“M an , you only saying that shit because Mr . Man is your pops. You always bragging on that nigga. Don’t get me wrong, your pops is good, but he ain’t seeing Jordan , Rodman , or Pippen . If he was playing with them niggas back then, nobody would even know who the fuck Mr . Man is. Sit the fuck down with all that shit!” this hating ass nigga named Greg said to me.

Greg was sixteen years old and in the eighth grade with me. I’d lost count of the number of times his dumb ass was retained. Nigga should have been in high school already, and he thought because he was older than everybody in the classroom, that he could just sit back and try to bully us all day. But my last name wouldn’t be Reed if I allowed his fat ass to bully me.

We were in our last period of the day, and we had a substitute teacher. It was my history class, and our teacher, Ms . Washington , didn’t leave the substitute with any work for us to do, so the sub let us chill and be on our phones and shit. He just asked for us to keep it down. I was the popular kid in school, mainly because of who my father was, and that popularity came with some hating ass niggas, so I always felt like I had to defend myself. The majority of my fights happened when someone started talking shit about my skills on the court or when they started talking about my pops’ skills, knowing that both of us were nice as hell when it came to basketball.

My mama was always in my ear, telling me not to give these niggas a reaction. That shit was easier said than done, though, because they went below the belt with a lot of the shit they said to me, and that’s what caused me to beat their asses the way I did. Half of those niggas would sell their souls to be the son of Dionte Reed Jr ., but they were quick to talk trash about my pops.

“You bringing up niggas that your fat ass wasn’t even alive to watch play. You only going off shit that you saw about them niggas either online or from fuckin’ documentaries. If my pops was in the NBA back then to play against them niggas, he would have still been able to keep up. Shut your ass up and worry about passing this class with your dumb ass!” I snapped, sitting up in my seat and removing my arm from around Courtney’s shoulder.

Courtney wasn’t my girl or anything like that, but I thought she was cute. I would flirt with her from time to time, and her light skin would turn red, loving that shit. I was only thirteen years old, and at my young age, my pops was always in my ear, telling me that I didn’t need a girlfriend. So , I didn’t have one, and I didn’t plan to get one any time soon because I liked them all. My school had a lot of fine girls, plus a lot of fine girls followed me on social media, and I didn’t want to choose just one.

The comment that I made to Greg caused the entire class to start rolling over with laughter. My eyes happened to land on the sub. He was a black man who looked to have been in his early twenties, and he was trying his hardest to stifle his laugh. One thing that Greg hated was for somebody to make fun of him about his grades and shit because the nigga knew he was the oldest kid in the entire school. The thing is, he gave himself free rein to fuck with everyone else, and all the jokes he cracked would never be off limits, but the second somebody went below the belt with him, he was ready to fight. I’d never fought Greg before, but we’d talked shit to each other plenty of times throughout the school year. Before anything could ever go down, security would always run up and separate the two of us.

“I got a C in this class, nigga, so don’t worry about my grades, motha fucka—”

“Yo , y’all watch y’all mouths up in here. Chill out. Change the subject,” the sub called out.

“Bitch ass nigga,” I heard Greg mumble.

“Speak up, nigga.” I couldn’t let that shit go.

“Ay , y’all better get him. Nigga , I’ll fuck you up. Have your ass crippled to the point that you’ll never dribble a ball again ever in your fuckin’ life!” he threatened, causing me to rise out of my chair.

Courtney grabbed my arm, trying to stop me, but I shook my way out of her grip and walked up on Greg .

“You ain’t going to do shit to me, nigga! Your fat ass thinks because you are the oldest one in the entire fuckin’ school, that you can talk to people however the fuck you feel like. You jumped your ass in a conversation that didn’t even have shit to do with you in the first place. I was over there talking to Jevonte and Denzel about my pops. You inserted yourself into business that didn’t have shit to do with you!” I barked, getting in his face.

Jevonte , who was my best friend and on the same basketball team as me, immediately pulled me back. The sub had come over to stand between us, and he pushed Greg back.

“Kari , chill the fuck out, man. Don’t forget that the championship game is coming up. If you fight this nigga, you know you not going to be able to play. That’s what he’s trying to do. He’s just trying to get you in trouble, so you can’t play,” Jevonte said to me in a harsh whisper.

I would be selfish as hell to my teammates if I were to fight Greg and I wasn’t able to play in the championship game. We worked so hard for this all season, and they needed me to play on game night. I thought about my mama and how she had been on the phone with all her girls, bragging about her baby boy, and how I led my team to a victory last week during the last two seconds of the game. My pops had an interview earlier in the week, and the smile on his face was priceless as he boasted about me, telling the world about the championship game that I had coming up. As I thought about all of that, I pushed Jevonte off me and took a seat in my chair.

“Yeah , sit yo’ soft ass down,” Greg spat.

My jaws were flexing, and I sat there, leg bouncing, really wanting to beat the shit out of this nigga, but I couldn’t.

