Game On (13 page)

19

XAVIER

 

X
avier arrived at school late and his timing couldn't have been more on point. Dude simply couldn't believe his eyes. It was thirty degrees out—cold! But the serious drop in temperature hadn't stopped any craziness from jumping off. The girl Dakota Taylor was in trouble. Ol' girl was literally running like her life depended on it, with five SNLG gang members hot on her behind. He stood at the far end of the student parking lot behind the building and they were chasing her back toward the school. Homeboy had his own problems and issues going on, but he couldn't stand there and let Dakota get stomped out.

Xavier started jogging at first and then broke into a full sprint toward the building. He was completely unaware of how stiff his injured shoulder was until he started pumping his arms to increase his speed. But the adrenaline flooding his body was enough to drown out the pain as he breezed through the back doors and headed toward a hallway on the other side of the gym. The last girl of the crew was kind of slow and he saw her turn into a woodshop classroom. This side of the building was usually vacant in the morning and didn't usually bustle to life with students until later in the day.

It was lucky for Dakota that Xavier had chosen this day to come back to school, because she looked like she was about to get broke off with some real nasty treatment. There was no time to catch his breath. Xavier rushed into the classroom, surprising everybody. Those holding Dakota recognized Xavier and instantly let go and held their hands in the air. There was a standing locker open next to a tool crib. Mouse wasn't given a chance to pop any junk. Xavier shoved her in, closed the door, placed the security latch over the loop, and secured it by shoving a screwdriver through it.

“It's not what you think,” Bangs was quick to say. Fear washed over her face as her eyes quickly searched for a way to escape.

Dakota looked shaken. Tears welled and the look on her face depicted somebody that was tired of being bullied.

“Lil' Mama, you tight?” Xavier asked Dakota.

Mouse was loudly banging on the locker door and calling Xavier every curse name in the book.

Through quivering lips Dakota managed a smile. “I'm okay now that you're back.”

Xavier slowly approached Bangs. His mind wasn't right. The trauma that he'd suffered the night of the shooting had left him looking at everybody suspiciously. And for all he knew, Bangs's hands could've been dirty behind the killer that tried to pop him out. Xavier snapped, and before he knew it, he grabbed Bangs up by the collar.

“Why you trippin'?” Bangs said, desperately trying to resist. Her eyes popped open with fear. “W-w-we were just playin' with the little chick.”

When the other female gangbangers saw this, they broke and ran out of the door.

Mouse was insanely beating on the door, screaming, “Let me out!”

Xavier slowly lifted his right hand into the air and made a fist with it.

Dakota was worried. Not so much for Bangs's sake, but Xavier had a bright future ahead of him, and knocking the dust off this dirtbag would seriously put it in jeopardy.

“Xavier,” Dakota said, calmly, “she's not worth it.”

Bangs was almost peeing on herself. The girl was so shook that she said, “Yeah, Xavier, p-p-please listen to her. I'm not worth it.”

“Mr. Hunter,” Doug Banks said, stepping into the picture. “You know what happened the last time when you took the law into your own hands? Do the right thing, son, and release her. Those other girls ran out of here so scared that they told me everything.” He glanced at Dakota. “You must be Ms. Taylor.”

Dakota just nodded, too scared to take her eyes off Xavier.

Despite the pounding coming from inside the locker, Xavier had razor focus. He was mad, but there was no way he was going to hit a girl, no matter what she was doing. But Bangs and her crew didn't know that and he just wanted to scare them a little and get them to leave Dakota alone. Mr. Banks came right on time.

Doug slowly walked over to the two. “Let her go, Mr. Hunter. Let me do my job.” As soon as Doug defused the situation, he addressed the locker by removing the screwdriver. The door burst open and Mouse came out swinging. She was quickly wrapped up by Doug. “Young lady, calm down.” He stared at Bangs and Mouse. “I've been out of commission for a little while. Just in case you two young ladies are not familiar with me, my name is Doug Banks, head of Coleman High security.”

Xavier was taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself. It was no easy task. All kinds of emotions had caught in his throat so tough that he was almost choking. Dakota walked over to offer her support.

Doug smiled at Xavier. “As soon as I take the girls to the front office I'm gonna need to speak with you in my office, Mr. Hunter.” He looked at Dakota. “I believe it's time for you to get some justice. Follow me.” Doug escorted Bangs and Mouse out of the classroom, with Dakota and Xavier in tow.

 

An hour later, Xavier was sitting in Doug's office. It'd been a quick minute since Xavier had been there. Didn't matter, though. The joint still looked the same, like a place that modern technology refused to touch. The doggone computer monitor on his desk was thick and bulky. The white keyboard was so old that the thing had turned a dirty yellow.

Xavier had beaten Doug to the office and was sitting there with his head resting in his hands when the guard walked through the door.

“I've been gone for a minute, so we have a lot of catching up to do,” Doug said, tossing a ring of keys on his cluttered desk and heading over to the coffeemaker.

Since the shooting, Xavier's entire personality had changed. Jokes were no longer funny. Not when somebody was looking to roll his dead body up inside a carpet and haul it away. Xavier's face held an intense seriousness.

“Why were you out?” Xavier said in a low tone.

Doug worked with the coffeemaker until he brought the water in the pot to a boil. “Had a little back surgery. Kept me out for a couple months.”

“You good now?”

Doug grabbed a cloth and started wiping out a dark blue coffee mug that had
Security
stenciled across the front in white lettering. “I'm good, but what about you?”

