Yell Out / Do You

by Stephanie Perry Moore

  “You didn’t say we couldn’t,” I pleaded to Dr. Sapp.

  He took the work and put it on his desk. They he went to talk to Leo.

  “Your Mr. Defense could have said thanks,” Carlen whispered.

  “How about I say thanks to you? You really saved it,” I said to my new buddy.

  “I got your back, girl. Another tip, tell all your cheer friends they need to get some teeth whitener. Too many of them show yellow when they smile. Unattractive,” he mused.

  I caught Leo looking over at me. I could not tell if he was appreciative, but I didn’t want his appreciation. That’s not why I did it. He needed a hand, and whether he was grateful or not, I gave him one.

  “Okay, Miss Lady, this is the second time this week that you got me playing Little Red Riding Hood,” Hallie said. We were driving to the school at night in Hallie’s beat-up car to take Leo a basket of food that I’d made for him.

  I told my mom that one of my friends was homeless, and she made extra for dinner. I told her it was a football player, and as much as she liked sports, she considered it her contribution to the Lions, who were doing exceptionally well. I was not going to actually take the basket to Leo; he was way too prideful for that. I had Hallie park her car around a corner. I was able to peek into the coach’s office, and when I saw Leo turn his back, I knocked on the window. When he turned around, there was a note taped to the glass with an arrow pointing down. I was sure he had a way to get back in the school. I got the baskets from the dollar store, so whether he was trashing them or keeping them, it did not matter because each day there was another fluorescent-colored one sitting there.

  “I think I want to actually talk to him this time,” I said to Hallie.

  “Bad idea, Amir told me Leo is real tough.”

  “You haven’t told Amir what is going on, have you?”

  “No.”

  It was really weird that Hallie had a boyfriend now. Charli and Eva always had someone following them, but Randal, Hallie, and I were always on the sidelines. I was happy for my girl, and a part of me wanted to know what having a steady guy felt like. I kept worrying about Leo, wondering if he was okay, and praying nobody found out what he was doing. The last thing I wanted was for him to end up in jail. He did not even know I knew, so I could not mention it to him, but I knew we were connected.

  “So you think I should not say anything?” I asked Hallie again, making sure she was giving the best advice.

  “If he knows that you know, then he’s going to be scared that someone else knows. If he does not have anywhere to go, and he has to leave here because he does not want to get caught … but he has nowhere to go, so where’s he gonna go?” she added, absolutely confusing me. “You really like Leo Steele?”

  “Well, you know about him. You guys went to the same elementary school and stuff. Should I like him? He’s awfully mean. Paint him green and call him the Hulk already.”

  “He’s actually pretty caring. His dad died in a car accident when Leo was in the third grade, so he had to repeat it because he was out so long.”

  “Why was he out so long?” I asked.

  “He was in the car too. He had a lot of broken bones, but he survived. He’s just been an angrier person ever since. He’s fine though, girl.” I just smiled. She patted my knee and said, “You’re doing a good thing by helping him. Maybe you’re the girl who can change his heart from steel to gold.”

  “Let’s get out of here. You know if he sees your car, he’s gonna think it’s you helping him.”

  “Oh my gosh, you think?” Hallie added, not wanting anything to mess up her relationship with Amir.

  “Just playing,” I joked with her.

  She let out a deep sigh of relief. We were ready to jet. She tried starting her car, but the engine would not turn over.

  “Come on! My dad just fixed this thing not too long ago. I wish I could get me a brand new one like Charli,” Hallie remarked.

  I kept it real. “Girl, at least you riding. Don’t get frustrated. Give it just a minute, and then let’s try it again.”

  Before we could try again, three cars came racing into the school parking lot.

  “That’s Shameek and the Axes,” Hallie called out.

  “Get this car started so we can get out of here,” I replied, knowing what the Axes were capable of. “If they drive around and find us, those fools might try to rape us for initiation.”

  “Oh my gosh! You know, you are right.” Hallie’s voice trembled.

