URBAN: Chosen By A Kingpin (33 page)

“No, it’s okay. I’m only going across the street. You don’t have to help me.”

“I insist.” She was holding some bags. “Right across the street?”

“Yeah.” He pointed to the brown and white building. “You sure you want to do this?”

“I just thought that you needed help. Shouldn’t you help people that need help?”

“I guess you should.” He smiled.

It didn’t take long for them to feel comfortable around each other. There was something there that they weren’t quite sure of.

“So, you’re not going to be needing my car soon?” She poked a little fun at him.

“No, no.” He laughed. “Why? Do you miss me?”

“I don’t miss you per se, but it was nice for someone else to do the driving for once.”

“You know they have these things called cabs. Maybe you should look into them. I heard that they drive people around. What do I know? I think that it might be a great fit for you.”

“Oh you funny funny man.” She said through her teeth.

They got to the front of the building. He was taking the bags from her.

“You don’t need any help bringing it up?” She asked.

“No, not really. Besides, it’s my friend’s apartment.”

“Ok, I just wanted to help.”

“I really appreciate that.” He smiled. “It’s refreshing.”

“I guess I’ll see you later.” She kissed his cheek and ran back across the street.

He watched her for a second. It was like he was stuck in a daze. It wasn’t until he heard the noise from the Brooklyn, New York Streets that he snapped out of it. He ran up the stairs and went into his friend’s apartment. He started to put the groceries away quietly. He suddenly remembered hearing about a strip club shooting.

“What are you doing?” Antwon asked behind him. He still looked like a sad version of himself.

“Just got you some food.” He put his phone away. “Your fridge was looking real sad.” Lionel tried to laugh but his friend didn’t join in.

“Whatever.”

“Yo, what’s going on with you?” Lionel asked. “You look like shit. And look at your place, it’s practically fucking empty.”

“I know that. I just wanted to get rid of the things. Just sell some of my stuff.”

“Do you need money? Is that what this is all about?” Lionel sighed. He didn’t want to but the next thing he knew…. “Do you want to get back into business?”

Lionel hated the drug business. It was easy money, but it came with a lot of stress. Money was the only perk that he enjoyed. From all the money that he made from the business with Antwon, he was depositing it into a bank account under his mom’s name. She didn’t know about it and he didn’t know when he was going to tell her. He knew that once she found out how much money was in it, she would know about his drug dealing. He didn’t want to get back into it, but maybe if Antwon got some money, he would get back to his old self.

“No!” Antwon protested. “I don’t want to do anything that could get us any type of attention.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Look, I got shot -”

“Yeah, but you always wanted to get back into it.” Lionel looked at him. “What’s going on?”

“I just want to stay home.” Antwon said. Lionel took a glance around at the empty apartment.

“And do what? There is nothing here.” Lionel pointed out. His eyes squinted and he asked the question that was in his head. “Did you hear that there was a shooting at a strip club?”

Antwon’s eye went into small little slits. He sat down on one of the folding chairs.

“Oh okay. So what are you asking me?” He leaned back.

“I’m just telling you I heard that there was a shooting at the club.”

“At the same strip club?”

“I don’t even know.”

“So?”

“What do you think about it?”

“I don’t.”

Antwon yawned. His eyes weren’t as bloodshot as before, but it was clear that he still needed to rest. Lionel was about to ask more questions, but he was tired of all the tension. First there was Giselle and now there was Antwon.

“You know what? How about you call me when you’re ready to tell the truth?”

Lionel walked out of the apartment building. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. Antwon was going crazy over something, but he wasn’t sure what it was. He had his suspicions but he didn’t know anything for sure. He wasn’t one to accuse somebody of something without having all of the information.

“Twice in one day?” Tasha smiled bumping into Lionel. Isn’t this my luck?”

He looked at her smile and for the first time that day, he felt great.

