BrookLyn's Journey (20 page)

Gabby
yelled as she
swung
Shante
from side to side
.
“I hate you! Leave me alone and stop putting my business in the street.” Gabby dropped
Shante
to the ground as if tossing a newspaper on a front lawn.

Shante’s body crumpled with a loud thud. As she fell briefly into a fetal position
,
BrookLyn
heard
all
the partygoers say
in unison
, “Ah
,
damn!”

Gabby grabbed the bat, turned and walked away swiftly
,
leaving the crowd surprised that she didn’t swing on Shante.

BrookLyn
,
her
self, was amazed at what
she
had seen.
She
had just watched gentle mannered Gabby erupt like a volcano as the smoked seethed through her flared nostrils. Her
strength swelled to that of
something much bigger than she was.

She
walked out from behind the tree
,
toward Gabby
,
owning a quick stride
.
Shante taunted
Gabby
for round two before
BrookLyn
could
reach her.
She
quietly but quickly retreated. Seeing
Shante’s
eyes dart back toward Gabby
,
she
feared this fight would go to a dangerous level with someone getting hurt worse than they already had.

“Where’s your little girlfriend now? You don’t love that girl
.
” Shante look
ed
around
.
“BrookLyn
?
BrookLyn
?
Where are you?” Shante called.

BrookLyn
saw
Shante
,
but
Shante
was unable to see
her
through the fog of anger that was consuming her.

“What’s wrong with you? She didn’t do anything to you. This has your name all over it.” Gabby screamed into
Shante’s
deranged
-
looking face.

“She ain’t standing by your side now. Oh, did she go home scared?” Shante mocked
,
as she struggled
,
trying to get up. No one helped her to her feet
,
they
just
paused to see how Gabby would respond, moving their heads from side to side as if they were in the stands watching a tennis match.

“Let me tell you something,” Gabby said
,
walking back toward Shante. She grabbed her by the collar
and
tuck
ed
the bat under her arm, while
stabb
in
g
her finger
in Shante’s face
as she talked
.
“I don’t want you. And you better leave BrookLyn alone. She hasn’t done anything to you.
You’ve
done all this and only have yourself to blame. Move on
.
I have.”

“I know you love me.”

“I don’t and
I
never loved you. You were there, that’s all. You better leave us alone or you’ll regret knowing me like I regret knowing your sorry ass
.
” Gabby now point
ed
the bat in her
face
.

“What are you going to do if I don’t? You threatening me?” Shante said
just
as
BrookLyn
was thinking the same thing.

“Back up off of me
,
or else
.
” Gabby
’s jaw was clenched, and she threw
her arms in the air in disgust as she walked away again. Gabby
began
searching the crowd for
BrookLyn
,
not realizing
she
hadn’t moved any further than the tree where she
’d
left
her
hiding from the danger zone.

Max walked near Shante
as she tried to run
up
behind Gabby. He grabbed her left arm as her body flailed
,
trying to get her point heard. She spit in Gabby’s direction
,
but missed her
.

“You’ll regret this.”

“I already do
.
”

Gabby slightly glanced over her shoulder
,
looking at Shante then placed the bat on her shoulder walking toward where
BrookLyn
was peeking out. The shaking of
her
knees matched
her
heartbeat—
she
was frightened.

“Leave her alone,” said Max.

“She should’ve knocked you out!” yelled one of the partygoers.

“You lucky it wasn’t me,” yelled another one.

Gabby walk
ed
toward
BrookLyn,
and
she
felt calmer as she got closer
, u
ntil
she
noticed
that the white part of Gabby’s
blue eyes had turned red
,
making butterflies dance in
her
stomach.

The entire party had moved onto the front lawn to see all of the action
,
with a lot of them taunting Shante for stirring up trouble
.
Shante stood looking defeated
,
when Max finally let her go but she wasn’t finished yelling at Gabby.

She yelled into the air not knowing exactly where Gabby and
BrookLyn
were standing
.
“You do love me. You don’t love that little girl. She won’t love you like I do. She doesn’t know how.”

