Chapter 1
"That room better be clean. I shouldn't have to repeat myself to both of you. Get those shoes off the middle of my damn floor. My mother, Theresa, nags at us for the thousandth time this morning.
"I already did. The room's been clean." My sister Jordan groans as she rolls her eyes and slings her backpack over her shoulder, being very sure to hit me with it for no God-given reason.
Jordan is my twin sister. Our names kind of hint at it. 'Jamie Jordan Williams' and 'Jordan Jamie Williams'.
"Go grab my Jersey. I got a game today." She elbowed me in my lower rib, causing me to groan quietly and grab my side.
"I already did. The room's been clean." My sister Jordan groans as she rolls her eyes and slings her backpack over her shoulder, being very sure to hit me with it for no God-given reason.
Jordan is my twin sister. Our names kind of hint at it. 'Jamie Jordan Williams' and 'Jordan Jamie Williams'.
But we almost look nothing alike. She’s a bit lighter than I am, shorter than me but not by much, she’s only 5’6’’, she has long dark brown braided hair that goes to her waist, and a lot would say she has the body that every girl wants. She decided to wear a white crop top, black sweatpants, white Adidas sneakers, and a Rose Gold mini backpack.
"Go grab my Jersey. I got a game today." She elbowed me in my lower rib, causing me to groan quietly and grab my side.
"Oh shut up." she rolled her eyes at me as I walked over to the dryer.
"Alright, y'all better get on that bus, cause if you miss it, don't start walking back home cause you gon hike your tails up to the school by yourselves." Our Dad came into the kitchen with his keys in his hand, acting like someone's rich white uncle who owns a yacht and is in his third divorce. No. Not at all. He is a married black father with a clean record and is our school's football and basketball coach. That is it, and that is all.
I grabbed Jordan's dark blue #13 jersey and threw it inside her backpack, and zipped it up as I slung my backpack over my shoulder. "Yeah, we know," I informed my Dad as Jordan and I headed toward the door. "Love y'all." We said in unison as Jordan slammed the door behind us.
A few minutes later, she spoke.
"Alright, you can come with me if you ride in the back and shut up," Jordan mumbled while looking down at her phone and walking a bit faster.
"Pardon?"
"I'm riding with Damian today, and unless you're going to catch that bus," she pointed ahead at the school bus that was supposed to pick us up and start driving away just as the last kid sits down. I curse under my breath. "You will be riding in the backseat silently unless someone talks to you. Capeesh? Great."
As she finished, her boyfriend Damian's Black Ford Mustang pulled up next to us, music blasting. "That's him," she yelled over the music as she got into the car, kissing him as soon as she closed her door. I quickly got in the backseat of the car and put on my seatbelt. Nodding cooly at him to thank him and not be rude.
The first and second periods were nothing essential that day, just testing and taking notes. During third period, Jasmine; my girlfriend, Derrick; My friends, Jordan, and I all have the same class.
"Hey babe," Jasmine says excitedly as she hugs and kisses me as I walk to my seat. We're not going to get into detail about her. Then my friend Derick came over and shook my hand before we both sat down.
"Students, that is the bell. It is my time now. Phones away and stop talking." Mrs. Jokton nags at the class. As she takes attendance, she calls my name, and I present myself as usual. Just then, Jordan comes busting into the classroom. All I could notice were her bruised knuckles, which look as if they were just washed in the bathroom as if trying to get something off. She slams in her seat.
"Tardy. For the third time this week, can I be sent out now?" Jordan says with a daring grin on her face.
"No, you may not Jordan, you can indeed get your materials out for the day and write the agenda in your notebook, Marcus?"
"Here," he mumbles from the right side of the room, and she continues taking roll.
"What the hell did you do, Jordan?" I scolded her in a very low whisper tone.
"She had it coming." She said around the same tone as mine.
"You're going to get yourself in trouble."
"Can you blame me, though?" she said with her annoying sarcastic puppy eyes.
"Yes!" I said, making my voice normal again.
"She was all bark, and she needed a bit of a bite," now raising her voice at me, noticing the annoyed expression on my face. "She was a smartass!"
"Williams!" Mrs. Jokton "Is there something you would like to share?"
"No, Ma'am," I said as I kicked Jordan hard in her shin as she was about to say something that would get us into more trouble. She slammed her head into her hands and onto the table and groaned in pain and annoyance.
"Alrighty, then I suggest you pay attention and stop talking before the two of you have to wear the microphone so we can hear you?" She said, looking back at her computer screen.
