As everyone started to leave Carlos's house in the morning, we planned to go eat breakfast at a local Coney Island that was around the corner. When we turned, we seen that Asha was sitting on the porch. She was twiddling her fingers, glancing sadly down at the ground.
"Aye Ash, you comin'?" Isaiah asked as he hung out of the passenger side seat.
"No." Asha said in a low tone. "I'm gonna-"
"WHAT?"
Asha sighed and looked up.
"I'm just gonna stay here!" Asha said in a louder tone as me, Carlos, and the others boarded the van.
"And what about you, Noah?" I asked as I looked out of the window.
"No thanks." Noah said as he shook his head. "I'm gonna go head back to the house to sizzle down this headache."
After that, we all shut our doors and pulled off. Noah fixed his outfit and looked at Asha, then started making his way home. As he began to walk, he noticed that Asha wasn't moving. She just sat there, looking off into space.
"You comfortable with staying here by yourself?" Noah asked, scrunching his eyebrows at her.
"I'm fine."
Noah glanced at her for a few seconds, then turned around and walked her way. He scoffed and folded his arms, giving her a funny look.
"Alright, what's wrong?" Noah snarled. "You mad at me for shutting you out?"
Asha looked up at Noah, then looked back ahead of her.
"I'm fine." Asha lied. "Honest."
Noah sat down on the lower step and tilted his head at her, not believing what she said.
"You said you been needing someone to talk to." Noah said. "Talk."
Asha looked down, placing her cheeks on the ends of her hands.
"I heard what you guys said about me." Asha said in a low tone. "I hear what you guys say all of the time."
"What do you mean?"
"Oh come on, Noah." Asha scowled lowly as she slumped her shoulders and gave him a dumbfounded look. "I heard you talking about how you thought I gave you some disease in the bathroom."
Noah looked away, twiddling with one of the leaves that sat by one of the bushes by Carlos's house.
"I hear what the guys say about me all the time. They talk about how I'm not a slut, how good I can suck, or how much I fuck." Asha continued. "But what I'm trying to understand is how me being a prostitute makes me any less of a regular woman. As long as I'm dickless, bleed every month and have tits, then that's enough to prove so."
"Asha, what you aren't understanding is that you can get diseases like that." Noah snarled. "You don't know what any of those men got."
"But I don't have a single trace of a disease. Not HIV, herpes, aids, none of that." Asha scowled. "You don't think that I know how to detect that shit when I see it?"
Noah chuckled a little as Asha smiled and shook her head.
"I've been in the prostitution business since I was 14. That's 4 years!" Asha giggled. "I know a disease on a dick when I see it."
As Noah and Asha laughed a little bit more, she placed her hands out and opened them.
"You don't have to keep on shutting me down and shoving me aside just because I'm a prostitute. You don't have to degrade me for it, either." Asha said as she turned to Noah. "Even if you don't wanna date, I could still be a good friend."
Noah understood where she was coming from. He nodded his head, squinting his eyes at the ground.
"I apologize for degrading you as a woman for what you do." Noah said in a serious tone. "No woman deserves that. I wouldn't like it if any man did that towards my mother, so I shouldn't be doing it to you."
"Apology accepted."
Noah held his hand out and smiled as she shook his hand.
"Friends?" Noah smiled.
"Friends."
Noah smiled and kissed her on the cheek. He didn't like her, but he knew that she liked him. As she looked at him, he grabbed his keys and got up to head towards his home.
"Nice to meet you, Asha!" Noah chanted from afar.
When Noah walked into his house, Asha stroked the spot on her cheek that Noah kissed and slid down the porch stairs.
"Oh my goooodddddd..." Asha said to herself as she glanced at the sky and smiled. "He kissed me!"
While this was going on, the rest of us were spending time eating breakfast and having small talk. I was supposed to be at class at this time, but I didn't care. I'd skipped like 3 classes in a row and I didn't give a shit. I didn't even turn in the assignments that Mr. Umlauf gave me during the court dates. So after breakfast, I went home and crashed on the couch.
