Knockout Games (13 page)

The crowd roared. Many were holding up signs: WE WANT OUR NEIGHBORHOOD BACK! MAKE OUR STREETS SAFE FOR OUR CHILDREN! and ATTACK ME AND YOU WILL MEET THE WRONG END OF MY .44!

“Pretty powerful stuff, huh?”

I glanced up from my camera to see the pizza guy standing next to me. I froze. I hadn't recognized him because of the winter cap he was wearing. But he wasn't looking at me. His eyes were glued on the speaker. I nodded, staring at his face. The last time I saw him, I thought he was dead. Now he had a bandage over his eye and wore a neck brace. He was leaning on a crutch.

Paranoid, I scanned the crowd and saw a few more of our “targets” in the audience. I elbowed Destiny and when she saw the pizza guy, she pulled me to the back. We spotted the two cops and threw our hoodies over our heads, walking as fast as we could toward Kalvin's building, which overlooked the street corner.

“That was close,” she said.

The front door was open. I stopped her before we went up. “Are we really going to do this?” I asked.

“We're doing what Kalvin wants us to do. Don't worry, nobody's gonna get hurt. Just fighting fire with water.” She made a splashing sound.

We ran up to the third story, where his apartment was. There was a piece of paper taped to the door with an arrow pointing toward the roof deck.

The roof door was ajar. I heard whispering and the sounds of things being moved. I was about to poke my head out when Doughboy came up from behind me.

“Out the way! Ammo comin' in!”

He was carrying a garbage bag over his shoulder. He swung the door open, and I saw the crew in the dark lined up behind the edge of the rooftop. Doughboy dropped the bag and water balloons came tumbling out of it.

“Careful,
ese
!” hissed Prince. “Don't fuckin' waste ‘em.” He picked up a water balloon and nailed Doughboy in the chest.
Whap!
Drenched.

“Hey bitch, that's cold!” He picked up a balloon and everyone dove in and scrambled for the rest.

“Chill!” Everyone froze. It was Kalvin, sitting on a chair behind the open door.

“What the fuck? This ain't playtime. We're here to make a point.”

He walked out and saw us standing in the doorway. “Hey girls. Just in time. Make sure you get my good side, Fish.” He winked, then turned his attention to his minions.

“Listen up. They gonna be marching down this street in a few minutes and when we see ol' Joe Lee pass by with his big ol' bullhorn, we gonna let him have it,
comprende
?”

“Why we don't all just go down there and play Knockout?” Prince muttered. “A few KOs,
that
would make a statement.”

Kalvin nodded. “Yeah, a stupid one. We got to be cool, Prince. Can't be doing the obvious. They expect us to act like animals or something. We got to show them it's all a joke to us.”

Prince was flustered. “Well, that
cabron
is wrong. I ain't no stinkin' animal.”

Kalvin took the water balloon from Prince and rolled it in his hands. “Damn straight. Now let's show these fuckers what we got.”

They ducked behind the barrier armed with balloons. Kalvin noticed me standing there. “You too, girls.”

Destiny grabbed a couple of balloons and held one out for me.

“But I'm gonna record this,” I protested, holding up my camera.

“Don't be a wuss.” She tossed me a balloon. I let go of the camera to catch it. Luckily, the camera was strapped to my wrist.

“Just throw with one hand and shoot with the other,” she added.

We sat with our backs on the barrier and I pointed my camera down the line. It was like one of those war movies where they were getting ready to attack. C-Jay sat next to me, drawing a face on a balloon with a Sharpie pen. “Who's that?” I asked.

“It's me! That dude's gonna look up and see me coming for him!” he said, all excited.

“There's a couple cops down there,” I told Kalvin.

“
Eh
,” he scoffed. “Mall cops looking for overtime. Besides, we're hidden by the dark up here. No one will know where the attack came from.”

I listened to the chants coming from down the street and tilted my camera up and over the ledge to see. Sure enough, they were on the march. Joe Lee was in front, chanting on his bullhorn: “What do we want?”

“Justice!”

“When do we want it?”

“Now!”

