by Sa'id Salaam
Cameisha drug the large suitcase to the train and headed back to school. From the train she hopped a taxi back to the dorm.
"Meisha!" Jackie cheered when her buddy walked into the room. She jumped up and ran over to hug her at the door.
"I missed you too." Cameisha laughed as Jackie lifted her off her feet in a tight embrace. "So what I miss?"
"Well for one, I've been getting my boots knocked really, really well." She laughed honestly. Her grad student boyfriend had practically moved into her vagina. "Yo girl, Cynt stop by every five minutes looking for weed. Oh and your dumb ass boyfriend came by. Told the nigga you weren’t here and he tried to holla at me."
"He a bum alright. His bum ass done knocked me up too." She fumed.
"I'm sorry what did you say?" Jackie asked ever so politely. She cocked her ear to the side so she could hear better.
"I said, I'm pregnant. Can't believe I let that nigga knock me up." She repeated.
"That's what I thought you said." Jackie nodded then popped her right in her mouth.
"Fuck you do that for." Meisha demanded through bloody lips.
"Put your hands up yo. I need a one!"
"Girl I aint finna fight you." She said looking at her blood on her fingers.
That was the wrong answer and Jackie popped her again. Again she protested and got popped again. By the fourth straight jab to her mouth, Cameisha finally fought back.
"Ugh!" She howled and rushed in. Meisha went low and scooped Jackie off her feet. They both went down with a thud and wrestled for supremacy. They girls were rolling around trying to pin each other when the front door came open.
“Yall got weed?" Cynthia questioned down at them ignoring the fight.
"Actually….Let me up girl." Cameisha replied and stopped fighting. Jackie stopped too and they both stood. "I do but you gotta come back."
"How long?" Cynthia asked looking at her watch. She intended to hold her to whatever she said to the second.
"Give me like an hour to get unpacked." She replied. As soon as Cynthia set her watch, she walked out and Meisha turned to her friend.
"A-yo what was all that about?" She demanded.
"Cuz I'd rather kill you than see you throw your life away over some bum. That's the type of niggas we left behind in New York, why the fuck you slumming? And you aint having that baby!"
"I already know. I need to hurry up and take care of it cuz I met a doctor." She smiled with bloody lips. As they spoke, she opened her bag and started unloading.
"Yo, you came on the plane with that!" Jackie exclaimed when the weed came into view.
"Only one is real. Nigga tried to flex me so me and my girls got on that ass! Oh! That reminds me…"
****
"There they go!" Cameisha cheered as Aqua and Dasia stepped off the bus. They both squinted in the bright sunshine as they got their first view of Atlanta.
It was their first trip outside of New York City. In fact, the girls like a lot of New Yorkers rarely left their home borough. Besides the occasional foray over into Manhattan, they were BX for life.
When they spotted Cameisha running towards them they took off to meet her halfway. The trio slammed into each other as if they hadn't just left each other the day before.
"Jackie, these are my girls Aqua and Dasia." Meisha introduced.
"Hey." Jackie, Aqua and Dasia all said stoically. They all had a look of smelling a foul odor as that new friend/old friend jealousy/rivalry entered their lives.
The girls didn't have many bags since they didn't own much stuff. They grabbed their meager possessions and boarded the Marta train adjacent the bus station.
Jackie regretted her decision to let the girls stay with them the second they walked into the dorm room. The space was tight for two but two more was too much.
"This my bed!" Aqua shouted and dived on Jackie's freshly made bed. Jackie bit her tongue and turned to Cameisha.
"Yall chics on the floor." Meisha demanded playfully. "Now help me bag up."
Jackie pouted as the three teens reminisced about life in their projects. They spread newspaper on the rug and bagged up the pound into tiny bite size dime bags. She wanted no parts of being a drug dealer so she didn't help.
Cynthia was spreading the word so quickly that fifty of the two hundred dimes sold in hours. Aqua and Dasia handled sales while Cameisha and Jackie attended classes. In two days all the weed was gone and she had to figure out how to get more.