For the rest of the afternoon and beginning of the night, all of us spent more time over at Carlos's. Of course, they were selling to people who would walk by or come by intentionally. They'd decided to do it outside on a table since the weather was warmer than usual. While me, Asha, and Q sat on the porch watching Carlos, Stacey, and Isaiah sell. Kayson was sitting right in Isaiah's lap with his onesie on and his pacifier in his mouth.
"That's gone be $250." Isaiah said.
As the man counted $250 out of his wad of $20s, he placed it down and watched Isaiah count through it. Afterwards, he handed him his baggie filled with fine white cocaine and watched him walk off.
"Come again, nigga." Isaiah said as he left.
As Carlos and Stacey chopped up a small amount of their bricks, a pink car pulled up to the front of Carlos's home. Isaiah already knew that it was Tyler. As she stepped out of the car, all of us let out a frustrated groan and gave her a funny look.
"The fuck she keep comin' back for?" Q snarled.
"You back again?" Isaiah laughed as he stroked Kayson's hair and looked up at her. "You must want another liquor shower."
"Isaiah, I have proof." Tyler panted as she pulled her phone and played the recording. "Listen."
For a few minutes, all of us listened to the recording Tyler had on her phone. Afterwards, Isaiah nodded his head and scooped all of the dust off of the table.
"You was right." Isaiah nodded.
"I told you!" Tyler plead. "I wasn't joking!"
"So what's that 'sposed to mean?" Isaiah scoffed. "I'm supposed to just forgive yo' ass for still takin' the stand on me?"
"Yes! He set us both up!" Tyler continued. "He manipulated me-"
"Yo' ass was there and YO' ASS WATCHED Kayson starve and shit and you tryna feed me the victim bullshit?" Isaiah scoffed. "Fuck outta here!"
"Isaiah can you stop acting like an asshole and just listen to me?" Tyler barked.
"Somebody get this broad away from me." Isaiah scowled lowly as he waved his hand at her.
"I'll take care of her." Asha scoffed as she grabbed her liquor bottle and stepped off of the porch, stomping right into Tyler's face. "Get the fuck away from Isaiah. You heard him!"
"I wasn't talking to you." Tyler scoffed back, standing right back in Asha's face.
"Bitch you better do it."
"Or what?" Tyler smiled.
In an instant, Asha splashed the whole entire bottle in Tyler's face. As Tyler stepped back and covered her eyes, all of us started laughing at Tyler. All of us, accept for Isaiah. He glanced at Tyler and gave her a blank look while she wiped her eyes, but only started to laugh a little when everyone looked at him.
Isaiah was starting to feel bad for her.
"Fuck you gone do now, bitch?" Asha smiled.
Suddenly, Tyler shoved Asha violently onto the ground, watching her skid against the cement.
"That's the last time any of you will pour any alcohol on me!" Tyler shouted in a shaky tone, indicating that she was scared.
Enraged, Asha grabbed her glass bottle and struck it against Tyler's head. As Tyler fell onto the ground, Asha straddled her and started punching her repeatedly in the face. I thought that someone was going to stop the fight, but nobody was joining in. In fact, Stacey, Q, and Carlos was egging it on.
"Whoop her ass, Asha!" They chanted. "Keep beating that bitch's ass!"
I didn't like Tyler, but I couldn't continue to watch her get her ass beat like this. As an impulse, I got up to break them up. But when I did, someone else got up to.
Isaiah.
"Aye aye aye Asha, enough." Isaiah said in a low tone as he attempted to snatch her back. "Enough!"
As Isaiah grabbed Asha, I accompanied Tyler as she laid helpless on the floor. She had cuts on the side of her face, a bloody nose, and a little bit of blood that trickled out of the left side of her mouth. When Tyler sat up, she leaned to the side and started coughing up blood.
"Are you alright, Tyler?" I asked.
"No. No! Get off of me!" Tyler yelled as she struggled to stand up.
Tyler grabbed her purse and wiped her nose. Tears covered her eyes and face as she stood up on her heels and wiped her bloody nose onto her sleeve.