The sounds of high school students chatting in the hallways started to drown out as she walked towards the guidance counselor's office. She decided to take Laura’s advice. She had some tough decisions to make and she needed to know where to start.

She knocked on the door.

“Come in.” The middle age man was cleaning his glasses. He was exhausted but the day wasn't even halfway done. “How can I help you?” He gave Giselle a weary smile.

“Someone suggested I speak to my guidance counselor.”

“OK, tell me what's going on?”

“I don't even know where to start.” She sighed.

“How about from the beginning?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I got time.”

So with a deep breath, she started to tell the guidance counselor almost everything. She told him about her parent’s death and the horrible conditions she was living in. She told him about Laura, the other foster children, and Ms. Rita. She told him something that she hadn’t even told Lionel.

“It’s like ever since my parent’s died, I’ve felt lost.”

“That’s normal especially considering how it happened. Giselle, you have the right to go a little crazy or be a little lost after losing your parents the way you did. In fact, if they even died of natural causes, it would still be devastating.”

“I just don’t know what to do. I thought of at first being in business.”

“Business doing what?”

“I don’t know. Maybe college?”

The guidance counselor took a deep breath and shook his head. He stood up and went to the door. He closed it.

“Giselle, I’ve been a guidance counselor for thirteen years. I’ve seen a lot of kids come and go. Mr. Jones has seen them all Giselle. I will say something to you that usually no one wants to hear a guidance counselor say, college is not for everybody. I don’t want to send you to college for you to find yourself and the only thing you find is that you’re deep in debt. If you’re going to go to college, you’re going to at least have a plan that you will stick to. There’s no reason for you to pay for classes that you won’t use and definitely won’t need.”

Giselle smiled. She liked her counselor, Mr. Jones. He reminded her of her father. He was kind and honest. Every time she came across a person that reminded her of her father, she got sad. She realized that she was seeing her father in people a lot more because she missed him so much. Nevertheless, she was glad that he was telling her the truth and not saying what people usually did. He didn’t want her to just go to college.

“Have you ever talked about college and your plans of the future with your parents?” He asked interrupting her thoughts.

“Not really.”

“Why not?”

“To be honest, I didn’t realize until now, but I was a bit spoiled. I spent most of my time shopping and getting gifts.”

“You like to shop, huh?” He laughed.

“Oh yes.” Her eyes got bright. “I love it. I especially love clothing stores.”

“What about the stores you love?”

“Just the way they lay the stuff out.” Her eyes got even brighter. “See, my father had his own business and he would sometimes take me to the stores and show me how they get the customers.”

“Get the customers?”

“Like where they placed the items or even the way they marketed the store. He used to break it down to me. I used to want my own store.”

“Your own boutique?”

“Yes, my own clothing boutique, but I don’t know.”

“What don’t you know?”

“I don’t know where to start.”

“Take some business courses, but you have to make a plan.”

“Okay.”

Giselle and Mr. Jones started talking about a plan. They finally decided that when she received her money, that she should graduate from school, go back to North Carolina, and take some business courses. If she liked it, she would pursue her degree. She was then going to open her boutique. And while she was going to her classes, she would look up vendors, swatches, and other things for her boutique. She was going to actively invest in the idea of her boutique so that when it came up and running, she would be prepared for it.

“I’m so glad that I came here.” She told him as she was finishing up.

“Although you lost both of your parents, you are not in this alone. If you need someone to talk to, I’m right here. It’s sad that I never knew that you needed help, but when you came into the system, all it said was that you were a transfer.”

“I wasn’t meant to come to New York, I made my lawyer do what he could so that I can stay here. I have no family so it felt right to stay where my parents died.”

“I understand, but don’t hesitate to ask for help if you need it. You seem to hold everything in, you can let people in.”

“Okay.”

