New World Money.

Chapter 5 - "Woah.."

I sat there, shaking with match in my hand. All of the klux members looked at me in confusion, when my dad shook his head and snatched the match out of my hands. I heard Melvin squint his eyes and wail extremely loud through his duct tape, when my arm flew out in front of my father.

"NO!" I screamed as everyone looked at me in shock.

"Norma, what do you mean 'No!' My father yelled at me.

"We have to finish our projects in science class!" I panted as I looked up at him. "Can I let him do the rest of our work, then we can kill him afterwards?"

My father looked at me, then looked up at Melvin. He untied all of the ropes that held him hostage, freeing him and causing him to fall onto the ground. He was on his knees with the duct tape silencing his loud wailing and crying, when my father grabbed him by his arm and yanked him up onto his feet as he gave my father a scared, yet furious look. My father snatched the duct tape off of his mouth as Melvin let out a low moan.

"Listen to me. If you tell anyone about this, i'll make sure that someone snatches you up and leave you to rot on the side of the road." My father demanded as he looked him in the eyes. "You're going to finish the project with Norma as if nothing ever happened. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah.." Melvin groaned as he shook and stared my father back into his eyes.

And with that, nothing else was said. My father ordered Melvin into our car, shut the door, and drove him over to his shack looking home. Melvin put back on his shirt, and kept his eyes outside of the window. I glanced at him and seen him glancing up at the 30's Pin-Up billboards that circled Mobile, Alabama. When we pulled in front of the house, he jumped out of the car and didn't say anything to anyone. He brushed past his mother in the entrance way, then we pulled off as if we didn't do or commit a criminal act.

The next day, Melvin presented and showed Mrs. Hepburn the work that we did along with some of the tests. She checked us off, then we went back to our desks to finish working. When Melvin wrote things down, he remained completely focused. He would write a constant speed, and he never broke focus from it. When I glanced at his hand today, it was shaking a little. His handwriting wasnt a solid and smooth cursive, but it was a little sloppy and off track. I think that his fear from being a split second away from death was still wearing on him. I placed my hand on his shoulder as he jumped drastically, closed his eyes, then looked at me.

"Sorry.....didn't mean to scare you." I said in a low tone.

"What do you need, Norma?" Melvin asked me in a nervous and frustrated tone.

"Did you want to come over my house and work on the pro-"

"No. No thank you." Melvin said, quickly interrupting me.

"Well, did you want me to come over your house to work?" I asked. "We have to start presenting tomorrow."

"That sounds better."

"Okay." I nodded as I scrunched my lips up a little. "Sorry about, y'know....yesterday-"

"Can we not talk about that?" Melvin asked as he shot a slightly angry look up at me. "That's history, remember?"

"You're right." I said as I put both of my palms up. "I'm sorry. I apologize."

I called my dad from the school phone, and told him that I would be working at Melvin's because he was too afraid. My dad laughed, and he allowed me to go over there for a little amount of time so that we could actually enjoy the dinner that my mother slaved for in the kitchen. I rode with Melvin and his mother to his house, and we moved the new pops up into his room. He still had the cocaine hidden into the stash, and I sat on the bed as Melvin kept his eyes on his notebook. He sat next to me, kept silent, then went right to writing.