Chapter 13

"I can't believe I fell for your schemes. I'm smarter than that." Beyonce Knowles

Disclaimer: Ay, I don't own this Boondocks shit.

Riley

These niggas were waiting for our asses as soon as we hit the damn block and shit. They were holding guns, silently glaring at us with tense muscles. They were ready to get this started. My crew didn't have to prepare, either. They eagerly glared back in the same fashion.

By race, we were both fucking brothers. We were all black people, and we were all ignorant as fuck. And then, it hit me.

These were my brothers. We all needed to grind. We all needed to hustle, but this wasn't the way. We had been misleading by greed and hunger to succeed. We had been hurt so quickly that it made no sense. We were inflicting harm to make sure that one side would do better than the other. Really, we were just being another sacrifice to another hustle that had been constructed to keep us down before we were fucking born.

Lamilton was there with his eyes narrowed and his fists clenched. He had his arms folded from side to side. He was hungry for it. I had known it from the moment I saw him. This wouldn't be easy. Hell, my crew was as tight as his was. I was as hungry as he was. But damn, he ain't have no goddamn epiphany? Did he?

"Ay, nigga!"

I had a fucking decision to make. After all, it was my choice: pride or common sense. Go out like a punk and grow up a man. Or fight like a real nigga and end up dead.

I know what everybody expects me to say. They would expect me to do some shit like this. They would expect me to fuck myself over. They would expect me to fail.

I wasn't Huey Freeman. Huey Freeman had intelligence. Huey Freeman behaved as though he had no heart. Huey wore his hair in an afro. Huey fought for others. He fell in love with girls like Jazmine who refused to believe that they ain't got no chance. He fought for niggas without a chance. He fought for me. He always does.

But me?

I'm Riley Freeman. And Riley Freeman lacks intelligence according to Woodcrest's school system. Riley Freeman had a heart, but he isn't gone love these hoes. Riley Freeman fought for himself, his cause. He fell in love with girls like Cindy Mcphearson. He hates these motherfucking choices, but he destroys his own chances with them. That nigga ruins everything he fucking touches, destroys himself.

And that nigga is me.

But I don't care. I'm ignorant. I'm fucking Riley Freeman. Real niggas do sacrifice what makes sense for shit to happen. They allow shit to go down for themselves. And if somebody asked me right now if I would take this damn shit back, I would tell them hell naw. My pride is moreimportant. My swag is more important to me than anything on this damn Earth, and if these bitches don't like it, then they can go fuck themselves.

Real fucking shit.

"Ay, Bitch!"

Lamilton walks towards me as I raise my voice. The words travel to his ears. Then, there it is. The sound of the sirens surrounds us, and I grin knowingly. His face falls to the ground. His brown eyes narrow, suddenly. My crew is falling to the ground and lifting again.

And then, it happens.

The cold piece of metal emerges from his pocket, like we've never seen it before. He aims it towards my chest and pulls the trigger.

Everything slows down.

Jarod is beating ass to get to me.

Everybody pauses.

The sirens get closer and closer.

Shit is going down. Shit that we have yet to even deal with.

And then, the shot. The shot of reality it hits me and grazes the damn shit out of my ass.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I yell and fall to the ground, "Damn, bitch ass, gay ass motherfucking nigga! Damn, fuck that! Oh my! AHH! Damn, Lamilton! You gay as fuck, dude!"

The sirens got louder as Lamilton tucked it back in his pocket, shrugging. He looked at me before kicking the shit out of me.

"I'm done, Freeman. This shit is dumb as fuck. You'll kill yourself before I do anyway."

Lamilton turned on his heel and walked off like a damn boss, and I only wished that I could have the strength to be like his gay ass.

And maybe I would be. If somebody would make my ass stop stinging, damn!

Jazmine

I had no idea where I was, but one thing was clear. This was not my hospital room. It was some office, complete with cabinets and a small black and gold nameplate. Dr. Heat's name was everywhere imaginable, and I was looking around aimlessly at everything that she had. There were portraits of her around. She even went to Harvard. Why the hell did she come back to Woodcrest? I snorted. I didn't understand it. I barely wanted to.

