Chapter Thirteen

How did Kyle and I get caught up in the girls’ mini shopping spree like we didn’t have our own outfits to figure out? I mean, some of the stores aren’t a bad look—because reasons—but they are taking way too long to get things worked out.

I’m trying, and failing, to stop laughing at the outfits they keep trying on while inside one of the boutiques. While it’s fun for the moment, my patience is running thin. I know what Unk said, but this is torture, for real.

Zahra doubles over in laughter over the ridiculous combo Kendyl comes up with. “Oh my God, where in the world did you come up with that? Did you just cover your eyes and pick or something?”

Kendyl can’t keep a straight face as she holds up the outfit in the mirror. “I really tried to find something off color, I promise, but this is hideous. What do you think, baby?”

Kyle has this expression on his face that says, “I’m over it all.”

“I know you can rock an outfit that’s off the beaten path,” he says, “but this ain’t giving, seriously speaking.”

“Do I need to check your closet again to make sure you’re still the fashionista I know and love?” Zahra asks as they continue putting the wild combinations against their bodies. “I get you wanna be edgy, since Halloween is coming up, but that look is a nah from me, sis.”

Kendyl’s still a bit nervous as we continue to pick through pieces. “Love you, chica, but as much as I enjoy torturing the boys, I don’t want to linger around in Beach Creek enemy territory. We play them tomorrow, and the last thing we need is to be caught out here.”

Zahra dismisses her confused expression, and I’m a bit confused, real talk. “It wasn’t all bad. There weren’t any issues that couldn’t be handled. I smoked that boy straight up…well, not entirely straight up. He had to use NOS to try and keep up, but he asked for it.”

Wait. Pause. “You were racing, Z?” I lean closer to her.

Kendyl rubs her temples, reaching out to mock strangle Zahra’s neck. “You have a damn gift for understatement. Things could’ve gone way left that day, sis. Come on, now.”

I jump into the convo quick, almost demanding an answer to my question. “What happened, Zahra? What did you get caught up in?”

Zahra holds her index finger up to silence Kendyl quick before she turns to face me. “Nothing happened, for real. We got out of there without too much trouble, okay? Kenni’s making a bigger deal out of this than it is, so I don’t need you getting amped up about it, either.”

Kendyl scoffs, frowning so much that I’m willing to believe her version of how things went down. “Right now, all I care about is getting out of here in one piece. It’s bad enough we have to be in their place tomorrow night. If you thought the rivalry game with Baytown was bananas, Yasir, the game with Beach Creek will feel like a blood feud.”

Kyle chimes in to add to her comments. “She’s not wrong. Things got out of hand last year, and it almost took the game off the schedule for this year and beyond. Some things just aren’t worth the trouble.”

“So why did we come out this way if things are tense like that?” I ask. I don’t know how the lines are drawn down here. “We could’ve jumped down to Jax if it was gonna be all this drama.”

Zahra wraps her hands around my face. “Don’t worry about them. They’re overreacting.”

“Nah, we’re doing what has to be done to keep out of the line of fire,” Kyle objects. “Let’s get up outta here now while we’re ahead. I gotta get back home and get things together for the party, too.”

I don’t like the warning bells sounding off in my head. Zahra’s being a little too casual about whatever happened that has Kendyl spooked, and I’m not in a place to ask. Being in this in-between with her has my anxiety levels on tilt. I want to protect her—and I’m feeling something from deep within that almost compels me—but that’s doing boyfriend things when I’m not her boyfriend.

As the girls head to the register to check out, I step out into the mall to try and get my head together. I feel a serious headache coming on, but I can’t figure out why it’s shooting through me so quickly.

Kyle presses his hand against my back, snapping me out of my discomfort. “Yo, you good? You look like things are a bit off.”

Before I can answer him, we hear someone yelling at us, and next thing we know, we’re surrounded by boys wearing Beach Creek lettermen jackets. By my count, it’s at least six of them, and they have cut off every possible way to get out. In an instant, my headache goes away, and in its place, I feel a heat that I can’t explain. I want to say it’s a fight-or-flight response, but I know when I’m in a fight, and I don’t run.

“Well, well, well, I didn’t think anyone from Oakwood would show this close to the game, much less one of the superstars on squad,” one of the Beach Creek players spits out. “Any other week and it wouldn’t be a problem, but you just had to pick this week, huh?”