That last chant came right as they marched in front of our building.

Kalvin rose up. “You heard 'em. They want it now. Well, let's give it to ‘em!”

We all rose up, arms cocked, ready for battle.

“Fire!” he hissed. Nobody saw the cloud of water balloons coming their way.

I let mine fly first, just so I could see what I was filming. It was blind luck that it headed straight at Joe Lee. The last thing I heard him say into the bullhorn was: “Shit!”

Bullseye. The balloon exploded on his chest, the others splattered the crowd around him, dousing some of the candles the marchers had. The boys stayed calm and before the crowd could run, the second round was in the air and headed their way.

The crowd scattered like ants. Nobody seemed to know where the balloons came from, pointing up in different directions into the darkness.

When someone pointed our way, some of the boys panicked. “Dang, we gotta get outta here!” said Tyreese. Within three seconds, they were all running back down the stairs. Destiny and Prince were right behind them, laughing. I got up to leave, but Kalvin grabbed my arm.

“Stay,” he said, as a dare. My feet were ready to move, but he had so much confidence in his eyes, I stayed put.

Prince lingered by the door. “
Orale
! Come on, K. They're coming.”

Kalvin walked up to Prince and put his hand on his shoulder. “You go on ahead. I'll catch you later. Make sure everyone goes out the back.” He gently pushed him through the door and closed it behind him. Prince started to say, “But—,” and then the door clicked shut. The last thing I saw was Destiny, down the hallway, looking confused.

“Uh . . . what are we doing?” I asked, panic starting to rise in my throat.

“Wait.” He grinned, grabbing the chair he'd been sitting on. He jammed it under the doorknob good and tight. There was a cement planter sitting to the side. “Come on, help me.” It was heavy, but we managed to slide it over in front of the door. “Let's see them get through that!” he said.

There was no other way out. The buildings next door were shorter or taller than ours and there was no fire escape leading up here.

Kalvin took an apple out of his jacket pocket, polished it on his shirt, and took a bite as he watched the scene below. A few Tokers made their way out the front, busting past people coming in. The cops gave a halfhearted chase. Mrs. Lee now had the bullhorn and was pleading for people to stay focused.

I peeked over the ledge right when Joe looked up where we were. We both ducked down out of sight.

“He saw us!” I panicked.

“No, he didn't. It's too dark up here.”

We waited and listened. Kalvin calmly took a bite of his apple and offered it to me.

I heard steps. Someone was running up the stairs. “He's coming!” I hissed, about to run for it.

“Ooooh . . .” he said, pretending to be scared. He held on to my arm so I couldn't bolt—not that there was anywhere to go. “Chill. Don't you trust me?”

The doorknob moved. Someone pushed on the door; luckily, it didn't budge.

“Kalvin . . .” I said nervously. Kalvin giggled like it was no big thing.

Somebody rattled the door and started pushing on it. Hard.

“What?” he whispered. “We got the roof to ourselves.” Kalvin regarded me with those green eyes of his and held out the apple for me. This was nuts, but he just didn't seem to care.

I had to admit, it was kind of exciting.

I took a bite of his apple as he held it, the juice dripping down my chin. He leaned in and licked it. The next thing I knew, we were kissing.

Someone kept banging on the door, cursing us, but those sounds disappeared from my mind as I felt his breath on mine. He kissed me deeply, his tongue doing all kinds of things that scattered my thoughts. I came up for air, out of breath.

“Kalvin . . .” was all I could manage to say.

He put his finger to my lips and gazed into my eyes. I was confused—should I give in and hope the cops don't come busting through? Should I let go and do whatever came next?

“Trust me,” he whispered.

I held on to his hand. Suddenly, it felt like this could go further. Everything felt heightened, more alive, like anything could happen.

I nodded, opened his hand and kissed his palm. I felt awkward doing it. It was something I saw on TV and thought was sexy. But he took my other hand and started doing the same thing and it sent a chill up my spine.

I was breathing harder and then I just had to grab him and hold him tight. He began kissing my neck and I couldn't help it, I started giggling. I didn't know what to do. But for every fumble I made, he made a gentle adjustment—he just showed me how to do it. Guiding me by the hand. I let him.

