High School Affairs (MB Story)

Shots Fired

(Chris's POV) (explicit language)

Ignore.Ignore.Ignore. That's what I press each time a call or text comes in. I don't feel like doing anything right now. I have a headache that seems to get worse and worse with each minute. For some reason everyone is blowing up my phone. I ignore them because I'm not in the mood to go to some lame party or hadg out at the basket ball court. I just want to lay here, why can't they just let me lay here peacefully?

The next time my phone rings I picked it up, put it on mute and shove it between the couch cushions. These people are really irriating me on a day where I just want to lay back and play 2K12. My mom is at work so I have the house to myself, nice and quiet without her yelling at me to clean my room. Going to the kitchen I look for something to eat. When I open my refrigerator my face goes completely blank. "Damn, a nigga aint got nothing to eat and he got the munchies on a friday." I mumbel to myself, slamming the door shut. This recession is making my fridge look naked.

Guess this means it's time for a trip to CVS to pick up some stuff to snack on, then I'll come back here and tak a nap or something. As I slip on my shoes I take my phone out from between the cushions and look at the calls on my lock screen. Jaida, Craig, Alicia, unknown.

As I head for the door and open it up, I find someone already standing on my steps. I almost scream like a bitch until I see that it's Craig. "What the hell you doin sneekin around my house for?" I ask him.

"Why the hell haven't you been answering your phone?" He snaps at me.

"Way to avoid the question." I say stepping onto the porch and closing my house door. "I'm not in the mood for everyone blowing me up right now."

Craig sucks his teeth. "Man there's a reason why everyone's been trying to reach you."

"Look Craig, whatever it is it can wait." I say pushing past him and heading towards me car. I'm about to open my door when Craig yanks me backwards by my collar and slams me against the car door. I feel a brief flash of pain in my spine, shocked by the way Craig just man handled me. "Damn, what steroids you been using?"

Craig slaps me in the face and my eyes widen in surprise. He shakes his head and stares at me hard. "I don't know what you've been sniffing but you need to listen to me. Everyones panicking because no one can find Tamar. Her mom just called up Jay asking is she's seen her and Jay called me, trying to reach you."

My blood goes cold and my stomach flips. "None of y'all have heard from her? Jasmine? Alicia?"

"No! That's why I came here, I thought maybe she was with you or somethin. But you don't wanna answer you damn phone." He says angrily. "You have any idea where she might be?"

I swallow hard as Joey's face pops into my head. "I'll take your loved one." Is what he said to me if I ddin't make the deal. I suddenly get a bad feeling and push Craig off of me and hop in my car, shaking so bad that I can barely put the key in the ignition.

"Chris, yo, where you goin?" Craig asks.

I barely hear him as I step on the gas and take off down the street, leaving Craig in my driveway.

Please let my gut feeling be wrrong. Please let it be wrong.



**
I power walk straight into the room of Joey's warehouse, hop over his desk and yank him up out of his cushioned chair. "Where is she?" I ask him. He stares at me with a calm expression.

"I've been expecting you Chresanto." He says with a smile, like a typical villain from a movie.

I jerk him closer to my face angrily. "Stop fucking around Joey. I will kill you if I have to. Where the hell is she?"

Joey gives me an innocent look. "Whatever are you talking about?"

I grip his collar hard and yank him up so that we're eye level. His feet dangling in the air. "Where. Is. Tamara."

Joey's black eyes flicker as a smirk splits his face. He turns to look left and chuckles a little.

"Max, go fetch sweet Tea for me." He says. Max, the chubby italian guy, raises from his chair and goes into the back room. Joey pushes me, forcing me to let him go. We stare at each other, fury racing through me. "I swear to God Joey, if she's hurt I will kill you."

"No you won't Chresanto." He says to me. "You're tough, I've seen you hold a gun a couple times before. Hell, I even trained you! But you have never ever killed a man. Cuz you're a bitch."

"Don't test me," I say through gritted teeth. Im seriously considering stabbing him to death with the gold pen on his table. I've never felt so much anger in me before, I want to crush Joey to death and I probably could if I tried. Joey just laughs at me as Max comes back. He's holding Tamara tightly by the arms as she stumbles around, blind folded with her wrist tied tightly with rope. Max pushes her forward, letting her arm go and she falls to the hard ground near my feet. I don't move, if I do, Joey will see just how weak I am towards her and use it against me.