  We made sure the Axes were on the other side of the school. Then Hallie tried once again to get us moving. Both of our hearts sank when the car would not start.

  “Just get really low,” Hallie said. Then she picked up her cell phone.

  “Who you calling?”

  She showed it to me. It was Amir Knight. She pushed the speaker.

  “Hey, babe, what’s up?” he said in a sweet tone.

  Hallie whispered as if the Axes could hear us. “This is gonna sound a little crazy, but I just wanted to let you know that I’m in the school parking lot with Ella.”

  “It’s nine o’clock,” Amir noted.

  “I know, just hear me out. Something’s going on with my car, and the Axes are up here racing each other. I just wanted to let you know if I don’t call you back in ten minutes, come up here or send the police.”

  “They’re going through initiation,” he said quickly, confirming the word around the school to be true.

  Hallie said, “I know. Ella just told me.”

  Amir asked, “Why are y’all at the school?”

  I snatched the phone. Then I pressed the red button to end the call. Hallie got upset.

  She yanked the cell back. “Why’d you do that?”

  “You can’t tell him,” I said.

  “Look, they’re getting out,” Hallie said. We saw about eleven guys get out of three cars with spray paint.

  Leo must have heard the noise from inside the school because he came out, and all we could see from the car was a big commotion. Leo was going off on Shameek. Suddenly, he was surrounded by the Axes, and they were beating him up. It was horrifying to watch.

  I tried to get out of the car. “Oh my gosh!” I screamed. “I gotta do something.”

  Hallie held my shirt and yelled, “Don’t you dare!”

  Something had to be done. I could not keep watching and do nothing. I picked up Hallie’s phone and dialed 9-1-1.

  “Hello, what is your emergency?” the operator asked.

  “We’re in the Lockwood High School parking lot, and a gang was drag racing and spray painting the school. Now they’re beating up a kid. Send an ambulance and the police, hurry! They won’t stop,” I sobbed.

  Hallie took the phone from me because I was shaking so badly. She called Amir back. I was so out of it. I did not know what she was saying.

  I finally heard sirens. The coward gang guys got in their cars and sped off. A police car got there after the guys left. It was so dark out there. I got out of the car and made sure that the ambulance knew exactly where the patient was. I ran as fast as I could over to Leo, and when I bent down, I could see his face looked unrecognizable. My heart was breaking.

  Hallie and I had to give statements to the police, but she and I both knew that we needed to be generic. We could not describe any cars. We could not describe any people, because if they found out, we’d be their next hit. Amir pulled up, and Hallie rushed to him.

  “Coach Strong is going to meet us at the hospital. Leave your car and just get in my car. Your dad can get it tomorrow,” Amir commanded. Then he became emotional as we saw the ambulance drive away. “I knew something was going on with Leo, dang it.”

  An hour later, I snuck my way back into the emergency room where Leo was behind a curtain. He was resting. I had to make sure he was breathing. Thankfully, he was.

  As I turned to leave, he awoke and grabbed my hand. “You … Ella, thanks.”

  He tried to smile, but cringed at the pain
he was feeling in his face and in his ribs. Hating that I could not have done more, a tear fell from my cheek. He reached up to wiped it away.

  Leo mumbled, “I’m gonna to be okay.”

  “Hey,” a nurse called out, startling me. “You’re not supposed to be in here.”

  I left quickly. As I rushed out, I bumped into Coach Strong. He looked at me like I knew something, and I looked at him like I wanted to reveal all.

  “Tell me what’s going on,” he asked.

  “You gotta help Leo,” I said. “I don’t know why, but he has nowhere to live. He’s been staying at the school. Please, don’t tell him I told you, but you gotta help him, sir.”

  Before I could be asked more questions, I jetted away. The coach heard me, so I hoped he would fix Leo’s dilemma. I could not take my heart breaking over his plight for another second.

  Leaving the hospital, I was a nervous wreck. Leo and I were not in a relationship. He was not my boyfriend. I do not even think we were friends, but he had affected my world, and I wanted to protect him. I wished it was me lying there instead of him. As soon as I saw Hallie and Amir waiting on me in the parking lot, I went up to my girlfriend and hugged her tight.

