The Boojee Informants
Published by:
Parker Wayde Publishing, LLC
Hillside, IL
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Copyright © 2013 by Parker Wayde Publishing, LLC
ISBN #: 978-0-9882178-0-5
eISBN #: 9780988217812
Library of Congress Control # 2012921053

DEDICATION

To my people
I know how you feel
Just keep on pushin'
And make your dreams become real

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

BIG THANKS TO THE FAMILY AND FRIENDS THAT LOVE ME.

PREFACE

I used all of my strength to try to pull my wrists apart but it was no use. The tape was wrapped around too tight and it wasn't budging. The blood from my wounded head mixed with sweat that was brought on by the intense heat that seemed to rise a degree with every second. I wiggled my toes, trying to increase the circulation that was cut off by the tape that bound my ankles, but it just seemed to make the pain in my numbing feet even worse. I tried to extend my legs but there was no room. I lay helpless inside the dark trunk of my own car.

I heard the engine of a vehicle pull into the parking lot and stop somewhere near my car.

"Help, help!" I screamed. "Somebody help!" This was my only chance to escape my kidnapper. I screamed louder but nobody came to my rescue.

BOOM! I heard a gunshot and the sound of tires screeching. The vehicle was moving fast and away from my car. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!!! More shots rang out, but this time they ended with a loud, agonizing scream that seemed to last forever.

I sat silently waiting to hear what was next, now too scared to give away my location. Suddenly I heard footsteps coming toward me. The steps came closer and closer to the trunk. It was more than one person, more than two people... I couldn't count anymore. I closed my eyes as the trunk opened and the sun bounced off of the metal gun. My time was up.

SENIOR YEAR

OCTOBER 1991

ONE

Kandi

Ring. Ring. Ring.

I sat on the bed, holding the phone, waiting for Mitch to pick up.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

I slammed the phone down, madder than a motha fucka.

"What's wrong girl?" Kim asked, putting on the last coat of her nail polish.

"Mitch's slow butt..." I mumbled.

I got up and paced the floor. Our room was as big as a kitchen pantry, so I wasn't going far. "He's supposed to give me a ride to dance practice but this fool won't pick up the phone."

"Maybe he's still at B-ball practice. You know he wouldn't stand you up like that, Kandi."

"Yea, whatever. Practice is over at seven. He should have been here by now."

Kim shrugged her shoulders and continued to carefully apply a glossy top coat to her big toe.

"Let me try him back. He better pick up the damn phone."

I grabbed the phone and slammed my fingers against the keypad. Ring. Ring. Ring.

"Hello," a voice said on the other end.

I took the phone away from my ear and stared at the receiver. Did I call the wrong number?

"Hello?" the girl on the other end spoke again.

"Hello?" I said confused. "Is Mitch around?"

"Nope," the girl replied. "He's busy being with me. I can take a message and maybe he will get around to calling you back," the girl said, smacking her nasty big lips.

Kim saw my facial expression and jumped down from the top bunk, careful not to smear her pedicure. "Who is that?" she mouthed not making a sound.

I ignored Kim. I was trying to catch the voice.

"Who is this?" I asked.

"This is Sarah, who is this?" the girl asked with an attitude.

"Sarah, baby," I said calmly. "I'm glad you finally got a turn, I'm sure you waited in a long line, but tell Mitch that I better see his ass in 5 minutes." Sarah tried to reply but I slammed the phone down before she could finish the b-word that was half-way out of her mouth.

"Wait, what the hell was that!" Kim asked all revved up.

"Some wack-ass groupie! Mitch better get it together. I ain't got the time!" I said steaming mad, tossing my gear into my gym bag. I stomped to the closet and grabbed my Betty Boop towel jacket.

"Where you going?" Kim asked.

"To practice. I don't need him to take me. I got two feet."

"All right," Kim said. "You want me to walk with you? I got to meet a study group at the library in 15 minutes..."

I cut Kim off. "Naw, I'm good. I'll meet you and Leon at the cafeteria when I get out. "

"O.K. then," Kim said looking at me. She was examining my face to see if I was really O.K. She knew that I had a problem expressing my true feelings. I always had to be strong and tried to shake shit off no matter how much it bothered me.

"All right, peace," I said, grabbing the doorknob.

I probably looked half-crazy as I walked through the campus. I was mumbling to myself and kicking the shit out of every pebble that got in my way. There were so many things that I should have said to that stupid groupie. First of all, me and Mitch were just friends; naw scratch that, best friends. There was nothing going on between us, but for some reason I felt super disrespected. I couldn't believe that he would allow some lowlife to one, answer his phone, and two, talk to me like that. On the other hand, I didn't even know if I had a right to be mad. Like I said, we were just friends.

Beep, beep! A sound of a horn pulled me out of my own head as I walked past the entrance of the library. I looked over my shoulder and caught a glimpse of Mitch's car. He was riding on the shoulder, pacing along the side of me. I turned my head and kept walking. Mitch reached over to the passenger side and rolled down the window.