“I don’t want you to end up like a young girl I just read about. She was a professional dancer but she met a guy and he somehow convinced her to start going to the strip club. After she went to the club, she started coming home bringing a lot of money. He saw all the money and he told her to tell him where the richest guys were. He started to use her to bait these guys and rob them later. Now you know what has happened to that girl? She’s somewhere traumatized because her boyfriend was killed in front of her. If she had stuck to her plan, she would have never been in that mess.”

“Wow. Was she a former student?”

“No.”

“A student for another guidance counselor?”

“No, actually this was something I read in the paper.” He looked through his briefcase. “Let me give you the paper since I’m done with it. You read the article and make sure that’s not your future.”

He handed her the paper and on the front page she saw a familiar face. Her mouth dropped open and she nearly lost her cool.

“What’s going on?” Her guidance counselor saw the look on her face. “Do you know her?”

“No.” She lied as she saw the picture of a crying Janine on the front cover.

As soon as she left the guidance counselor office, Giselle went to a quiet place to read the newspaper. She found an empty classroom and closed the door behind her. She drew the blinds and all the shades. As soon as the bell rang and no one came to the classroom, she knew she wouldn’t be disturbed. She started reading the article.

A 30 year old man was shot dead outside a Brooklyn strip club late Friday night.

The shooting took place in front of the Allure strip club. Witnesses said that they saw an unidentified young man went up to the victim and held a gun to his head. They exchanged words and before people knew it he was pulling the trigger.

“Yeah, it was like he was waiting for him. The guy ran from across the street and automatically went to him. Once I saw him put the gun to his head, I just looked away.” Said one witness who didn’t want to leave their identity. “Then after he pulled the trigger all you could hear was the gunshots and the woman screaming. I’ve never heard screams like that before; it will haunt my dreams.”

The young woman that he’s speaking of is the girlfriend of the victim, Janine. Janine is a worker at Allure. Police said that when they arrived at the scene that instead of telling the police who the shooter was, she began confessing to numerous crimes that she committed with her deceased boyfriend. When asked about the shooter, she just kept repeating that it was all her fault.

“So far she’s confessed to a string of burglaries that have happened throughout New York City. She’s also confessed that she was going to rob the strip club that she worked for. She was trying to find out where the owner kept the safe and tonight was the night.” The police captain told the press.

“All the girls that work here are like family. It’s sad to see Janine in this mess. We all suspected that her boyfriend was abusive and have told her to leave him, I never once thought that she was just looking to rob me later. As sad as I am for what happened to them, I am relieved they didn’t get to go through the plan. Not just for the business, but I wouldn’t want the last thing we saw of Janine was her robbing us. We all love her.” The owner told the press. “It’s all a big tragedy really.”

Janine is currently in police custody with charges pending. The name of the victim has yet to be released.

Giselle couldn’t even read the rest of the article. Janine was all over the paper. There was an article just on her alone, the other was about the burglaries. She couldn’t believe it. Just the other day she was pretending to be a stripper and befriend Janine. She knew that her boyfriend Martin was trouble, but now he was dead and she felt a bit of sadness for him. He may have not been the nicest person in the world, but he didn’t deserve to die the way he did.

Then suddenly Giselle felt all the air escape from her lungs.

“Antwon!” She gasped out loud. Could Antwon have done this? She thought about how weird he acted with Lionel. She had a gut feeling that Antwon was responsible for all of this. She just knew it. Now it was to get Lionel to listen to her.

She took out her phone and began dialing his number. It went straight to voicemail. That was strange because Lionel always kept it on. He would even text her throughout the day. As she looked at the phone, she saw that he didn’t call nor sent her any messages. She figured that he still might be mad at her, but it was weird not seeing her the customary morning text message. She shook her head.

“Where are you Lionel?”

The candles all around the room made the mood even more romantic. Lionel watched as she stepped out of the tub with the black robe wrapped all around her. Tasha was beautiful and even more stunning as he watched her move around. He knew that he should have kept his eyes to himself since he was a guest at her home, but he couldn’t help himself. He was sneaking looks at her, and she finally caught him.