That's when I heard her. She was standing behind me with blonde hair like Cindy's, and even though I could tell right off the bat she was going to get on my last nerves, I had to admit that she had that California girl swag to her. She had the tanned leg, the gorgeous golden locks, that award winning smile, and honestly, she was gorgeous.

"Looking around, huh?" She spoke to me as I turned around to face her.

I nodded, acknowledging that I was indeed being nosey and looking around her office, "You went to Harvard?"

She chuckled before walking towards it and grabbing the wooden frame with her hand, smiling, "Yes, I did."

"And," I paused as I wrinkled my nose at the state of her surroundings, "You chose to come back here. To help kids here in some small town who don't need it?"

She sat down abruptly and wheeled herself up to the desk. She didn't say anything for a moment. All Dr. Heat did was lift her blue irises and force them onto my green ones. I was shocked, but I managed to look back and hear her angry, gritted words, "Don't need me? Huh?"

She was so upset that I couldn't really say anything smart back. This lady looked like she would backhand me if I dared say anything else.

"You don't need me?" Her blue eyes had this fierce edge to them that I had never seen before, "You're getting drunk. You're causing commotion! You almost got yourself killed! Don't you realize that? You put your own being at risk for the sake of a cheap high?"

"I—"

"And you what?" She sneered at me, angrily, "You let everybody down because life's tough? Because your family's not there for you? What? What is it that you have to keep buried within yourself that nobody else can?"

"Nobody was listening!" I shouted back, "Nobody ever listened! They were too fucking busy trying to tell me that I had no need to worry, or that everything was gonna be okay. They lied, alright. About everything. Every fucking thing that they said wouldn't go wrong did!"

"And what was so damn bad that you had to fucking drink, sweetheart? Tell me that?" Dr. Heat was growling, her face literally inches from mine, "Huh?"

"My parents get divorced, they fight every fucking time they're around me, they throw shit, they hit me, it's like I don't exist," I threw my hands as she shot another glare my way, "And don't even get me started on school. Every person that claims to love me wants to see me fail, and the people who used to be my best friends hate me!"

Her face softened, not much, but it was something. It told me that I had a shot of making somebody in this world like me for the person I was, the girl I'm trying to find all over again.

"And why do you think that?"

What the hell was she focusing on?

"Because I left them out in the dust for popularity," I shrugged, "I didn't think anybody would care."

Dr. Heat looked up as she squinted her eyes at me, "Say that again?"

I looked at her with a blank start, "I didn't think anybody would care?"

"And why is that?" Dr. Heat twirled a pen in her manicured hands before looking in my direction, "Why would somebody decide that they could care less about you?"

"I'm an asshole. I'm cold as shit. I'm selfish, conceited, a bitch. Why the fuck would anybody bother to care about me? Huh?" I had finally admitted it. The words that I had tried to hold in for so long were finally coming out, and I couldn't stop if I wanted to, "I wanted to kill myself, sometimes. I wanted to just end it. But at the end of the day, I was too afraid to. I hated myself for not being able to have the guts to do it at first. Too much was going on. I was spiraling down a bad path or whatever, but it felt better escaping on that path than going through World War Five Thousand on my real one. I couldn't afford to have people caring about me when I was destroying myself."

"Uh-huh," Dr. Heat looked at me, "So you shoved them out of your life because in your eyes, they couldn't possibly understand you at all?"

"Basically," I took a deep breath, "that's it."

"But you destroyed yourself in the process, and destroyed damn near half the people around me. I've never seen so many distressed indivivuals walk in here in my ten years of working here. I grew up here. People love you, even I you're being too stubborn to realize that."

"But they-"

"They what?"

"They aren't all real friends," I looked down, "Most of them only came here so they wouldn't seem like assholes, or because they heard that I finally broke up with my cheating boyfriend. None of them give two shits about me. Huey Freeman? He hates me, and he's stuck by me longer than any of them have."

"Really," Dr. Heat glanced up at me, "And do you have the slightest idea of why that is?"

"Honestly," I sighed as I looked out of the glass window, "I have no clue whatsoever."

"Okay," Dr. Heat sighed as she looked up at me, "You can't do this anymore. This drinking? It's over. It's done. If you were my kid, I couldn't even imagine the things I'd be going through. Where are your parents?"

"My mom's in the hall," I gestured to the blonde in the hall while Dr. Heat put two and two together, looking back from me to her.

