Arthur's p.o.v
"We're here" I hear a voice say shaking me awake. I can't believe I slept the whole ride here. All the traffic made me really think that we wouldn't get here anytime soon.
"Huh?" I say with the sleep pulling me back and I feel a sting on my cheek making me jump up.
"We here" pops repeats and I sit up rubbing my eyes a little to get rid of the sleep. When I finally come to my senses, I roll the windows down and check the place out. The building we're supposedly staying in doesn't look as bad as the last one.
"We got a room on the second floor" pops says taking a luggage out of the trunk and I nod.
"Aight" I say and get up to get my luggage as well to follow pops inside the building. I'll come get the other ones later, I'm too tired right now.
As soon as we enter, the scent of weed hits my nose and I scrunch my face up looking around to see where it's coming from and it's none other than my uncle who is waiting to show us around the place. He was supposed to get us an apartment beforehand. When dad is close enough, they shake each other's hands.
"Sup nephew" he says and I dab him up when I get close to him. This nigga does never not smoke.
"I'm cool, uncle James" I say.
"You helping out too?" He asks referring to the job.
"Naah, he still in school" pops cuts me off making me kiss my teeth in frustration. "You gone show us around?" he asks walking towards the elevator.
"We gone have to take the stairs cause the elevator ain't working" uncle James tells us with a thick accent so we follow him up the stairs.
When we get to the second floor he stops at a door and pulls out a key. "This is it" he says opening the door and we walk in.
"Not enough but it's aight" he says turning on a light in this broad daylight. That wasn't necessary.
"Good enough for a couple of months" pops says dropping his luggage on the dirty floor.
I look around at the small space. Outside looked so much better. This place is in a very bad condition and it could collapse any minute. Some lights aren't even working, the walls aren't painted and the floor is fucking dusty.
"Two rooms and a bathroom. Y'all gone have to share" my uncle says and sits down on the couch that looks like it could break any time.
"Pick one, Arthur" pops says and I walk into what seems like the kitchen. My eyes fall on the sink that seems clogged. The water must've been there for a while. I open the empty fridge to check if it's working and it surprisingly is so I close it and walk back to the living room.
When pops sees me he stops talking to uncle James and looks at me. 'Must be one of those things I'm not allowed to hear' I think to myself, take my luggage and walk into one of the rooms that's mine now. I look around and there's not much in here, there's plastic on the bed so I remove it and lay down on my back staring at the ceiling.
'I'm back in my hometown' I sigh as my mind drift to the things we, mostly pops went through when he lived here.
Pops never finished high school because of multiple reasons and my grandparents weren't the richest so that left him broke. After that he made some bad decisions like joining a gang, selling drugs and my grandparents threw him out when they caught him doing it.
He struggled on those very streets to get some bread and to his luck he got some hoe pregnant. That hoe is my mother who I don't give one fuck about because she never wanted me. She handed me over to pops right after she gave birth to me and went back to stripping. I don't even care where's she's at right now. To me, she's as good as dead because she me everything difficult.
Now, I have to live with pops who has two jobs. He doesn't even want me to work because I need to focus on my schoolwork and he thinks what he's doing right now like keeping shit from me is keeping me away from these streets.
I'm never included in any of their plans. According to him I need to stay in school and finish it. I can join when I finish but I know that's a lie. I'm in my senior year and if this plan they got works he's definitely sending me to college.
What he doesn't understand is that he won't be able to keep me away from the streets no matter how hard he tries because I'm already a part of it. He treats me like a child even though I'm already 18 years old. I also gotta have my own money. I'm a grown ass nigga so I do my shit on the low. He doesn't have to know.
I yawn and stretch my legs. I woke up too early this morning to catch our flight and then we drove miles to get here. I'll take a quick nap.
~~~~
My nap was longer than I thought it would be so I get up all sweaty and search for a towel in my luggage and walk to the bathroom at the end of the hallway for a quick shower. I noticed that my other stuff are already in my room so I won't have to go downstairs to get them, pops already took care of that.