  “I just can’t believe this, Hallie. If the police wouldn’t have come, the Axes would have killed him. They need to be stopped. I’m turning in their names.”

  Hallie shook me hard. “Oh no you aren’t! Leo knows those guys, and he can handle himself with them.”

  “If they’re in jail, how are they going to come after me?”

  “We didn’t see each and every one of them. If you go after Shameek, the rest of them will come after you. Just leave it alone,” my girlfriend said.

  Amir reasoned, “Look, Ella, I know how you feel. I’ve been beating myself up out here. I’ve talked with Hallie for the last few minutes about wishing I’d done more. You got help, and as you said, if you hadn’t who knows what would have happened. Feel good about that. I’m gonna talk to my dad about him staying with us for a while until all of this gets figured out. He can’t be living at the school. Dang.”

  I uttered, “Well, I just saw Coach Strong, and I talked to him. Leo’s gonna hate that.”

  “Yeah, but Coach needs to know,” Amir chimed in.

  “Thank you,” I replied to Hallie’s boyfriend. “I had to do what was right.”

  They drove to my apartment, and I was feeling really sad. Amir asserted, “It’s gonna be okay.”

  I nodded as I exited the car. I was actually happy that my mom’s car was not there. It was cool that I did not have a curfew. My sister was always out. This was good since I just wanted to go to sleep.

  However, I walked in the apartment and saw my sister in the middle of the family-room floor dancing seductively to loud music. I heard two male voices from the couch, cheering her on. I lost it. Those were two boys from the Axes.

  “Oh, now we can really have a party,” one of the boys with the worst haircut I’d ever seen smirked as he came up to me.

  I shouted, “Get out of my house! I’m going to call the police. I don’t want you guys here!”

  Eva declared, “You can’t tell people what to do. This is as much my place as it is yours.”

  “Get out of my house!” I screamed again, ignoring Eva’s demand.

  I rushed over to the house phone and started dialing. I pushed number nine. I gave them a second to think it over as I held my finger right near the number one.

  “Man, we ain’t got time for this. We already outran the cops earlier tonight.”

  “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!” I cried, not wanting to reveal that I could identify two more guys other than Shameek who I knew were involved in Leo’s beating.

  Eva said, “I don’t know what’s wrong with my sister. We’ll pick up the party another time. I only did a little show, so you don’t owe me the whole twenty, but at least give me ten.”

  “Nah,” the guy with blotchy skin said. “It was an all-or-nothing deal, baby.”

  Bad-hair boy came and fondled my sister’s behind. “If you really want the big bucks, you know what you got to do.”

  “I’m not doing that, Neckbone,” she protested. Then she opened up the door and they left.

  I looked at her like she was a tramp. How could we be twins when her mind was so warped?

  “Oh, quit looking at me like you’re so goody-goody.”

  “Well, I’m not a slut!” I yelled out.

  She came over and tried to slap me, but we were equals so neither of us won; we were just tussling all over the place.

  “You make me sick!” she screamed out.

  I roared back, “I’ve been in ISS, and you haven’t even said thank you or sorry!”

  She just shrugged her shoulders like she owed me nothing.

  “What is up with you? Why you got these gangbangers in our house?” I shouted.

  “Just doing a little dancing for money,” Eva drawled.

  “What if those two boys would’ve just taken it?” I questioned.

  She went over to the couch and lifted up the cushion. There was a sharp kitchen knife laying right there. My sister was a nut, not a fool. There was a difference.

  “I’m ready for them, okay?” Eva kept making her case.

  “But two of them against you? You might not have made it over here to the couch to get the knife. And are you ready to kill somebody anyway? Like the cops would even believe that you weren’t expecting to run some train. You got them in our house, Eva, use your freaking brain!”

  “I did. That’s why you’re the one in ISS and not me,” she bragged.

  “Yeah, but you tricked me,” I snapped.

  “I did not trick you. I asked you to help me.”

