During the whole period people remained at Jmo's house, D'juan scoped out Melissa. Though he didn't know it was her, he knew that she or Jionni had some sort of link to Melissa. While everyone except for Melissa was smoking in having a good time, D'juan just sat back and scoped everyone out.
"Nah, one time I dated one of them lil emo freaks!" Ross chucked as everyone in their circle laughed. "I'll neva' do that shit again."
"Why, what happened?" One of the boys in the circle asked.
"Cause she tried to get me into all of this voo-doo type shit!" Ross laughed as he waved his hand. "Never again!"
"I need to start datin' a nerd...." Jionni sighed. "That way I ain't gotta do some of dis work...."
"You like needs huh, Jionni?"
Everyone in the room went silent as they looked over at D'juan.
"Uh.......not really?" Jionni scoffed. "Why?"
"Just wonderin'...."
As D'juan took a sip of his beer, Jionni shook his head and continued his conversation.
"I'll tell you what, I'll neva date no street broad again." Jionni said in a serious tone. "I thought dat that shit was a good idea but it really wa-"
"Aye Melrose, who car is that outside?" D'juan asked. "Is it yours?"
Melissa looked around, shrugging her shoulders.
"Uh.....yeah?" Melissa said. "Why?"
"It looks awfully familia' to this girls car at my school." D'juan said as he took another sip of beer. "Dassit."
"You know what D'juan, you gotta issue?" Jionni scowled lowly at him as he sat up on the couch. "Cause it seem like you do."
"Nah where you get that shit from?"
"Cause you askin' questions like you work fo' the damn Feds."
"Alright alright alright alright. Enough!" Jmo laughed as he walked in the middle of the circle. "Y'all cousins so y'all gone make up later on, anyway. Cut it out."
"I'm goin' upstairs, man." Jionni groaned as he snatched his book out of his backpack. "Ain't in the mood to have my vibe killed.."
As expected, Melissa followed him up there. Once they got upstairs, D'juan leaned close to everybody to tell them what he thought was really going on.
"Aye y'all, I think that that girl might be the bitch who snitched on me dat first day of school." D'juan said lowly to everybody.
"What, nigga?" Chevy scoffed as he kept his arm around his girlfriend. "How you figure dat?"
"Look, she got the same car as her." D'juan said. "And got the same license pla-"
"D'juan you might be high as a hill o' you might be losin' it." Ross scoffed. "What make you think dat her parents would 'eem let her 'round dis type of neighborhood?"
"I know what car I saw at the school once dey snatched my ass out!"
Nobody believed him. D'juan shook his head and sat back, drinking the last of his 40oz.
"Aight." D'juan shrugged. "Y'all gone see."
Since Jionni and D'juan were starting to get a little heated, Melissa and Jionni decided to go up in Jmo's guest bedroom. Jionni and Melissa lied on the bed as Jionni pulled out his Shakespeare book and decided to read. One of his arms laid around Melissa's shoulders as Melissa laid on Jionni's chest, watching him read. She looked up at Jionni and watched as he stared blankly at his book.
"Jionni.....?" Melissa mumbled.
"Hm?"
"What does it feel like to.......do it?"
"To do what?"
Jionni looked down at Melissa as Melissa gazed back up at him.
"To ha' sex?" Jionni asked.
"Yeah."
"Shit feel good as hell and it's fun!" Jionni laughed as he turned the page in his book. "Shit bomb!"
Jionni looked down at Melissa and could tell that she was asking for a reason.
"You serious?" Jionni asked.
"Well I've been wondering since that night I came up here so yeah.."
Jionni placed his book down and gazed up at the ceiling.
"I lost my virginity to a stripper. She was a virgin, too." Jionni answered. "I ain't gone lie, it's gone hurt fo' you fo' the first time, Lissa."
"Are you serious?" Melissa asked. "Why?"
"Cause you ain't neva been broken in befo' so it ain't gone feel like the shit be lookin' like in the movies, 'specially if you a virgin." Jionni said. "Like the girl I first fucked wit' started bleedin' and we had to do dat shit anotha time."
Melissa looked down. She was even more worried than before. She didn't know any of this because her parents never talked to her about it.
"Oh......"
"I can see in yo' face that you still ain't ready, Lissa. When I be sayin' that I be wantin' to fuck I just be playin'." Jionni chuckled. "Like I said, don't rush or no shit like that."
Melissa really wanted to "do it" with Jionni, but she was still scared. She couldn't get off her mind the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, or getting caught. That was one thing that seemed to stop her from getting what she want.
The real question was, how long was Jionni gonna wait?