“Your love is frightening!”
s
omeone
yelled back
loudly
.

“Who wants love like that
?
” someone
else
in the crowd
said
, and everyone
busted into laughter.

BrookLyn
had scary love at home and
she
definitely
didn’t want it in
her
personal life. Love wasn’t supposed to hurt.

“Come on let’s go,” Gabby
said,
grabbing
BrookLyn’s
arm
,
tighter than usual.
They
walked back toward the house.
BrookLyn
could hear the anger in each breath
Gabby
took. Gabby was a private person and Shante just put
their
business out in the street.

BrookLyn
was afraid to say anything
,
so
she
just walked quietly as
Gabby
pulled
her
along.
Gabby
didn’t
even
look like herself
,
but
it
did
seem
like she was calming down a bit.
BrookLyn
wanted
Gabby’s
eyes to
re
gain
the peacefulness she
was used to
instead of the anger
in them now.

“I hate her,” Gabby said to Cam
,
as she tossed the bat into the bushes near the garage.
“That was really unnecessary
—
but Shante is always unnecessary.”

“Don’t worry about the car
,” he said
.
“
You can get another one.”

“
It’s not about the car.
I care about her bothering me
—
” she looked to BrookLyn
,
“
w
ell,
bothering us. And
besides,
I loved my car.”

This person in front of
her
wasn’t the
Gabby
that
BrookLyn
had
learned to love. The sweet, soft-spoken creature whose arms
she
had
melted in was nowhere near
her
.
She
wanted
her
sweet Gabby back
,
but stood in silence as she talked loudly to her cousins and friends
. BrookLyn
silently hop
ed
that talking
it out
would bring her back to
her
.

“That girl is crazy and she’ll eventually get over you.”

“Well, I don’t have time for her to eventually get over me. She needs to leave me alone now.”

“I’ll go talk to her,” Tiffany said.

“While you’re talking to her, let her know that she won’t get another chance to mess with me. That was her one pass and she only gets one
.
” Gabby furrowed
her
eyebrows
,
holding up her index finger to make her point.

“Will do,” said Tiffany
,
ready to skip o
f
f in her little skirt toward the driveway to eagerly deliver the message.

“And
,
Tiff,” Gabby said grabbing her arm, “
l
et her know if she messes with BrookLyn, she’ll be in a world of trouble. She will regret the day she was born.”

At that moment,
BrookLyn
looked into Gabby’s eyes
,
knowing she meant every word she said.
She
hoped this would end here tonight
,
but
figured
Shante wouldn’t let it.
Her
eyes followed Tiffany down the driveway as she ran toward Shante
,
who was still yelling and screaming threats. Her long braids bounced off her back as she trotted closer to Shante to offer words of wisdom.

“That crazy girl is making my ears bleed with all of that yelling and screaming
.
” Cam
laughed
.

“You know you’re stupid,
right?
” s
houted
one of the kids
she
hadn’t met
.
He busted out laughing with Cam.

Gabby looked at
BrookLyn
interrupting
her
thoughts and apologiz
ing
with her eyes. Then she softly said, “I’m sorry. I should’ve left when you wanted to leave. I didn’t mean for this to happen
.
”

“This isn’t your fault, Gabby.”

“But it is. I didn’t want this to blow up. If she wants to act stupid
,
she can
,
but I never should have. I wish I never met her.”

“You did and there’s nothing you can do about that. Now it’s over. Let’s go
home
.
”
BrookLyn
pull
ed
Gabby
close.
She
was more than ready to get out of here and back to Gabby’s house.

“I love you very much, BrookLyn. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Yeah, but seeing your blue eyes
again
lets me know you’re on your way back to me
.
”

“Max?” Gabby called.

“I know. I know. You need a ride home.”

Gabby and
BrookLyn
walked toward
Max’s
car just as the tow truck driver was putting
Gabby’s
up
on the truck
.
“Somebody called a tow truck, I guess
,
” Gabby
said
.

“That somebody would be me
,
cousin
.
” Max smiled lightheartedly.