"I'm not going to continue to let you guys punk me out!!" Tyler yelled at us in a loud tone as she glanced at everyone, then stumbled fast to her car.
After Tyler pulled off, Asha and the others smiled. Asha held her fist out and knocked it against Stacey, Q, and Carlos's.
"I beat that bitch's ass good, didn't I?" Asha nodded.
"Hell yeah." Stacey grinned as he gave Asha some dap, holding the blunt between his lips. "You showed her ass."
"Bet you she won't come by this bitch no mo!" Carlos laughed as he blew his smoke out.
I shook my head and headed into the house to clean up. Isaiah didn't like Tyler, but he didn't want all of THAT to happen to her. Even though Isaiah disrespected her in the worst way, Tyler still came by to alert Isaiah. Why? Because she still cared about him.
"Damn....." Isaiah thought to himself as he watched her pink car speed out of the Schaefer area.
"I whooped her ass, didn't I?" Asha smiled as she held her fist out to Isaiah.
Isaiah didn't want to show any type of sign that he had a heart, so in an instant, he smiled and gave Asha a fist pump.
"You did whoop her ass, though!" Isaiah laughed, smiling and sticking his tongue out to hold his real emotion.
When Tyler got home, she immediately rushed up the stairs and into the bathroom to avoid the confrontation with her father. When she slammed and shut the door, she took the time to look in the mirror.
She looked bad. Really bad. Tyler's eyes widened as she glanced at the cuts and bruises that littered the left side of her face. Tears bubbled inside of her eyes and she placed her hands on the blood that trickled from the cuts and tiny gashes. Tyler quickly placed her hand down and grabbed a washcloth, wiping it off with hot water. Afterwards, she rumbled through her makeup kit to see if she could cover it up. It didn't work. The damage was too bad. Tyler helplessly placed her makeup brush down and closed her eyes, crying as hard as she's ever have. This was THE worst beating she had in her life. As she cried in the bathroom, Tyler's father knocked on the door.
"Sweetie?" Her father said. "Are you okay?"
"H-huh? Who me?" Tyler asked as she scrambled onto her feet. "Uh........"
Tyler had to think on her feet and she had to think fast. She placed a smile onto her face and opened the door, watching her father gasp in shock.
"Tyler!" Her father gasped as he cupped her face. "What happened to your face?"
"Oh my gosh, dad!" Tyler laughed, putting on a bubbly act. "So why when I went up to my previous college to see if I could register back, I tripped on the curb and fell right on my left side and the concrete! Just look at me."
"Jesus Christ, Tyler!" Her father said out loud. "It looks like someone whooped your ass!"
"Yeah...." Tyler laughed lowly.
As her father finished examining her face, he turned to her and gave her a serious look. He stepped back a little, looking down at the corner of the room.
"So have you forgiven me for what I've done?" Her father asked.
Tyler smiled, giving her father a bright and exhausted look.
"Of course, Dad." Tyler nodded. "You're my father."
As they talked upstairs, the doorbell to the house rang. Her father looked at his watch, then grinned at Tyler.
"Paw!" Her father scoffed as he jogged down the stairs. "Must be your mother."
As he answered the door, three policeman rammed him against the wall and placed handcuffs on his wrist. As he looked behind himself, he tried to move his face off of the wall to ask a question.
"What is this for!?" Tyler's father shouted out loud. "What's going on?"
"Joe, you are under arrest for the conspiracy to commit 2 counts of kidnapping!" The police shouted. "Anything you say and WILL be used against you in the court of law!"
Tyler's father looked up at Tyler in disbelief. She told the authorities. As his mouth creaked open, he was wrestled out of the home and into a police car.
"This is a big mistake!" Her father shouted as the police shut the door.
Tyler watched as multiple officers drove away. Once they were gone, she was in a house filled with complete silence. That's when she realized, she didn't want any of it anymore. She didn't want to be rich, she didn't want to stay in a rich fancy home, she didn't want the luxury parties, she didn't want to stay with her mom. She was now free to do what she want now that her father was out of the way.
The real question was, who would she stay with?