SAVAGE

4.

"It's going to be a while before I get out..."

Jersey sighed as she thought about her grandmother's sentence. Vivienne had only served eight years, she had ten more years to go.

"I'm going to try to get you out of here..."

"Don't even bother. I know what I did was wrong." Vivienne replied. She felt like applying for an appeal would be a waste of time. She had already served five years in the eighties for a previous drug charge. This drug charge only put the icing on the cake. When Viv was busted, they found boatloads of drugs in her house that could've sent her away for life.

"I don't care..." Jersey replied as she shook her head.

"I'm still gonna try."

"He's not fooling anyone...definitely not me."

Tilly cut her eyes over at Detective Newton. They both walked inside the crowded auditorium. People were everywhere due to the bike drive. Tilly's eyes darted towards Malcolm who was on stage talking through the microphone. Her heart fluttered as she studied his handsome face. He was such an outlaw, but at the same time, he cared for community.

"I want to thank everybody for coming out. This event is something I've been wanting to do for the kids in this community for a long time. Today I'm giving away two thousand bikes-."

Malcolm couldn't even finish his sentence since the crowd broke out in applauses. The community had so much respect for him and he knew it.

"As I was saying, I'm donating two thousand bikes today. I also teamed up with the creator of the Scholarly program in order to help kids who need extra tutoring." Malcolm stated as he pointed at the woman who was over the program. She stood there with a smirk on her face as if she was starstruck by him. He handed the microphone to her and she cleared her throat before speaking.

"Yes-The Scholarly program has teamed up with Malcolm and we are giving out scholarships to students who attends the program. It's a six-week program and you must attend every day in order to earn a scholarship. Children who are fifteen and under gets three thousand dollars and sixteen and up gets five thousand dollars."

"Where is he getting all of this money and shit to afford this?" Newton continued while adjusting his belt.

"I'm sure he works hard for it."

Newton slid Tilly a cautious look. "I've been investigating him for a while Tilly. It doesn't look like he's working hard to me. He has everybody working for him while he makes his drug runs."

"Just...try not to start anything." Tilly told Newton as she rolled her eyes.

"I believe that education is important. It's very important to have." Malcolm stated.

After the speech, kids started picking out the bikes and signing up for the program. It was amazing to see so many kids with big smiles on their faces. A lot of parents were thanking Malcolm for his generosity. He just wanted to help low-income parents who couldn't afford to buy their children bikes. He'd witnessed too many kids stealing and fighting over them. He just wanted the younger generation to think positive and be positive.

"This is nice." Tilly commented.

Malcolm looked over at her and eyed her suspiciously. "What you doin' here girl?"

Tilly smiled and said, "I told you that me and a few other police officers would be here to chaperone. It's my job."

Malcolm nodded his head as he peered over at Newton. He stood there in his police uniform looking all flushed. He spent many stressful years as a detective on the police force. Now, he sported grey hair and wrinkled lines on his forehead.