Page 8 of Unexpected Prejudice

Thanks to the Kingston twins picking a fight with the new kids, we’d landed our asses in detention. I hadn’t planned on helping them, but then one of those new dudes punched Shay-Lee right in the face, so obviously, I’d joined the fight.

It wasn’t cool that the twins bothered those guys, but they always did that when someone new came along. They would’ve probably let them off the hook if not for those other two joining in. Unlike the tall guy with pink hair and the shorter one with the pretty doll face, the one who came to their so-called rescue looked dangerous as hell. And the moment the fourth one joined? Yeah, I had no choice but to stand up with my teammates.

It wasn’t the first time we’d got detention. I mean, Don and Lin were hot-blooded guys who thought with their fists more often than not, but it was most definitely the first time his Royal Highness, Miles Williams Dufort, joined us. He’d never done anything bad to me or anyone else, but he always gave me the impression that he thought he was so much better than the rest of us. With his horse and fancy riding clothes, too good to get his boots dirty, he was always looking at us like we were primitive cavemen with nothing but football on our minds. And let’s not forget the constant patronage provided to him by Shay-Lee. So maybe my resentment toward him had more to do with how important he was to the guy I was crushing on, but still. Shay-Lee cared for Miles. That much was obvious to anyone with a pair of working eyes. They had been best friends since forever, and Shay-Lee made sure everyone knew it.

Being near the two often made me uncomfortable, mostly because I didn’t enjoy the taste of jealousy for the kind of attention I knew I’d never get. So, I’d focused on the new guys instead of concentrating on Shay-Lee while we rotted away in detention for two long hours.

The one with the pink hair was Jessie. At least, that’s what the others called him. He was tall, unlike the grumpy one he was with. I assumed the pair were a couple since I caught them kissing in the hall after detention.

Jessie looked odd with his pink hair, weird-ass clothes, piercings, and patches of black ink over his tanned skin. It wasn’t his appearance as much as his smile that caught my attention. The guy never stopped smiling. His smile… I don’t know. It just brightened the room. It was weird and hard to explain, like he was genuinely happy, and let’s face it, no teenager was ever truly happy. Fuck that. No human was that happy.

I most certainly wasn’t, especially at the moment.

Stocking the shop shelves with canned beans and fruit while worrying about Mom and whether she had time to eat before going on her night shift wasn’t exactly what dreams were made of. Getting up from the floor, I lifted the empty boxes and carried them out to throw into the recycle bin in the back of the shop. On my way back inside, I stopped in front of the small mirror in the employees room—if you could even call it that, considering all it had was a plastic chair, an old mirror, and a broken sink with mold clustered around its rusted pipes.

During the fight, I’d taken an elbow to the face, but luckily, it hadn’t left a mark. Staring into the mirror, I took another moment to examine my reflection. I had my dad’s bluish-green eyes and my mom’s tawny skin.

I moved my hands through the short cornrows braided close to my skull. My hair wasn’t particularly long, but it was long enough for my mom to braid it in a way that wouldn’t bother me during games and practice. I loved my curls, but during California summers, it was too damn hot.

My phone buzzed, forcing me to look away from the mirror to check who’d texted me. It was Don, saying they were at Ty’s, getting wasted, and telling me to come over. Even though I was due to get off my shift in five minutes, there was no way I could go to Ty’s house, which was on the other side of the city. I had no car or spare money to spend on an Uber, so I texted him, telling him I was too tired and that we’d catch up tomorrow morning.

The walk back from work to our motel took me around ten minutes, and I often picked up something small to eat because the kitchen in our room only had a microwave and a coffee pot. Mom said that soon we’d be able to rent a nicer place, but I knew she was lying. I could hear it in her voice and see the pain in her eyes. We’d lost everything we had ever owned and were buried in debt, and since we didn’t have any close relatives, we had no one to help us out. We weren’t moving anywhere better anytime soon, and that was a given.

The first time she tried to pay for groceries and the check bounced, I promised myself it would just be a matter of time before I’d take care of my mama.

Back when we still had money and my father wasn’t running from the law, my parents paid my tuition fee to Beverly Bay. No matter how much I tried to convince Mom to take back the money and use it, she refused. Out of respect for her, I had never argued with her decision, meaning I was left with only one option: getting a scholarship and, later, playing pro football. My coaches agreed that I was fast enough and good enough to become a pro. The only one who was better than me on our team was Shay-Lee, but I wasn’t far behind. Besides, he was the quarterback, while I was a running back, so there was never any competition between us.

I was about to pull the room keys from my jeans pocket when I noticed the big black SUV parked in front of our door.

Run.

That was my first thought when I saw the thugs beside the big car waiting for me to come home, but they had already spotted me, so running wasn’t an option. Besides, if I ran away now, they’d just come back again tomorrow. At least they hadn’t come when my mom was around. I didn’t even want to think about that.

“Look who finally decided to show up,” said Mike, who leaned against the SUV with his arms crossed over his chest. “You kept us waiting.” He smirked, pretending to look at his watch. “And we don’t like to be kept waiting.”

“Sorry.” My throat went dry, and I tried to swallow hard. “I was at work.”

“Well, I wasn’t talking about now in particular.” Mike peeled his back off the car and stepped toward me while his thugs did the same. “I was talking about the money you are late paying.”

My nerves trickled down my spine along with beads of sweat. “I’m working on it. Just a few more days.”

“We already gave you a few more days the last time we came by to say hello.” He gave me a loathsome grin while shoving his hands in his pants pockets. “Where’s our money?”

My body tensed with nerves. “I-I don’t have it. But I will, soon. I promise.”

Mike’s smile faded, and he bit the inside of his cheek before he looked around the empty parking lot. “I see.” In one quick move, he pulled his hands out of his pockets and landed his right fist in my face. The force of the hit caused me to blackout for a second until the sharp pain in my face brought me back.

“Hold him,” he ordered his guy, who grabbed my arms before he began punching me until I fell to my knees.

I tried to stand up, but one of the men grabbed me by my braids and almost tore my hair out of my skull, which hurt way more than the punches and kicks to my stomach.

“Please, I swear, I’ll get you the money!” I yelled and noticed someone peeking out from one of the rooms and quickly closing their shutters. Everyone who lived in this place was buried in shit, and the last thing they cared about was someone else’s problems.

Mike rubbed his knuckles together. “Well, my hands are tied. You see, it’s not my money your father took and didn’t pay back, but my boss’s. And unlike me, he lacks patience when it comes to his money.”

Something sparkled in the corner of my eyes, and I noticed the silver brass knuckles he pulled out of his pocket.

With his thug still forcing me down by my hair, I spoke. “Please. Give me more time, and I swear I’ll have this month’s pay.” My eyes focused on the gravel beneath his boots, and the tears rolled down my face, thinking about the high probability they were going to kill me and the one to find my body would be my mom. “Please.”