Max takes Tamara's blindfold off. She blinks then looks up at me, her eyes suddenly growing wide. The cloth tied around her mouth restricts her from talking. All she can do is squirm in the ground, letting out choked sobs.

"I've never seen you so soft towards a girl." Joey chuckles. "What's is it about her that makes her so special? Did you fuck her yet? She got that good good that keeps niggas like you running back, don't she?"

I glanced at the beer bottle again, wondering how quick I can move to reach it. Keeping my face blank, I glare at Joey. "How do you even know who she is?"

Joey smirks. "You may not know it Chresanto, but I have people watching you. Ever since you became mine, I've been keeping close tabs on you. You're hard headed and need to be watched closely."

"It' s a gift." I say smirking and shrugging. "And you don't own me."

"You can think that, but look how easily I got you here. All I had to do was take her from you and you came to my like the good bitch you are." He says to me. I clentch my fist, feeling my nails dig hard into my palms. Max yanks Tamara to her feet and keeps a tight grip on her upper arm. She winces in pain and tries to wiggle out of his grasp but receives a hard punch to the stomach instead. She lets out a muffled cry as she bends over in pain.

I flinch and turn back to Joey. "This has nothing to do with Tamara. If you want to take me out then fine, just let her go. She won't tell anyone what happened." I say, then look at her. "If she knows what's good for her." Tamara stares at me, confusion written all over her face. Joey looks between me and her doubtfully.

"It doesn't work that easy Chresanto, you've caused me alot of problems lately." Joey says.

"What do I have to do to repay you?" I ask him, almost regretting it. "You want me to come back to you? Cuz ill do it, I swear. I just want you to leave Tamara, all my friends and my family alone."

"WHAT FAMILY CHRIS? That women at home that can't keep a husband? Your father abandoned you, he dot want you! I'm all you have. If it wasn't for me you and your momma would be livin under a bridge, or in a box. YOU OWE ME YOUR LIFE SON!" He screams.

Flashbacks swirl in my head and it takes all my power not to release the tears that have been trying to come out for 13 years. I keep my blank face and clench my fist, refusing to break eye contact with Joey even though I feel everyone's eyes on me.

Joey crosses his arms. "That weed cost me a nice grand. You want me to leave your precious friends and mother alone? Then you can start by---"

SMASH!


I moved quick and grabbed the bottle from his table, smashing it over his head. Glass sprayed everywhere and some stuck into his thinning hair, Joey collapse to the ground, hopefully falling into a concussion. Max lets Tamara go and runs over to me, pointing a gun in my face. I grab his wrist before he can shoot and struggle to retrieve it from his hands. We stumble over eachother's feet as he elbows me hard in the jaw, I don't pay attention to the pain as I try to get the gun out his hand. Next thing I know a shot is fired and glass shatters. The lights go out putting us in complete darkness. I knee Max in the crotch before upper cutting him twice and pushing him over the desk.

He crashes into the chair with a loud noise and I grab Tamara's hand. She screams in alarm and I scoop down to grab Max's gun before bolting towards the exit and out the door. We race down the stairs clumsily and run into the night. I don't risk taking time to get into the car, it would be too easy to find us because of the car lights and the noise. We just keep running and running, panting and panting.

Once we reach the park we stop running. My heart felt like it would explode any second and my back was drenched with sweat. We stay close to the tree and try to blend it. After catching my breath I take the cloth out of Tamara's mouth and she coughs.

"What the hell is going on Chris? Who was that?" Tamara yells at me. She looks genuinely scared and her voice shakes.

"Forget him, just tell me how he got you." I say panting hard and quickly untying the rope from her arms.

Tamara swallows a deep gulp of air and tries to catch her breath. "I was walking home from school with Jaida. Once we hit the corner we went out separate ways home and I put in my headphones. I passed by this guy in a blue hoodie, he had a buzz cut type hair style."

"David," I whispered.

"Yeah, so he smiled at me and I smiled back, just being nice. But then he took this bandana out his pocket and held it out to me. He asked me if it was navy blue or black. So I leaned a little closer and next thing I know he pressed the bandana against my face. There was a weird smell on it, kinda bitter like chlorine. I tried to fight him off but then I started feeling weak and sleepy. I passed out and when I woke up I was in some kind of cold room." Tamara said as a tear falls down her face. I'm shocked to see her crying, I've never seen her cry before. I pull her into a hug but she pushes me off.

