Page 26 of Scribbled Excellence

I patted him on his shoulder. “Look, I’m just happy she knows about your spot now. She finally did a change of address. Oh, did she tell you they finally arrested Michelle?”

That news came yesterday evening. Based on what we were told about how she was caught, I ventured to believe that Michelle had escalated from crack to something else. Crackheads were wild, but they weren’t necessarily stupid.

Last night, Michelle and one of the guys who was with her the first time went back to the apartment to break in again. The neighbor across the hall saw them on his camera and called the cops. Criminals who returned to the scene of a crime were mentally insane.

August shook his head. “Yeah, she texted me this morning. I think I’m still in shock that Michelle could even do some wild shit like that. For years, I thought that she hated Tomorrow, but then I’m like, nah, that can’t be right. This shit proved it, and that shit hurts me, so I know it hurts her. She’ll never admit that shit, though. It’s always her thing to be strong in front of us.”

“Don’t I know it,” I mumbled. My baby wore this armor that was unnecessary. I understood why she had it on, but she didn’t have to now. Tears fell when we were at the apartment after it happened, but that was all she gave.

It wasn’t until a week or so later that I caught her in the shower in the middle of a breakdown. I didn’t interrupt her, because I wanted her to feel safe here. I took a shower in the other bathroom and waited for her. We had already eaten dinner. When she finally got out of the shower, I was in bed. That night, I just held her.

“Why do you think y’all mama hates her?” Daylen asked. “I went through something similar with my wife’s bitch-ass mama. Not the drugs thing, but she definitely hates my baby.”

August shrugged his shoulder. “I don’t really know. It’s like she hates her because she’s not her, but that shit is crazy, right?”

Rashad snickered. “Nah, that shit isn’t crazy when you think about it. Your sister took on the role of y’all mama like a fuckin’ pro. She did something that your mama couldn’t or wouldn’t do. That probably makes her feel like shit. What y’all pop think?”

August’s head dropped, shook, then lifted. “Our pops is sicka her. I had to talk him down from getting her touched. Since I was like fifteen, he’s been clear about his hate for her.”

My head tilted to the side. “Damn, I thought they were cool or whatever. Didn’t they use to get high together and shit?”

Tomorrow didn’t talk much about her dad. From what she told me about him, it was clear that she didn’t hate him. There was some love there, but jail was an obstacle.

August’s head bucked back a little. “Nah, they didn’t. My dad was a dope boy or whatever. My mama started using and taking from his stash. She’s the reason that he got caught up on the whole trafficking shit. My mama made a side deal with someone to do a drop. She had the shit in the car with them, and he didn’t know.

“When they got pulled over, she put it on him, and he just took the charge. I didn’t find that out until I was older. My dad told me, and I double-checked the story by talking to the cop that arrested them.”

Rashad, Daylen, and I mumbled damn at the same time. “So, before all this jail shit, y’all dad was around? I assumed he wasn’t,” I admitted.

“He wasn’t a deadbeat, but he wasn’t active either. I’m not sure if that makes sense. He was a street nigga, and he loved the streets, but I know that he loved us too.” August gave us a faint smile.

We continued to talk about August’s childhood and other things. A lot of information was covered that gave me more insight into who my baby was and why she was the way that she was. From the stories that he told us, it sounded like they had plenty of good memories.

Around ten thirty, our conversation simmered when August’s phone rang.“What’s up, Sis?”He listened for a second before he jumped up.“Where are you?”Another pause.“Drop your pin and stay in the fucking bathroom, Day! I’m coming.”

The second he hung up, the questions flew. “What’s going on? Is she okay?” I asked him.

“Her fucking friend, Amanda, who I never liked, convinced her to go to a party. Now Day locked herself in the bathroom because Amanda’s ho ass is letting niggas run a train on her, and they think Day on the same type of time. She said they’re acting aggressive when she tries to leave.” August’s jaw was tight.

Rashad stood, then stretched. “Welp, I haven’t fucked a nigga up in a while.” He looked down at Daylen. “You still got some of that unhingement in you, brother, or Sim done got it all outta ya?”

Daylen stood with a chuckle. “Oh, my shit never goes anywhere. I just put it in a bottle until I need it. Kyro, what’s up witcha?”

“Oh, I’m always with the shits when it comes to my family.” I stood up, then moved to the entryway table. “Whose car we taking?”

Based on Tuesday’s location, she was twenty minutes away from my place. I told August not to call Tomorrow until we had the situation under control. All we needed was Tomorrow over here causing more worry than hell.

The neighborhood that we pulled into had an average middle-class flow as far as the houses were concerned. Even with that, you could tell hood shit happened here. A full fledged party was what we pulled up on.Where the hell are these kids’ parents?Vehicles lined the streets, and kids loitered in the yard of the house and on the porch.

Rashad’s crazy ass jumped the curb and pulled up on these folk’s lawn. All the kids looked at his SUV like it was crazy. They couldn’t look at him because of his heavily tinted windows. The second he stepped out the kids were starstruck. When Daylen stepped out of the passenger seat, it was a wrap.

“Yo! You’re Daylen Verse and Rashad Goings,” I heard one of the teen boys in the group that approached the SUV say.

When I finally stepped out, another boy in the group pointed at me. “Yo, that’s Kyro! Nigga is a tat king.”

Yeah, that made me feel good. There were different statuses and kinds of celebrities. I was one within my own right.

None of us gave a fuck about any of that shit now. “Y’all need to carry y’all bad asses home. Out here doing shit y’all shouldn’t be doing,” Rashad blurted. He pointed at the females. “If I wasy’all daddies, I would be ashamed that y’all out here looking like hos.”