But first she had a more pressing problem to worry about.
Chapter 15
"Man, this some bullshit." Cameisha complained as she boarded the train to downtown.
When she reached her stop, she got off and followed directions to her destination. After checking the address on her paper against the sign on the building she pulled the handle but found it locked." This is some bullshit!" She repeated and pressed the buzzer.
"How can I help you?" A woman's voice asked through the intercom.
Cameisha cocked her head curiously and frowned at the question. Was she really expected to announce, 'I'm here for an abortion' into an intercom? She flirted with the idea of turning around and walking away but the consequences of that far outweighed the momentary embarrassment or so she thought.
"I got an appoint yo." She leaned in and said into the intercom.
"Name?" The woman asked.
"Forrest, Cameisha Forrest." She replied wishing she had used an alias. She should have said her name was Shayla or Imanni or Athea or Sharazad or even Charisma.
A full minute passed before the door clicked loudly from being remotely unlocked. She stepped inside only to find another locked door. It wasn't until the first one was completely closed that the second was unlocked.
"I.D. please" and armed security guard asked when she stepped fully inside.
Cameisha complied and produced her school I.D. She didn't understand the frown on his face as he inspected it. It troubled him how many young girls from the local colleges ended up in here. It made him think about the teen he had at home preparing for college next year.
"Go on and have a seat." The guard said stopping just short of adding 'with the rest' referring to the three other college girls waiting to terminate the results of poor choices and reckless sex.
Cameisha grabbed a book from the table and took a seat in the cold waiting room. It was kept near freezing so the cold examination rooms wouldn't shock them.
"Man this some bullshit." Meisha groaned as a glance up at the clock revealed two hours had past. Luckily she was reading Dungeon Master by Yara Kaleemah and the time pasted quickly. She was all in reading about Nik when she heard her name.
"Cameisha Forrest?" A nurse called as she read the name from a chart without looking up. She very rarely made eye contact or looked in the women's faces. That was way too personal for the woman working in the wrong job. Killing babies as a form of birth control was too much for her.
Cameisha raised her hand but didn't call out 'here' as she stood. When she made it over to the nurse the woman turned on her heels and led her into the back.
Meisha looked at her colorful scrubs, matching sneakers and smiled. The thought of being a nurse crossed her mind but didn't stop. It was dismissed with a shake of the head but the smile remained as thoughts of her doctor friend popped into her head.
She and Bilal had been trading text messages since they got back to Atlanta. He kept asking her out but she stalled him. Once she got the bastard baby out of her belly she would give him her full attention and anything else he wanted.
"In here." The nurse said opening the door to an examination room.
Once inside the woman took vital signs, blood and asked a series of questions designed to gleam sexual and medical history. The forty something nurse was shocked at how much the college girls were fucking. Most reported multiple partners and no protection.
"Put this on, hop on the table with your feet up and the doctor will see you shortly." She said handing her a flimsy gown.
"Man, this some bullshit." Meisha mumbled as she complied.
The clinic was set up like a vaginal assembly line. The nurses would prep the woman so the doctor could come in and get to work. All tests done, feet in stirrups, no faces, just vaginas.
"Let's see what we got here." The doctor announced with a sigh as he stepped in causing Cameisha to frown at the familiar voice.
The doctor's sigh was genuine because in his short tenure at the clinic he had seen some really beat up boxes. Some were layed open like a baked potato while others looked like somebody played soccer with it. At least one a day came in full of cum but not this one. This neatly shaved, clean vagina threatened to give him a rather unprofessional erection.
"Test shows you're definitely pregnant so we will perform the procedure." He said, speaking into her vagina. The voice was so familiar she had to look down and make sure it wasn't.
"Man this some bullshit!" Cameisha groaned seeing Bilal between her legs.
"Cameisha!" He screamed in fear. He had been dying to see the girl from the plane again, but not like this. "I um, I, I'll get a colleague." Bilal stammered and ran from the room.
