Billy said, “You okay, youngster?”
“Yeah . . . I’m good.”
Billy told Xavier to stay down as he slithered over to the window on his belly. One peek over the windowsill—nobody !
They hadn’t seen it before, but a brick lay in the middle of the floor, a piece of paper affixed to it with duct tape. Xavier gathered it up, removed the note, and read it.
Billy asked, “That crazy heffa you been telling me about?”
Xavier just shook his head. “Can’t tell. All the note says is ‘I keep my promises.’ ”
“You sure know how to pick ’em.” Holding his pistol with his right hand, Billy opened the door with his left, and slowly stepped out into the night air. Once he was sure that everything was clear, he said, “Perimeter secure.”
He put his pistol up, still looking around.
Xavier walked out wearing a heavy coat. “The head of security at my school has already reported this to the police. He has friends on the force. Guess Monday I’ll be taking this to him.” Xavier held up the brick.
The door to Billy’s house opened and Brandy came storming out.
“I didn’t see who it was, but it was some type of Ford crossover,” she yelled, cold vapor escaping her mouth. “Busting windows out—you get him the hell out of here, right now!”
Billy looked at Xavier and then back to Brandy. To Xavier’s surprise, the old dude calmly walked over to the hysterical young woman and whispered something in her ear. Whatever it was, Brandy scooted back inside the house without offering any more lip.
“Excuse my language, but what the hell did you say to her?”
Billy wiggled his eyebrows up and down in a mischievous fashion. “You didn’t know the old man’s game was tight like that. Never let it be said that Billy Rupert Hawkins can’t handle his women, you feel me?”
Xavier just shook his head. “I feel you, Rupert.” He laughed. “I feel you, big dog.”
24
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23
9:00 A.M.
Two days later Xavier was back in Doug’s office. The police had been there to question him about the incident, then left. Their hands were totally tied, they said. Since nobody had actually witnessed Heather committing the offense, the police couldn’t do a damn thing. As far as they were concerned, the note wasn’t signed by Heather, and the fact that it had been computer-generated made it extremely difficult to trace back to her. The chick might’ve been insane but she was clever. Had covered her tracks like a seasoned pro.
Xavier asked Doug, “So what—I guess the lunatic has to kill me before the police can actually get up from the doughnut counter to arrest her?”
“Mr. Hunter, you’ve made so many wrong decisions and now you are paying the consequences. You know how this works: There isn’t anything we can do because as far as the police are concerned, there is no proof of a crime. And you reporting that she almost ran you over? Show me some proof—did anybody see her chase you with the vehicle? I know how you kids are with these cell phones nowadays. Did you even try to take a picture of the license plate of the car that chased you? And you didn’t bother to report it when it happened.”
Xavier was growing angry and it was showing. “This is straight busted, you feel me? I’d be wrong if I took the law into my own hands and found her and ran her over with her own car. And speaking of cars: hers is stolen. You mean to tell me five-o can’t run it down?”
“Doesn’t work like that here in Detroit. You stole cars for a living one time. You of all people should know how it works. There is no way with the amount of stolen cars on the streets of Detroit that our overworked police department would be able to find it just like that. Unless she does something stupid and they pull her over.”
Xavier paced around the small office.
Doug said, “You do know Heather is the least of your concerns, right? The police still haven’t caught up with those boys in that GMC SUV who are responsible for killing Felix Hoover and wounding Clyde McElroy and Ray Taylor. Word around the building is that they are targeting what’s left of your crew for some reason. Not to mention the guy that you said chased you in this very building. Ain’t no telling who threw that brick through your window—hell, take your pick.”
“You trying to be funny?”
“Of course not. I told you that you should’ve transferred—”
“Here we go with this transfer nonsense. Miss me with that. I’m trying to graduate from this piece.”
Doug ran a hand over his face in frustration. “Well, I hope you get that diploma and don’t end up getting it before you get it.”
Xavier walked out on Doug by dismissing him with the slam of the office door.
25
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23
12:00 P.M.
Samantha was on her way to fourth-hour lunch. She’d had to stay behind to discuss some things with her calculus teacher. Now armed with a pass, she was racing through the deserted hallways to her locker to put her things away. She couldn’t believe how crazy her world had become. There was so much drama going on in her life right now, enough to keep her confused until graduation. Her father was still refusing to let her have peace at the crib because of her friendship with Xavier. Her mother just wanted things to get better between Sam and her father. Stress in the household was starting to take its toll on the family.
Samantha put her calculus textbook into the locker. Junk was all over the place, crap that belonged to her locker buddies and best friends, Jennifer and Tracy. There was a small square vanity mirror affixed to the inside of the locker door. Samantha slid the purse straps from her shoulder and removed some lip gloss from the expensive vintage Louis Vuitton Monogram handbag. In the mirror, the Shiny Kiss lip gloss slid on perfectly. She popped her lips and then put everything away.