As everyone decided to head home once it started getting close to midnight, Melissa and Jionni walked to her car. As Jionni got in, D'juan was looking from behind one of Jmo's bushes. He watched as the two kissed for a little bit, then watched as Melissa took off her clothes to put back on her old ones. D'juan then watched Jionni get out of the car and walk over to the drivers side.
"Man, maybe I am buggin'..." D'juan sighed as he started walking towards the alley.
But as soon as he got ready to walk, he saw Melissa take off Jionni's hat and fluff her hair. D'juan's eyes widened as Jionni took the hat and watched her slowly drive out of the area. Every suspicion he had was true.
The question was when to bring it out to the others?
Since it was the weekend, Jionni decided to take a day out and catch up on all of his reading the next day. He usually would be on the block, but since he rarely had time for himself, he decided to take advantage of it. While reading, Diana knocked on Jionni's door and peeked in. When she took a look inside of his room, she saw him lying on his mattress. He was reading Shakespeare again.
"Guess yo teacher want lyin' when she said that you liked Shakespeare, huh?" Diana laughed.
Jionni cracked a small smile, keeping his attention focused on his book.
"Listen Jionni, yo' father can have visitors today." Diana sighed. "Did you wanna go see him?"
Jionni froze, slowly placing his book down. He looked at his mom with a slightly angry look, not saying anything.
"You ain't gotta go see him if you 'ont want to, Jionni." Diana sighed again. "I was just asking."
Jionni placed his book down and got off of his mattress, grabbing his jacket off of his door.
"I'm only talkin' to him fo' a short period of time and dassit." Jionni scoffed, shaking his head. "Is you ready?"
"Remember Jionni, you 'ont owe him no type of explanation on how we been livin' or nothin'." Diana said. "At any time you wanna leave, just get up and-"
"Ma, let's just go so I can get dis shit out the way." Jionni moaned as he jogged down the stairs. "I already 'ont wanna see this nigga..."
15 minutes later, Jionni pulled up to the local prison. Him and Diana signed in and walked to the window where Jionni's father was. Jionni looked like him the most. Jionni and his father laid eyes on each other for the first time since his freshman year of high school. Jionni resembled his father down from his teeth to the facial structures in his face. His father was darker than him and Diana was lighter than him, so that's where Jionni's brown skin complexion came from. Jionni looked away as his father picked up the phone to talk to Diana.
"Man. He look like more and more of a man every time I see him." His father said, shaking his head and looking at the window.
Diana stared blankly at him as he looked back at her.
"How are you, Diana?"
"Fine. Just raisin' our son like I've been doing since the 90's." Diana smiled. "You?"
Jionni's father bowed his head, looking up at her.
"So you gone throw this in my face ertime' you see me, huh-"
"And I'm gonna keep on throwin' it in yo' face until the day you or I die." Diana nodded. "Especially since you ain't gettin' out of here-"
"I got my parole hearin' next month."
"Jarold, you murdered two old people fo' they money. They ain't have shit on them but $100 and you think that the damn board 'bout to let you out?" Diana whispered sinisterly to him. "Do you know how crazy you sound!?"
"Look, I'm just tryna get outta here so shit can return back to norm-"
Before Jarold could finish his sentence, Diana hung up the phone and got out of her seat. She turned to Jionni, grabbing her purse and heading towards the door.
"I'll be outside, Jionni." Diana groaned as she stepped out.
Jionni watched his mother walk out of the door then slowly turned to the booth. He calmly took his seat and picked up the phone as Jarold smiled at him.
"Look at you, Jionni. Dressin' just like I did when I was a teenaga'." Jarold laughed. "Freezin' cold and you dressed in nothin' but a jacket, wife beader, and tan shorts."
Jarold could see in Jionni's eyes that he wasn't in the mood for small talk. Jarold sighed, looking down.
"Listen Jionni, I ain't mean to-"
"Don't look down when you talkin' to me. Look me in mah eyes like a man." Jionni growled. "It's the least you can do, so do it."
Jarold looked up at Jionni, glancing into his raging brown eyes.
"When I did the shit I did, I ain't know that yo' mama was pregnant wit' you. Had I known dat shit, I would've straightened up." Jarold said in a serious tone. "I apologize for leavin' such a hole in yo' heart. You my son."
Tears of rage and frustration from seeing his mother struggle without any help started to build in Jionni's eyes as his father placed his hand on the glass.
"Do you forgive me?" Jionni's father asked.
Jionni sat there and stared at him for a while, then slowly hung up the phone. Jionni got up out of his seat and started walking away, not taking a second look at his father. After he went home, he felt that he had to tell everyone what happened once he linked up with Melissa and the others on a Saturday night.
"So........das all he said?" Ross asked.
Jionni slowly nodded his head as Melissa sat beside him.
"Are you alright?" Melissa asked him.
"No." Jionni said, quickly answering her.
