Home > Concrete Rose (The Hate U Give #0)(2)

Concrete Rose (The Hate U Give #0)(2)
Author: Angie Thomas

For the past six months, me and King been slinging behind the big homies’ backs. Like I said, li’l homies can only sell weed, but there ain’t nearly as much money in that as there is in the other stuff. On top of that, we gotta give most of our dough to Shawn and them ’cause they supply the product. One day King decided to do his own thing on the side and get his own supplier. He brought me on real quick. Our pockets stay fat.

We gon’ be in deep shit if Shawn and them ever find out. This almost as bad as taking their turf. But ay, my momma work two jobs. She shouldn’t have to get me kicks and clothes when she struggling to keep a roof over our heads. Real talk.

“Let P-Nut or anybody else say whatever the hell they want,” I tell King. “We doing our thing, and that’s all we need to focus on. A’ight?”

I hold my hand out to King. At first he stare at it, and I don’t know if that’s ’cause of Shawn and P-Nut or that other situation we got going on.

He finally slap my palm. “Yeah, a’ight.”

I pull him into me and hit his back with my fist. “Don’t worry ’bout that other thing. It’s gon’ work out like it’s supposed to.”

“I ain’t tripping either way. It is what it is.”

That’s the same thing he say ’bout his parents getting murdered when he was eleven and ’bout everything he went through with his foster families. I guess if he wanna leave it at that so can I.

He head out the park, and I head over to Lisa. She looking finer than a mug. Got on a shirt that show her belly button and some shorts that got my mind wandering.

I stand between her legs. “We garbage, huh?”

Lisa wrap her arms around my neck. “Y’all could use work.”

“Like I said, we garbage.”

She laughs. “Maybe, but you’re my garbage.”

She kiss me, and that make me forget everything else.

It’s always been this way with Lisa. I spotted her at a basketball game freshman year. Her team was whooping the Garden High girls’ asses. Honestly, she do play better than me. I was there to watch Junie play afterward when Lisa caught my eye. She could ball, and she was fine as hell. Plus she had a ass. Can’t lie, I noticed that thang from jump.

She did a layup, and I hollered, “Hell yeah, shorty!” She looked my way with them pretty brown eyes and smiled. That was it; I had to talk to her. Once she gave me a shot, it’s been on ever since.

I messed up big-time. Knowing what I know make me stop kissing her.

“What’s wrong?” she ask.

I play with her braids. “Nothing. Mad that I lost in front of you.”

“Daddy beat you!” Andreanna says.

Nothing like a three-year-old calling you out. Andreanna look like Dre, which mean she look like me. Everybody say me and Dre practically twins. Our mommas are sisters and our dads are cousins, so it make sense that we got the same wide eyes, thick eyebrows, and dark brown complexions.

“You should’ve cheered for me.” I tickle Andreanna. She squirm and giggle in Keisha’s lap. “You shouldn’t have cheered for your daddy.”

“Heck yeah she should’ve cheered for her daddy,” Dre says as he come over. He scoop Andreanna up and fly her around like an airplane. Can’t nobody make her laugh the way he do.

“Y’all going to the party tonight?” Lisa ask.

Shawn throwing a house party like he always do at the end of summer.

“You already know Dre not going to no party,” Keisha says.

“Heck nah. We gon’ have all the fun. Ain’t that right, baby girl?” He kiss Andreanna’s cheek.

“Dag, man. It’s Friday night,” I say. “You can’t stay at home.”

Never mind, this Dre. He don’t go nowhere anymore. Having Andreanna changed him big-time. He stopped partying and hanging out. I think he’d stop being a King Lord if he could.

Ain’t no getting outta King Lords. Unless you wanna end up dead or damn near dead.

“I’m where I wanna be,” he says, smiling at Andreanna. He look at me. “You sure you going to the party?”

Dre know what’s going down today, the thing that might change my life. Problem is, Lisa don’t know. He bet’ not say nothing either.

“I’m sure,” I say.

Dre stare me down the way a big brother do a little brother who up to no good. It get on my nerves and make me feel like shit all at once.

I look at Lisa instead. “Nothing stopping us from going to the party. Gotta get one in before school start soon.”

Lisa drape her arms around my neck. “That’s right. Just think, a year from now we’ll be at college and going to all the parties.”

“Fa’sho.” The parties the main reason I’d go to college. If I go. I ain’t sure yet. “At tonight’s party? Everybody gon’ notice you when you walk in rocking this.”

I take the necklace outta my pocket. The pendant spell out “Maverick” in cursive. It’s made outta real gold with li’l diamonds along it. I got a dude in the mall to make it the other week.

“Oh my God!” Lisa gasp as she take it. “It’s beautiful.”

“Okay, Mav,” Keisha says. “I see you spending dough on your girl.”

“Hell yeah. You know how I do.”

“Them necklaces cost big money,” Dre says. “Where you get dough for that?”

Dre don’t know I sell more than weed with King, and I wanna keep it that way. It took a lot to convince him to let me sell weed in the first place. Even though Dre sling himself, he was on some “do as I say, not as I do” crap for the longest. I told him I wanted to help Ma out, and eventually he gave in. He only let me sell enough weed to pay a bill or two. If he find out what I got with King, he’ll have my ass.

“I did odd jobs around the hood like I always do,” I lie. “Saved up enough to get it.”

“Well, I love it,” Lisa says. She know what I do. She a real one for changing the subject. “Thank you.”

“Anything for you, baby girl.” I kiss her again.

“Eww! Don’t be doing that in front of my baby.” Dre cover Andreanna’s eyes, making Keisha crack up. “Gon’ scar her for life.”

“If she ain’t scarred from looking at your face, she a’ight,” I say as a horn blare in the parking lot from a rusty Datsun.

One of the windows roll down, and this muscular, light-skinned dude call out, “Lisa! Let’s go!”

She roll her eyes with a groan. “Seriously?”

That’s her older brother, Carlos. He never liked me. First time I called Lisa, he interrogated me like he was the police. “How old are you? What school do you go to? What kinda grades do you get? Are you in a gang?” All kinds of stuff that wasn’t his business. When he met me, I was wearing gray and black, which proved I’m Kinging. Fool turned his nose up at me like I was a bug under his shoe. He home from college this summer, and I can’t wait for his ass to go back to school.

“What he doing here?” I ask.

“Momma asked him to take me school shopping,” Lisa says. “I have to get more of those ugly Saint Mary’s uniforms.”

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