Gangsta (OITNB/VAUSEMAN)

7 - Play the Game

It was almost one o'clock by noon. In approximately twenty minutes Alex would have to be at laundry, lunching her first work day at Litchfield prison. Finally, after an awafully dull week, she was selected to join the inmates responsible for the laundry. Alex chose to find comfort in the fact that now she would fold her days on, and won't need to keep busying herself with travels. It was nice for awhile, but three years like that cannot do.

Alex was staring at the moldy ceiling, waiting impatiently for time to pass by when her bunkmate, Piper, and her gang member, Flaca, rushed into the bunk. They seemed to be in the middle of a feisty conversation and Alex couldn't remain more invisible to them.

"What do you want Gonzales?"

"Straight up gangsta Chapman, respect."

"I'm not the godfather."

The conversation flew fast, and the two appeared to spit words at one another without thought. Alex found herself observing again, becoming the third person of the scene. She knew she shouldn't. She learned Piper meant bad news around the prison and wanted nothing to do with her. However, she still had ten more minutes to kill until work, and that encounter seemed way more interesting than those she normally witnessed at the library. Alex hid her face with the pillow and prentened to sleep while still paying attention.

"No, you're taller and tighter." Flace paused. "So what it's gonna take me to get back in?"

"Have you actually seen the god father? You're the sour panties Luca Barsi. You sleep with the fishes."

"Yo man, shit.. I can explain. I panicked ..man.. I wasn't thinking straight.."

Alex couldn't help but notice Flaca's weird body language. She was trembling, uncertain. She calculated every single word that she said and more than anything, there wasn't anything authentic about her.

"So you decided to turn all the girls against me? That's one brilliant solution."

Flaca raised up the pace. She became desperate and pulled an impulsive, aggressive tone. "Yo Chapman, that's some real bullshit.. I be doing all the hard work since day one! Eveything you say, I fuckin' obey shit.. you can't cut me off like that. I was even dumb enough to help you kick this lesbo's ass-"

"You keep your fucking mouth shut." Piper stepped extremely close to Flaca, who froze in her place. "It is business, I'm not playing around here."

Alex's heart was racing. The situation got way more intense for her to handle. She didn't know what they were talking about but it sounded fishy, and at second thoguht Alex realized it wasn't such a good idea to keep listening.

"What Stella did was hell of a crisis already," Piper whispered sharply, audible enough for Alex to hear it too. "the last thing I needed was you starting a fucking riot and having me lose half of the sources! You made the girls quit one by one. Now you wanna be back? Fucking betrayer."

"I made a mistake. Chapman! All these girls who left only proved they weren't serious about the business. Yo,, I did you a favor"

"Oh, is that so?!"

"I'll help you find new girls. Please! I ain't messin' around. I need this job... My moma is sick..."

Piper chortled in disbelief. "Really? Is that the best that you could come up with?"

"No, for real." Flaca's voice gone softer. "She's got lymphoma and the co pays and shit are killing her faster than the cancer. I gotta be able to help her, but instead I'm stuck in this shithopd barely making enough to pay for pantene. C'mon, think of all that sweet potorro tang I'm wasting.. I'm begging. And I don't do that cause I got lating pride and shit it's real stuff going on."