"And your dad?"

"He just left," I wiped the one tear that attempted to escape away, "For good."

Arielle

I couldn't believe that she had shown back up in my life. I had finally been happy without her. I didn't have money, or fancy clothes, or great food, but I was happy. I had a roof over my head. I was safe. I finally had the things that I never got to experience, and that made me happy. That made me appreciative that somebody would at least bother to give a shit. But what did I expect? I should have known better than to get this comfortable.

"Do you want us to press charges, little lady?" The bigger cop asked me, "We can."

"No," I sighed, "Just let her go, alright?"

"No," The other one looked at me with sad eyes, "We can't do that. We pulled up her records. She's been arrested five times for theft, possession of marijuana, and many other crimes. We're sorry."

I didn't know what to say, what to feel. How were you going to tell somebody that you iddn't even care that your own mom was going to get locked up. How was that supposed to make me feel?

"Honey, are you alright?"

No, I feel like a giant asshole.

"No, I'm fine," I nodded, the tears falling, "I understand."

"We're sorry, kid," The guy shook his head, "We really are."

And then they were gone, the sirens blaring into the dark. That, however, wasn't what got me. My mom looked at me, deep in my eyes, and begged me to help her. Her face was pressed up on the glass of the car that was imprisoning her. And what did I do? I turned away from her because I couldn't handle looking at her like that. I couldn't handle that I still loved her, but she would never love me.

"Baby," Caesar had me in his arms again, "are you alright?"

I looked at him, my eyes glassy, "I don't know. It hurts."

He looked at me then. He was quietly examining me before taking a deep breath and looking me in the eyes, "It'll be fine. You know that right?"

"I'm hoping so." I replied as I buried my head into his chest, taking in his scent.

We sat there for a moment in silence again. Then, it hit me like…like the epiphany Malcolm X had when he realized that everybody in his circle could betray him quicker than any enemy could.

"We need each other!" I exclaimed, a smile spreading across my face as I laughed from my own realizations.

"Duh, Arielle," Caesar looked at me with those eyes, "We all need somebody."

"Um, no, babe," I shook my head before exclaiming, "I mean I do need you of course, but that's not what I was getting at."

"Then," Caesar shot me a look, "What were you getting at?"

"I'm saying that ever since me, Huey, Jazmine, Cindy, and Riley decided to do our own stuff, we've been breaking down!" I paced around the floor moving in a circle, "Think about it. I couldn't cope with my mom. Huey got heartless all over again. Cindy went insane. Riley became overly obsessed with thugging…."

"Um, from what you told me, that's normal." Caesar raised his brows again.

"Okay, so for the most part it is normal," I threw up my hands in defeat, "But Jazmine deciding to get drunk and get cheated on? That's not normal. Cindy almost committing suicide is not normal! I mean seriously, it's insane."

"Right," Caesar obviously wasn't buying my epiphany, but he definitely wasn't going to argue with me at the moment, which was in his best interest. I was nowhere near ready to back down, though, because I had finally realized what the hell was wrong with all of us.

We were definitely annoyed with each other. Sometimes we hated each other, but that was some stupid front that we placed in our lives to keep a little privacy in. We needed each other to keep us from getting hurt. We need each other because nobody was going to get how to deal with us but each other, even when the truth hurt.

"Riley's in the hospital!" Caesar was grabbing my coat and handing it to me before I could even react.

Leave it to me to figure that out after half of us ended up in the hospital.

Cindy

The group had some new member, today. I had honestly had no idea who it could be, but whoever it was could be cool with me. I just hoped they could embrace all of the love that we had here. I know I needed it. Nobody here was going to give up on me, and I wasn't planning on doing that with them, whoever they were. Maybe that's why when the door jiggled, I was ready for everything that was about to go down.

And then, my whole perception changed when her prissy ass walked through the fucking door.

"Aw hell naw! What the fuck is her bitch ass doing here?" I looked at her straight hair falling flawlessly down her back. Only her ass could make a thousand damn bruises look good.

"She's here for help, just like anybody else," Dr. Heat shot me a look, "Now, calm down."

"Fine okay, but if that bitch even looks at me wrong!"

"Cindy!"

"I will fuck that bitches life up! I don't give a fuck where we are! I will tear that ass up! I mean that motherfucking shit!"