Kyle keeps his cool, cutting his eyes in my direction, placing his palms down in a silent cue to stay as calm as possible. Easier said than done, my boy. “Look, this ain’t gotta get messy, all right? We were just rolling out, so just break up this circle and let us and our girls roll. Nobody has to get put on ice before the game tomorrow. We can settle that on the field.”

I stare down one of the other boys who seems to be focused on me for some reason. “You got pressure, yo? You looking at me like I took your favorite toy or something.”

“Yo, we got a problem, Vonte?” Ian cuts through the circle with force, facing the boy who started yelling at us. Where the hell did he come from? And I’m even more confused as Eric follows him into the mix. “You boys know better than to roll up on Oakwood players like this. I know y’all don’t like to play fair, but this is just stupid.”

I don’t know what to make of this situation at all. Ian’s acting like we’re crew, but when we’re on campus, we got issues. Make it make sense.

“Yeah, we got big problems, and we have no problems solving them, Ian.” Vonte steps closer to me, tripping my protective instincts. “This dude is new, though, but he doesn’t look like he’s squad.”

“Yeah, but he’s Oakwood, and the Grove takes care of its own,” Ian bites back, throwing me and Kyle completely off balance. This solidarity nonsense has got to be an act. “Now, run along now, before something bad happens to you.”

I’m staring Vonte down as he continues to move closer inside my personal space. I don’t have time to explain any of this to Unk, so I step back to create some space between us. “Bro, I don’t know you, and you don’t know me. Let’s not do this tonight, all right? I’m not even from around here, so I don’t know what this is all about.”

“Doesn’t matter to me, you rock with the Grove, then you have to be dealt with,” Vonte sneers at me, balling his fists like he’s ready to shoot a fade. “I don’t know why I’m even bothering with you. You’re not even in my weight class.”

Shots fired. “That’s all right, it just means it’s gonna be more embarrassing for you when this is all over.”

Vonte wastes no time, throwing a right hand that misses badly, followed by a left hand that I duck just as easily. He tries to throw another right hand, and I catch his fist in mid motion.

Something takes over…and the next thing I know, I’m squeezing his fist with every ounce of energy I have in my body, dropping him to his knees as he shouts in excruciating pain. I start to twist his arm as I keep his fist in my grip, gritting my teeth and applying more pressure.

The crimson glow shines over me, taking me out of my headspace for a few moments while I’m still focusing on doing as much damage as I can. I want him to suffer, and for a few seconds, I don’t care if I do permanent harm.

“Yo, let me go! You’re gonna break my arm!” he yells out, staring into my eyes.

“But I thought I wasn’t in your weight class, my boy?” I hear myself say, but the accent that comes with it shocks me to my core.

Where did that come from, and when did I have the ability to speak like that? It sounds like I’ve picked up a sing-song cadence and something that sounds like a combination of a Jamaican Patois and Ghanaian Pidgin English dialect, and where the hell did the bass in my voice come from?

“If you want your arm back, all you have to do is ask. Not sure if I’ll grant your request, but you can always ask and find out.”

“Yasir, let him go! It’s not worth it!” I hear Zahra’s voice cutting through the crowd. “Please, Yasir, let him go so we can go home.”

I drop Vonte like a switch has flipped inside me. I turn to face her, but I see her reacting to something happening behind me. I guess that Vonte is trying to get the drop on me while my back is turned, so I immediately turn on my heel to size him up for another fight.

Ian’s yelling at the rest of the Beach Creek players, waving his index finger at them like they’ve broken some sort of code. “I should’ve known y’all were soft, coming at someone who can’t be on the field to get some get-back. That’s okay, we’ll settle it for him tomorrow night.”

Vonte continues to flex his fingers, glaring at me the whole time. “You won’t be settling anything at all, bro. You’re the ones who came through with all the noise. We’re just making sure you get silenced. Tomorrow will take care of itself, I promise.”

I hear Kendyl say something that trips my anger into another gear. “What are we supposed to do, Z? We can’t just let them roll through like they own the building. I even recognize two of them. They were the ones you raced and got salty because you beat them and then tried to run us off the road.”

Kyle reacts before I do. “They did what? Point these fools out, baby. Now.”

