Chapter2
“What do you mean he had the same tattoo? Gang members don’t go to school!”
“I am telling you Jason. Daniel is a Viper, I know that tattoo too well to miss it,” I say.
It was break time and Jason and I were sitting behind the main hall. We had to change our location because I was trying to avoid Summer. Don’t get me wrong, I like her, but she once dated my enemy. I couldn’t take any risks.
“If Daniel is a Viper, what is he doing in school?” Jason asks.
I take his question into consideration before a thought crosses my mind.
“What if Daniel isn’t a real student? What if he made up his identity so that he could get into the school?” I ask.
“Okay, now you’re losing it,” Jason says getting up.
“Hear me out, okay. I think Daniel James isn’t his real name. He created that name so that he’d be able to get into the school, and keep a close eye on my mother and I.”
“Even if your wild suspicions were true, Amari, how would we know?” Jason asks. The bell rings indicating that break is over.
“We’ll just have to ask around until we find what we’re looking for,” I say getting up and walking away.
“Did you just say we, because I am not a part of this Amari. I’m not trying to get killed!” he yells behind me.
I ignore him and walk off to my first class. Jason always tries to ditch me in situations that involve the Vipers. Even on the day that they shot at us, he ran away from me like I wasn’t there. The rest of my day was dedicated to avoiding Summer and her crazy ex-boyfriend, who could possibly be on a mission to kill me. I texted my mom, asking her to pick me up early. She did so and began questioning me as soon as I entered the car.
“Is something wrong with you? Did someone bully you again? Because if so, I will turn this car around and deal with them this instant,” she says.
“Mom, I’m fine. I just wanted to get home and study, that’s all,” I lie. “I worry about you, Amari.
"You’re growing up so fast, and soon I won’t be able to protect you anymore,” she sighs.
“Are you sure nothing is wrong at school?” she asks concerned.
I knew the safest thing to do would be to tell my mother about Daniel, but I couldn’t. My mother was right, I was growing up, and soon I’d need to know how to protect myself. This was the perfect opportunity to learn how to defend myself against the Vipers.To learn how to not fear them, and to stand up for myself. So, I told my mother everything was fine, and she believed me. I got home and found the nanny making sandwiches for everyone. I took my food and went to my room.
All I wanted to do, was relax, and think about how I was going to solve the situation at school. But relaxing is not really possible when you have a neighbor like Summer. I had avoided her the whole day, and now she had begun throwing stones at my window. I didn’t want my mother thinking I went outside again when she sees a pile of stones outside my room, so I had to open my window to talk to her.
“Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you the whole day, you weren’t even at the back of the school during break,” she says immediately after I open the window.
“I had stuff to do, Summer,” I say. “You mean you were avoiding me. Why would you do that?” she asks. She looked a bit hurt.
“Summer, you’re my enemy’s ex-girlfriend…”
“Enemy? Since when, is Daniel your enemy? He only joined our school a few weeks back,” she says. “He did?” I ask curiously.
“I’m not answering anymore questions until you tell me what is going on, Amari,” she says folding her arms.
I sighed and looked outside to make sure there was no one watching me. I opened my window wider and sat on the windowsill while Summer sat on the wall facing me. I had to find every bit of information I could on Daniel, even if it meant talking to his ex-girlfriend.
“The Vipers are a dangerous gang led by my mother’s brother. They’ve been trying to kill me, my little sister, and the rest of my father’s family for years now,” I explain.
“Have they ever succeeded?” Summer asks.
She wasn’t fazed by what I was telling her. That’s because gangs are an everyday topic in Detroit, some are just worse than others.
“No, they haven’t. That’s because my Uncle, Jon, who was my father’s brother created his own gang to protect us from the Vipers. Uncle Jon’s gang is harmless, all they’re trying to do is protect us.”
“I don’t understand. Usually gangs form between two completely different people, who aren’t connected in any way. What created this war between in your family?”
I breathed in deeply, and then out again. I don’t talk about my dad much, because I don’t want to feel that kind of sadness anymore.
“My mother’s father killed my father when I was six. He killed him because he didn’t want him to marry my mother. After that, Uncle Jon killed my mother’s sister, Aunty Rashawn. That was his revenge. Ever since that happened, Jamila and I don’t leave the house, because the Vipers might get us. My mother doesn’t leave the house because Uncle Jon’s gang might attack her, although I doubt that would ever happen. Uncle Jon would never hurt my mother because he knows she means the world to me,” I say.