Her love for Xavier was incredible, but she hated the trouble that seemed to follow him around like a shadow. Samantha really couldn’t believe the thoughts running through her head—thoughts of a life without him. He was charming, possessed a great personality, was funny, tough, and brilliant—all adorable qualities. The question was could he make it in her highly sophisticated world, a place where poor folks were an entertaining topic of discussion and debate over brunch by the rich and snooty. Samantha had plans to live a fascinating life after college. To pursue her dreams of becoming a professional dancer, getting married, and eventually having a family. But at the rate Xavier was going, she doubted if he’d even be alive to graduate from high school. Right at this moment, there were people out there who wanted to harm him. Maybe there was some truth to what her father was preaching. She knew the old man meant well and was just being protective.
Samantha entered the stairwell, distracted by a mind full of sensitive issues and teenage angst. The college baseball sensation, shortstop Sean Desmond, would be in town next week, and had asked her to go out with him. She was so confused. On one hand she loved Xavier, but on the other, her father expected her to be with somebody like Desmond, an accomplished thoroughbred who had professional scouts clamoring every time he stepped up to bat.
Caught up in her feelings, Samantha hadn’t paid any attention to the stairwell door opening and closing behind her until it was too late. She was halfway down the second flight of stairs when she felt a blow to the small of her back. The force almost launched her from the stairs but instinct kicked in, and she threw her purse and reached out to grab hold of the railing. The move was the only thing that broke her fall and saved her from going airborne and dropping to the landing below. Though she’d smacked her head hard against the wall under the railing, Samantha held on for dear life, trying not to slide down any farther.
“I can’t believe you’re the weak little tramp Hunter wants.” Heather’s eyes blazed as she walked down the stairs behind Samantha. The psycho chick had her cell phone out in front of her and looked to be recording her handiwork.
Samantha was dazed from banging her head. She couldn’t do anything but lie on the
stairs, trying to get her bearings.
“I told Hunter that I would make him pay, and I keep my promises,” Heather said calmly. She was right on top of Samantha and had raised her foot to strike her in the head when two huge arms bear-hugged Heather from behind.
“What the—” was all Heather could shout as she struggled.
Xavier was sitting alone at his favorite cafeteria table, going over some research. After the brick had smashed through his window last night and the circus Billy’s baby mama created, Xavier had called it quits and stopped working on his research paper. Although he’d been tripping over the amount of money Billy had given him to hold him down for the rest of the school year—thirty-five hundred dollars. The old man was forever looking out.
Xavier was now trying to make up for lost time. Rarely did he work on assignments in this loud, rowdy atmosphere. This paper would count for half of his grade. Somehow he had to find a way to stay focused. Linus and Dexter respected his wishes and had left him alone to work. The two weren’t far. Just on the other side of the cafeteria and gettin’ their clown on with a table full of girls.
Xavier was poring over a printout. The death adder was a species of snake native to Australia and New Guinea. This particular serpent fascinated him because it hunted down and killed other snakes. With its triangular-shaped head and short body, the death adder is a fierce competitor and has the fastest strike in the world.
Xavier was jotting down some notes when he looked up and saw Doug, followed by Kato, walk in through the south entrance. When Doug sat down at the table Xavier knew that this had to be serious. He’d never seen the head security guard sitting in the lunchroom before. Kato sat down beside Doug.
Xavier was so wiped out from trouble, all he could say was, “What now?”
Doug looked at Kato for a moment before returning his gaze back to Xavier. “Samantha—”
“What’s wrong with Sam?”
Doug said, “Calm down. Samantha is fine. We have Heather. The police just took her into custody.”
“But what does Sam have to do with it?”
“She tried to kick Samantha down the stairs,” Doug said.
Kato interjected, “And she was recording the whole thing with her cell phone.”
“Is Samantha all right?”
“Yes, she’s fine.” Doug patted Kato on the back. “And thanks to Mr. Holloway here, Heather didn’t get a chance to carry out her threat. He’s the real hero.”
Xavier nodded his head at Kato, then asked, “Doug, where’s Sam?”
“She’s in the office being interviewed by the police. But, here’s the thing: We were going through Heather’s cell phone and found footage of her kicking Brenda Sanders down the stairs.”
“So Brenda was telling the truth,” Xavier said. “Heather is a freakin’ sick, psycho bunny.”
Doug explained further, “We have enough video evidence to charge Heather with assault with intent to do bodily harm to Brenda.”
“Can I go and see Samantha?”
“Not yet. After the investigation is over I’ll come find you. But what you need to do is thank Mr. Holloway here.”
“Okay. Am I missing something? Wasn’t Brenda carrying a baby? The charges should’ve been attempted murder, right?”
“Oh, that’s what I forgot to tell you,” Doug said, scratching his head. “With all the drama going on with you I forgot to tell you that Brenda wasn’t pregnant.”
“And how did you find this out? The last time I called Brenda, her cell had been disconnected.”
Doug explained, “She called me on my office phone a few days ago. She confessed to lying about the whole thing. Said she made the whole thing up because she wanted to see you sweat. I believe ‘have some fun’ was the way she put it.”
Doug got up from the table and walked away.
Kato could do nothing but shake his head. “The games that some people play.”