I turn to Zahra again, and she buries her head in Kendyl’s shoulder like she didn’t want that part of things to get out. “Kyle, for real, let it go. This isn’t worth it.”

Nope. It absolutely is worth it now.

I close the distance on Vonte before he has a chance to react. “You tried to harm her,” I say. My newfound accent is coming in full force now. “I can’t let you see your next sunrise. You will feel pain tonight.”

My hearing is dialed up to a thousand, and I pick up all sorts of conversations happening, even through the shouting happening around me.

That accent…he can talk like that to me anytime.

I wonder if that’s his actual speaking voice because…goodness, it sounds like a soothing lullaby.

Yo, that Oakwood kid ain’t playing around. He’s got Vonte scrambling. I’ve never seen him look so shook.

Despite the distractions, I’m focused on Vonte, and I have no plans to stop until he submits to my will. The familiar otherworldly strength I felt when I was saving Ian from the beatdown of his life is back, and the surge feels so good that I don’t want it to stop. Ever.

Zahra tries to get my attention again, but I’m not hearing her. All I can see is black. “Yasir, let it go, I’m begging you. We can deal with that later, okay? Let’s not do this here.”

Ian begs to differ, which is funny to me, because I want him to amp things up. “Nah, Z, let him handle that. Show these Beach bums how the Grove handles business. Let the champ do his thing. Those hands are lethal.”

“Ian, you don’t know what will happen if Yasir cuts loose,” she cautions. “He needs to calm down. I’m serious, this isn’t the time.”

I’m too far gone to worry about consequences anymore. He needs to bleed.

I throw a left hand, hitting Vonte’s ribs, causing him to bend over in pain. I grab Vonte’s forearm while he’s dealing with the punch, and the sheer strength of my grip has him repeating his plea for me to let him go. I don’t know why he’s screaming. It’s not like I’ve broken a bone—at least, not yet.

On second thought, he hasn’t suffered enough.

I continue my assault, holding Vonte’s arm in place while I alternate between body punches to his ribs and stomach and tagging him a few times across his jaw. I’m not gonna lie, it feels good to really cut loose, and I’m oblivious to the spectacle I’ve made of myself. All I care about is making him pay for even considering harming Zahra.

Vonte’s holding his free hand up in surrender, but I ignore his gestures to inflict more pain. He’s gonna feel it well after I’m finished with him. I see the fear in his eyes, and it doesn’t even move me to ease up on him, despite his desperate screams for me to stop. I cut my eyes in the direction of the other boys, and I grin as I notice they’ve stopped fighting to focus on my dismantling of one of their own. I shoot a quick glance at them, silently daring them to try to rescue him so I can give them a taste of the fury in my heart.

“Yo, he’s had enough, Yasir!” Kyle’s shouting at me, but he can forget about getting through to me. I don’t want to stop, and I’m not gonna stop. “He’s giving up, bro. Come on, let him go!”

I hear someone humming through the noise. It starts out low and soothing, and then the pitch changes, like it’s coercing me, trying to get me to stop what I’m doing. I ignore the sounds, waving them off as an unwanted invasion of my mind, turning my attention back to the task at hand.

A few seconds later, I hear Zahra’s voice, as clearly as though she’s standing next to me, whispering in my ear. “I need you to hear me, Yasir, please. This isn’t the time. There will be another opportunity. Just step away and come with me. I got you.”

By Nyati, how is she able to bring me back from the edge? I close my eyes to tune her out, but I can still hear her humming, cutting through the darkness, almost willing me to snap out of it. Can’t she see I’m trying to make this dude pay for what he tried to do to her?

“Just come with me, Yasir. Let him go and come with me.”

I know the cliché “resistance is futile” can be a bit overblown, but I swear I can’t say no to her. Fine! I’ll delay the inevitable and deal with him later.

I release the grip on Vonte, but I never take my eyes off him as I back away. I feel Zahra’s hand grasping mine, pulling me to her. I lean down as she continues to hum in my ear to settle me down.

“Z, I—” The words don’t come out immediately as I try to come down from an adrenaline rush that leaves me trembling in her arms. “I’m sorry, I just—”

“Shh, it’s okay, I promise. We weren’t harmed, just a little rattled.” She keeps her hand against the back of my head, and it’s the most soothing feeling as she caresses my neck. “I know you wanted to handle that, but it will get handled, just not here, and not now. Do you hear me?”