Summer glares at me with her mouth hanging open.
“Come on, Summer. You’re being dramatic, it’s really nothing much,” I say.
“Daniel is a Viper, isn’t he?” she asks. I glare at her with my mouth hung open as well. How would she know that?
“The tattoo on his arm, it’s a Viper. Gosh, I could’ve figured this out a long time ago!” she says amazed.
“Keep your voice down,” I whisper.
“I’m not really supposed to be here right now.”
“Amari, you have to tell your mom about Daniel. You need to get out of that school,” Summer says worriedly.
“No, Summer, that’s exactly what I’m not going to do. The Vipers need to know that I am not afraid of them. I can’t spend the rest of my life running away from them, and even if I do go to a new school, they’ll just follow me there too,” I whisper.
“What if they don’t, Amari. What if Daniel kills you?” she asks. I roll my eyes.
“Daniel is 17, just like the rest of us. Even if he wanted to, he wouldn’t be capable of murder. The Vipers probably just sent him to shake me up or keep track of my movements.”
“Amari, Daniel isn’t one to be played with, okay. I’ve been with him before. I know him, and…” I hold my hand up indicating for her to stop talking.
“Summer, trust me,” I say interrupting her. “What could a 17- year-old possibly do to harm me?”
“That’s the thing Amari. Daniel isn’t 17,” she says. I look at her confused.
“He’s 22.”
Summer and I ran down the corridors looking for Mr Carter in each and every single class.We had both arrived at school early again, and we knew that if we could find Mr Carter before all the other students arrived, we’d find what we’re looking for. We ran through every corridor and looked in all the open classes, but we couldn’t find him. Just before giving up, we saw him heading into the office. We both started yelling his name while running towards him.
“How can I help you two early birds?” he asks with a smile. Under normal circumstances, I’d cringe after what he just said. But at that moment, I was under his mercy, so I faked a laugh and Summer played along.
“Mr Carter, we need some information about a certain student,” Summer says.
“Daniel James, to be specific,” I add. He gives the both of us suspicious looks.
“Now why should I do that? That type of information is for teachers only,” he says.
“Please, Mr Carter. We can’t tell you why we need the information, but it’s for a good cause,” I say. “If you do us this one favor, we’ll clean your classroom once a week for a whole month,” Summer says trying to convince him, but he’s not falling for it.
“Sorry kids, I can’t help you,” he says, shrugging and walking into the office.
Summer and I walk away defeated.
“Now what? How are we going to know who Daniel really is?” Summer asks.
“Shouldn’t you know his real name? I mean, you were dating him.”
“He introduced himself as Daniel when we met. That’s really all I know about him,” she shrugs.
I shake my head while laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Summer asks.
“It’s nothing really, it’s just that a few days ago, I thought that I was out of your league because I don’t have many friends, and I’m not cool like other guys. But today, I’ve realised that clearly, you are out of my league! You dated a 22-year-old, without even knowing his real name! Who does that?”
I ask laughing. She pushed me while laughing too.
“It’s not funny, you know. I really liked Daniel. I was willing to do anything for him, even if it meant disrespecting my father,” she says looking into space.
I stop walking and give her a questioning look.
“Daniel needed money, a lot of it to buy God knows what. He said it was important and he wouldn’t stop begging me for it, so I stole the money from my dad,” Summer says.
My mouth hangs open. Definitely not in my league.
“Come on, I already feel bad about it, okay? And my dad gave me a piece of his mind that night as well, so I don’t need you judging me too,” she says as she continues to walk.
“Summer the thief,” I murmur behind her.
“I heard that,” she laughs.
“Amari, I have something to tell you,” she says nervously.
My heart starts beating at an abnormal pace. What if she’s going to tell me that she’s actually into me? What if Summer Johnson is into me? As we turned into the corridor where our lockers were, Jason came running towards us.
“Amari, you won’t believe what I fou…why hello Summer Johnson. Fancy seeing you here,” Jason says, totally ignoring my presence and analyzing Summer with greedy eyes.
Now I’ll have to wait to hear what Summer wanted to say to me. Jason bites his lower lip and then licks it. It’s no wonder Jasmine slapped him.
“Don’t you have a thing with Jasmine?” Summer asks him.
“A thing with Jasmine?” I laugh. “In his dreams. Jason does not have a thing with Jasmine.”