When I finish my shower, I dress up real quick and check my phone. I have some messages from Andre and some other people. Andre is one of my homies who thought me how to make quick money. He's known in these streets and they fear him.
I check Andre's messages and most of them were about him welcoming me back to my hometown and to hit him up so I go to my contacts and tap on his number. It doesn't take long before he picks up.
"What's up,homie" he yells loudly into the phone. This nigga is always in a good mood.
"I'm back, nigga" is the first thing I say and I hear him cheer in the back. Yeah, he's probably high right now.
"That's wassup" he goes, "they won't be able to handle us on these streets now that you here" he says.
"Naah, spread the word. I don't play that shit" I say sitting on the side of the bed. "So what's been going on around here, what are y'all up to" I ask.
"The usual, me pulling up on niggas when they refuse to obey and fucking bitches everyday" he says beaming.
"Bet" I say.
"These niggas are crazy" he says probably talking to someone else and they turn the music up in the background.
"Where you at" I ask when I hear it.
"I'm out here grinding nigga" he says, "shit, maybe I should come get you. We ain't seen you in a minute."
"Yeah, I ain't got other shit to do anyway and it's Friday" I say.
"Aight then, send me the address so I can pick you up. I'll show you around" he says.
"Yeah, you gotta introduce me to them bitches too" I say excitedly.
"Ay, that's my man. I gotta bring you to the trap then. It's always packing out here."
"Aight I'll be waiting, I'll see you later."
"Yeah yeah later, my guy" he replies and the line cuts off. I send the address right away and make my way to the living room.
"You want some pizza?" I hear pops ask from the kitchen and I walk to him. I take a slice and sit down on a chair.
"Where you going" he says looking at my clothes.
"Out" I shrug.
"Out with who. You know I ain't want you in these streets Arthur" he says glaring at me.
"I'm just gonna hang out with the homies and it's Friday" I say frustrated.
"We just got back and you already got homies?" He says raising an eyebrow.
"Andre and them" I say trying to end this conversation.
"The one that the cops always be looking for?" He questions and I look away when he glares at me. Here we go again.
"It ain't ev-" and he cuts me off as usual.
"Wrong motherfucker to hang out with Arthur and you know it. That nigga ain't got shit going on for himself in these damn streets. How old is he, 30? And he still running around selling drugs with no plans to get out. That's not the type of friend that your ass needs right now, boy" he says shaking his head.
"We're just here for a couple of months and if everything goes as planned, we'll be leaving in no time" he reminds me. That's what he always says, but nothing ever changes.
"What plan" I ask hoping to hear more from him.
"You starting school on Monday" he says changing the subject immediately and I kiss my teeth.
"Why do you always do this" I say getting angry.
"What did I do" he asks pointing to himself.
"I'm a grown nigga and you treat me like a child" I say getting angry.
"You a child Arthur" he says hitting the table but I don't listen.
"I get that you're trynna discipline me but damn" I say hitting the table like he did. "It ain't that hard to just tell me y'all are doing some illegal shit to get rich" I blurt out with my chest heaving up and down. Now I'm fuming because of this nigga.
"You ain't have to know." Yeah, that's all he says whenever we're talking about this.
"Why, why can't I know" I say louder.
"I ain't want you to be like me. I'm doing all I fucking can for you to have a better life. Let me do it, just finish your education, boy. Look around you, you think this a good environment to stay in? you think I wanted this for myself? I had no fucking choice and now you got it, why in the motherfucking world can't you use it wisely" he yells and rubs his face after.
"Shut the fuck up" someone says hitting the wall and I kiss my teeth.
"This ain't what you want, Arthur" he says softly and walks away after taking a deep breath. I pull my phone out and scroll through the gram.
Fuck that shit
*****
What are your thoughts on
Arthur?
Arthur's dad?
Uncle James?
Andre?