Page 36 of Stay Dangerous

“Well, I know Frankie needs someone to sweep her shop on weekends. Maybe you can work there and take dance classes in the meantime?”

Her eyes lit up before she screwed her face up again. “That makes no sense, Wyn. How are we broke but I can take dance classes.”

“You’re thinking too hard.” I rolled my eyes for dramatic effect. “I was just thinking, since it's right next to each other, Mom wouldn’t care if you did it. She wouldn’t even know, and you’d still get a job. I know Frankie will hire you because shelikes you, even though you chopped off your hair. We can take the bus after school Tuesday when she’s open again and get you set up on a schedule with that and dance. And I have some money saved up, so we can get your tights and shoes and stuff.”

Her eyes stretched as she toed off her shoes and pulled her feet onto the couch. “You’d do that for me?”

“Duh,” I snorted. “I’ma get a job too, at Isaiah’s store. I know he’d get me a job there in exchange for going to the Spring Fling with him. It’s right around the corner, and I can lift us some snacks.”

“That boy would do anything for you,” she agreed, shaking her head.

“I know right? Listen… Auty… I know things haven’t been kosher with us, but Mom and Dad are gonna be gone working, so it’s me and you. I know you have Pops, Renelle, and Turkey, but if I call, or need you to do something because they told me, I need you to do as I say, no questions asked. I’ma give you my old cellphone, too.”

“You swear you’re my older sister,” she griped.

I ran into my room and grabbed my old cellphone. Making sure Mom didn’t turn that off, I gave it to her. “Six minutes, thirty seconds. And we’re born on different days. Just promise–”

“I get it, Wynnie, dang,” she said, taking the phone.

“Good.” I sat back down, and grabbed the remote to the tv. “Wanna watch a movie? We could order pizza, too?”

Auty looked at me, squinting her eyes, before she shrugged and settled into the couch.

“Sure. Please, no pineapple.”

“Well, you call on your new cellphone. Get one for you and one for me so I can still get pineapple.”

She fake-gagged before dialing the easy to remember pizza number. I exhaled when the call went through, and made amental note to get the number switched to the plan Rico paid for on my iPhone.

My heart was beating so hard. I knew Auty may raise questions later, but for now, things were okay. Things were doable.

Mom and Dad would probably only be gone for a week, maybe two tops. A month at the very most. Dad would check in, and I’d tell him what happened, and he’d rush home. Mom was a lost cause, but not Dad.

He loved me. He still loved Auty.

He wouldn’t leave us that long.

Motherless Child

Rico, age 15

Eveninthedeadof night, the Birch was never sleeping. There were fiends and Babies on the courts, but no one was paying attention to Fredo and I entering the South Kenton Community Center on the construction side.

Tiny had a lot of muthafuckas fooled. She was pouring back into the Center, expanding it, just like she was expanding her operation. The Babies always had beef with the Tree Streets, but a couple hours before, Lem told us it was officially war. He wanted all the Tree Streets.

Which meant Tiny wanted all the Tree Streets.

We managed to get all the way to Jute Street, but it wasn’t enough. Niggas wanted them eliminated, which meant they were recruiting more niggas for their dirty work.

I knew why they felt so emboldened. Why they, now all of a sudden, knew it could happen, and why now was the time to strike.

We had a secret weapon.

I heard my bro’s voice deep in the empty room and grinned as the tarp cleared and his face was in view.

Peanut had finally ran away from his foster home the second week of the spring semester. He showed up at Set’s crib and said he wasn’t going back there.

But while Peanut was away, in and out of juvie, he not only moved up the ranks of the Birch Babies in there, but also gained both the respect and intel on almost every other prominent gang in the city.