"I still hate you Chris, whether you saved my life or not. And why the hell was I kidnapped? Who was that Joey guy?" She asks glaring at me.

I begin to explain everything from the very beginning. The park is deserted but I still look around, just in case I see something suspicious. I'm afraid, I just wanted to make sure Tamara didn't get hurt again. When I'm done telling her everything, Tamara stares at me and shakes her head. "So you're telling me that after you risked your life to be with me, you still screwed up by cheating on me." She says. "Nice going."

She begins to walk away from me. I step infront of her and she glares up at me. "Where are you going?" I ask her.

"Home, because it seems to me that every time I'm with you crazy shit happens. I was just kidnapped and abused. I'm going home to call the cops." Tamara says. My heart beat quickens.

"No T, please don't. If you tell them everything they're going to track me down and arrest me for dealing!" I exclaim.

Tamar's face remains in a scowl. "Maybe that's what you need Chris. You're so used to running wild and having your way that maybe some jail time would do your ass good."

"T, please listen to me---"

"No!" She yells. "And stop calling me T. You don't have that privilege anymore."

The sound of screeching tires catches my attention. I look up to find a red ford barreling around the corner and down the street. That car looks familiar...just then an arm reaches out the window and aims a gun at us.

"Oh shit, run!" I yell, grabbing Tamara's arm and racing across the park. Tamara tries to keep up as I practically drag her through the grass.

"Fuck my life!" She exclaims as we race past the playground. I barely heard her over the sound of wind rushing through my ears. I've never ran so fast in my life, I wasn't scared. I'm not afraid of anything, I just didn't want Tamara to have to witness this. I don't want her mixed into my problems more than she already is.

"I hate you Chris, I hate you for dragging me into this. I---"

"Tamara will you shut the fuck up already? I'm here trying to save your ass and all you're doing is yelling at me. Just shut your ass up and run!" I bark at her, too pissed off to care about hurting her feelings.

Suddenly a shot is fired. I flinch and pickup my speed. Then I smile.

Ha! He missed me.

I'm feeling pretty confident that we were going to make it out the park and into this alley until I feel Tamara slowing down. That's ok because we were a good distance away but I want to get somewhere more secluded.

"Chrisssss." I hear Tamara hiss, stretching out my name oddly before slipping her hand from mine. I stop dead in my tracks and whirl around. Tamara is laying in the grass face down. I back track and kneel down near Tamara, looking around quickly to make sure the red car isn't around.

"Tamara, you ok?" I ask. I figure she just collapsed from running so fast, but when she doesn't move, I turn her over onto her back. "Tamara what's wrong!?" I ask, my voice rising.

She opens her mouth to speak but just gasps for air instead. I put a hand on her side and that's when I feel it. A cold, wet, sticky substance on her shirt. I pulled my hand from her and stared at it. The strong scent hits me and I fe nauseous as I stare at the thick red liquid across my palm.

Blood.

"It hurts," Tamara whimpers. Tears falling down her face. My throat stRts closing and I was getting dizzy.

"No, no no no this can't be happening!" I yell. "No the bullet didn't hit her, he missed. He missed!"

Tamara's eyes roll back and then fear finally hits me for the first time in my life. "HELP," I screamed into the night. "PLEASE, somebody please help me. HELP!!" My own voice scares me, I sound so hurt, so scared that I'm not completely sure if its really me yelling.

Across the street I see a light flicker on in an apartment and the door opens. Someone stands in the door way then practically flies across the street towards us.

"Please help her, she was shot. Please, PLEASE!" I scream. Thats all i ccab say. I need her to be ok, i need her to live.

"Oh God," The women exclaims. Then she digs in her pocket, grabs her phone and punches in the numbers. "Yes, we have a girl bleeding....no i dont know what happened i didnt see."

I was shaking, I was shaking hard. I covered the wound with my hand, trying to stop the blood flow but I felt it gushing through my fingers. I pull Tamara into my lap and hold my hand over her wound, I could feel the hard bump of the bullet in her stomach and I would do anything to take her place.

Everything happened quickly, red, white and blue lights flashed in my eyes then a wailing ambulance rings in my ears.