To Xavier, it didn’t matter. The only thing that did was that he wasn’t nobody’s baby daddy.
Xavier and Kato kicked it for the rest of the lunch hour. Kato had gone from suspected enemy . . . to ally.
Later that day, Xavier was sitting across from his probation officer Oliver Meyer, being asked the same dry questions the officer usually asked during their sessions.
And then at the end of the session Oliver raised his head up from the pile of paperwork on his desk long enough to say, “Mr. Hunter, May twenty-fifth will be our last meeting. If you should make it through to that date without getting yourself in trouble, it would conclude these meetings and you will have satisfied the terms of your probation. I wish you well.”
Xavier said, “Thank you, sir.” That was the kind of news he needed to hear.
26
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27
10:00 P.M.
Everybody was out and having a great time. The MJR Cinema 20 had been off the hook with people packed in to see Ratchet Chicks. And the movie was all that too. So many students from Coleman had shown up that the line of cars on the trip over looked like a caravan of student drivers. And of course, Samantha, Xavier, and the black Lurch led the way. Her girls Jennifer and Tracy also rode in the car with Samantha. There was so much love directed at Samantha and her two BFFs for assembling the event that somebody suggested that they should pull outings like this one until the end of the school year.
After the flick, the posse had invaded the Dave & Buster’s in Utica, Michigan. They had eaten at the restaurant and were now spread out throughout the arcade, playing games. A diverse crowd of people were standing around and enjoying the atmosphere.
Samantha and Xavier were challenging each other, one-on-one, to a basketball arcade game. The buzz of laughter and fun was a little loud inside the game room, but it was all good. Samantha was winning, and she had a fat stack of game tickets to back her up.
Compared to the time she’d been assaulted in the auditorium by two outsiders in her sophomore year, the thing with Heather was relatively mild. Aside from having a headache afterwards, Samantha hadn’t sweated the incident. And she had practically pleaded with Principal Skinner not to involve her parents. She explained that it was just a minor offense and that her father had threatened to remove her from the school if anything like that auditorium thing happened again. It was a judgment call, but Skinner had ended up contacting her folks anyway. Samantha’s mother had saved her. Mr. Fox had threatened to take his little girl out of Coleman, but her mother wasn’t buying it. The dance program at Coleman was excellent, and too important to Samantha to just pull her out of school. After a lot of bickering between her mother and father, Samantha, her parents decided to let her remain at Coleman.
This was one of too many bad situations Xavier had placed her in. And mentally Samantha was exhausted. She didn’t want to keep pushing her luck because one day it would eventually run out. Samantha had seen far too many innocent bystanders killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. She couldn’t put her family through such heartbreak.
After the last game of shootout she looked at Xavier. “We need to talk.”
Xavier shot the loose balls into the cylinder, then he turned to her. “Sam, what’s the matter? This whole thing was your idea. Everybody’s having a blast. You should be happy.”
Samantha toyed with the tickets in her hand. “I know, but so much has gone on, Xavier.”
“What? Is it that Heather thing? The police have her for assault. She won’t be bothering us any time soon.”
Samantha didn’t know how to verbally express her thoughts. So she came right out with it. “You remember when I told you that the slightest little scandal could affect my father’s status in the community?”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“Xavier, you’re all over the place. You’re staying in Billy’s rental property because your father is a tad touched by his faith, people are out to kill you—your own mother tried to kidnap me to do God knows what. Not to mention that you got Brenda pregnant on me
—”
“She wasn’t really pregnant. Brenda was faking it.”
“—It doesn’t really matter anymore. I’m tired, Xavier. I don’t want to be caught in the middle of your issues.”
Xavier’s face tightened. “So what you’re trying to tell me is that you don’t want to be my friend anymore.”
Confusion was all over Samantha’s face. “This is not a friendship. It’s like we’re still together as boyfriend and girlfriend. And it’s draining.”
Xavier saw something in her eyes that led him to ask, “This doesn’t have anything to do with that base-runnin’, steroid-juicing fool Sean, does it?”
“How can you say that I’m basing my feelings toward you around another guy?”
Xavier folded his arms over his chest. “Look me in my eyes and tell me that it has nothing to do with that fool Sean.”
Samantha looked away.
“You see, I told you. What he do? Tell you that you’re gonna get married after you finish high school? Live in some thirty-million-dollar crib after he makes it to the majors?”
“You know that I’m not impressed by material things.”
“Oh, I get it. Your parents expect you to be with somebody like him because he’s class and I’m not, right? Because he has a bright future and I’m a kid from the ghetto with hopes and pipe dreams, right?”
“You’re ridiculous,” Samantha said. “I’m confused. Can you please not contact me? I really need some time to think.”
“Go ahead then. Do you. I ain’t sweatin’ it. Get back with that home-run-hitting creep.”
Samantha walked off.
Kato walked up. “Aye, man, you and your girl all right?”
Xavier shook his head, still looking in Samantha’s direction. “Yeah, we cool. But what’s with you, though? You having a good time, or what?” Xavier looked at a beautiful, shapely girl playing a video game. “Homeboy, your girl is a stunner.”
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