stay out ‘til at least 9 pm,” I complained.

“Or you could just not go outside since you like to complain.” I took the hint and grabbed my game boy and dashed out of the door.

“MAMA!” I heard Danni yell from the steps. “He didn’t even wash those dishes!”

“How about you come down here and wash them since you like telling on everybody!” Mom yelled.

I laughed at Danni’s snitching ass finally getting what was coming to her.

“Yoooooo Game,” I heard my name being called from the green box. I walked over to where it was and dapped up my cousin, Rod, who stayed three courts away from me. His mama and my mama were sisters and applied for a park house at the same time and got them. The Park was what some people called the hood. It consisted of low-income housing and plenty of drama. Youngs Terrace projects was known as one of the most dangerous parks in Norfolk and it was where I called my home.

I walked past the neighborhood crackhead, Smitty, as he smiled a toothless smile.

“What’s up Smitty?” I greeted him while dapping him up.

“What’s up youngin’? You got a dollar for me?” I dug in my pocket and all I had was fifty cents, so I passed it to him.

“This is all I got,” I said, handing it to him.

“Thanks man. You’re alright! You’re one of the good ones. I don’t know about your cousin over there,” he said, pointing to Rod.

“Make sure you watch yourself and watch him too,” he said as he limped away from me in search of his next hit.

“Why are you over there talking to that fool?” Rod asked once I finally reached him.

“Man, Smitty don’t bother nobody.”

“He’s a crackhead, and we got plenty of them in our family to know how they operate.” Rod was right, and his dad happened to be one of them as well. He would steal the shirt off your back if you would let him, so that he could get high.

“Man anyway, what’s up? I heard you have to go to summer school. Is Mr. Blue your teacher?”

“Nope. I was mad as hell they didn’t put me in his class,” Rod replied.

“Well dude, you should’ve gone to class in the first place and you wouldn’t even be in summer school.” I chuckled. Rod was repeating the seventh grade for the third time and he didn’t seem to care one bit.

“Boy, shut up.” He shoved me causing my Gameboy to fall out of my hands.

“Damn dog! Quit playing so much,” I fussed while picking my Gameboy up and wiping the dirt off it.”

“Nigga stop crying. Ain’t nobody tell you to bring that thing out anyway. You take that shit everywhere like you slow.”

“You just mad because you don’t have one. I can take it everywhere with me if I want and you ain’t gone do nothing about it!” I was upset with Rod for trying to carry me. I guess he was right though, my Gameboy was my life; any type of game for that matter. That’s where I got my name from; my love of this one game.

Just then, I heard a commotion coming from the middle of the park. We stayed in the back, but not too far back that we couldn’t hear when some drama was about to pop off. Rod and I both ran towards it and there was a group of people standing around two girls who looked like they were about to fight. As I got closer, I noticed that it was the girl who was in my house earlier with my brother. The other girl was this lil’ skinny, light-skinned girl named Keyshia. She was supposed to be my brother’s girlfriend and she was from Oak Leaf Park, also known as the suburbs of the hoods.

“Bitch, someone told me that they saw you coming from my man’s house, so what’s up?” Keyshia yelled over the ruckus.

“Girl, I didn’t even know he was your boyfriend, but I did let him eat my coochie though!” the other girl called out.

“Bitch, you a hoe!” was the last thing said before Keyshia stole off on ole girl. The two of them began tussling before Keyshia’s friend, Big Gabby, jumped in the fight. Now Gabby was three times the size of the average person. I would compare her size to Barney. Gabby slung the poor girl so hard that it looked like she flew over me.

“Yeah bitch, now what!” Keyshia said to the girl as she was curled up in the fetal position.

“Stay the fuck away from Jalen, bitch!” With that, she kicked the girl so hard in her ribs that I for sure heard them crack.

Jalen was nowhere to be found while all of this was going on, and he was the cause of all the commotion. I guess this was just ratchet activity, and today was just another day in the hood.