by Shelly Ellis
All the others boys stopped in their tracks. Conversations and laughter halted, like the volume had been turned down in the hallway. They stared in shock at Cole and Derrick. Even a few were gawking.
“Oh, shit,” one murmured before letting out a nervous laugh. “Did he just buck to Mr. Derrick?”
It was one thing to pick a fight with another boy at the Institute. It was a completely different matter to pick a fight with the director himself.
Cole tried to shove Derrick again, but Derrick was ready for him this time. He caught the boy’s scrawny wrist, stopping him before he could.
So Cole did have a crush on Morgan, after all, as Derrick had suspected in the beginning. And Cole was willing to go to great lengths to defend his lady love. Derrick could respect that. But he couldn’t let this get out of hand, either.
“Don’t be stupid and end up in juvie like your friend, Tory, Cole,” he said.
The young man still glowered up at him like he wasn’t going to back down, like he wanted to take a swing.
“I repeat, don’t be stupid. I let you get one shove in, but don’t think I’ll let you do it again. Come at me and I’ll come right back at you, son, and it’s gonna hurt. Trust me.”
He squeezed Cole’s wrist in an iron-like grip to illustrate his point, and the young man winced.
“Go to class,” Derrick growled.
He finally let go of Cole and the young man still glared up at him but didn’t say anything else. Instead of walking toward the classrooms though, Cole turned and headed toward the stairwell where Morgan had gone.
“Cole!” Derrick shouted after him. “I told you to go to class!”
“Kiss my ass!” Cole yelled as he pushed the steel door open, darting into the stairwell. Derrick followed him, now both frustrated and pissed that he was chasing down a disobedient sixteen-year-old. As he shoved open the door, he could see the top of Cole’s head as the young man thundered up the stairs.
“Cole! Boy, you better come back here!” he yelled as the third-floor stairwell door slammed shut.
Derrick emerged through the same door ten seconds later, to find an almost empty corridor. This was the dormitory floor, where the boys’ bunk beds were arranged in large rooms with stark white walls and metal lockers, where they could store their clothes and personal items.
He walked into the room where Cole usually stayed. Though the young man was nowhere in sight, a couple of other boys lingered on their bunkbeds, lounging on their mattresses.
“What are y’all doing in here? Get to class!” Derrick barked, making one of the boys hurriedly close the magazine he was reading and the other yank earbuds out of his ears as they both scrambled to the door.
Derrick made a beeline to the bathrooms and checked each stall, but still didn’t find Cole. He cursed under his breath, and began to walk back across the room, wondering if maybe Cole had just come up here to shake him off. Maybe he was already headed back down the stairs to the workshop in search of Morgan. He walked back through the dorm room but paused when he spotted something. He squinted.
Under the bottom bunk where Cole slept were two large suitcases barely hidden by the blanket Cole had thrown onto his bed. The boys weren’t allowed to keep suitcases, duffel bags, or boxes. Each was issued a milk crate and locker to store his stuff. Derrick didn’t know how Cole or his bunkmate had managed to get these suitcases past room inspection, which the Institute did daily. Something like this would have to be confiscated.
Derrick bent down and reached beneath the bunk to remove the suitcases, but was caught off guard by how heavy they were—like there was almost a hundred pounds worth of bricks in each. Why hadn’t the bags been unpacked?
He tossed one suitcase onto the bed and yanked open the zipper, prepared to find a stack of tennis shoes and T-shirts or maybe even some contraband like video games or candy bars. But he wasn’t prepared for what he discovered instead. Inside were at least a dozen bags of neatly stacked white powder. When Derrick saw them, he staggered back as if Cole had given him another hard shove.
“What the fuck,” he whispered, still in disbelief.
He quickly wrestled the other suitcase out from under Cole’s bunkbed and dropped it onto the mattress. With shaking hands, he pulled open the zipper. He stared in shock. There had to be at least a quarter of a million dollars here.
“Oh, my God,” he whispered again.
Don’t miss the next installment in
The Branch Avenue Boys series
Coming soon from
Shelly Ellis
and
Dafina Books
A READING GROUP GUIDE
IN THESE STREETS
Shelly Ellis
AB OUT THIS GUIDE
The suggested questions are included
to enhance your group’s reading of
Shelly Ellis’s In These Streets.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Is Jamal wrong and selfish for separating himself from Ricky and Derrick, or is distancing himself from his old friends a smart move?
2. Derrick suspects that the reason his fiancée, Melissa, doesn’t like him working at the Boys’ Institute, is because she’s projecting her feelings about her father onto him. Do you think his assumption is correct?
3. Should Jamal listen to his girlfriend’s advice to ignore what he suspects about Mayor Johnson? Why or why not?
4. Why do you think Ricky decides to help Simone? Is it in some way connected to his own deceased sister, Desiree?
5. Derrick suspects he’s starting to develop feelings for Morgan. Do you think it’s legitimate attraction, or is it just a reaction to how Melissa has been treating him?
6. Ricky, at first, decides to put distance between himself and Simone, but later changes his mind. Do you think he should have other concerns about their relationship besides Dolla Dolla finding out about it?
7. After Jamal is confronted by Mayor Johnson, he decides to keep the mayor’s secret. Should he have done so, or taken the risk and told the press about the mayor’s corruption?
8. Derrick begins a romantic relationship with Morgan, despite still living with Melissa. Do you think his behavior is justified considering how badly his relationship with Melissa has deteriorated?
9. Ricky suffers a huge betrayal. Do you think this was Simone’s intention all along, or was it out of her control, like she claims?
10. Jamal makes a huge shift of mindset at the end. Were you surprised by his change of heart/decision?