“Wrong! I actually do have a thing with Jasmine. She finally agreed to go out with me,” he says shyly. “What? When were you going to tell me this?” I ask in disbelief.
Jason had a girlfriend, and here I was too scared to tell Summer that I liked her.
“I didn’t think you’d believe me. I thought if you heard it from someone else, then you’d believe it,” he says.
He’s right, I wouldn’t have believed him.
“You guys can discuss your lady problems another time, okay? For now, I need to know what it is you found,” Summer says, snatching a bunch of papers out of Jason’s hand.
“Is it Daniel James’ real birth certificate, with his real name?” I ask.
“No, but I think this information might be useful,” Jason says.
“I found out that Daniel James is not his real name. Daniel James is a student who got expelled from this school for fighting two years ago. That Viper boy is just using his identity.”
“He’s not a boy, apparently, he’s 22,” I say.
Jason gives me the same look I gave Summer when I found out “Daniel” is 22.
“Okay, then what’s his real name?” Summer asks.
“That’s what I can’t seem to figure out. I’ve asked around but no one seems to know who he is. I don’t think he’s from Detroit,” Jason says.
“That’s impossible. Before he came into this school, Daniel would visit me every day. There’s no way he’s from any other place except Detroit,” Summer says.
“We’ll just have to keep looking then,” Jason shrugs.
The three of us went to our lockers talking about whatever crossed our minds. It was no longer just me and Jason, it was now me, Summer and Jason. Days and weeks went by and everything was perfect. We hadn’t seen “Daniel” since that day we found out that his real name wasn’t Daniel. Summer and I were spending more time together. She’d call for no reason at all, and soon I found myself doing the same. She was becoming my best friend, like the female version of Jason. Jason wouldn’t wait with me after school anymore. He’d leave me with Summer. He thought she was into me, but I knew that wasn’t true.
“Remember when I told you that I had something to tell you?” Summer asks from the wall. It was one of those evenings where she sat on the wall separating our houses, while I sat on the windowsill facing her.
“Finally! I’ve been waiting for you to come out with it,” I say.
“Why didn’t you just remind me?” she asks laughing.
I’m not nosy like you.”She gets down from the wall and throws a stone at me. She does this to get me to shut up, because she knows how my mom would react if she found those stones outside.
“I actually have two things to tell you,” she says, sitting on the wall again.
“Firstly, I’ve made a new friend. Her name’s Cassandra,” she says with a wide smile. I realized a long time ago that Jason and I were Summer’s only friends. She looked happy when she told me about Cassandra, I just hoped it wouldn’t mean she’d be spending less time with me. “And secondly?” I ask her. She smiles and stares at me for long before answering.
“I think I might like you,” she says. My eyes literally popped out of their sockets, and I’m sure I looked like a fool.
“Are…are you sure? Are you on something? Are you perhaps drunk?” I ask her. I had to ask. I had to make sure that she was sober and wasn’t saying things she didn’t mean. “Amari, I…”
She pauses and then jumps off the wall.
“Your mom’s coming!” she yells while running into the house.
Damn it! I jump back into my room, close the window, and lay on my bed as if nothing just happened. I went on my phone and found that Summer was online and typing me a text.
“Hi boy, how was school?” my mother asks walking into my room. She hands me a gift bag which she had been holding behind her back.
“I got you something.” “Really? What’s the occasion?” I ask excitedly. “Just an early birthday gift,” she shrugs. My birthday was in four weeks. I opened the bag and pulled out the frame that was inside of it. It was a picture of my family when we were still complete. My mother, father, Jamila and myself. I was really beginning to look like my father.
“Thanks mom,” I say smiling at her with tears in my eyes. They lied. Real men cry too.
“Your father would be so proud of you,” she says with tears forming in her eyes too.
She walks out before her tears become uncontrollable. I looked to my side and noticed Summer staring at me with huge eyes from her window. I looked down to my phone and read her text -
"Can I see?"
I sent her a picture of the gift before placing it on my side table and admiring it. I had to survive, not for myself, but to show the Vipers that they’re father may have killed mine, but they’ll never kill me.
I think something is wrong. Look outside your window.
After reading Summer’s text, I ran to the window and stuck my head out of it. Summer was right, something was terribly wrong. I ran to my mother’s bedroom and took the pistol that was underneath her pillow. The nanny tried to stop me from going outside, but I fought her and ran towards my mother outside.
