Right Behind You

Chapter Five: Straight Up

"Cause I know them other girls try and do you in

But I'm not the average girl you've been fooling with

Cause those other females are counterfeit

But everything all up here's legit."

-Straight Up (Chanté Moore)

Kae:

"Tariq....do you think we'll ever get out of West-Englewood?"

"What you mean, Kae...we're leaving as soon as I get this dough. I just need to hustle a little harder this year." His eyes turned from the stack of cash he was counting on the kitchen counter over to me.

"Then we're gonna find our baby sister mom put up for adoption," I remember how his deep brown eyes burned with a fire and intensity that made me believe everything he had to say.

A soft smile itched at my face, "We're gonna find Sabien?" I asked him.

He nodded and patted the thick puff of curls that sprung from my head in long waves; no matter how many times I cut my hair, it always grew back quicker and thicker. It annoyed me tremendously I always preferred to have shorter hair, it was a lot more manageable than the mane I had been born with it.

"I'm gonna get us out of this mess, Kae...don't worry." He patted my head once more before he turned back to the money he was counting.

I sat my knees on the kitchen chair as I watched him do it. "What are you going to do with all the money?" I asked him curiously.

He grunted a response, focusing on the hundred-dollar bills he filed through his fingers in a quick and efficient manner.

"Can we go to the store later to buy some snacks?" I asked him knowing that if I pouted my lips just right and batted my eyelashes he would give into me instantly.

Tariq sighed and looked over at me, "Alright fine, bubby. We'll go in a couple of minutes." He informed me.

I cheered.

Later on, after he had counted his money, Tariq grabbed my hand and brought me down to the local corner store not too far from our grandmother's house. Tariq let me pick all the snacks I wanted, he knew how much I liked junk food, a habit that still hadn't died in me even after all these years.

We were walking back home and the sun was setting, I was humming lightly as I stuffed my hands into my bag of Cheetos Puffs, my hands littered in the residue as I periodically licked them away in glee; Tariq had a packet of Sour Patch Kids that he was enjoying himself.

"Hey Kae?"

I looked at my brother slowly.

"Yeah?"

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" He asked me curiously.

I shrugged and popped another Cheeto in my mouth, "I don't know." I added.

"You don't?" Tariq asked me seriously.

Again I shrugged.

As a matter of fact, I hadn't thought about it much if at all. I had been wrapped around West-Englewood and the crime, having my mother die, my baby sister gave up for adoption before I could even meet her, not knowing my father, my brother being in a gang. The last thing I thought about was what I wanted to do with my life. Maybe when I was five I wanted to be a secret agent or something, but now at thirteen what I wanted to be was alive.