"Hey!" he yelled. "Why you walking? You want a ride?"

I kept walking.

"What's wrong, Kandi?" Mitch asked as if he really didn't know what the problem was. I rolled my eyes and continued to walk, "Punk ass." I mumbled. I had nothing to say to him and not even God Himself could get me to talk to him right now. Mitch hit the gas and turned the corner, cutting me off before I could cross the street. He threw the car in park and jumped out of the driver's side.

"Kandi," he said, walking toward me. "What's wrong with you girl?" He was now standing in front of me. I tried to keep walking but he grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him. "What's wrong, Kandi?" he asked searching my face for some sort of sign. I rolled my eyes.

"Well, I guess we gonna be out here all damn night, 'cause I ain't letting you go until you tell me something."

"You want to know why I'm mad, Mitch?"

"Yea," he replied bucking his eyes and shaking his head.

I wondered if I should tell him. Did I even have a leg to stand on in this argument?

"Hello?" Mitch said awaiting my response.

Fuck it, let it ride, I thought.

"Sarah is why I'm mad!" I yelled.

"Sarah?" Mitch questioned, looking even more confused.

"Yea, first of all, you was late picking me up, and when I called your tardy ass, Sarah, your boo, picked up the phone talking smack! What's that about Mitchell! I ain't one of your little hoochees!" I continued.

"Sarah," Mitch mumbled with his face all screwed up. Mitch leaned back against the hood of the car and adjusted his letterman jacket so it wouldn't rub up against his father's old Beemer.

"Look man, I don't know how Sarah got in my room, but I was outside waiting on you. I was parked on the other side of the building and I didn't see you come outside. When I saw you cross the street, I came right over to scoop you up."

"Is that right?" I said sarcastically.

"Yea," Mitch replied.

I turned to walk away. Nothing is ever easy when it comes to me.

"Hey, hey, hey," Mitch said reaching for my elbow. "I'm for real, I wouldn't not come get you. You're on my favorite people list," he said, smiling. "I wouldn't let nobody bump their gums like that. I swear, I don't know how she got in my room."

"So, this is who needed to see you in 5 minutes!" I heard a familiar voice scream from behind me. I was so pissed that I didn't even hear anybody walk up on us. I turned around to face three girls standing behind me. The ringleader stood in front of the other two, her lightskinned face was glossy and full of Vaseline.

"Sarah!" Mitch yelled. "Get your crazy ass out of here!"

Mitch tried to pull my arm to pull me back. He wanted to shield me and stand in between the two of us, but I wasn't going. I snatched my arm from him and rushed the chick. We were chest to chest.

"Oh, you came for a fight, huh sweety!" I said landing my right fist against the girl's face.

"One on one!" I heard one of the other girls yell as they tried to surround us. She stumbled back from the force and tried to grab my pony tail but missed. She dropped her arms exposing her face so I popped her in the jaw.

"Kandi!" I heard Mitch yell. A crowd was starting to form. I could hear people yelling and rooting us on. Mitch finally got in between us, but Sarah just used the interruption as a way to grab ahold of my hair. I felt pain shoot across my scalp as my head violently jerked backward. I swung again, but she wasn't letting go.

"Let her hair go!" I heard Kim scream. "You got one more time, let her hair go!" Kim pushed through the crowd and slung her book-bag, hitting the girl upside her head. The force caused Sarah to loosen her grip. Both of Sarah's friends jumped in while Sarah stumbled from the dizziness. I turned my attention to help Kim fight off the other two hoodlums. Sarah recouped and jumped on my back. The extra weight caused me to go down. Mitch grabbed her by the waist, but not before she pulled her leg back to stomp me in the face. I braced myself for the hit. In a flash, a girl in a red jacket jumped over me and hit Sarah across the face. Both Mitch and Sarah fell backwards.

Whoop, Whoop. We heard the sirens in the distance and the crowd began to scatter.

"Get in the car!" Mitch yelled, grabbing the girl in the red jacket. Kim tugged on my hand and we all piled into the back of the Beemer as Mitch sped off from the corner.

"Can you believe that shit!" I yelled. Touching my face and looking at my fingers to see if I was bleeding. "Kim! You good?!" I yelled.

"Yea, she straight." The girl in the red jacket answered.

As we pulled up in front of the dance studio, the adrenaline began to wear off. The car got quiet as the three of us began to wonder the same thing.

"Umm, thanks, for umm helping us out." I said to the girl in the red jacket, trying to break the ice.

"It's cool, I don't like ole girl anyway, she took the last chocolate milk at breakfast today."

We all looked at each other and fell out laughing.

"They call me Ashley," the girl said holding out her hand.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Ashley. This is my friend Kim and..."

"Mitch," Ashley replied cutting me off. "Everybody knows Mitch. Good to meet you partner." Ashley held out her hand.

Mitch was reluctant to connect the hand shake, but did it anyway.

"Well, I'm about to run to practice real quick, but after this we are all going to meet up at the cafeteria. You think that you want to hang out with us later?" I asked.