“Amari! What are you doing?” I heard Summer yell from her house. My mother turned around with her hands still in the air.
“Amari, get back in the house, and put that gun away,” she says through gritted teeth. She tried to act strict, but you could see the fear written all over her face. I ignored her and pointed the gun at my uncle, Uncle Shaun, leader of the Vipers. He was accompanied by three other men with the same tattoos as his. He was standing in front of his car with his gun pointed at my mother.
“Amari don’t do this!”Summer yelled again.
“Amari Williams, just the person we were been looking for, do yourself and your mother a favor and get in the car."
“Leave my mother alone,” I say firmly. If he had expected me to be scared, he was wrong. I was angry, and I wasn’t going to back down without my mother.
"That's not going to happen anytime soon Amari. Get in the car, or else i pull the trigger,"he threatens. I looked at the houses around us, hoping to see someone who would call the police, but the road was quiet. People were either asleep, or out partying.
“If you shoot her, then I’ll shoot you,” I threaten. All four of them burst into laughter, but soon stop. “You think I wouldn’t? I have nothing to lose, boy. Who do you think the judge is going to believe, the most wanted gangster in Detroit with a long criminal record, or an innocent teenager?” I ask him.
"He shakes his head and shouts in frustration".
“Shoot her, I dare you. I dare you to wake up this whole neighborhood with a single gunshot. You know damn well they’ll show you no mercy. They’ll stone you and then burn you to death. People like you are not welcome in Detroit and you know that very well,” I threaten him.
“Amari shut up!” my mother yells. “Shaun, leave my son alone!” She walks up to Uncle Shaun to try and stop him,but one of the men he’s with points his gun at my mother, causing her to stop walking. “Fine, then we'll do this the hard way,” Uncle Shaun says, slowly pulling on the trigger.
Before Uncle Shaun's gun goes off, one of his men receives a call. He speaks to the caller and then hangs up quickly.
“We need to move. Somebody called the police,”he says. Uncle Shaun puts his gun down.
“This is not over,"he says.
My mother rushed to me and grabs the gun out of my hand.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Amari? Are you trying to get killed?”
“I was protecting you, mom. The Vipers need to know I am not scared of any of them, not even that so called Daniel James!” My mother frowns while giving me a questioning look.
“Who is Daniel James?” she asks. I glared at her, regretting that I had said that name. I stormed off back into the house with her yelling behind me.
I locked myself up in my bedroom and closed my curtains. I switched off my phone and went underneath my blankets. I wanted to be alone, without Summer and without my mother. After ignoring my mother like that, I was grounded for two weeks. I didn’t even get to go to school, and to make matters worse, my mother locked my window. I think she suspected that Summer and I had something going on, especially after the incident that day. Those two long weeks were finally over, and I was going back to school. I knew Summer and Jason would want to know every single thing that had happened. The drive to school was quiet and uncomfortable. My mother still wasn’t talking to me, and she hadn’t given me my phone back. When we got to school, she didn’t ask me if I had my panic button with me, neither did she walk me into the school. It was as if she didn’t care anymore, and that hurt more than I thought it would. I got out of the car and went into the school. Summer gave me a tight hug as soon as she saw me at my locker. She did this every day, but this time, the hug seemed tighter…warmer. It felt like it meant something.
“Why would you risk your life like that Amari?” she asks loudly. Everyone around us looked at us strangely.
“You’re being loud again, Summer. Listen, I told you already, I need to show the Vipers that I’m not afraid of them. I don’t want to live my whole life running away from them.”
“Well that shouldn’t mean you should live your life risking it. Do you have any idea how worried I was Amari?” Tears slowly start gathering in the corners of her eyes.
She tried to walk away from me, but I pulled her arm back and allowed her to cry on my chest. I guess she really meant it when she said she liked me, maybe it was even more than that.
“I’m sorry, I promise you, I won’t do it again,” I say while kissing her forehead.
It felt as if I had known Summer forever. Like we were together in another lifetime, and now all we had to do was pick up where we left off.
“Oh my gosh! Summer are you okay?” a girl asks approaching us. I turned to her to tell her to back away and leave Summer and I alone.
But the minute I saw her, I couldn’t say a word. The pink mini skirt, her thighs, her lips, her hair…the girl was beautiful! I stopped daydreaming and snapped back into reality. I like Summer, not her. That skirt is too short anyway.
