Spectrum

Chapter 6

It turned out that Azariah lived just down the road from my mother's house and was asked to walk with me to which she heavily protested, but here we were walking on the sidewalk in the pitch-black night, she walked ahead of me, her hands shoved in her hoodie jacket.

" Walk-up jit, I'm not responsible if ya a*s gets snatched up plus I wanna talk to you. " This was not the moment to be defiant as I was in an unfamiliar environment and I didn't want to chance anything so I swallowed my pride walking up to her.

" I'm from Florida, moved here in the middle of highschool and nobody stepped up to me cause who ma father is and then there's you, I wanna tell you sum, people roun here, they feed off people like you so ya gotta watch out who ya trust, even family, everybody wants something and you gots to watch yo back cause people here just tryna make it out and they don't care how. " She stopped for a split second staring me in the eyes as she said the word family which left a look of despair in her eyes. 

" Why do you care? " I asked eyeing her up and down.

" Cause, although ya a*s snatched me up the other day, ion like seeing some s**t and how ya sis left ya, don't sit right with me and I just got this weird feeling ta help you cause I can tell that we alike in many ways. " I could see, I really could see that she wasn't telling me everything, there was some part of her that was holding back on me, but who was I to say anything? We didn't know each other and the fact that she went out of her way to say something to me was enough for me to form a perception of what type of person she was and I could truly see that even though her face was hardened, she was being sincere and really meant what she said.

" You gotta watch ya back, cause the people you least expect wanna see ya fall. " With that, she left me at the gate to my mother's house, her words left to linger in the air around me.

The next time I saw Azariah was outside of my mother's house with another female two days after the kickback making today Sunday, she was walking past when she spotted me on the porch before calling me over.

I didn't help but notice the look of familiarity she threw towards Mason.

My brother, Mason, stared in confusion as I got up to walk over to her, it was almost as if he didn't expect me to be able to socialize with the people around us.

After that whole staying on your feet conversation with Azariah, I had begun to see her in a different light and had developed a little respect for her, I could tell that she genuinely had a good heart, it was just the community around her and the situation that she was in.

I made my way over to the iron fence where she was waiting patiently on me to reach where she was.

" We going to the store, you coming? " She asked.

I sent her a quick nod before making my way over to the gate not sparing Mason a glance as we began walking.

" This Tiana, Tiana, this Milan" I nodded to her as she did the same back to me. Tiana was what they called a pretty little light skin, except she was the tallest of the three of us, she had a round face with deeply arched eyebrows giving her an unwelcoming look but despite that, she seemed to be a very vibrant person.

We walked quietly down the sidewalk a bit before Tiana decided to ease the tension a bit " Y'all heard bout Ace new girl? " She asked in a gossipy tone.

Azariah, who had been looking in the road's head turned to Tiana who was in the middle of the both of us so fast that I would have thought she had gotten whiplash.

" I thought he was with Riana, " She said a bit too shocked.

Tiana rolled her eyes annoyed " That hoe been cheatin' on that boy. "

Azariah hit Tiana softly shifting her eyes over to me and in the moment that she had realized what the signal had meant she brought her hand to her lips her eyes widening in fake shock.

" So, what are we getting at the store? " I asked, deciding to ease the tension a bit.

This caused a small smile to come across Tiana's face " What we supposed ta get? we only go there ta hang " She said looking around discreetly before pulling a pound of w**d out of her shorts pocket causing Azariah to slap her wrist again forcing her to push the bag back into her pocket.

After a few more topics, we were soon walking into the parking lot of the corner store which was as usual full with corner boys, crackheads, g**g bangers and adolescents.

On the other side of the parking lot, I could spot Jamal leaning on the hood of his Honda Civic, a blunt to his lips in the middle of a group of people who were avidly speaking and laughing to each other.

For a moment, Jamal spotted us allowing him to straighten up a bit before we got to him.

As we got to him, he greeted Azariah doing their regular handshake and after, her held his arms out to me for a hug to which I strangely accepted and in the process ignoring Tiana who was ready to greet him also.

" Bruh, I'm here too. " She voiced out in what seemed to be frustration.

" Y'all hear sum? " He said boredly taking another drag from his blunt.

" Disrespectful a*s b***h, " Tiana sneered at Jamal who still wasn't giving her the time of day.

It had seemed as if Jamal's group had stopped talking at our arrival and were staring at us, me specifically or was it my clothes which consisted of a fitted floral dress and simple black Aldo sandals, which I considered to be my most simple outfit.

" Yo Ace, who dis? " One of the males in the group asked Jamal motioning over to me.

" Nunya, " He replied continuing to smoke his blunt seeming a bit annoyed at his question.

The boy rolled his eyes stepping up to me, " I'm Don, and you are? " He said smiling at me, his hand outstretched for me to shake.

I wouldn't lie, Don was that you could call fine, because, phew, he was literally the definition of good looking. He had dreads which were currently tied back, he had a heart-shaped face with a sharp jawline and full lips adorned by his almond-shaped eyes and milky white teeth.

" Milan, " I answered shaking his hand.

" You got the goods? " Jamal asked ruining the moment between Don and I making us take our hands out of each others'.

Tiana pulled the bag of w**d out of her pocket passing it to Jamal who's blunt had finished, soon after, him, Azariah and Tiana were wrapping up.

" You wanna try? " 

" I'd rather not. " I said shaking my head, a few chuckles ringing out.

" why you gotta be so proper all the time? Jamal asked as soon as he was finished laughing.

I rolled my eyes not minding him and the evening was pretty chill, to say the least, and I had to admit, I was a bit too naive to believe that we could have a drama-free evening, this was the hood after all.

Halfway through one of our conversations, Riana had come marching across the parking lot a look of pure anger crossing her face and the closer she got, the more the vein potting out on her forehead became visible.

" You really doing me like this huh?! " She spat in Jamal's face as she got to him, Jamal maintaining a look of indifference on his face showing he truly did not care about whatever she was going on about.

" And y'all knew, y'all fake as hell, " She said looking around at all of us in disgust her gaze lingering on me a bit longer as if surprised to see me there.

" Bruh, you look stupid, go on cause we don't wanna disrespect you, " Azariah said outing her blunt before squaring up to Riana.

" I'm not here fa you, " Riana said stepping around her getting up in Jamal's face once again.

She shoved him after a while seeing as he had nothing to say causing him to hiss his teeth.

" Man, you blowing ma high. " He said a bit perplexed which caused Riana to get even angrier.

" That's all ya gotta say? you got me out here looking stupid dawg, that's not cool. " 

" Even more stupid than you look now? " Don asked cracking us all up.

She did look stupid and I could admit that and it was at if she had gotten the revelation of her life at that moment as she paused for a second coming over to me holding on tightly to my forearm.

" We're leaving, " she said.