"Who was it?" I whispered to Jordan. She mumbled something in a very faint whisper, causing me to lower my head towards hers instinctively. "What?" Jordan's harsh fist immediately met my mouth,
"First of all, don't kick me, and second, none of your business." she then put her head down and started to fall asleep. "Oh, and by the way, I don't trust your toy over there. Moriah says she saw her with like eight dudes in a month."
"Well, your friend Moriah is a liar, she isn't like that at all, and she's not a toy," I whispered, making sure to add as much attitude as I could into every word.
"Whatever, all I'm saying is keep an eye on the bitch cause it looks like she got eyes for another boy." She said as I glanced over at them, who seemed to be passing a note back and forth. Nothing seemed wrong.
The class was typical until the end of the fourth period, when the room was interrupted by three officers asking for Jordan Williams. The teacher pointed her out about four seats away from me. In the middle of the classroom, a cop grabbed her arm, stood her up, and cuffed her.
"What the hell are you doing?" I asked, grabbing one of the cops' arms.
"Sit down, boy." He warns me."
"That's my sister. Why the hell are you arresting her, and you haven't even read her rights." I was confused and furious.
"Boy, you're causing a scene."
"Pardon?" I said with an attitude, he started walking away, and I grabbed his arm. "I asked you a question."
"Just come on, boy." He groaned and rolled his eyes. One officer walks my sister out of the room, and the other reassures the class that everything is fine and gets back to work.
As we walked out, I saw blood on the hallway carpet and lockers. I immediately knew what this was about.
We kept silent until we made it outside when they threw her into the backside of one of their cars. Eventually, I pissed them off enough to convince them to let me go with her. I'm furiously texting my mom everything that just happened, and I finally look over at Jordan, who seems to be having the time of her life. I wanted to say something, but I could feel the eyes of one of the cops staring at me through the mirror. I made the intelligent decision of just shutting up and continuing the conversation with my mother.
"JORDAN JAMIE WILLIAMS," my mother's voice thunders throughout the entire police station. She never yells, so hearing her voice and she hasn't even walked into the building yet.
"Ma'am, are you the mother of the Williams girl?" a cop says as she pulls her to the side.
"Yes, the hell I am. I don't know what the hell got into her, beating on that girl like that."
"Well, it seems they don't want to press charges, but due to this still being assault, she will have to stay the night here. She will be completely free to go with the signing of some papers by morning." He says, lowering his voice every other word.
We stayed there for about another hour before my mom took me home, mumbling about what she would do to Jordan when she came home. I felt more scared for her than Jordan probably did for herself.
That night was, well, if you know, you know. That night was painfully silent in our room. We were both awake, and for about an hour, we each just stared at the ceiling until the silence finally overwhelmed her.
"So?" She said tonelessly.
"So," I said back, a bit more irritated.
"Jail was relaxing. Just sat there the entire time."
"Mhm"
"Oh my god, you're seriously pissed off over nothing. I'm fine, I'm alive and well, just a little change of job choices. That's all. It wasn't even a real jail. It was just a city police station that held me overnight." She stated while rolling her eyes.
"I worry for you," I finally break. "One day, you're going to get yourself killed. Cops aren't so nice anymore, Jordan. You got treated like a normal person because you were in a middle school filled with nosy eighth-graders who would pull out a phone in a quick second. For fucksake, it might not even be a cop that kills you. You know how these streets are. You could've beat up a gang member's sister. Then next thing you know, you're dead inside a box outside our door."
"Okay, first of all, you read way too many mystery crime books, you seriously need to find a new hobby, and two I am perfectly-"
"Fine?!" I interrupted as I sat up and faced her, and she did the same.
"Just like when you were 'fine' sneaking off to that party with Damian, you got shot at! Or when you were 'fine' when you skipped school to go hiking, and you broke your arm. Just like how next week you're going to be fine when you sneak off with some random kid from school who kidnaps you and gives you to a bunch of gang members, who ransom you off. Mom and Dad can't pay it, so they chop you into little bitty pieces and once again end up in a box outside our door with a little label that says, "Fragile, please be careful." Then we have to plan a funeral, and then we have to bury you in Seinfeld's burial just like everybody else. Mom will never forgive herself and feel like she did something wrong, and Dad will go back to being an alcoholic, and you'd have ruined everything by dying. Is that what you want, Jordan? You're going to fuck everything up, and I'm not going to care!" I said all in one breath, my voice getting louder and louder every sentence.
