Run away......

Dion up there.

Jaylen POV

  "So how was the movies?" Darren said as he walked into my room. This nigga NEVER knocks. "Well hey, hi, yes you can come in." I said staring at him. "Yeah, yeah, spill the beans nigga." he said flagging me down. "Well, it was fun. I actually wasn't as scared of the movie as I originally thought. We went out to eat first and that couldn't have been perfect timing because a thug was hungry. I shocked them when I paid for my own things." I said as he laughed. "They felt on my head to make sure I didn't have a fever or anything. It was funny. I was a little paranoid because you know Bryheem ugly ass is always wandering around trying to find his next victim." "Yea I know." "The good news is that he wasn't there. Now if a certain someone didn't answer my call sooner, my ass would've been grass." I said as I glared at him. 

  "I know. I know and I'm sorry. I wanted to take a shower since the kid felt dirty. I didn't expect Roman to follow in behind me." he said. "Don't tell me you two-""Aht aht aht! All we did was kiss. We're still sitting on the other idea. " "You sure that 'WE' are sitting on that?" I asked with my eyebrow raised. "Well me. He understands that everyday I'm here, I'm pressured to have sex with someone. He said that he doesn't want to be one of those people so he will wait as long as I'm ready. I'm grateful but I don't want make him wait too long because lord knows what he'll do." he said as I just stared at him. "What? What's going on? Something on my face or something? What?" he said as I started laughing. "You're really in love. That relationship glow looks good on you. I'm so happy to see you smiling." I said as he smiled back. 

  "Stop. You're making me blush." he said turning red. "I can't wait for the day you get the same love." he said as I smiled. "Well lemme go. I know you got some homework to do. Don't stress yourself too hard." he said as he walked out. I opened my book bag and started to grab my books. Wait it's Saturday. "It's the-" I started to yell out but I think he already knew that. My friends are so petty. Well I think I want to just chill out this weekend. Hopefully that means no 'clients'.

That Monday     

  I managed to make it through the weekend uninterrupted. I could jump for joy right now. I was no up getting ready for school. I heard the front door slam, which indicated the my 'ride' left me. I really don't think this nigga thinks that this is a form a of punishment or something. "I got it." I smiled at Darren as he came out of the room. "Oh OK. Just making sure. Have a good day." he said as I smiled at him. "Have a good day. See you later." he said as I waved back. "Just made it" I said as I got on the bus. "There he is. The man of the hour." Dion said as I walked up to them. "Let's settle this debate.  Pancakes or waffles?" Malika asked me. "Well if we're being honest, French toast is the best but out of those two, I'm gonna go with waffles." I said as I shrugged. "See I told you! Pay up nigga!" she said with her hand out. "Way to have my back Jay." Dion said handing her 5 dollars. 

  "should've forewarned me." I said as I shrugged my shoulders as I walked. "He hate losing a bet." Malika said as she walked up behind me. "You don't have to me. It killed him to give me that 20 when I told him I had a higher test grade than him." I said as we laughed remembering the day. "He was so confident too." she said making us laugh even harder. "Y'all hype." he mumbled. "Aww it's OK D. Maybe next time." I said as I hugged him, only for him to push me away. I fake gasped. "That's crazy." I said shaking my head as me and Malika entered our combinations. He started to say something but quickly got ignored. "I'm sorrrrrryyyy." he said as he bear hugged me. "Get off me." I said as I glare at him. "Not until you forgive me. M, make him forgive me." he said as he looked at her. "uh uh, you dug yourself in this hole. Now, climb on out." she said with her hands up. "It be your own friend." he said as I gave him my attention. "I know right? Salty and shit." I said before turning my head again. 

