Picasso's Promise

Episode 12| Biking

(a/n: song above: biking by Krsraga)

Amid a proposition I couldn't avoid, I weighted my options from where I stood. Laughing wasn't going to get me out of this. Dashing to the door, though appealing, wasn't a sure enough way to get Genesis and her crew out of my hair.

"I don't how you think I'm supposed to answer," I stated, running my nails over my khaki school uniform. I rubbed my fingers, frantically, against the seams till the tips of my hand felt numb across the surface. "I want to know one thing, though."

"Ask all you want."

"You say you're in a gang, but what do you do exactly?"

"Robbery, assaults, dealing," she listed, "you name it, we do it."

"Dealing?" I echoed. "What?"

Genesis exchanged looks with her friends. "I don't think I should say unless you're serious about this."

"Oh, I'm not." I snorted a laugh. "Trust me."

"Then why even ask a question?"

"I just want to know how dumb you guys are." I said with a slight shrug.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me." I said, crossing my arms across my chest. "I wanted to know how stupid you were for this gang bullshit."

"It ain't bullshit."

"I'll prove to you that it is."

"And how's that?"

"Tell me, Genesis," I uttered, pointing at her crew of friends as I spoke, "Where do you run your illegal operation?"

She hooted a laugh, but answered regardless. "I rep for the 46th bloods. I do a lot of the selling at my abuela's house."

"Please, explain to me now, does your grandma send checks off to a landlord or to pay off her mortgage?"

"Huh?"

"Does she own her house or is she renting?"

The fact that Genesis didn't know what I was talking about spoke volumes, verifying that Yenifer wasn't the only dumb one. It was probably contagious, sweeping the entire group with infectious stupidity. I took a step back for good measures in case it was an airborne illness.

"She's been renting it since the eighties," she said.

I laughed. "You don't own shit."

"What?"

"Let me say it slower for you. You. Don't own. Shit," I shouted the last word.

She got off the steps, dropping the shades to the concrete and not caring to pick them up. "What did you just say?"

"You heard me."

"Repeat that again."

"I already repeated it. You gotta hear it three times? Doesn't matter how many times I say it. It's true." I said with a raise of both my hands, up into the air. "You'd say you're willing to die for your gang, right?"

"In a heartbeat, I'd die for the 46th bloods," she said without pausing.

"How stupid," I huffed, "Dying for a street your granny's renting."