ANOTHER SHOE DROPS

THURSDAY AFTERNOON.

I’m in US history waiting for class to start. I’m smiling like an idiot, thinking about how great the slam’s gonna be. How Luis and I are gonna blow everyone away. How all morning he’s been making the circle in class every time I look at him. He’s been pumping himself up. Pumping me up.

Ms. Nguyen walks to the front of class and Luis still isn’t in his seat. The bell rings. She gives us our assignment, and kids get to work.

I hear a psssst behind me and this asshole, Cooper, whispers, “You hear what happened to your buddy?”

I shrug.

“He’s with the rest of them cholos. Fight off campus at lunch. Across the street. Blacks versus Mexicans. Cops broke it up. They all got suspended for a week.” Cooper laughs. Mrs. Nguyen shushes him.

I feel like I’m gonna throw up.

We have this simmering Black versus Latino thing at Puget. It’s stupid to call it that. It’s only a couple kids on each side. They fight over territory—the bathrooms. They fight over who disrespected whom, and someone looked at my girlfriend, and crap like that. It’s stupid.

I guess the whole thing finally boiled over.

I don’t know if Cooper is full of shit. I don’t know if Luis is involved, and I don’t know if he’ll be suspended, but, come on. Gangster kids are always talking about “having each other’s back.”

He isn’t in either of our afternoon classes.

It’s pretty obvious Luis was at the fight … with his real homies.

He made his choice.

If he isn’t there tomorrow for the slam, I don’t know what I’m gonna do.