“I hear you… I wanted to bury him so deep in the ground I saw black,” I explain as I lean into our embrace, burying my face in her neck. “I can’t let that ride, baby. He’s gonna pay sooner rather than later.”

By the time she lifts my head to get a better look, Savannah PD and mall security swarm into the area to handle the crowd. Kyle and Kendyl are heading for us, and I notice Ian and Eric walking off in a different direction now that the almost-fight has been broken up. I scowl at the smirk on Ian’s face before he disappears into the crowd.

Once we have a chance to get to the parking lot to breathe a little, Kendyl and Zahra both are giving us the side-eye. Zahra glances up at me, a worried expression splashed all over her face. “What in the world just happened? We left y’all for two minutes and all hell nearly broke loose. I thought y’all were supposed to be the cooler heads.”

“We were minding our own business when those Beach bums showed up and closed in around us,” Kyle recounts. “One of them said something about trying to cancel our season before we even stepped on the field, and I wasn’t about to step away from a threat like that. So we stood and made it clear that everybody’s season was gonna get cancelled, since they wanted to play mind games like they wannabe gangsters.”

“But we watched Yasir ducking punches when we got there,” Zahra says. “How did they focus on him? He’s not on the team.”

Kyle grumbles, still flexing his hands to calm down. “They came for Yasir first, I guess they assumed he was a part of the team, and when dude tried to rush him, Ian and Eric popped up out of the blue. Next thing we know, things amped up a few notches. You know Ian, always down for the brawl if he can get away with it. Yasir dropped dude to his knees before we could react to the situation, and I was convinced he was gonna put him to sleep.” Kyle looks over at me, shaking his head in disbelief. “If I hadn’t seen it for myself, I wouldn’t have believed it. That kid had you by at least fifty pounds, and you had him ready to tap out.”

Kendyl slides into the convo, asking the question I think is on all our minds. “Why was Ian egging things on like he wanted things to escalate?”

Kyle shrugs as he continues to pace back and forth. “Who knows what’s going through that boy’s mind when things are happening around us? I knew we could handle things if they did crank up, but it didn’t need to get to that point.”

“Well, I’m just glad things didn’t go too far,” Kendyl announces as she slips her arm inside Kyle’s. “I think it’s time to head back to the Grove before something else happens.”

Zahra grasps my hand to pull me toward the parking lot. “Let’s get these boys home before something else goes left. We’ll catch up with y’all later.”

“Sounds good to me,” Kendyl replies as she walks off with Kyle. “Later.”

Once we’re outside, Zahra slows the pace. I already have a clue of what’s coming, but it doesn’t mean I need to talk. “What really happened? It’s not that I don’t trust Kyle, but something’s not adding up.”

I gaze into her eyes, and I come up with the easiest answer I can say. “Ian saw us getting surrounded, and he and Eric jumped in, looking to get someone to fire off. He came in jawing, and no matter what we tried to settle things down, he kept the pressure coming.”

She shakes her head and sort of huffs. “I saw you avoiding wild swings from that kid from Beach Creek before you took him down. Did Ian amp that up, too?”

“Can we talk about this later? I’m dealing with a ton of adrenaline that’s still racing through me,” I say. “I need to get you home before I crash, or you’ll be the one having to drive. I promise, we can talk about the fine mess Ian almost got us into once I’ve had a chance to calm down.”

I can tell she wants to push the issue, but the moment she places her hand against my chest, her expression changes. She can feel my heart racing, I know it. “Okay, but we have to figure this out. Something happened to you that I’m gonna have a hard time explaining to my bestie later. For now, just take me home. Tomorrow will be better.”

“I know. It’s been crazy, but maybe you’re right. Tomorrow might be better…at least, I hope so.”

She slips a kiss across my cheek, but she keeps staring. “Yasir, I need you to know, whatever it is that’s going on with you, you can tell me. I’ll understand. We’ll get through it.”

I rub the back of my head, avoiding eye contact. “Nothing is going on with me, I promise. My nana always said I had a bad temper, so I can chalk up tonight to needing to work on that.”

It’s a convenient excuse, and I stop the convo right there, hoping she gets the point.

I don’t have time to make anything make sense right now, but the best thing I can do right now is focus on tomorrow.

And hope that tomorrow is better.