  “You asked me to help you and Randal. You were supposed to take the Scantron, but you left it there for other people. You took money for my answers. How could you do that to me?”

  “I did that for you.”

  “Are you on crack?” I screamed.

  “You might have book smarts, Ella, but you don’t have street smarts, okay? I mean, why do you think Mom is working all the time and still not making ends meet? We’re two months behind on rent, and her car might get repossessed. She needs some help, girl, or we’re gonna be on the streets. So if I gotta dance for some money … if I gotta help people cheat to get some money … if I gotta sell out my sister to get some money, then I’m gonna do whatever I can to help my mom because that’s who I am. You stay the good one. If you gotta go to ISS to cover me, then I don’t feel any sympathy because some of the things I’m willing to do to help, you can’t do.”

  I sunk down on the couch. I hadn’t noticed that things had gotten so bad. My dad was over there planning some lavish wedding, and we could barely even keep a roof over our heads. It was a hot mess.

  Reading my mind, Eva continued, “And that prima donna lady our dad is with should make sure he takes care of all his kids, not just hers. So though you think I got a lot of problems, I’m the last of your worries. We’ve got bigger problems; there’s a rescue needed.”

  CHAPTER 3

  Keep Quiet

  Dad, the absolute last thing either of us wanna do is go to your house and play like all is right with the world with your new family,” Eva declared. My father stood in front of us. He was trying to bond with his daughters, but my sister shot his idea down fast.

  My sister was so domineering. I could not get a word in edgewise. My father’s eyes said what his words would not. They were watery. They held sadness. But he couldn’t make eye contact with either one of us.

  Eva had my dad exactly where she wanted him, so she went for the jugular. “You chose what family you wanted to be with,” she said. “Don’t think we wanna be a part of it. If you want to help us, pay your back child support ’cause our mama is working all these jobs to make up for the difference you won’t pay. She should take your butt to court, but she’s too sweet to do that.”

  “Eva!” I scolded.

  “No, I
am okay to listen,” my dad said.

  Clearly, my dad was letting me know that I did not know him at all. I thought she was being very disrespectful; however, he was giving her the leeway to vent. That was admirable in my opinion. He had not done all that he should, but he was standing there wanting to change. Maybe he did not want to bring a bad omen to his new marriage. Maybe he did miss us. Maybe his wife-to-be was begging him to include us. Why did I have to figure out his reasons? As long as he was genuine, then it should not matter.

  “Look, I’ve already talked to your mom. She said you guys can come.”

  “And why is my mom not here?” Eva vented. “She’s not here because she’s working, taking somebody else’s shift.”

  My dad said, “Okay, Eva, I’ve listened to you give your thoughts. You girls are older now, and I haven’t explained why I left. We need time to bond and talk. I’m not saying it was right to go, but please don’t hold me completely responsible for what your mom does or doesn’t do with her own life.”

  Eva said, “She had dreams and goals. She got pregnant and had twins. You’re the one who went to school while she worked as a waitress. She told us.”

  “Your mom also knew we were not ready to have children. You girls are a blessing and … you know what? Forget it,” my dad said, watching his words.

  “Wait, what you trying to say? That Mom trapped you?” Eva scoffed.

  “You weren’t there,” I finally spoke up.

  She questioned, “What, you’re on his side? You believe him? We were a mistake?”

  “They were eighteen. He was in college, and our mom was a local in the town. We were not planned. Come on, Eva.”

  “Then he should not have done the tangle if he did not want to risk getting caught up, Ella.”

  “Yeah, well, one was wearing a condom and the other manipulated the rubber because she was ready to get out of her mom’s house,” my dad retorted. Then he turned and walked to the door. “I should not have said that. Forget it. Sorry I came here.”

  “You should be sorry now, trying to say this whole thing was our mom’s fault,” Eva ranted.

  I rushed the door and stood in front of it. “Dad, don’t go. It’s a work day at school. We don’t have to go in tomorrow. I want to spend the night at your house. I want my dad in my life. Eva doesn’t speak for me.”