D'juan glanced at Melissa, squinting his eyes at her and looking down.
"I need a smoke..." Jionni groaned as he stepped outside.
Everyone followed him outside on the porch of his home. As they started walking over to Kisses house for a smoke, Jionni bumped into one of the three dudes walking his way. Jionni or the others didn't recognize them and being that Jionni lived in this area all his life, he knew that they weren't from around here. They were more than likely leaving or going to someone's house to buy drugs.
"Aye, watch where the fuck you goin' homeboy!" One of the boys barked at Jionni.
"Ignore him, Jionni." Chevy scoffed as he placed his hand over Jionni's shoulder. "Let's g-"
"Aye, who the hell you gettin' at homeboy?" Jionni barked back as the boys turned around.
"Obviously you, nigga!" The boy scowled. "You was in my way!"
"Jionni, come on..." Melissa mumbled nervously as she grabbed his arm.
"You betta listen to yo' bitch, homeboy." The boy nodded, smiling at him. "Gone, nah!"
"It was one lil bump, boy!" D'juan scoffed at them. "Chill out!"
The boy sniffed and shoved D'juan on the ground. D'juan was shorter than the others, so he obviously had the advantage. As Ross and Chevy jogged to help him off of the ground, Jionni snatched something out of his pocket and aimed it at the boy.
It was a gun.
The blood rushed out of the boys face as the light from the streetlight glazed on the black metal. From the thing that happened with Jionni's father, to them disrespecting Melissa and to them pushing D'juan on the ground, Jionni was pretty much boiling with anger. With his mouth creaked open a tiny bit, everyone could see his teeth softly clenched together as he cocked the gun off safety with his thumb. Jionni had never pulled a gun on anyone before. He always kept it for safety reasons, but he never shot anyone before. In fact, Jionni wasn't a thug in any type of way. He was so heavily protected since he hung out with so many drug dealers and gang bangers. He fought from here and there, but that was the closest that Jionni came to in terms of being a "thug".
"Aye aye aye Jionni, put that damn gun down." Ross said in an extremely worried tone, placing his hand up.
The boy stared blankly at the gun as Jionni kept it aimed at his head. Though the boy was trying to look hard on the outside, it was pretty obvious by the tension in his face muscles that he was scared shitless.
"Come on, Mook!" One of the boys friends chanted as they grabbed his arm. "We gotta g-"
"I ain't say that y'all muthafucka's could leave!" Jionni shouted in rage.
The three boys stood there as Melissa placed her hands on Jionni's shoulders. Melissa had never seen a gun in person before.
Not until now.
"Jionni look, j-just place the gun down." Melissa stuttered in nervousness. "You don't wanna wind up like your father, do you?"
"Put the gun down, Jionni!" D'juan scowled as he stood up. "These ol' faggot ass niggas ain't worth it!"
Jionni stared angrily at the men for a few more seconds. Suddenly, Jionni pistol whipped the boy with the back of the gun, watching the boy fly back onto the ground. Jionni grabbed the boy by the collar and started punching him over and over when Chevy and the others grabbed Jionni off of him, watching him kick and fling around.
"Don't you EVA disrespect my damn family or girl again you punk ass nigga!" Jionni scowled.
Jionni smacked Chevy and Ross's hands off of him, storming off.
"Get off me, man..." Jionni panted as he started walking ahead of the others.
Chevy, Ross, Jay, D'juan, and Melissa stood around a circle. Chevy placed his hands out, looking around. Again, Melissa was starting to hear those voices in her head again. The voices of her parents.
"If he pulls a gun out when he gets this angry, what if he pulls one out on you?"
"Is this the right guy you should be hanging around?"
"You should be with Chase instead. He's A LOT more safer."
But what Melissa was really worried about what the first thought she had. If she were to someday get Jionni this upset, would he pull a gun out on her?
"Aye listen, what happened here, y'all don't tell nobody shit. Don't mention that Jionni had a gun or nun." Chevy mumbled. "I 'ont wanna have to worry about none of y'all snitchin' and runnin' y'all mouths to people at school."
"Come on, Chevy." Ross said in a disappointed tone. "You know that we ain't shit like that."
"Well, at least four of us." D'juan scoffed. "One of y'all a snitch."
"Who?" Jay scoffed.
D'juan snatched Melissa's hat off and roughed up her hair, watching it all fall out of the bun. Melissa covered her mouth as the others mouths dropped as well, looking in disbelief. D'juan slowly nodded his head, looking at everybody. From the distance, Jionni could see what was going on. His mouth was opened as well.
"This lil' trick done had insight on ALL da shit we been doin'!" D'juan scowled as he turned to her. "What you got to say, lil privileged girl?"
Melissa was finally exposed. There was nothing that she could say or do that would get her out of this one.