New version! Everything that happened before will not happen again.
Compton, CA
July 2004
Seventeen year old Cleo James knocked on his seventeen year old girlfriend, Brooklyn Todd's bedroom window. She sat up on her bed and gave him a puzzled look. It was almost three in the morning and Brooklyn was exhausted from the previous day's events.
Cleo motioned her to open the window so he could climb in. Brooklyn sighed and got up from her bed. She unlocked the window and opened it. Cleo climbed in and stood in front of her.
"Why are you here in the middle of the night? My parents are going to kill us." Brooklyn whispered.
"I need your help." Cleo whispered back. He turned on her lamp that was sitting on the nightstand.
Brooklyn gasped when she saw his bruised up and bloody face. "What happened?"
"Don't be mad at me." Cleo told her.
"What'd you do?" Brooklyn asked.
"I-I joined a gang—the crips."
Brooklyn stood there for a minute, processing what her boyfriend just said to her. A part of her wanted to kick him out, but the other part wanted to know why. Cleo is a straight A student, one of the best athletes at their high school, and he had offers from lots of colleges. She did not understand why he would join a gang when he has so much potential.
"Why?" Brooklyn finally said after a minute.
"I was a sacrifice." Cleo replied. "Joey got into some shit and they were getting ready to kill him. I offered them my savings, but they wanted to take me plus the money in place of Joey's life."
"Man—fuck Joey! You should've let them kill him! Now you're into some deep shit and you don't have a way out." Brooklyn snapped.
"I'm cool, aight? It was my decision." Cleo said.
Brooklyn shook her head. "I can't believe this shit."
"Can you help me clean up? Please?" Cleo asked. "I have to get home before my dad wakes up for work."
Brooklyn sighed and walked out of her bedroom. She noticed her mother walking down the hallway so she made sure to close her bedroom door all the way.
"What you doing up, girl?" Val asked her daughter.
"I have to pee." Brooklyn lied.
Val nodded as she took a sip of her hot tea from her favorite mug. She continued her walk to the masters bedroom she shared with her husband. Brooklyn rushed to the bathroom she shared with her older sister Shayla.
Brooklyn's family was fairly decent. Her mother Val was a certifiable nursing assistant who worked with special needs patients. Her father Duke was a truck driver who was gone every two weeks. Her nineteen year old sister Shayla was a sophomore at Baylor University and majors in Sociology. She was home for the summer. Brooklyn was an AB student and she is entering her senior year of high school. She scored high on her SAT and ACT. She has hopes of attending Stanford University to major in Mathematics.