“Ay , man, chill out. He already dropped it, so you drop it too,” the sub said to Greg .

“Nah , I ain’t dropping shit. That nigga thinks because he’s the son of an NBA player that he's better than everybody else. Nigga been talking crazy to me all school year. Talking about I inserted myself in a conversation that didn’t have shit to do with me, when y’all lame ass niggas was talking loud enough for the whole fuckin’ class to hear. This a free fuckin’ country, so I can jump in anything I want to. You getting in your feelings about something so small. Don’t blame me because your mammy sick, and niggas been in the comments on social media, talking about how her ass looks like she’s about to drop dead.”

That was the last I could take of that shit. Even the sub knew I wasn’t wrong for wanting to beat this nigga’s ass for that disrespectful fuckin’ comment that he’d just made about my mama. He moved the fuck out of the way, and I picked up a chair and swung that shit at Greg , letting it hit him right in the face. Then I swung on the nigga, catching him right in his mouth.

Greg was a big dude who was used to fighting, so I’m not even going to act like he was an easy nigga to tussle with, but in that moment, I thought about my mama. I thought about the pain and the flares she’d had over the years with her lupus. I thought about some of the comments that I had seen online, where people would comment, asking if my mom was okay because she was losing weight. That was something that had been bothering me lately.

I took all my anger and frustration out on this nigga and proceeded to beat the fuck out of him. I got on top of him and was landing blows all over his face. He was swinging his arms, landing some back on me. In the middle of me tussling with this nigga, I was grabbed off him by the security that barged into the room.

Greg grabbed his backpack off the floor and reached inside. This nigga pulled out a gun, and everyone in the room started screaming. He was reckless with the way he aimed the gun, and a round went off that had people running out of the room. Before he could send another one off, the school officers rushed in and tackled his ass, getting the gun from him. I looked down at the white uniform shirt that I had on, just to see if there was some crimson blood. The nigga might have shot me, even though I didn’t feel anything, but there was nothing.

Even though I had two security guards holding onto me, my body still froze up on me as I watched officers put Greg in handcuffs. This shit could have ended differently, and I could have very well been dead from him pulling that trigger. The security escorted me out of the room, and in the hallway, there were still students from my classroom standing around. Some were screaming, and some were crying because of what had just transpired. It wasn’t until I was inside the principal’s office that I realized how badly I was shaking.

“Can I call my mama?” I asked one of the women at the front desk.

“Let us get everything under control, and then I will let you call your mom,” she responded.

My phone was back in the room on the desk. I kept looking at the office door, thinking that shit was going to open, and that nigga would somehow get a hold of that gun again and try to kill my ass. I wasn’t so hard that I could say I wasn’t afraid to die because I was. I was young. Too young to die and leave my parents.

In less than twenty minutes, school had let out, but the teachers were told not to let any of the students leave. We were pretty much on a lockdown because some serious ass shit had just happened. The phones in the office were ringing off the hook, but no one was answering them because they were guarding the doors. There was a look of fear on everyone’s faces. It took about twenty minutes for them to finally start releasing students, and they were letting out two classes at a time.

In the middle of all that, the principal walked back into the office. He took one look at me, shook his head, and motioned with his finger for me to go in the back. Our principal, Mr . Thomas , was cool as well. He was always on top of me, though, telling me to stay out of his office for shit that involved me getting into trouble, but there I was, right back in there.

“Mr . Thomas , I —”

“No , Dakari ! I don’t want to hear it. I hope you know that I’m putting you on a ten-day suspension, and you can consider yourself removed from the basketball team—”

“Man , what? That nigga had a whole fuckin’ gun in his bookbag, fired that shit at me, and could have killed my ass. But you are going to put me on a ten-day suspension? This some bullshit!” I roared.

“You know that fighting will result in an automatic ten-day suspension. Also , I told you the next time you got into a fight, I would remove you from the basketball team! Did you think that was a joke? Listen , I’m angry at what just happened. A student that’s under my care was able to bring a gun on campus, and that could have resulted in you or any of the other students losing their lives. I’m just glad things didn’t go that way,” he stated.

“Whatever , man. Can I go back to the room and call my mama? I know she's out there to pick me up and probably wondering what’s going on,” I snapped.

At the same time, I heard beating on the doors to the office mixed with a woman’s voice that I already knew belonged to my mama. In that moment, all that was left for me to do was sit my ass down, slouch down in the chair, and wish I could have been anywhere else in the damn world than right there. I already knew she was going to come in there and do the most.

“I’ll gladly bring Ms . Reed inside,” Mr . Thomas said with a smirk on his face. He knew I had the kind of mama who didn’t play that shit and would show her ass in a second.

He walked out of the office, and seconds later, I heard heels clicking. It wasn’t long before I smelled her, and within seconds, she used all the strength in her body to grab my ass up out of the chair, holding onto me by the front of my shirt.