As we made our way to the ground, in the back of my mind I wasn't sure if I was I ready for this.

He pulled back softly and looked at me. “Are you scared?” he asked.

I wasn't sure what the right answer was. “I guess.”

He stroked my hair. “We don't have to do anything if you don't want to.” Right then the banging on the door stopped. Kalvin shrugged. “I guess he realized there was nothing going on here....”

I eased up and held him close. Maybe I was ready to try. “Do you have any . . .” I couldn't even say the word.

“Condoms?” He gritted his teeth and shook his head. “Normally, I woulda come prepared, but I really wasn't expecting this. I guess I just got caught up in everything. . . .” He paused to think about it. “When did you have your . . . last period?” he asked, embarrassed.

“That's kinda personal, don't you think?”

He just raised his eyebrows as if to say
it doesn't get more personal than this
.

“Oh. Yeah, I guess . . . a week ago?”

“Mm,” he said, unsure.

His body was pressed to mine, so I wasn't exactly thinking straight. “Maybe we could just do it . . . just a little?” I asked.

He smiled. “A little . . . is not so easy.”

“It's my first time,” I blurted out before I could stop myself.

I expected him to laugh, but he didn't. He kept stroking my hair. “I can be gentle, you know. The first time should be nice.”

He kissed me softly on the cheek, caressing my hair, my face, my lips. Slowly, I could feel something building in me like a train. I kept wondering how much it was going to hurt, but everything else was feeling good.

“Give me your camera,” he whispered into my ear.

“What?” I asked.

He smiled gently. “I want to record us.”

That made me uneasy. “Why?”

“This will be a moment to remember, something just for us.” He kissed me even deeper, his hand roaming my body and then stopped when it found the camera in my pocket.

“Nuh-uh,” I said. “This is one video that is not happening.”

He acted hurt. “Not even . . . for me?”

I shook my head. “Some things are off limits.”

His other hand was resting on my heart. He could feel it pounding like it was going to jump out of my chest. He nodded.

“I need you to trust me,” he whispered. “I'll take care of you.” He kissed me softly and started to undo my pants.

I grabbed his hand.

“Just . . . relax,” he whispered.

That's when his hand slid down into my panties.

Oh. So that's what that's like. I closed my eyes and melted into his body. I relaxed.

I could feel him doing something with his pants and I just let it happen.

“Are you OK?” he breathed into my ear as he pressed his body into mine. A “yes” escaped my lips even before I knew what he meant. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him pull out his phone and set it against the wall next to us.

“I want to be able to see you when you're not with me.”

“But—”

His mouth glided down to my breast and a white-hot flash engulfed my thoughts. “It's just for me, for my eyes only,” he said, but before I could protest, his other hand slid off my pants, and I lost control. “You're the only one,” he said as the stars started spinning.

I wanted to make him happy. I let him take me for a ride.

20

We spent the night on that roof. It was freezing, but our bodies gave off so much heat, we could've melted an iceberg. Kalvin grabbed some blankets from a storage box where he kept boxing gloves and stuff. He claimed in the summers, he and the crew would lie out under the sun. I found that hard to believe but at the moment, I didn't care.

We cuddled up under the stars and listened to all the hoopla on the street slowly die out, until it grew quiet. I had bled some, but the pain had been less than I'd expected. He had taken it slow and gentle, like he promised. It felt weird, but I liked that he took his time. We ended up doing more than just a little, but he said he had pulled out in time. And now, I guess I was no longer a virgin.

Even though the last thing I wanted to do was watch me fumble about, we watched the video. I could see it meant a lot to him. At first it felt super strange being in front of the camera,
especially
like that. Oh my God. My only thought was what if my parents saw this? But Kalvin was very reassuring. He said he'd send it to me, for my eyes only. This was our first real moment together and now it was captured forever.

A picture might have been better but I guess that's what people were doing these days. I just went along because I wanted him to feel happy, I guess.

“Don't go showing this to the guys or anything,” I said, just to make sure.