JACOREY POV
I sat on the loveseat next to my father and I watched him lay there with the different tubes connected to him.
I held his hand and looked down at the ground as tears fell. He's in critical condition and I'm scared that he won't make it. My dad is all I have left. I don't know what I'll do without him. I felt the cushion next to me sink in and I turned towards the person.
"It's okay," Mia says and she wipes some of my tears off my face. She pulled me into a hug and I cried on her shoulder.
"This shit is all my fucking fault." I cried while shaking my head.
"No, it's not Corey. It is not your fault this happened." She says with sincerity flowing through her voice.
"Yes, it is," I say yet again because I know this is my fault. I was playing with fire and this is the outcome. I'm not fucking stupid I know Brandon got connections and made this shit happen. I messed my whole family up...
My thoughts were broken when I heard Samia's phone ringing.
"Hello." She says lowly but I was already watching her. "Yes, I accept." She says and slowly rises from the seat. She then walks out of the room and leaves me by myself.
My head started to hurt as I waited for Mia to return. Ever since the day my dad got shot she has been on my side more than anyone else.
She doesn't deserve to have a bet on her but I'm too far in to call it off. I have to make prom extra special for her, just to get it over with. The quicker I fuck her the easier it's gonna be for me. Just wait till April 7th all of this will be over...
**
I felt someone shaking me making me wake up from my sleep.
"Come on baby. You goin home." Mia says.
I sit up and stretch before speaking, "Nawl, I can't leave him here by himself."
"He will be fine Corey come on." She demands.
"No. I'm not leaving my dad by himself. You can leave but I'm staying here." I tell her.
"Go son," My dad says scaring me.
"When did you wake up? Does your throat hurt? Do you need any water? Aye where's the nurse," I say quickly.
"He has been up for the past two hours. The nurse already checked up on him Corey. He's doing better than the other days. He's breathing better on his own," Mia tells me and I couldn't do anything but smile.
She then grabs my hand and pulls me up, "I'm taking you home. You look exhausted and you need to eat something other than Fast food."
"Alright. See you later dad, I love you." I say before walking towards the door with Mia.
"Love you too Son." My dad struggles to say then we leave the room together.
We walked out of the hospital and went to Mia car. She got in the driver's seat and I got in the passenger's seat.
She started the car after putting her seat belt on and Jill Scott's voice took over the silence in the car.
"This is the OG album right here," I say as I turned the music up.
"Nie whatchu know bout this Cor-Cor?" She asks as she nodded her head to 'A Long Walk' blasted through the speakers.
"Nawl whatchu know about Mrs.Jill from Philly," I say.
"Boy bye. Everybody knows that her debut album is a classic! Plus she has the best intro ever made. Nobody has topped her intro, everybody else copied it and that's big facts." She says enthusiastically.
She continued to talk about Jill Scott but I just looked at her and smiled. She looked so cute explaining why Jill Scott is one of the best artists ever. She was so into her argument I'm pretty sure she won't let me get one word in.
**
I walked into the kitchen for the third time today and each time I walked in it smelled ten times better each time.
"When you gon let me help you?" I ask yet again and she turns around to look at me.
"No, I got this. You needa go sit down somewhere." She says, rolls her eyes, and turns back towards the stove.
I walk behind her and wrap my arms around her waist. I put my face in the crook of her neck.
"Boy move, you see I'm cooking." She says and tries to push me off of her.
"Stop for a minute. Come chill wit me, you been doing things for me since my dad got shot. You need to rest too." I tell her but she shakes her head.
"I have to finish cooking. My chicken not finna burn cause you wanna play." She responds and pushes me back with her butt.
"Yo chicken? You took that out of my freezer."
"Nigga I said what I said. Now get out." She demands shooing me away. I slightly laughed and walked out of the kitchen. I decided to listen to her this time cause she hit me with a spoon last time I didn't leave when she told me to.
I walked into the living room and turned the TV on. I scrolled down the guide until I found something that caught my attention. I saw the basketball highlights playing on ESPN so I clicked on that. As I listened to the spectators talk about who they think are going to win the next game I imagined Monte being on the screen playing basketball for the best team there is. Ever since we were in middle school he always dreamed of being in the NBA. He pushed himself to be the best during basketball season, he was the biggest dreamer of the group.
Slim was also a dreamer but he didn't push himself as much, he feels like its either you got it or you don't. There's no need to doing extraness to get somewhere you will never be. Even though he will never admit we all know how much football means to him.
Now Shoota, he wasn't a sports player, he was more into science. He loves to research about the body, new diseases, and other stuff. That's how they figured Casey was sick so early on. Any other person would have overlooked the signs but Shoota knows a lot of signs to different diseases, Cassandra does too, being that she is a nurse.
Most of the people in our crew know what they're gonna do after high school, but me on the other hand, I'm stuck. I don't know what career's I should look into. I don't know if I should take the offers from colleges and further my education, start focusing on my music career, or just get a job at a factory.
Yes, my grades are high and yes, I am number three in our whole class but what does all that really mean. It doesn't mean that I'll be successful. It doesn't mean that I will be rich in the future. All this really means nothing. You can see my transcript and see all my credentials but honestly, it won't take me anywhere. It just shows I did my work and I test highly, that's all. How is it gonna help me provide for my future family?
I felt something hit the side of my face and I saw it was Mia standing next to me with her arms folded across her chest.
"What the hell was that?" I ask as I rub my face.
"Tell yo little side hoes to watch who the fuck they talking to before I beat they ass! Matter fact tell them bitches to come and cook yo damn food and be on yo side during all this shit!" She yells and grabs her purse before storming out of the house.
I look down at the couch and saw that she threw my phone at my face. I went to my contacts and saw that Shadice had called me a couple minutes ago.
"Shit," I say to myself and I hop off the couch and run outside. Samia was backing her car up so I quickly ran and jumped behind her car so she would stop.
She rolled her windows down and yelled, "Get the fuck out of my way before I run you over!"
"Just stop and let me explain," I say back as I continued to stand in my spot.
"No nigga, nie move!"
"Please drive back into the driveway," I say then she starts to drive forwards into the driveway. I sighed for a second but jumped into the grass when she started to back up at full speed trying to run me over. "I told yo ass to move bitch!" She yells out of the window and started to speed down the street.
That girl crazy as hell. What did I get myself into?
Hurry up April 7th.