Trina, Mercedes, and Britt Bratt spent the entire day hanging out at the mall. After shopping, they all decided to stop at Trina's to finish hanging out there. Ironically, while doing nails, Trina decided to bring up Melissa while they sat up in her room watching TV and eating snacks.
"Melissa got her damn nerve gettin' mad at us after we done went up to dat' hospital to see her sick ass a hundred times." Trina scoffed as she painted Mercedes toes. "Shiet, she better be lucky she got friends like us."
Mercedes and Britt Bratt grinned at each other then leaned forward.
"Trina, we gone tell you some shit but you gotta keep yo' mouth closed." Mercedes whispered.
"Yeah?" Trina said. "Wassup?"
Britt Bratt smiled, smacking her hands together.
"We poisoned Melissa."
The news hit Trina so fast that she didn't believe it. She stopped painting Mercedes nails as her mouth dropped.
"Y'all lyin'." Trina said in a shocked tone.
Mercedes smiled and pulled a small bag out of her bag, showing her the small bag of what looked like powder. Trina looked at it, looking back at them.
"Why?" Trina asked in a stunned tone.
"Please. Like Mehgan from bad girls club said, don't friend with bitches you fight." Britt Bratt answered.
"Wait, you poisoned her cause of y'all fight?" Trina asked in a shocked tone. "That fight from the beginnin' of the year?"
Britt Bratt nodded and gave Mercedes a smack on the hand as Trina looked down, not believing what she heard.
"Y'all coulda killed her, y'all know that?" Trina whispered in an angry tone. "That's fucked up."
"We ain't wanna kill her, but we wanted to make her sick." Mercedes smiled. "Dassit."
Trina gave them disgusted looks, shaking her head as she finished painting Mercedes nails.
"You ain't gone say no shit, is you?" Britt Bratt asked.
Trina looked up at the both of them, shaking their heads.
"Nah." Trina said. "Y'all know me betta' than that."
Trina had never been more disgusted in her life. In fact, she was embarrassed to call these girls her friends. The whole time she was wondering:
"If I fight one of them, what the hell dey' gone do to me?"
The next day in Jionni's first hour, he watched Melissa walk in and sit in her seat again. There, she sat at the same seat she had across the room and got out her books, preparing to take notes since she got to class early. Jionni was there early as well because he wanted to show her what he had. Jionni walked over to her, clutching his phone.
"Lissa." Jionni murmured to her as his shadow lined over her. "I got some important shit fo' you."
Melissa still didn't look his way. Jionni sat down next to her and slumped his shoulders, giving her a sad look.
"Look Lissa, can you just watch dis' shit fa' two seconds?" Jionni asked as he leaned next to her and placed his phone on her desk. "It's some important shit on here."
Melissa dropped her bag and glanced at Jionni's phone. It was them recording what was happening a week before the day of the poisoning. There, it showed Britt Bratt opening Melissa's locker and Kiara and Mercedes taking out the Gatorade. Once it fast forwarded to two days, it showed the three sneaking it back into her bag on the day of the poisoning in between classes and leaving.
"See?" Jionni said. "Them three bitches poisoned you!"
Melissa clicked her pen out and started writing the notes down from the board early. Jionni shook his head and creaked his mouth open, slowly shaking his head.
"Damn Lissa I said dat' I was sorry." Jionni said in a slightly agitated tone. "What else you won't me ta' say?"
Melissa continued to write down notes, not paying Jionni any mind. Jionni played with the chain around his neck, cracking a small smile.
"Look, I still got yo' chain." Jionni smiled as he bounced it on his neck. "I ain't sell it afta' all!"
Melissa remained the same. The sound of her pen skating through her paper silently echoed throughout the quiet class as Jionni remained high and dry. Suddenly, a girl walked to the back of the classroom with their books, looking down at him.
"Excuse me, but you in my seat." The girl said in a soft tone.
Jionni gazed at Melissa for a while and rolled his eyes, sighing as he stood up and walked back to his seat. He was still sure that Melissa would talk to him at some point. He was sure that she was gonna fold. He was sure that they were gonna make up later.
But he was now starting to see how serious she was.
Still, Jionni wasn't going to stop attempting to talk to her. Throughout class, he continued to text her trying to pry her in.
Jionni: Lissa!
Jionni: Quit being fuckin' difficult Lissa.
Jionni: I know you see me textin you. I'm not gone stop until you respondin.
Melissa ignored every text he sent him. Eventually, Jionni gave up and prepared to try again tomorrow. As him and Chevy walked home, they saw Kiara walking behind the school. They both glanced at her, stopping in their tracks.
"Dere' she go." Chevy groaned angrily. "You tryna go get ha'?"
"Hell yeah, lesgo."
Jionni and Chevy turned around, jogging and creeping behind her. When they saw her, Jionni snatched her by her arm and slammed her against the wall, startling her.
"What the hell are you doing?" Kiara growled as Jionni clutched her face.
"Don't talk shit. You know what the fuck we here fo'." Jionni growled back as they kept her pinned against the wall.
"What da' hell did you do with that damn Gatorade bottle!?" Chevy snapped.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Kiara grumbled through her clenched cheeks.
"You know what, fuck dis."
Jionni snatched his grip off of Kiara as he gave her a nonchalant look.
"We already know you poisoned Lissa, and we got proof." Jionni smiled as he held up his phone. "Yo' ass goin' to jail."
"And we got da' tape, too." Chevy added.
Kiara looked at the both of them, cracking a small smile.
"Oh I'm sorry, you mean this tape?"
Kiara smiled as she took out the dated tape, waving it at them. Jionni and Chevy's face went blank as they looked at each other.
"How da' hell she get that damn tape?" Chevy asked as he glanced over at Jionni.
