AFTER SCHOOL, I’M walking home when I hear Ray-Ray’s voice behind me.

I turn around and he’s coming up the sidewalk with Preemie, Quaashie W., and that girl Vanessa from G-ma’s tutoring group.

“Where you going?” Ray-Ray asks me.

“Home,” I say.

“We’re hitting the corner store for some hot chips. Preemie says she never had any,” Ray-Ray says.

“They’re good,” I tell Preemie. I don’t stop walking, though. I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do right now. Quaashie and Vanessa are bringing up the rear, and all of a sudden, there I am, sandwiched between Ray-Ray and Preemie.

On the real…a brotha is uncomfortable.

“What’s going on?” I say. “Why’re you doing this?”

“Doing what?” Ray-Ray says. “We’re just hanging out. You keep on walking if you want to.”

I’m six blocks from home. On the days G-ma doesn’t tutor, she expects me there by 3:45 unless I tell her something else. It’s never worth being late. She just makes me read more, or do the dishes, or something.

Still, I figure I can stop for a minute. If someone’s hooking me up with free hot chips, who am I to turn them down? Then I’ll head on home after that.

When we get to the store, Vanessa goes inside, but Ray-Ray stops on the sidewalk.

“Hold up,” he says. “We’re just going to hang here a second.”

“What’s going on?” I ask Ray-Ray.

“Nothing,” he says. “We’re just getting some hot—man, shut up and just chill for a second.”

“I am,” I say, “but why—”

Almost right away, the door to the store opens back up, and Vanessa comes flying out of there like her butt’s on fire. I can see she’s got a big bag of chips in her hand. And I can see some lady inside coming after her, too.

“Run!” is all Vanessa says.

I get it now, but it’s too late to do anything about it. So I take off as fast as I can, just like all the others.

But I’m also thinking—