  "OK, OK. I'm sorry Jay. Forgive me?" he said making the one face I can't get mad at. "Please deposit $1 to keep this conversation going." I said as I smiled. "How about 5?" he said taking out a 5 and putting it in my hand. "Forgiven." I said as he hugged me tighter. "All is right again." he said as he continued to carry me down the hall while Malika walked beside us. "My legs aren't broke Dion. I can walk." I said laughed as Malika played on her phone. "I know that." he simply said. "Then put me down. Gently." I had to add that last part because his smart ass would literally throw me and Malika on our ass. "OK" he said as he put me down. "Knew you loved me." he said as he hugged me again. If this negro hug me one more time, Imma cough up a kidney. He buff as hell for no reason. "Yeah, yeah, yeah." I said as we walked to homeroom. "I need to borrow your history book." he said. "Niggas only love you when they need something. You lucky mines not here." I said as I handed him the book. 

  "You know that's a lie but whatever young." he said as continued our trek. "Friday was fun! We should do it again." Malika said. "Same exact thing?" I said I confusion. "Nah I was actually thinking of laser tag." she said as I perked up. "I always wanted to do that! When we going?" I asked hype as hell. "Uh how about next Friday?" she said as I nodded my head in agreement. "Meeting at the same spot?" I asked. "Yup and NO ONE CAN BE LATE!!!" she exaggerated that last part. I cut my eyes at her. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. We know how you feel now. Whoomp whoomp, whoomp." she said complete with the hand gestures. "Y'all make me sound like a nagging parent or something. Geez." I said as we all laughed upon entering the room. Just in time at that because the bell just rung. 

   End Of The Day

  "I couldn't wait to get out of there. It was soooooo slow today." I said as it was a unanimous feeling. "Yes. Especially 6th period. Dawg I fell asleep twice and didn't even know it until Mr. Sims ugly ass slammed a book on my desk." Malika said as we laughed. "That's what you get for sleeping on education." Dion added as she cut her eyes at him. "I know damn well you're talking. Mr. I gotta go to the bathroom every 5 minutes." she said as I laughed. "I'm over here running errands for the teacher and yo ass roaming the hall pretending to be in a Chris Brown music video." I chuckled. "Not my fault." he said shrugging. "We need to get you a phone baby boy. Tired of not being able to text or call you." Malika said as my smile faltered a bit. This was something they mentioned a few times and honestly, they was right but there were a couple of things wrong with that. One being how was I find time to get one? The second being how to hide the shit since I live in a place with constant traffic. The last one was what to say to when if I got caught.

  "Earth to Jaylin. Come back to us." she said as she snapped her fingers in front of my face. "Huh?" I said as I looked back at her. "You OK?" she asked concerned. "Yea I'm good and to be honest, you're right. I just need to find the time to actually get one." I said as I scratched the back of my neck. "You be busy huh? I can get it for you if you want." she said as I nodded my head. "OK. I'll probably hand you the money Thursday." I said as she nodded her head.  "We just want to be able to keep in touch with you. Especially with graduation coming up." Dion added. I totally forgot that we only had about 5 months until we graduate. The time is really flying. "Have y'all even started looking in to college yet?" I asked them curiously. "Honestly no." "I'm over here trying to enjoy over last year together." Dion said as he held his head down. To think we'd be going our own separate ways after this. I don't wanna think about that right now." Malika said.  

  "I'm sorry. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. For now let's just focus on the fun." I said as we all agreed. "I'm dropping you off. It looks like it's going to rain soon." Dion stated as I looked up at the sky. It looked like it was about to be a tsunami. "Let's go before it really comes down." he said as we walked to his car. Once he dropped me and Malika off before heading to work. "I see you're getting used to finding you're own way home. Smart boy." Bryheem said to me. I was not in the mood to talk to him so I just went to my room. "How was school?" Darren said walking through my door. At this point, I'm not even surprised or scared. "It was good. How about you? How was your day?" I asked him. "It was good. I finally started to get hang of this chemistry. Shit is tough. Thank God for Roman." he said earning a chuckle from me. "I've actually been thinking." he said as his face turn serious. 