I stared at her, expecting an answer.
"What I'm saying is you keep saying everything is going to be fine, and I'm just scared with everything that you are doing, you are going to get yourself killed." I lay down and faced the wall. "Jordan?" I said in a voice I knew was barely audible.
"Mhm." She answered lightly.
"Just promise me," I took a deep breath. "Promise me, you'll stop all of this, and you'll be careful from now on."
Silence.
"Jordan?"
"I promise," Jordan mumbled quickly. "I promise." She repeated slower and much more clearly. She then adjusted her pillow and fell asleep as I turned over and stared at the ceiling, and within seconds I let the weights on my eyes finally fall.
"Alright, y'all better get on that bus, cause if you miss it, don't start walking back home cause you gon hike your tails up to the school by yourselves." Our Dad came into the kitchen with his keys in his hand, acting like someone's rich white uncle who owns a yacht and is in his third divorce. No. Not at all. He is a married black father with a clean record and is our school's football and basketball coach. That is it, and that is all.
I grabbed Jordan's dark blue #13 jersey and threw it inside her backpack, and zipped it up as I slung my backpack over my shoulder. "Yeah, we know," I informed my Dad as Jordan and I headed toward the door. "Love y'all." We said in unison as Jordan slammed the door behind us.
A few minutes later, she spoke.
"Alright, you can come with me if you ride in the back and shut up," Jordan mumbled while looking down at her phone and walking a bit faster.
"Pardon?"
"I'm riding with Damian today, and unless you're going to catch that bus," she pointed ahead at the school bus that was supposed to pick us up and start driving away just as the last kid sits down. I curse under my breath. "You will be riding in the backseat silently unless someone talks to you. Capeesh? Great."
As she finished, her boyfriend Damian's Black Ford Mustang pulled up next to us, music blasting. "That's him," she yelled over the music as she got into the car, kissing him as soon as she closed her door. I quickly got in the backseat of the car and put on my seatbelt. Nodding cooly at him to thank him and not be rude.
The first and second periods were nothing essential that day, just testing and taking notes. During third period, Jasmine; my girlfriend, Derrick; My friends, Jordan, and I all have the same class.
"Hey babe," Jasmine says excitedly as she hugs and kisses me as I walk to my seat. We're not going to get into detail about her. Then my friend Derick came over and shook my hand before we both sat down.
"Students, that is the bell. It is my time now. Phones away and stop talking." Mrs. Jokton nags at the class. As she takes attendance, she calls my name, and I present myself as usual. Just then, Jordan comes busting into the classroom. All I could notice were her bruised knuckles, which look as if they were just washed in the bathroom as if trying to get something off. She slams in her seat.
"Tardy. For the third time this week, can I be sent out now?" Jordan says with a daring grin on her face.
"No, you may not Jordan, you can indeed get your materials out for the day and write the agenda in your notebook, Marcus?"
"Here," he mumbles from the right side of the room, and she continues taking roll.
"What the hell did you do, Jordan?" I scolded her in a very low whisper tone.
"She had it coming." She said around the same tone as mine.
"You're going to get yourself in trouble."
"Can you blame me, though?" she said with her annoying sarcastic puppy eyes.
"Yes!" I said, making my voice normal again.
"She was all bark, and she needed a bit of a bite," now raising her voice at me, noticing the annoyed expression on my face. "She was a smartass!"
"Williams!" Mrs. Jokton "Is there something you would like to share?"
"No, Ma'am," I said as I kicked Jordan hard in her shin as she was about to say something that would get us into more trouble. She slammed her head into her hands and onto the table and groaned in pain and annoyance.
"Alrighty, then I suggest you pay attention and stop talking before the two of you have to wear the microphone so we can hear you?" She said, looking back at her computer screen.
"Who was it?" I whispered to Jordan. She mumbled something in a very faint whisper, causing me to lower my head towards hers instinctively. "What?" Jordan's harsh fist immediately met my mouth,
"First of all, don't kick me, and second, none of your business." she then put her head down and started to fall asleep. "Oh, and by the way, I don't trust your toy over there. Moriah says she saw her with like eight dudes in a month."
"Well, your friend Moriah is a liar, she isn't like that at all, and she's not a toy," I whispered, making sure to add as much attitude as I could into every word.
"Whatever, all I'm saying is keep an eye on the bitch cause it looks like she got eyes for another boy." She said as I glanced over at them, who seemed to be passing a note back and forth. Nothing seemed wrong.
