Chance didn't know what to do. With his son knocked out on the ground, he placed his hands on the side of his head, pacing back and forth trying to figure out what he could do with his body. First, he thought about leaving him in bed and acting like they could discover him dead when they all woke up.
But the injury to his head, was too serious. And with Tina coming home from the football party in a few hours, he had no choice but to ride out somewhere far to dump him.
Chance drove 20 minutes out into Farmington Hills, a local place where there were a lot of woods and deserted areas around the high middle class homes. When he finally found a wooded area that was away from the busy streets, Chance took his Romeo out of the car and rolled him down an embankment and into a river. Afterwards, Chance quickly pulled off to head back home.
Soon after, Romeo slowly lifted up, barely able to move from the blow to his head. He lifted his head up, looking around the dark areas with his eyes half opened.
"Can somebody.......hear me....?" Romeo slurred lowly, barely able to talk.
Romeo was out in the woods, alone.
After Tina got home from practice, she threw her shoes aside and started taking off her items. The first thing that was on her mind, was checking up on Romeo to see where he was.
"Romeo?" Tina chanted as she jogged up the stairs. "You still in the room?"
When Tina opened the door, she saw the pocket knife that he gave to Romeo on the floor. She looked up at the corner of the room, noticing that he wasn't where he was sitting. His bed was still made up.
"Romeo!" Tina chanted loudly as she went from room to room, cutting on each light.
When she looked inside of Chauncey's mothers room, Tina noticed that he was asleep. Tina quickly shut off the light, shutting the door and looking out. As she prepared to search downstairs, she saw Chance walking inside of the home. Tina gave him a blank stare, looking upstairs.
"Where's Romeo?" Tina asked fearlessly.
"I have no idea." Chance growled. "He should be in his room."
Tina glanced down at his muddy shoes, scrunching her eyebrows and looking back up at him.
"What did you do to him?" Tina whispered in a sinister tone.
"Excuse me?"
"Where the hell is my brother?" Tina scowled. "He's not here and he wouldn't DARE leave the house at 3:00am!"
"Chauncey, you better get in your damn room and watch your mouth when you speak to me!" Chance growled. "I said I don't know where he is!"
Tina cracked a small smile, placing her tongue on the side of her cheek and looking away.
"That's funny. Your 12 year old son isn't here at 3am and you don't bother to say 'oh my gosh! What happened to him?' or 'What do you mean he's gone?'" Tina smiled. "You're a piece of shit father."
Chance stepped up to Tina's face, giving her a serious look.
"Say that again." Chance growled. "I dare you."
Tina gave him a blank stare, then growled it through her teeth.
"You're. A. Piece. Of. Shit. Father." Tina repeated, showing a little bit of teeth when she said it.
Tina didn't budge. She brushed past him and jogged up the stairs, going into Romeo's room and shutting the door. Tina was becoming more bold. She was becoming better at football, standing up to the boys, and getting into sports that she didn't like as a girl.
Like Chauncey was getting in touch with his feminine side, Tina was getting in touch with her masculine side. As Tina locked the door, she started searching around for a home phone. When she found it, she noticed that it was already shattered. Since the phone was dying, she decided to charge it so that she could call the police. Realizing that they would classify Romeo as a runaway, Tina realized that there was virtually nothing that she could do.
That is, until she saw something red on the floor by the pocket knife. When she crouched down and glanced down at it, she noticed small blood drops on the knife and on the carpet. With that, she decided to call Chauncey.
But before she could call him, he called her first.
"Hello?" Tina panted.
Chauncey paused, rubbing his head.
"Look Tink, it's somethin' that I gotta tell you."
"Me too, but you go first." Tina panted.
Chauncey glanced out of Tina's window nervously, taking a deep breath.
"I.......I think I might like Kevin..." Chauncey paused.
Tina's eyes widened in disbelief as her mouth cracked wide open. In fact, the news hit her so hard and so fast that she barely believed it.
"Hello?" Chauncey said.
"Wait a minute, what!?"
"Yeah, Tink." Chauncey sighed. "I'm so embarra-"
"So, you're gay now?" Tina scowled lowly.
"No! Hell no." Chauncey growled. "I just....."
Chauncey covered his face, shaking his head.
"I ain't never felt like this before. This a weird feeling, especially towards a nigga." Chauncey sighed again. "It's just he real cool, he keep on kissin' me, and he been my best friend for the last month. I even kissed him!"