Mr . Thomas did walk over, but only to close the office door, leaving just the two of us inside. I was much taller than my mama, so I had to look down at her. When I did, her eyes were bloodshot red, and the second she blinked, a tear fell. I felt like shit at that moment because I knew I had to have stressed her the hell out. The way she came in there all riled up just let me know that she probably found out, like the rest of the parents, that there had been a shooting at the school. My mom was the type who would always find a way to get answers, so I knew she was able to find out that I had been in a fight as well.

“Dakari , it’s like… I don’t even have the words—”

“Ma , you taught me to walk away, and I did that, but that nigga kept talking. He said some disrespectful stuff about you—”

“Dakari , I don’t give a fuck what he said about me! You know I have a mouth, and I can defend myself, so I don’t need you doing that for me. This boy had a gun. He could have killed you! Ooooh , I’m so fuckin’ angry!” she roared, pushing the shit out of me.

I tried to grab her, but she pushed me back again and started crying. I knew she was only crying because she was thinking about all the things that could have gone wrong in that classroom. My mama was so angry at me that she wouldn’t even let me touch her. She just kept pushing me away, trying to get herself to calm down.

“Let’s go,” she said after a good three minutes, and she led the way out of the office. When we walked out, Mr . Thomas was standing in the front.

“Why was a kid even able to bring a gun onto school property?” she now took her anger out on him.

“Ms . Reed , we are going to do an investigation. I truly apologize that this happened,” he said to her, and my mom didn’t even respond.

“Dakari is suspended for the next ten days,” Mr . Thomas told my mom.

“Let’s just hope that Dakari still attends this school after today,” she snapped.

“Ma —”

“Don’t say anything to me,” she fussed and then proceeded to walk out of the office.

I knew to shut up and not try her, even though I wanted to tell her that she was tripping for trying to change my school. Granted , we only had a couple of months left in the school year, but she would still do some petty shit like that. My mama was the type who would stand on everything she said. The only person who would be able to help me out sometimes was my pops, but he would be just as mad at me about this shit that had gone down at school, so I doubted he would even be on my side. Usually , my grandma would even help me out, but I didn’t think she would be on my side, either.

I was screwed, and if I could run away without getting my ass fucked up, I would do it in a second. This was the kind of shit that would have my pops flying into town to deal with me, and I wasn’t ready for that. The thing about my pops, though, is that he was laid back until he didn’t have to be. When his ass touched down, he definitely wasn’t going to be cool.

12:56 A.M.

“I told you I didn’t want him going to that school anyway, Dionte ! You forced that on me! Now look!” my mama’s screaming had me jumping out of the deep sleep I was in.

Truthfully , I didn’t know if my pops was there or if she was on the phone with him. I had called him earlier when I got home, and he wouldn’t even answer. He did text me and say, I’ll deal with you when I land. That text message scared the shit out of me and had me pacing around my room, thinking he was going to pop up. You know I was scared because I didn’t even eat dinner. In fact, I hadn’t been out of my room since I came home hours ago. My mama was so mad at me that she didn’t even come inside my room. I couldn’t even blame her for being pissed, but I think what really fucked with her emotions was that the nigga could have killed me.

“Wait , so you blaming me because that nigga brought a gun to school? And you know why I wanted Kari to go to a public school, Siri , so don’t even start with that bullshit. I ain’t trying to raise no spoiled, privileged ass boy, and that’s why I put his ass in public school. This same shit could have happened if we had put him in private school. We don’t know what them kids be putting in their book bags. I’m mad too, but don’t take that shit out on me!” my pop’s deep voice rumbled, which let me know he was right there, and my mom wasn’t having this screaming match with him over the phone.

I jumped out of my bed for a second and looked out of my window, where I had a view of the driveway. There was a black Escalade parked along with my mom’s cars, so a driver had to have brought him there. I rushed back to get in the bed, pulling the covers over me, so it could look like I was sleeping. Maybe if he saw that I was asleep, he would leave me alone, and we wouldn’t have to talk about what happened earlier at school. It was wishful thinking, though, because I knew the second he walked in, he wouldn’t give two fucks about me being asleep.

“Whatever . I’m changing his school.” She said that same shit to him that she’d said to me earlier.

“Man , no, you not! They arrested that lil’ nigga who brought a gun to the school. I’m sure he’s going to be expelled too, so it ain’t like you gotta worry about him coming back to the school. The school year is damn near over, and you talking about changing his school. Man , go on somewhere with that shit,” he snapped.

I hated that I had my parents arguing. They rarely argued, but when they did, it was a blow-up, kind of similar to what was going on now. Both of them were so petty that they could go weeks without talking to each other.

“I said what I said, Dionte ! Get out! You need to be talking to your son instead of coming in here and arguing with me. Go !” she yelled.

I really pulled the covers over my head now because it was only a matter of time before he came in. Turning on my side, I let my back face the door, and I closed my eyes, really getting into character. My dad hadn’t responded to my mom, and I could hear him walking, so I already knew he was headed for my room. All I ask is that y’all pray for me. I was going to need it.