A Losing Game

"The Secret of Yesteryear"

            Roderick and Reece climbed out of their Lyft and immediately ran into some of Reece's friends at the Strip. While Reece followed his friends to one of the nearby clothing stores, Roderick met up with Kelvin at Motherboard, a two-story arcade. They bought some tokens and then headed to the air hockey table, which was one of their favorite games.

            "Were the twins at the game?" Kelvin asked.

            "You know it," replied Roderick. "They had courtside seats. You know they probably pulled off some scam to get them."

            Kelvin laughed and said, "It seems like everybody havin' fun except me. You doin' your thing in the streets. Zay with Demetrius most of the time. I don't even know what Tay be up to but he never has time to kick it."

            "You think I have fun slangin'? Kel, that shit ain't fun. Do you not remember me gettin' my ass whooped on Halloween?"

            "Hold up, that was about you slangin'? I thought you said—"

            "Bro, I don't even feel like gettin' into all that. I know you my best friend but there's some shit you don't need to know about. I done got enough people caught up in my shit."

            As they began their game, Kelvin asked, "I gotta know somethin', bruh. How come you never let me be a part of your crew? And don't say it's because I'm light skinned."

            "Kel, your parents care about everything you do. They give you money every now and then when you need it. You have no reason to be in the streets. Me, on the other hand, I ain't never had shit. I ain't never been shit. Hell, the only time I felt like I was somebody was when I had Jacory beside me. I ain't even got him now. Be glad that you didn't have to be a part of my crew."

            Not a second after he'd said that, his phone began ringing. After pulling it out and seeing Escobar was calling him, he quickly told Kelvin, "I'll be right back." He then stepped away and answered the call, "Wassup."

            "Where you at, youngin'?" Escobar asked.

            "I'm at the Strip. Why?"

            "You need to come to The Bottoms. Some shit went down on the southside and them niggas are talkin' about retaliation against us."

            "Against us? We ain't do shit to no southside niggas."

            "Boy, get yo ass over here now!"

            "A'ight. No need to get loud. I'm on my way." He ended the call before stepping back over to Kelvin and telling him, "Yo, I gotta go."

            "You just got here."

            "I know. Just keep an eye on Reece for me and make sure he gets home."

            "Okay, I got you, bro."

            They did their special handshake and then Roderick headed out of the arcade. While he was exiting Motherboard, he ran into Jacory, Nate and Montrell. He hadn't said anything past a typical hello to Jacory since Halloween night at the hospital. And he figured everything between Jacory and Nate was fine because Nate hadn't even looked at him in gym class in a long time. Yet, the tension between them was so thick that Montrell immediately picked up on it.

            "I'm gonna go to Nia's Bakery," said Montrell. "I want a giant white chocolate macadamia nut cookie. Anybody else want one?"

            "Nah, we're good," said Nate while grabbing Jacory's hand. "Come on, baby."