Baton Rouge.

Chapter 32 - !!!!!!

Jionni shook his head, looking out of the window.

"Got married to some white nigga and ain't neva' been in the hood since..." Jionni scoffed. "Shame.."

"Otha than auntie, I'm yo' only close relative you got left." D'juan said in a serious tone. "We gotta look out fo' each otha' like real fam 'sposed to do."

And the next day, it was time to go back to school.

With the Christmas break being over, Melissa had to go back to swimming, homework, skirts, and heavy duty studying at home. She wasn't looking forward to it, but with her parents, it was no budging. While Melissa walked to her next class after lunch, she saw a large crowd of people crowding around the front door of the school. Curious to see what was going on, Melissa squeezed through the people in the hallway to get a glimpse of what everyone was looking at. Almost immediately, she knew based on Jionni's accent.

"Aye y'all, chill out! Chill on me!" Jionni smiled as Chevy and the boys stood by his side, gazing at everyone. "Y'all already know that my lawyer was gone straighten shut out'!"

"This nigga Jionni can't stay locked up fo' shit!" One of his friends joked.

As everyone started laughing, the principal stepped out of his secluded office and started separating everyone.

"Alright alright, I'm pretty sure that you guys will get a nice glimpse of Jionni in detention!" The principal said in a loud tone as he waved his hands. "Head to class before I start handing out pink slips!"

"How you get out, G?" Chevy grinned as him, Jay, Ross, and D'juan started walking to class.

"Shiiiiit my defense attorney work miracles, nigga." Jionni grinned. "He the one wit' da magic wand n' shit."

As they made their way past Melissa, she hid her face behind her locker and watched them go by. When she saw Jionni, everything about his demeanor seemed normal. But once she squinted his eyes at him, she knew that there was something different about him.

He didn't have on the gold necklace he gave her.

"Hey." Melissa scowled angrily as she stormed up to him and grabbed his arm. "Hey!"

Jionni turned to her, snatching his arm out of her grip.

"The hell you grabbin' on me fo'?" Jionni scowled back.

"Can I talk to you ALONE for two seconds?"

Melissa looked at Jionni's friends as they gave her dirty looks. Jionni turned to them, slumping his shoulders a little.

"I'ma be to class, y'all..." Jionni groaned.

As they walked off, Melissa placed her hands up and gave him a disappointed look.

"My chain that I gave you!?" Melissa said, giving him a wide-eyed look. "Where is it?"

"What chain?"

Jionni looked at her, grinning as he looked down at his collarbone.

"Oh, DAT chain." Jionni grinned, giving her a sneaky look. "I sold it."

Melissa's mouth creaked open in disbelief as Jionni continued to talk.

"Well yeah. Being dat' i'ma thief and all, I decided to sell whateva' resources I had around me." Jionni smiled. "And dat chain was the best one!"

"You son of a bitch..." Melissa whispered. "That was my great grandfathers chain-"

"Ooh. Well. Yo' great grandfatha' gay me a fortune. A $2000 fortune!" Jionni laughed, rubbing it in her face. "Shit was real gold, too. Now I can pay my mama rent and buy me some better shit. Worked out good fo' me, hah?"

"You get me that DAMN chain back!" Melissa barked loudly at him. "You should've returned it! That's something I'll NEVER get back!"

"If only I gave a shit. Too bad I took one this mornin'. Nah I've ran out." Jionni laughed as he moved beside her to continue walking. "Move."

"Oh, first you steal from my grandmother and try to shift the blame on me!?" Melissa barked as she stormed back in front of him and pointed in his face. "You're gonna get my great grandfathers chain back!"

"Melissa, move." Jionni said in a more serious tone, glancing down at her and giving her an agitated and unphased look.

Melissa scrunched her eyebrows at him, grilling him.

"Since when do you call me Melissa?"

Jionni bumped past her as Melissa tore off his backpack, watching the books fall out of his bag. The principal walked over to the two and placed his hands out, giving the two serious looks.

"Hey, that's enough.."

Jionni picked all of his books along with his fruit punch off of the floor. He unscrewed the cap to his drink and splashed the red juice all over Melissa's face, pouring it on her outfit and tucking in his lips out of anger.

"Hey! HEY!!" The principal barked at the both of them. "Enough or I'll suspend the both of you!"

Melissa's mouth dropped as the juice dripped all onto her face. Jionni slammed the empty bottle of juice down and continued to walk down the hall, making his way to class. The principal looked at Melissa, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Are you alright, Miss?" The principal asked. "Would you like to come to the counseling center to get cleaned up?"

"Y-yeah...." Melissa answered.

Melissa slowly walked with the principal to his office, wiping her face as she walked to the right.

"Hey uh..I-I'm gonna go to the bathroom......." Melissa said in a shaky tone.

"Okay, come to the office for a new outfit when you're done."

When Melissa got inside of the bathroom, she immediately broke down into tears. She didn't think that her and Jionni would be friends, but she also didn't think that the two would wind up betraying and borderline hating each other. Though she acted like she didn't care, she also never expected Jionni to pour a drink on her like that. She knew that this wasn't like him.

But she now knew that Jionni hated her.