“She’ll be fine,” I say firmly.“Who are you?” Summer lifts her head up and wipes her tears.
“Amari meet Cassie, remember I told you about her?”Summer reminds me. I nod my head slowly. “And Cassie, meet Amari, my…”
“Her boyfriend,” I say completing her sentence. Cassie smiles and nods her head too.
“Well, I hope you weren’t the reason why she was crying just now. Or else, you’ll have me to deal with,” Cassie says smiling at Summer.
“I’ll leave you two love birds to it, see you at break.” Cassie blows Summer a kiss and walks off. I stare back at Summer and she frowns.
“Do not say it Amari,” she warns. “What shouldn’t I say? The fact that I think it’s totally unfair that she gets to spend break with you while I don’t?” I say pouting.
“You spent breaks with me everyday before Cassie came into the picture,” she laughs.
“Yet it just doesn’t seem to be enough,” I say pulling her waist closer. She giggles and pecks my lips. “I need to get to my first class,” she whispers.
“And, another thing, that is not how you ask a girl to be her boyfriend. You’re lucky I’m kind, or else I would have shamed you in front of Cassie and everyone else,” she giggles before hurrying away. I stood there laughing to myself before Jason arrived.
“Well, looks like somebody had a good two weeks rest,”he says.
“You have no idea.” I started explaining everything that happened to Jason, from the Vipers showing up at my house, to Summer being my girlfriend.
Of course,he didn’t believe that part, so he said he would go and ask her later if it was true. In my mother’s car on the way back home, I sat quietly, trying to figure out how I was going to apologize to her. I couldn’t stand the silence between us, and I needed to get my phone back, especially now that I was officially in a relationship. I was so caught up in my thoughts, that I didn’t realize when she started calling my name. She had stopped driving, but we weren’t home yet. We were waiting in the McDonalds drive through, which was odd because my mother doesn’t do things like that. She always drives straight home to avoid the Vipers.
“Amari, I’ve been asking you what you’d like to eat for the past minute,” she says. “What are we doing here? Shouldn’t we be going straight home?”
“Consider this a reward, and a way of saying thank you,” my mother says.
“For what?” I ask surprised.She sighs and places our order before explaining.
“As much as I was worried about you, Amari, the truth is, you saved my life. Shaun would have shot me there and then, because I would have refused to leave with him. You’re a brave boy Mari, you make me believe that one day when I’m not around, Jamila will be under good care,” she weeps.
“Mom, don’t say things like that, okay? You’re always going to be around to protect us, and I’ll always be there to help you,” I assure her. She nods with a smile.
We got our food, as well as takeaways for the nanny and Jamila. We all ate together at the dinner table, and then went to our bedrooms to sleep. Before I could go into mine, my mother called me to her room.
“I figured you can now have this back,” she says handing me my phone.
“Thanks mom,” I say attempting to pull it out of her hand, but she holds onto the phone for dear life. “I need to tell you something,” she says.
“After you mentioned Daniel James’name, I couldn’t get the name out of my mind. I had to do my research.”
“Mom, why would you do that?” I ask.
“Listen Amari I am your mother, and I will do anything in my power to protect you from anyone who is a threat.”
“Daniel James isn’t a threat, mom. He’s just a kid at school.”
“Well then if he’s not a threat Amari, did you know that his real name isn’t Daniel James?” she asks. I look away from her.
“His real name is Calvin Taylor, son of Shaun Taylor, the man who tried to kill you a few days ago!” I look at her in disbelief.
“Now after hearing that, you will not lie to me, and tell me that Calvin Taylor is not a threat. And I cannot allow you to attend the same school as him, because then I’d be risking your life,” she says. I give her a questioning look.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask.
“It means you’re going to boarding school, Amari, and you start next week,” she says.
“I am not going to boarding school,” I chuckle.
“Then you won’t go to school at all. It’s either boarding school or nothing!” she yells angrily. I grab my phone forcefully from her hands and storm off to my bedroom, locking myself in.
Those Vipers, they were controlling my life without even trying. First, I couldn’t go outside and live like a normal kid because of them, and now I wouldn’t be able to live with my family and go to a normal school. I sat there trying to figure out what to do when a stone hit my window. I opened my curtain and saw Summer waiting for me with a smile. That’s another thing, Summer. How was Igoing to tell her that I would never be able to see her, again.