"So you are gay?"
"No I'm not, Tina. Gay means that your sexual preference is boys. He the ONLY boy I......I ever liked." Chauncey groaned. "I don't like no other niggas or have no interest in no other niggas. I still like girls, but he the only nigga I'm.....feelin' like that."
"So, you are gay?" Tina repeated.
"No I'm not gay, Tina. Damn!" Chauncey scowled in a frustrated tone. "Quit sayin' that shit!"
"So you're Bi?"
"No I'm not bi! I'm still straight..." Chauncey barked. "I just like him. That's it."
Tina shook her head, leaning back.
"You know that you doin' gay shit mean that God gone turn you down and send you to hell?"
"Damn, Tina." Chauncey growled. "Some friend you are."
"Right. I'm a real ass friend." Tina nodded. "And by that, I'm letting you know that that gay shit ain't cool!"
"So what the hell am I supposed to do? Appear gay on the outside by liking girls, or appear gay on the inside and liking niggas?" Chauncey snarled. "Either way, i'ma look gay regardless! Besides, Kevin is diff....."
Chauncey paused for a while, making Tina think that he hung up.
"Hello?"
"He special. I ain't never had no girl even treat me like this, Tink." Chauncey said. "Real shit."
Tina sat there silent, causing Chauncey to scrunch his lips together.
"But just cause I'm liking this one boy don't mean i'ma go all out and get my hair done and nails did like a normal gay nigga would do when I'm out of your body." Chauncey continued. "You can be gay and still be a man."
As Tina remained silent, Chauncey decided to get to her side.
"So, what was yo' news?" Chauncey asked.
"What news?"
"You said you had something to tell me when we first got on the phone, but you told me to tell mine first." Chauncey said. "It's yo' turn."
Tina froze. She teared up as she looked at the small blooded pocket knife, clenching her jaw and looking up.
She couldn't tell him that Romeo was possibly murdered.
"I stood up to your father today." Tina said, shifting the news.
"Oh, you did?" Chauncey grinned. "What he say?"
"He said....."
Tina continued to glance down at the pocket knife, closing her eyes, placing her forehead on the tips of her fingers, and shaking her head.
"I-I'll call you back tomorrow, alright?" Tina said. "Since tomorrow's Saturday."
"Aight then?" Chauncey shrugged. "Deuces."
"Peace."
Tina didn't know how Chauncey would react when he discovered that his father may have killed his brother, but one thing she knew is that all of his sanity would go out of the window. Chauncey loved his little brother like a son, and finding out that he could possibly be dead would shatter his world.
Which is why Tina decided to keep her mouth shut, at least until she got more information.
After the phone conversation, Chauncey decided to sneak out and use Marcell's car again to drive out to the church during the hours he knew that the preacher wouldn't be there, which was around 3am. When he got there, the front door was locked, so he climbed through a window in the side of the chapel to get inside. When he walked closer to the closet, he used a small paper clip to pick the lock on the door, opening it almost right away.
"Well damn." Chauncey smiled lowly. "That was easy!"
Chauncey walked into the room, noticing that there were a few condom wrappers on the floor. He shivered a little bit, standing up on the couch and reaching up to grab the box that was sitting on the shelf above. When he slammed it down onto the table to look inside, he noticed something.
The real pink crystal ball.
"H-Holy shit!" Chauncey panted, cracking a bright smile. "I found it! I f-found it!"
Chauncey looked at the bottom, looking for any directions on how to get switched back.
"Two rubs will end the journey as a whole." The crystal ball read.
Confused at first, Chauncey finally understood what the quote meant. Two rubs and this meant that him and Tina could get switched back. Eager to do it at first, Chauncey placed his hands on the ball.
But then, he thought about it.
Him switching back meant that he would have to go back to being beat by his father, not getting along with his mother, taking care of Romeo, and last of all, he would no longer be "romantically" involved with Kevin. Chauncey thought about coming out and telling Kevin that he liked him, but then news would get out that Chauncey was possibly gay, which is what he didn't want. Not only that, but Kevin didn't like boys at all. Kevin was one of the few people who showed him what it was really like to be cared for, so Chauncey grabbed the crystal ball, placed it in a bag, and headed home. He wasn't rubbing the ball no time soon, nor was he telling Tina that he had it.
Both Tina and Chauncey were holding two damning secrets from each other that could tear their friendship into shreds. The only question was, which secret was worse?