The class was typical until the end of the fourth period, when the room was interrupted by three officers asking for Jordan Williams. The teacher pointed her out about four seats away from me. In the middle of the classroom, a cop grabbed her arm, stood her up, and cuffed her.
"What the hell are you doing?" I asked, grabbing one of the cops' arms.
"Sit down, boy." He warns me."
"That's my sister. Why the hell are you arresting her, and you haven't even read her rights." I was confused and furious.
"Boy, you're causing a scene."
"Pardon?" I said with an attitude, he started walking away, and I grabbed his arm. "I asked you a question."
"Just come on, boy." He groaned and rolled his eyes. One officer walks my sister out of the room, and the other reassures the class that everything is fine and gets back to work.
As we walked out, I saw blood on the hallway carpet and lockers. I immediately knew what this was about.
We kept silent until we made it outside when they threw her into the backside of one of their cars. Eventually, I pissed them off enough to convince them to let me go with her. I'm furiously texting my mom everything that just happened, and I finally look over at Jordan, who seems to be having the time of her life. I wanted to say something, but I could feel the eyes of one of the cops staring at me through the mirror. I made the intelligent decision of just shutting up and continuing the conversation with my mother.
"JORDAN JAMIE WILLIAMS," my mother's voice thunders throughout the entire police station. She never yells, so hearing her voice and she hasn't even walked into the building yet.
"Ma'am, are you the mother of the Williams girl?" a cop says as she pulls her to the side.
"Yes, the hell I am. I don't know what the hell got into her, beating on that girl like that."
"Well, it seems they don't want to press charges, but due to this still being assault, she will have to stay the night here. She will be completely free to go with the signing of some papers by morning." He says, lowering his voice every other word.
We stayed there for about another hour before my mom took me home, mumbling about what she would do to Jordan when she came home. I felt more scared for her than Jordan probably did for herself.
That night was, well, if you know, you know. That night was painfully silent in our room. We were both awake, and for about an hour, we each just stared at the ceiling until the silence finally overwhelmed her.
"So?" She said tonelessly.
"So," I said back, a bit more irritated.
"Jail was relaxing. Just sat there the entire time."
"Mhm"
"Oh my god, you're seriously pissed off over nothing. I'm fine, I'm alive and well, just a little change of job choices. That's all. It wasn't even a real jail. It was just a city police station that held me overnight." She stated while rolling her eyes.
"I worry for you," I finally break. "One day, you're going to get yourself killed. Cops aren't so nice anymore, Jordan. You got treated like a normal person because you were in a middle school filled with nosy eighth-graders who would pull out a phone in a quick second. For fucksake, it might not even be a cop that kills you. You know how these streets are. You could've beat up a gang member's sister. Then next thing you know, you're dead inside a box outside our door."
"Okay, first of all, you read way too many mystery crime books, you seriously need to find a new hobby, and two I am perfectly-"
"Fine?!" I interrupted as I sat up and faced her, and she did the same.
"Just like when you were 'fine' sneaking off to that party with Damian, you got shot at! Or when you were 'fine' when you skipped school to go hiking, and you broke your arm. Just like how next week you're going to be fine when you sneak off with some random kid from school who kidnaps you and gives you to a bunch of gang members, who ransom you off. Mom and Dad can't pay it, so they chop you into little bitty pieces and once again end up in a box outside our door with a little label that says, "Fragile, please be careful." Then we have to plan a funeral, and then we have to bury you in Seinfeld's burial just like everybody else. Mom will never forgive herself and feel like she did something wrong, and Dad will go back to being an alcoholic, and you'd have ruined everything by dying. Is that what you want, Jordan? You're going to fuck everything up, and I'm not going to care!" I said all in one breath, my voice getting louder and louder every sentence.
I stared at her, expecting an answer.
But instead, she lay down and turned over. She was crying.
"What I'm saying is you keep saying everything is going to be fine, and I'm just scared with everything that you are doing, you are going to get yourself killed." I lay down and faced the wall. "Jordan?" I said in a voice I knew was barely audible.
"Mhm." She answered lightly.
"Just promise me," I took a deep breath. "Promise me, you'll stop all of this, and you'll be careful from now on."
Silence.
"Jordan?"
"I promise," Jordan mumbled quickly. "I promise." She repeated slower and much more clearly. She then adjusted her pillow and fell asleep as I turned over and stared at the ceiling, and within seconds I let the weights on my eyes finally fall.