"Cindy!"

"I will tear all that motherfucking Mariah Carey looking ass girl up! I will beat her within an inch of her life. She gone go back to fucking hell where she came from! I mean that shit"

"Cin-"

"What the hell are you looking at bitch?"

"Cindy," Dr. Heat shot me a look so fierce that I sat down, "That's enough. Jazmine is here to get help just like everybody else, like you?"

"Fine, then," I shrugged, "Whatever."

"Um, Jazmine?" Dr. Heat looked her way, "What do you want to say?"

I knew what she was doing. She was too busy staring at everybody else. She was looking at that small kid that I had seen, wondering what the hell she was doing here. Hell, she was probably trying to figure out when she had gotten so fucked up.

Why did I care?

"I was drinking a lot. At first, I was trying to be cool or whatever. I had lost everybody. My parents weren't around, and my real friends," I could feel her trying to meet my gaze that I wouldn't return, "They didn't want anything to do with me. My own parents didn't even know I existed anymore. They had gotten so preoccupied with hating each other that it was like I had never existed."

Her parents? I had known that they had divorced each other, but I hadn't known that all of that was going on. Honestly, I wasn't too shocked that Jazmine's parents had completely forgotten about her and left her out in the dust to fend for herself. They were always forgetting Jazmine when they got mad at each other, even when we were kids.

"And it hurt a lot. It hurt so bad that I didn't want to depend on anybody else. I wanted to forget everything. The pain, the people, the fact that I had turned myself into this fake bitch!"

"Language!" Dr. Heat warned her.

"Sorry," She looked up at me, "It was easier for me to pretend that things were going way better than they had been. I was stealing to keep food on the counter, to keep up appearances that I couldn't afford after my parents had done whatever. I looked like I had everything, the perfect boyfriend, the perfect clique, the perfect hair? But I didn't have any of that. None of it was real. Everybody who wanted my life had no idea what was going on, and honestly, I kind of liked it that way."

And now, she was sounding kind of looney.

"It helped me feel like I was kind of mysterious. Plus, it made me feel important, like I had something better to do in my life than fail. I know it sounds insane, but I was. I was drinking more and more every day, and then, this guy who I had tried to avoid, pushed him totally out. He came back and kind of screwed that all up," She was fidgeting, most likely because we both knew exactly who she was talking about, "And he could see right through everything. The facade didn't mean anything to him. He was the one who was stuck on our friendship more than anybody else. He kind of ruined the whole realistic world I was living in. Actually, according to his girlfriend, I'm the reason they broke up, anyway. But, that's not important."

Everybody was relating to some part of this. Even I was.

"I traded everything good just for insanity, and I'm sorry," I finally looked up to meet her gaze, "I'm sorrier than ever."

Call me stupid. Call me crazy. Call me whatever, but it was growing even more apparent to me that we may have needed each other more than ever. And even though she had hurt me about five thousand times more than necessary, I was the one nodding her own. I was the one hugging her.

"Apology accepted, dumbass."

"Thanks, Cindy."

"But seriously, though, bitch, if you ever pull some shit like this ever again for one day, I'm gone beat the living shit outta yo ass. Three years bitch? Three? Damn, motherfucker!"

"Um, sorry?"

"Uh, huh, sorry is what you're going to be motherfucker! Pull this shit again! I dare you!" I shot her a venomous look.

"Um, not gonna happen."

"Motherfucker!" The young girl said behind us as Jazmine and I blushed in shame.

"This is why we don't curse in this area!" Dr. Heat shot us both a glare.

"Um, sorry?" We both said.

Some things never change.

Huey

This dumb ass nigga, excuse my language got his dumb ass shot in the butt. He wanted the pain to stop, but he didn't want anybody to pull the bullet out of his ass.

"Ay! Don't touch me there gay ass nigga!" Riley was getting held down by about five nurses, who didn't know what to do.

"The more you struggle, the more it's going to hurt, Riley," I warned him.

"These bitches better not touch my ass. I ain't homo!"

"Apparently, you are! Seeing as though you got shot in the ass," Arielle retorted from behind us.

"What the fuck is yo heartless ass doing here? Don't you hate me?" Riley rolled his eyes before going, "ahhhh! What the fuck is that shit?"