A few moments later, a white lady doctor came to complete the procedure. Cameisha couldn't help but cry as she was poked, prodded and relieved of the unwanted pregnancy.
"Take this." The doctor said handing her a pill. "You will be sore since you obviously haven't had much sex. So take one every four hours, but do not abuse them!"
“Yes ma'am." Cameisha said popping her first oxy. Her first, it would not be her last.
Not having a ride meant she had to wait in the waiting room for a few hours before being allowed to leave. She picked Dungeon Master back up and continued where she left off. The pill kicked in and not only was the pain gone but she was as happy as she had ever been in her life. The pill had her high as a kite.
"Need a ride?" Bilal asked coming upon her.
"Come on." He answered for her and led her to his car.
The ride to the college was quiet except for the radio playing. They both wanted to speak but no words came out of their mouths. He wanted an excuse or explanation as bad as she wanted to give one. When Bilal stopped at the dorm, he finally spoke up.
"Guess, I'll see you around." He offered but made it sound like a question.
"I guess." She replied and ran into the building so he wouldn't see her cry.
Chapter 16
"I sure hope you know what you're doing?" Cameisha asked as the train doors began to close. The question was to herself but she still pondered before answering.
She looked over at her friends standing in the door watching Atlanta pass by, pointing and cheering. She had an obligation to them and knew they were counting on her. The week they spent in the tight dorm room was too much. She had to get them a place. That mean she needed more money which mean she needed more weed.
After trying and failing to find some good weed at a good price, she decided to act. Taking a chapter from her Dope Boy father's book, she was in search of a Mexican connect. She was headed across town to where all the Latino people congregated. Buford Highway had a huge Spanish, as well as, Asian population. This is where she would start her search.
The two thousand dollars in cash sat on top of a pistol in her purse. The small 380 only held six shots but she knew if push came to shove both Aqua and Dasia would push and shove.
A good connect was needed for the girls to maintain themselves. Cameisha’s money wouldn't last no time trying to pay rent and feed them. When the train pulled to a stop at the Chamblee Station, they got out and found a taxi. A short ride later, she spotted their destination.
"Right there, pull in there!" Cameisha instructed. The driver complied and pulled into the parking lot of the Buford Highway Flea Market.
"Looks like we in Mexico?" Dasia exclaimed seeing the throngs of Latinos.
Although largely Mexican, the droves of people came from every country in Central and South America you could think of. There were Hondurans, Costa Ricans, as well as, a few Colombians. Music blared from at least three different sources and the air was a mix of aromas and flavors.
"Smells like we in the right place." Meisha announced smelling all the weed in the air.
"Sure do!" Aqua cheered smelling her favorite dish, Arroz Con Pollo which translates to chicken and rice.
"First things first." Cameisha said missing the dish herself.
She scanned the faces and attire of all the man as they strolled through the parking lot. The older men dressed like cowboys in Buddy Lee jeans and cowboy hats with big ass belt buckles got dismissed. So did the young ones blasting rap music and dressed like black kids. Carefully she scrutinized until she saw him.
The handsome young man walked with the gait of royalty. He was tastefully dressed with select pieces of jewelry that indicated he was getting it. The bad chick on his arm had gold digger written all over her so no way he was a broke nigger.
"Wait here." Meisha told her friends and made a bee-line to the man. He didn't look like the type of dude you ran up on so she went alone. He looked curious as she approached while the woman scrunched her pretty face up.
"Quien tiene yierba?" She asked getting straight to the point.
"Yierba?" He asked as if he didn't understand the word then pointed over to a group of young guys passing a blunt around. "Ask them." He said in perfect English.
"I'm not tryna cop a dime sack. I need a few pounds." Cameisha said staring into his pupils. The eyes can't lie and his said he could get it.
"Few pound huh?" He said scanning her from head to toe. Her expensive yet subdued clothes told him she was official. Niggas in turned up shoes or dirty pants don't buy weight.