Xavier uncomfortably fidgeted around in his seat. “Me? It's all good, you feel me?”

Doug ignored Xavier's lies. “This SNLG crew, what do you know about them?”

“They formed over the summer, a bunch of low-budget nobodies.”

“They sure been giving your little freshman friend Dakota, no pun intended, the blues.”

“Yeah, I heard about that. That should be some type of criminal charge, shouldn't it?”

Doug poured himself a cup of piping-hot coffee. “This stuff is going to be the death of me. Love me some black coffee.” He took a seat at his desk and sipped some coffee with his eyes closed, as if savoring the taste. “Mmm. Not the best, but it'll do.” He slurped from the cup. “They spray-painted her entire head blue. We called the police a half hour ago, got them involved. Don't know if it would do much good because they're minors. Probably get off with a slap on the wrist. But Principal Skinner threw the book at them. They were all suspended.”

“That's tight. Maybe now Dakota can actually concentrate on some schoolwork instead of running for her life.”

“Do you know what started it?”

Xavier shook his head. “Something as simple as looking at them the wrong way.”

“Today, kids are getting killed by other kids for less—ridiculous, but that's the world we live in now.”

Xavier stood from his chair. “Well, I'm glad you're back, Mr. Banks. But my English class will be starting soon and I need to get out of your way.”

Doug took another sip. “Cool your jets. You have a whole thirty minutes before your third hour class. Let's just address the pink elephant in the room, why don't we.”

Xavier plopped back in his chair.

“How's the shoulder?”

Xavier looked at him suspiciously.

Doug smiled and slurped his coffee. “You know I'm resourceful. Might've been away but I kept tabs on all my favorite students.”

Xavier slowly worked his shoulder around. “It's still a little tender, but I'm tight.”

“Slick Eddie? Romello?” Doug asked.

“Don't know.”

“That's the bad thing about making so many enemies, you never know who's gunning for you.”

“Yeah, but I'm still standing,” Xavier said with a bit of attitude.

Doug sipped some coffee and raised his eyebrows. “I admire your fortitude, young man. Despite me giving you the advice to change schools when this thing first jumped off with Slick Eddie and Romello, you ignored me.

“Now here you are a senior, and still carrying a 4.0 GPA—remarkable. I've become your biggest cheerleader. Now, I might not be able to offer you protection out there in the street, but for the next six months I will have heavy police presence inside the building. I'm gonna do my best to make sure you walk across the stage at graduation.”

“That's whassup,” Xavier said, offering a half smile and standing up.

Doug said, “You were shot. Are you going through therapy?”

“Nope,” Xavier nonchalantly said. “Don't need it. I'm straight.”

“Good, good for you, but you don't look straight. We've been talking for about twenty minutes now and you haven't cracked one stale joke on me.”

“Too much on my mind.”

“Don't let this steal your soul.”

Xavier nodded, opened the door, and bounced.

“Is that you, homeboy!” Dex said, ecstatically as he walked into Mr. Chase's classroom. “You're a sight for sore eyes, my ninja.”

Xavier still held that serious gaze as he offered up dap to his homeboy.

“Man, why you ain't call a brotha? I was worried sick, guy.” Dexter sat down at the desk next to Xavier's.

Other students entered the classroom and crowded, sharing their concerns and expressing their happiness at his return.

“My bad, homeboy. We got some catching up to do at lunch next hour, you feel me?”

“Yeah. I feel you.” Dex couldn't do anything but smile. “My brother's back.”

Mr. Chase looked like he had to duck his head when he walked his tall frame through the doorway.

He said, “People, we have a whole lot of work ahead of us.” The teacher retrieved a stack of papers from his desk and started passing them out. “Pop quiz time. Everybody clear your desk.” Chase skipped Xavier's desk. He told him, “You are exempt from this quiz, Mr. Hunter, but you need to come and see me after class.”

When the bell rang, ending the hour, Dex said to Xavier, “I'll see you at lunch, cuz,” as he walked out into the hallway with the rest of the students.

Mr. Chase walked over and closed the classroom door. He seemed to be too long to sit behind his desk, so he leaned on the front of it. “Mr. Hunter, I'm glad to see you back in school. How are you feeling?”

Xavier took his time answering. He seemed to be sizing Chase up. His first interaction with this man had left him believing that Chase has some old personal vendetta against him. So he was cautious with the response. “It feels like I was shot, Mr. Chase. By the way, thank you for emailing my assignments to me.”

“I believe we got off on the wrong foot, Mr. Hunter, a kind of misunderstanding, if you will. I've been doing some research and it shows that you have an exceptional writing talent.”

Xavier was losing patience. “Mr. Chase, is there a point to all this? I mean, I'm hungry and it's my lunch hour.”

Mr. Chase pursed his lips. “Okay. I'm going to lay it out for you. You know that my policy is strict on makeup work, but in light of your current circumstances, I will allow you to make up for time lost. But I have a proposition for you.”

Xavier looked at him sideways.

“What I mean is that I have a friend who runs a publishing company in New York. They're starting a line of urban books. But to be considered as a potential writer, you must first win an essay contest.”

Xavier frowned. “I don't know about this, Mr. Chase. I'm no writer.”

“Not according to the papers that you wrote in your junior year for your English teacher. The one on the most venomous snakes in the world blew me away. You have a gift, Mr. Hunter. And I would like to grant you an opportunity to display your talent.”

“Why me?”

“Because you have the gift. What do you say?”