  "About?" I said as I furled my eyebrows. "I was thinking of executing the plan this weekend." he said as thunder clapped immediately. "Darren? Is it crack you smoke? How the hell we gonna get outta of here in that short of a notice!?" I whisper yelled. "We going on a trip this weekend. I overheard Bryheem talking about it. The perfect opportunity couldn't came at a better time." "But-" "I already talked to Allure about it, she's on board with it." "I thought you were gonna wait until we graduated?" "I was but this is too good to pass up. I can't do this if you're this apprehensive." I took a deep breath as a moment to assess the situation. One wrong move is all it takes, however, I really want to get the fuck outta here. Of course that means I may not be able to graduate with Dion and Malika because they'll immediately come there to look for me. "OK, I'm in." I said as he lit up. "Hold on. Lemme go get Allure." he said as he swiftly exited the room. 

  I sat there in my thoughts. Was I really making the right decision? Will I really get out of here alive? What about- "Alright the gangs all here." he said snapping me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see Allure taking a seat on my bed as Darren closed the door. "Uh hey Allure." I said as I gave her a weak smile. "So what's the plan?" she simply said as she waived at me. Straight to business I see. "Ight so check it. We strike as soon as we're transported there. Allure, your job is to keep these dummies distracted for as long as you can. Do whatever you have to. Jay, you're coming with me. While she distracts them, we'll sneak outta the back as discreetly as can be." he said looking at me. "Uh OK. Sounds simple enough." I said shrugging my shoulders. "We might have to fight but we getting the hell out of here. Allure, like I promised, I'm coming back for you." he said as I looked at him confused. "Yeah that was the deal I made with her. It was the only way she would agree to this." he said, reading my mind.

  "How would we be getting in contact with her though? They don't have phones." I said tilting my head. "I already have one. Been did. My nigga is wrapped around my finger. He'll do anything I tell him to." she responded. Well, no more questions from me. "Cool. Lemme get a piece of paper." she said as everyone turned their attention to me. I rolled my eyes as I gave her what she asked for. "Here. Don't forget about me." she said as she handed it to Darren. "I won't. I'm going to try to free as many of you as I possibly can." "Alright Harriet Tubman." I said earning a laugh from both of them. "Friday is when shit goes down so get ready." he said as they both got up to leave the room. Well it looks like it's no turning back now. I just decided to take a nap after that. 

  "Hey Jay. Wake up." I felt someone shaking me awake. I opened my eyes to see Darren sitting on the edge of my bed. "Hm?" I said rubbing my eyes as I sat up in the bed. "Are you OK? You seemed a little conflicted earlier." he said as I was trying to get my vision adjusted. Once I did that, I sat up. "I have a few questions." I said as I got up and closed my door. "Did you tell Roman any of this?" "Yes" he said as I looked at him surprised. "I can only keep him in the dark for so long. Besides it was the conversation I had with him that made me want to do this now." I guess my facial expression was telling him everything I couldn't say. He sighed before continuing "He asked me how did I envision my life outside of here. I told him all the dreams and aspirations I had. One of them is being able to go on a date with him, sitting under the stars having conversations and sharing corny jokes. The most important one is seeing my mother." he said as I smiled faded. 

  "I hope she's doing OK. I miss her so much and everyday that passes, that feeling grows more and more." he said as I hugged him. I know that feeling as I feel the same way. "We have to get out of here Jay. We have to. Our lives depend on it." he said as he hugged me back. "Trust me, he was against the thought of me doing this. The idea of losing me was a lot for him to bear. Though I was sure he'd find somebody else, he immediately told me that wasn't the case. He talks about me a lot at work." he said as I smiled. "Trust me, the kid has been practicing and going over everything, weighing out all the possibilities. It's now or never. All we can do now is have faith and pray" he said as I nodded my head. "I didn't know you put this much thought into it. That definitely puts me at ease now. You can be a little impulsive sometimes." I said earning a laugh from him. "That may or may not be true but I've never been so sure or something. Well besides agreeing to being Roman's boyfriend." he chuckled. 