Earlier in the day...
Kiara watched from afar as Jionni took some things out of his backpack, also placing them into his locker. The girls had went into the security area a few hours after Jionni and Chevy, but the boys already retrieved the tape before they could come about.
"Shit!" Mercedes scoffed as she looked at Kiara and Britt Bratt. "What are we gonna do?"
And this led to Kiara sneaking into Chevy's locker. However, she couldn't do it out in the open or with her face showing. So once the hallways cleared, she asked could she leave class to use the bathroom. Once she got into the halls, she placed her hoodie over her body and looked out of camera range, unlocking Jionni's locker and taking the tape.
"Nigga, you took the damn tape to school?" Chevy scowled at him.
"I neva' took it out my bag!" Jionni scowled back.
"Fuck it, let's get it from her-"
"Ah ah ah."
Kiara held her butcher knife out, pointing it at both of their necks.
"If you dare try to take it, I'll drop the knife and scream that you're out here trying to harm me. You're not taking shit."
Jionni started panting angrily as Kiara smiled at him.
"What's wrong, Jionni? Are you mad that I tried to kill your Lissa?"
"You gone pay for dis' shit-"
"No you're gonna pay for killing my goddamn son!"
"That was OUR son, Kiara! Ours!" Jionni yelled at her. "You thank dat I meant to kill my own fuckin' son!"
"You took away my ONLY happiness! You're gonna pay for what the hell you did!" Kiara said in an angry, slight delusional tone. "Since I couldn't kill that little Filipino bitch I guess I'm gonna have to turn you i-"
"We got footage of you too-"
"Oh, do you? So what do you want to be known as in your neighborhood?" Kiara smiled, still holding the knife out. "A snitch?"
Kiara started to laugh as Chevy's face went blank.
"We all know that's the wrong turn, especially where you live. I know. I lived there." Kiara nodded. "If you head to the police the entire neighborhood will label you as the RAT you are. So tell me, is it really worth it?"
Kiara placed the tape into her back pants as she started walking away, still keeping her knife out.
"I'll keep mine shut if you don't open yours." Kiara said lowly to them.
"I'ma 'bout to-"
"Let her go, mane." Jionni murmured to Chevy as he placed her hand out. "She still a mama dats hurtin...."
If all Jionni and Chevy had to do was keep their mouths shut, they weren't going to speak. Still, he wanted to find some way for the police to find out.
And Kiara didn't hesitate to tell the girls.
"What the hell!? I forgot that Jionni was smarter dan' he looks!" Britt Bratt scowled, talking on three way with the girls.
"Nah, that nigga book AND street smart." Kiara said in a serious tone, sitting on her couch. "I should've figured that that's what he was gonna do..."
"The real question is, what are WE gonna do?" Mercedes asked.
Kiara squinted her eyes, cracking a small smile.
"I know."
Kiara arrived at school earlier than most of the students at the school. Since D'juan's locker was out of the main hallway where the cameras were, Kiara was able to get the job she wanted done. When she looked over in the other hall, she saw a few officers talking to the police officers. They had dogs with them to sniff out whatever drugs or poisoning were inside of the school. Kiara scooted the small bag of rat poisoning in between the slit, walking off and heading to her class.
To show how poisonous the rat poisoning was, Kiara used a bag half of that size to poison Melissa.
At lunch, Melissa walked in and was expecting to get her lunch and walk out of the lunchroom to finish her meal in the counseling center. Instead, she walked in and saw Jionni standing in a suit. He was hiding something behind his back. As she started to walk towards the line, Jionni rushed up to her and cracked a small smile.
"Hey Lissa!" Jionni smiled as he stopped her. "Hold on, I got somethin' fo' you."
Jionni pulled out a dozen roses from behind his back as the girls in the lunchroom started cheering and clapping for him. Melissa gave him a blank stare as he pulled out something else.
"Oh, and one mo' thang." Jionni smiled as he dug in his pockets. "You know them earrings you always been wanting?"
Jionni snatched out some real diamond earrings that he bought with his own money. He opened the case and placed it in front of her along with a lot of roses.
"Dis' my way of apologizin' and showin' my feelins' for you. In front of everybody." Jionni smiled. "So, what do you say?"
Melissa looked away and brushed past him, leaving him hanging. She grabbed her lunch and walked out, not saying a word. Jionni's shoulders dropped as he gazed out of the lunchroom, watching as D'juan walked up to him.
"Aye, das' some fucked up shit." D'juan sighed. "But aye, look at it dis' way. It's otha' women-"
Before D'juan could finish his sentence, they both watched two officers walk into the lunchroom. They looked at a picture of theirs, walking up to Jionni and D'juan.
"Are you D'juan Ivy?" The officers asked.
"What!?"
"Put your hands behind your back."
The officers grabbed D'juan's wrists and aggressively placed them behind his back, cuffing him as everyone looked on.
"You're being placed on a 48 hour hold for the attempted murdwr of Melissa Rodriguez." The second officer said.
"What!?" D'juan snapped. "I ain't try ta' poison ha' ass!"
As the officers read D'juan his rights, Jionni was quick to stop it.
"My cousin ain't do dat' shit, mane!" Jionni said as he placed his hands out, also digging into his pockets. "I got my phone for proof!"
But Jionni's phone wasn't in his pockets. When he looked around, he watched as Britt Bratt placed his phone on the table.
"You left yo' phone at Melissa's table." Britt Bratt winked.
Jionni gave her a shocked look as he snatched his phone, unlocking it to find his photos. They were all deleted. All 2000 of his photos were gone, INCLUDING photos of JJ he took that were transferred onto there. He knew exactly why Britt Bratt, Trina, and Mercedes did it also. So not only was the tape gone, but so was the evidence he and Chevy had.