Hate the Player and the Game

chapter 26

                  

Chapter 26

Cruze

            Raheem had went to Long Island with Black Pearl like he said he would after we got rid of Slick. Miles had gotten engaged to Crack head Ebony and me and Uncle Ronnie got our own place back in Queens. We lived in the nastiest projects there were on the north side. They were called Maple Smith Terrace. We lived in the far building on the fifth floor. It was early August and school was just about to start again. I would be sixteen in September so I decided that I wasn't going to go back. I had made up my mind to drop out. There was a little crew in Maple Smith Terrace that everyone was afraid of, but me and Uncle Ronnie would look like punk asses to even think about being afraid. They were a group of young boys that liked to fight, sell dope, and steal. They intimidated everyone and not just people that lived in Maple Smith, but throughout the whole entire hood. I had been staying out of their way until I crossed one of them. We had stood in front of each other and just starred each other down. The boy had short dreads in his hair, light brown skin, and an ugly face. He dressed in baggy clothes that were way too big for him, but you could tell that he thought he was swagging. "I ain't never seen you before". The boy said to me. He looked like he had to be about sixteen.

"I just moved out here about two weeks ago". I told him.

"What set you from"? He asked.

"I ain't from no set". I told him.

"Man, answer the damn question. I said what set you from? What set you from"?! He yelled.

"Bro get the fuck up out my face". I told him irritatedly. The boy pushed me, so I pushed him back even harder. He had ran up trying to attack me, but I lifted my shirt and showed him my strap. He froze right where he was. "Yeah, try something now". I told him.

"That's okay. You pulling guns on niggas? I'ma go get the squad on yo ass. You gon' see. Squad Three Hunna gon' get yo ass, on life they is". They boy said stepping away. "Remember this name..........I'm Demonte bitch". And I did remember his name hoping to see him again so I could beat his scrawny ass. I watched only baggy clothes run away then I continued walking to the store. As I walked on the side walk and toward the store  I saw dope boys on the corner in front of it. They looked petty as hell because they didn't know the real game like I did. They probably didn't even carry guns, but why wouldn't they? They were dope boys. I saw a green drop top on large tires bouncing down the street and parking in front of the store. The man in the drivers seat told one of the dope boys to come to him and I watched them trade money with weed, then the green drop top bounced away. I walked right up to the dope boys, laughed in their faces, then pushed past them to go into the store. I could hear them behind me asking each other if I just disrespected them. I went to the aisle where they sold Pepsi and grabbed a can out of the refrigerator. I then went to pay for it and about time I walked out of the store, one of the boys stopped me.

"Who are you"? One of them asked. I looked him over. He had on a white wife beater, khaki cargo shorts, a white fitted cap on his head, and white air force ones on his feet with gold Nike swooshes on each side. He looked fresh with his light caramel skin and gold chain around his neck. I looked at the other boys around him. They were iced up and had new kicks on their feet also, but none of them had nothing on me because I was rocking my brand new Retro Jordan 3's.

"Who wants to know"? I asked the boys opening the can of Pepsi and taking a swig.

"Nigga, we wanna know". The boy said. "We ain't never seen you ova here in these streets before.

"Aww well looks like yall gon' be seein' me more often then". I said trying to walk past them, but some of the boys grabbed me and pushed me back making some of my Pepsi splash everywhere. "Bro what's yalls problem"? I asked them angrily. "Can't a nigga go home without yall trying to bitch me? Whatever yall do ain't gon work. Yall don't know me or what I'm capable of so don't even try it". The boys just started laughing and I hated when people laughed at me. I squeezed the can of Pepsi and let the cold drink overflow over my hand, then I threw the can at one of the boys. When they tried to attack, I grabbed my strap from out of my waist and aimed it at them. "Don't try shit. I killed niggas before so don't even think that I'm afraid to kill yall". I said watching them raise their hands.