21 Jump Street | 𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐭 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐌𝐞 (Tom Hanson x OC)

𝟷: 𝙵𝙴𝙱𝚁𝚄𝙰𝚁𝚈, 𝟷𝟿𝟾𝟼 - 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙽𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝙾𝚏...

-  𝙵𝚎𝚋𝚛𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝟷𝟾, 𝟷𝟿𝟾𝟼   -
- 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚜, 𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚎 -
-  𝙾𝚞𝚝𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚁𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚢'𝚜 𝙵𝚘𝚘𝚍 & 𝙻𝚒𝚚𝚞𝚘𝚛   -
-  𝟷𝟶:𝟹𝟼 𝙿𝙼   -

           THE ECHO OF Danika Richards' heart pounded in her ears as her best friend carefully placed a gun between her clammy hands. It was an unseasonably warm February night, and that seemed to be the only thing her mind could focus on as she sat in the backseat of the red Oldsmobile.

Not the heavy weight of the handgun resting between her palms or on the two men in the front seats making sure that their own were full of bullets, but the fact that it had been so warm today that they were able to shed their heavy winter coats and walk around the damp streets in only sweaters and light jackets.

"Yo, Nika. You there?" Dominique snapped her fingers in front of Danika's eyes to get her attention. "You aight?" She asked, her brows furrowed as she nervously took in her friend's current state. "You're sweating buckets, girl," she chuckled, clearly trying to alleviate the mood, but the intensity of their current situation was too heavy to shake off.

Danika gazed into Dominique's green eyes as her friend gently wiped the sweat off her forehead with her thumb. She wondered how exactly their plans to go to the mall to catch that new Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze movie led to them preparing to rob a liquor store.

"Nika, say somethin—"

"I told you not to bring her ass, Dee!" Reginald snapped from the driver's seat. Reginald (or, as he made everyone call him, Rakeem) was Dominique's boyfriend and leader of the Brass Bloods—the gang Danika had recently found herself entangled with. "I told you she wasn't down!"

"She's down!" Dominique argued, whipping her head around so fast to glare at Reginald that she slapped Danika in the face with her tangled mane of loose curls. "She's just scared. Give her a fuckin' minute, Rakeem!"

"I don't know who the fuck you think you talking to—"

"I'm sorry," Danika finally piped up, her voice hardly above a whisper. Everyone's eyes zeroed in on her. Danika had been witness to Reginald's short temper before, and she didn't want Dominique to face the brunt end of it on her behalf. "I-I'm good now," she promised, but she could tell Reginald wasn't buying it. With a roll of his eyes, Reginald let out an aggravated sigh.

"Handle your homegirl, Dee," he ordered. "You got two minutes. C'mon, Ty," he hit the boy in the passenger seat on the arm, and the two of them exited the car together. With them gone, Danika felt like she could finally breathe.

But just barely.

"Hey, Nika," Dominique cooed gently, placing her hands on either side of Danika's face to make sure she was focusing on only her right now. "I need you to calm down." Danika's face scrunched up. Despite how much Dominique's soothing voice tried to trick her into feeling safe, this whole thing made her stomach churn.

"I-I don't wanna do this," she finally admitted, though she was sure she had never fooled anyone into believing that she had in the first place.

"I know, but we can't go back now," Dominique sighed. "Rakeem don't trust you. This is the only way he's gonna let you keep staying with us," she reminded her. Danika had moved into Reginald's house a month prior. She'd showed up to their doorstep in tears. No coat, bruises covering her arms and blood running down her legs, staining the winter snow beneath her feet.

Dominique had been living with Reginald for months now. Even though it was clear as day that he and Danika could hardly stomach each other, he wasn't heartless enough to turn her away when she stumbled into his house that night. After a few days of her zoning out, crying constantly, and moping around like a zombie, however, he was ready for her to hit the road.

It was Dominique who fought tooth and nail with him for Danika to stay. After suffering through constant screaming matches and earning a few bruises of her own along the way, the two came to a compromise: Danika could continue living with them as long as she joined the Brass Bloods. Why? Because Reginald couldn't trust her as far as he could throw her.

"I'm not no snitch," Danika insisted, and not for the first time. She had nowhere else to go. Or rather, nowhere else she wanted to go. If she went to the police about whatever dealings Reginald had going on with the Brass Bloods, she wouldn't only lose her last safe haven in their hood, but her best friend too.

"Well, you gotta convince Rakeem that," Dominique told her sternly, removing her hands from Danika's face and grabbing the gun she'd placed into the sweaty girl's hands earlier. "You can't tune out again, Nika. Okay? This is too easy! All you gotta do is go in there, wave the gun around, and take the money. Then boom! You're jumped into the set—even Ty did it!"

Ty was Dominique's 15-year-old kid brother. He was smart enough to place into a fancy prep school, but dumb enough to moonlight as one of Reginald's many followers. For her to bring up that even her own brother had done this before, Danika figured Dominique must've thought she was being pretty pathetic right now. But instead of feeling sorry for herself and knuckling into action, only one question came to her mind.

"Why are you even with him, Dee?"

Dominique blinked, completely taken aback.

"You think we have time to get into that right now?" She frowned, grumbling her dissatisfaction under her breath. She turned her focus to the gun in her hands. "Listen, I already—"

"Dom, you're sleeping with a guy who put a gun in your brother's hand," Danika said plainly, looking to Dominique expectantly for an answer. Instead, she was greeted to the sight of her friend's warm, hazel eyes growing cold and distant, her nostrils flaring as she exhaled deeply through her nose.

"Yes," she said through gritted teeth. "Yes I am! And he's the same guy who put one in my hand and now I'm putting one in yours!" She snapped, finally losing her patience. "The only difference is that I'm here to fucking help you! Cuz we both know you fuck everything up if I'm not there holding your fucking hand!"

Danika winced at Dominique's words, and fell silent. After a beat, Dominique brought the gun up to Danika's face and removed the cartridge from the firearm so that she could plainly see. "I took the bullet's out, Nika," she whispered harshly so that the boys outside the car couldn't overhear. "...you literally couldn't mess this up if you tried," she assured her, the edge in her voice dissipating as she put the cartridge back into the gun.

She offered it to Danika.

A rapping sound on the rear windshield got their attention. It was Ty looking in on them expectantly, a nervous smile on his face as he jutted his head in the direction of the liquor store.

It was time.

"You ready?" Dominique asked, her eyebrows raised as she watched Danika's face carefully. With a furrowed brow and tentative nod, Danika willingly took the gun.

"Yeah,"

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A/N: Pls remember to vote and comment. I hope you guys are enjoying the story. Thanks so much for checking my book out :)