  "Well rest up because we have to be mentally ready." he said hugging me one more time before walking out of the room. No turning back now. Let's do this.

 That Friday.    

  It's D- day and to say I'm nervous is an understatement. My friends could tell something has been bothering me since we spoke Monday but decided not to press the issue. "This week flew by, didn't it?" Malika said as I rubbed my eyes. "It was just Monday. I blinked and now it's Friday. I can't even tell you one thing I learned." "Ditto bro. I can't complain though. I'm happy that I'm off today so I'm taking my ass to sleep as soon as I touch down." Dion said as Malika played in her hair. "I going to my cousin's birthday party so I can't relate. See y'all on Monday." she said as she walked away from us. "Ight well see you Monday kid." Dion said as he walked away. He stopped mid way and walked back to me and pulled me into a hug. "Whatever it is, I hope you're get over it/be safe." he said before releasing me and walking away. I guess I'm really transparent. Sighing, I made my way to the bus stop. 

  As soon as I made it home, Bryheem stopped everyone. "Pack some shit. We going on a little field trip." he said. Looks like Darren was right. I walked straight upstairs to my room to grab some things. "Already did it for you." he said as he handed me my bag. "You already on it." "You know-" "Let's go." Bryheem yelled, interrupting him. I threw my book bag down and headed downstairs. I saw Allure standing by the banister tapping her foot. I gave her an empty look as we made our way down. "Load up." He said as I looked confused, only for him to open the door to show two black vans. Now I know damn well he ain't expect this shit to hold all of us. "Let's go before we have to sit on the floor and shit." Darren said as he dragged me to the second van. Smart choice because everyone was crowding the first. Shortly after that, the whole house was in the van. "Ight let's go." Bryheem said as he started walking to our van. I'm starting to see why they crammed in the first one. 

   Every few seconds, he would look at me through the rear view mirror. It was honestly annoying. I decided to follow Darren's lead and go to sleep. "We here. Let's go." Bryheem said in a softer tone waking us up. I rubbed my eyes as Darren stretched before getting out. We made it to a room that would be ours as we dropped our things. "Play some music. Let's get this shit popping." Bryheem said as music blared. Only he would want to have a party right now. Allure popped in the doorway, scaring the shit out of me. "Y'all ready?" she said as we nodded our heads. We walked downstairs to a the whole neighborhood downstairs. That was fast as hell. "Good luck." she whispered to us as she walked into the crowd. Darren grabbed my arm as we slid into the darker areas of the room. We scouted the room for some type of door. He tapped me as he pointed to a door as we slowly made our towards it. 

  Allure was trying to look for us through the midst of people. I waved my hand as immediately spotted me. She whispered something in another girls ear as the girl got on a near by pole and started doing tricks as everyone walked crowded around her. "Now." Darren said as we rushed towards the door. Luckily, it lead straight towards outside. "What y'all do-" Tron said as I punched him in the face. "You-" he said as Darren followed up. We continued to beat his ass. In the midst of the scuffle, Darren managed to grab his gun. He wasted not time shooting him. Sadly for us, there wasn't no silencer on the damn gun. "What was that?" Antwon said coming around back. He looked at us and Tron's dead body and tried to draw his gun. Darren lit his ass up. "Let's go" Darren said grabbing me. We were getting out of here.  We started to run when I heard a gunshot close to my foot. "If you value your life, you would stay right where you're standing." I turned around to see Bryheem standing there. 

  Darren turned around and pointed his gun to him. "You were gonna run huh. My two most valuable toys leaving their maker. I'm sad." he said not taking his gun off me. "We're not doing this shit anymore. We're getting the fuck outta here. Unless you value your life, you would put that down and go back to your party." He said. I've never seen him so serious. "Go and hand an pull the trigger big man."

  All I heard was gunshots before my eyes closed. 

Now that we're getting into some things, let's continue.

Thoughts?

Darren?

Dion?

Jaylen?

Allure?

Bryheem?

Next Chapter Tomorrow!!