Cameisha was dressed comfortably in a pink sweat suit by ONE UMMAH, pink Tims and pink leather jacket. She passed the test.
"I'm sure my friend should have a couple of pounds to sell." He said casually. His companion frowned slightly and shot him a glance that told on him. He was the friend he spoke of. "You have a number?"
"Sure do." She replied going into her pink bag for her pen and My Little Pony notepad. "What's the ticket?"
"For you…" He paused earning another frown from his woman. In an instant Cameisha's mind visioned beating her up like she did Arnell. "Give me six each."
"Bet!" Cameisha shouted, then caught herself and regained her cool. "I'll take three."
"Ok. Ca..mee..sha." He said reading her name from the paper. "I'm Juan, I will call you later."
Cameisha nodded her approval as he led his woman away. She was chewing him out real good in rapid fire Spanish. Since she was fluent in the language she knew she was the subject of the beef.
"I don't know why bitches think I want their man." She questioned watching Juan's ass while he walked away.
"What's up?" Aqua and Dasia asked hopefully when Cameisha walked back over.
"We bout to come up is what's up!" She shot back.
“Now for some Arroz Con Pollo!"
****
"Hola chica." Juan said when Cameisha answered his call. She had hoped the unknown number was his and smiled upon hearing his voice. His tone also said his woman wasn't around.
"Who's calling?" Cameisha asked coyly as she stifled a giggle.
"Yeah right." Juan laughed. He was slightly flirtatious using adjectives like sweetheart as they arranged the sale of three pounds of Mexican marijuana. The Colombian actually had a ton of the stuff. He never handled sales himself but made an exception for her. Something about the cute kid got to him but it wasn't sexual. Oddly he felt a big brother/little sister affection to the stranger.
As soon as she hung up, Cameisha popped an oxy and washed it down with her soda. The three girls in the room all frowned when they saw her. Jackie was the only one who knew about the abortion but they all were concerned about the pills.
"You still in pain?" Jackie asked arching an eyebrow as a question mark. She knew all too well that people abused pain pills. That
was some girls hustle when she was in prison. They would fake injury to go to the medical then sell the pills. Cynthia had been offering her twenty five dollars for a pill but Cameisha, the hustler turned her down and took them herself. That worried Jackie.
"Chill ma, I got this." Cameisha giggled. She was still high from the last pill and giddy from the conversation with Juan.
An hour later Juan texted from downstairs, announcing his arrival. She quickly re-counted 18 one hundred dollar bills and grabbed a small tote bag. She wasn't sure what type of car he drove so she glanced around once she stepped outside. She would have seen Pedro parked from his stalking position had Juan not flashed his lights at her. Pedro growled as he watched her hips sway seductively as she rushed to get into the customized Sedan. The handsome goon didn't take rejection well. He wanted to get her back so he could dump her. It was all about control.
"Oh!" Cameisha exclaimed when the Lambo door swung upwards. She slid in and Juan hit the button that let it back down. "Hey Juan." She sang in the sing song tone girls use when they like a boy. She liked this boy.
"Hold bonita, coma esta?" He said flashing that bright smile that went so well with the golden skin and dark eyes.
Confusing affinity as affection she had to fight the urge not to lean in and kiss him. Instead she replied, "Muy bien, gracious, y tu?"
"I'm good mamacita. I have your stuff." He said and reached into the back seat. He produced a large zip lock bag stuffed with what looked like fluffy green popcorn. The pungent smell coming through the plastic bragged on its quality.
"Looks good." She nodded causally but the look on her face said, 'oh shit this some good shit!'
The dope girl weighed it by sight and feel and confirmed it was three pounds, at least. In fact, it was several ounces over. She handed over the cash and he popped open the center console and tossed it in without counting. In the few seconds the compartment was open, Cameisha spied another bundle of cash and a plastic pistol; a Gluck, her favorite. She wanted to ask if he could get one for her but decided to wait.