Yeah, Riley would be out cold in about ten minutes.

"Some of us do care about you. Even if we don't show it," Arielle rolled her eyes before Riley could even retort, "Damn, I'm not that mean am I?"

"Uh, yeah, you are." Cindy retorted as everybody's eyes opened in shock.

Jazmine was standing next to her, and even more shocking, Cindy wasn't attempting to beat her ass. Even Riley was shocked for a moment, pausing from his rant about his ass. And I was rendered speechless too. This was a shocking moment for me, for everybody.

"My ass hurts!" Riley hollered out, sending everybody into a fit of laughter.

"Jazmine," Cindy looked at her, "Don't you have something you wanna say?"

"Yeah," Jazmine looked down at the floor, "I was a real asshole, and I know that um, I was also a bitch. But I needed somebody who was going to listen to me without trying to just be so harsh. My parents weren't there for me anymore, and at the time, I really didn't think you guys would miss me."

"And?" Cindy prodded.

"I can't do this without you guys, and I'm really sorry. Especially to you Huey."

"Me?" I glanced up at her. She was looking dead at me. I hadn't heard her wrong, "Why?"

"I was an asshole-"

"Um, clearly, Jazmine," I was being harsh, now. I refused to make this easy on her. Especially since she kissed me, "Anything else?"

"You were only being harsh because you cared more than everybody else did. I took you for granted," She admitted, "And Cindy, we were best friends way before anybody else. You were always here for me. Arielle, I'm sorry for pissing you off all the time. And Riley?"

"Damn bitch! I accept your fucking long ass speech of an apology!"

"Um," Jazmine rolled her eyes, "I'm sorry, alright?"

"Apology accepted," Arielle shook her head, "Better being friends than being under this dumb ass hospital roof."

"Ahhhh! That hurts!" Riley shouted as the nurse pulled out the bullet, wondering why the solution she injected never kicked in.

"And you already know how I feel," Cindy shrugged.

"Mane, Huey forgive that bitch! You love her ass anyway!"

"Um," I shrugged, "Apology accepted, Jazmine."

"Awww, look, baby! I told you they'd make up!" Mikayla said from the background

"Baby?" Jazmine rose an eyebrow as Jarod appeared on her left, "Um…"

"I'm not five!" Jarod looked at her, "I can have a girlfriend!"

"Well you better not have any babies…"

"Jazzy shut up! I just got shot in the ass and all we wanna talk about is Jazmine?" Riley hollered.

"I'm staying at Jazmine's tonight!"

"And I'm bringing Jarod with me too!"

"Not in my house!"

Then, Jazmine snapped her fingers and stared at me. She walked across the floor and asked the question that I had honestly been asking myself over and over and over…

"Huey!" Jazmine snapped me out of it before lowering her voice, "Did we kiss?"

"No?" I scoffed as I lied for the first time in history, "I mean, c'mon, Jazmine, if we kissed, I think it would be something you wouldn't have to question, right?"

"I guess not," She shrugged before chuckling nervously, "It must have been the drugs. See you around, Huey."

"Um, Jazmine?" I watched her turn around, watched those green eyes meet my wine ones, "I'm glad your back to normal, sort of. And um, we're friends again. Just so you know."

"Um, thanks," She told me, "But I've really gotta go."

"Yeah," I nodded, "Alright."

"Bye, Huey."

I was alone, with the exception of Riley getting high off the effects of whatever they gave him.

"Spprrrunnnnggg asss yeeeeeelllll, dannnne. Sprunng as yelllll."

I apologize for not updating in so long. It's been a pretty stressful year, and I've been super tired. I almost gave up on this, but ya'll and another person *coughs* Kelsee *coughs* Kept me going. Thanks you all! I may not update as much for a little while, but just know that I'm doing all that I can to get it to you as soon as possible.

SHOUTOUTS TO: chakira16, CruellaDeChelle, Eccentric Superchick, IceDragonAlchemist73, sweetiepye2, az, some anynomous reviewer, lala8547, and StarKiss666! Also, thanks to everybody who favorited, privated messaged me, or whatever! I love you all!

And um, don't get to comfortable because they're friends again. There are a few kinks that have to get worked out. ;)

Review, review, review! Or reread...um...you know the drill.

Bye!