BANGERZ (2014)

22. Black Friday

I know how hectic Black Friday can get. I used to head out at four a.m. with my mom (Danny and my dad were always stuffed and fast asleep), drinking coffee and blasting music in the car to keep ourselves awake. We would peer through the glass doors of the department stores excitedly, waiting for a salesperson to unlock them and let the crowd in. We were always up front because my mom loved to redecorate, and she wanted to be first in line for everything. One year, when the stores started opening up at midnight, we dragged Danny and Dad out after dessert and ended up with a slamming new sound system for our living room. When we installed it in the townhouse, Danny's eyes glinted with wistfulness and he told me he was glad he came with us that night.

That's something that I'm missing terribly this year, along with watching football with my dad and baking pies with my mom. I have no idea how long it'll take me to get used to holidays without my parents. Does a kid ever get used to that?

On the other hand, there's a new tradition I'm taking part in this year. First of all, in the gang world, it's called Black Friday because of the black market of drugs. Secondly, just like with the stores, the shipments are all about money. The cartels bring in large quantities and the carriers buy them at cheap prices, but they're really valuable so the dealers pay big money. That makes the carriers a profit. Then the dealers sell them on the streets at high prices to make their money back. We chip in as the go-betweens. Third, the spot changes every year for secrecy, and the location is revealed the night before in an anonymous text message.

Jason explains all this and tells me why we got lucky this year. This year's shipment is going down in the same cemetery we're sitting in. Which means that it's too close to our turf for the Wreckers to get involved. As he tells me his plan, I see the AP Calc and Stat logic working in his mind. It does help with the gang business: it keeps him sharp and strategic.

Thanks to José's team, we know that Ronnie Rivera is the new drug lord in the O.C. He's also the same dealer who cut the Wreckers off after our shipment "mix-up" with them. Jason figures that if we make the delivery instead, we'll gain his trust and respect. He's a powerful ally and we could turn the Wrecker's loss into our own gain.

It's a solid plan. It'll definitely give us another advantage over the Wreckers - not to mention we're going behind their backs and hitting them close to home, just like they did to us. I start to tell him that it's brilliant - but then he tackles me with a kiss: a passionate, triumphant one, and we make out for a long time on the soft grass. I forget a lot of things then, like what he just said or why we have to do it, and only remember the way he's holding me and touching me. That's something I think I'll remember forever...

*****

"So here's the plan," Jason announces to all of us the next night. "Listen up."

We're gathered in his basement game room, which is all beige walls and polished wood paneling. In the front black leather couches surround a flat screen and shelves stacked with video games and movies. Both a neon air hockey table and a pool table with gleaming cherry wood holsters occupy the center of the floor behind the couches. The mini-kitchen in the back is stocked with snacks.

"We leave at eleven o'clock sharp. There's a back-lot behind the cemetery that opens out onto the other side of the street - we'll park and regroup there. Now about the shipment - it's heavy, so the carriers are unloading at three checkpoints."

"Three?" I repeat. "How big is the cemetery?"

"Big enough for there to be three checkpoints," Jason responds, smirking at me.

"They're not too open or visible?"

"They're in blind spots. You can't see them from the street." He looks at all of us again. "Me and TK will be at one post, Za and Miley at another, Khalil at the last. The exchange should be short and sweet. Just let the money talk." He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out two rubber-banded wads of bills. He tosses one to Za, the other to Khalil. "The Wreckers' dealer is gonna pay me that back when we deliver. I'm counting on more."