"Sure," Ashley replied. "Just as long as y'all ain't no trouble makers."

I smiled at Ashley and giggled. "Naw man."

Ashley smiled back.

"I'll be there at ten."

"Cool," we all said in unison.

"Aye Ashley," Mitch yelled over his shoulder. "You need me to drop you off anywhere?"

"Naw, man," Ashley replied. "This is me right here."

We all turned and saw the shiny red sports car that was parked across the street.

"Yea, I'll see y'all at ten," Ashley said climbing out of the car.

We all sat and watched as Ashley unlocked the doors of the Porsche. She hopped in and started the engine. Ashley threw up the peace sign as she pounded on the gas and sped past us. We sat with our mouths wide open as we chucked it back.

Mitch

"Man, Leon, you should have seen it. I felt like I was watching a movie or something! There was hair pulling. Fists flying. People jumping on backs. It was crazy!"

Leon laughed as I re-enacted the scene. I ran up on a lonely looking freshman, just like Kandi did Sarah. The freshman looked like he was going to shit his pants, but I was too far gone in the moment to apologize.

"It went down like that?" Leon asked. He was bent over laughing and clapping his hands.

"Yea, how about I knew the girls were from Terror Town but I didn't know that they could get down like that!"

"It was like the GD's and Moe's !" Leon stated, egging me on.

"Yea man, and the Latin Kings! Wait, wait , wait!" I said turning myself around in a circle.

"This ninja chick named Ashley jumped in the fight and TKO'ed Sarah. She knocked her so hard that both of us fell to the ground like..." I rolled my eyes in the back of my head and collapsed my body as if I had been knocked senseless. Leon let out another loud scream and stomped his feet, causing the table to shake.

"Ohh my God, Ohh my God!" Leon said gasping for air.

"Man, Lee. I swear you missed it."

"Well, while women were fighting over you, I was busy in here slaving." Leon said taking off his hairnet.

"Slaving my ass," I said. "You probably ain't did nothing but eat all of the dang on food up in this mug. Is that why I can't get no spaghetti up in this motha. Yo hungry ass. We tired of these sandwiches, and y'all too cheap to get some damn Miracle Whip."

Leon laughed out loud.

"We don't want no mayonnaise!" we both said at the same time.

"So, man," Leon asked. "What's up with you and Kandi anyway?"

"Nothing man, just friends. You know that."

"Yea, I know but..." Leon's eyes gazed off in the distance.

"Here come the GD's right now."

I smiled at the thought of seeing Kandi again. I turned away from the table and threw my hands up so that she could see us. She looked so pretty to me, even in the beat up old sweats that she wore to dance practice. Kim followed behind her and noticed us first. Kim tapped Kandi on the shoulder and they both waded through the crowded cafeteria toward us.

"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee," Leon said as Kim threw her leg up over the bench to take a seat at the table.

"Ha, whatever. I was just minding my business, on my way to my study session when I saw Kandi trying to mollywop somebody. I can't even tell you what happened next."

"I can!" I said laughing.

Kandi's face began to turn red. The fight embarrassed her. I knew her well enough to know that she didn't want to be seen as that girl that fights over dudes.

"It's cool Kandi," I said reaching across the table for her hand.

Kandi snatched her hand from under mine.

"I know!" she said with her face all screwed up.

Damn, almost, I thought.

"What up family!" Ashley said as she approached the table.

"Hey, Ashley girl!" Kandi said greeting her.

Everybody said their individual hellos, but Leon caught my attention. He got quiet. His jaws clenched and left an imprint of his muscles across his face.

"Leon, right?" Ashley said looking him up and down.

"Ashley, right? Leon rebutted, returning his version of her stank look. The table was quiet as we all waited for the joke, but there was none, just awkward silence.

"Yaw'll ate yet ?" Ashley asked breaking eye contact with Leon.

"Naw we just got here," Kandi replied.

"Well what yaw'll usually get?" Ashley asked. She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a wad of crisp dollar bills.

"Twenty wings!" Kim shouted out without hesitation. Kandi smacked her lips and I slapped myself on the forehead.

"Thanks Ashley, but we're good," I said, still laughing at Kim's broke ass.

"Naw man, my treat," Ashley insisted.

"Forty Wings!!!" Leon yelled from across the table, smiling at Ashley. Ashely paused for a moment but smiled back.

"Forty it is!", she said before turning to head for the counter.

"We gone eat good tonight," Kim said stomping her foot against the old cafeteria floor. We all continued in laughter and waited for Ashley to return with the tray of wings.

"Dinner is served." Ashely placed the tray in the middle of the table.

"Thanks," we stated in unision as we all dug in, hot sauce and all.

"Hey, Lee," I said dipping the last hot wing in the ranch dressing. "What time is it?"

"Time for me to get back to work, before I get fired again. It's 11:15."

"Up, time to go," Kandi said jumping up from the table. "I got lab in the morning."

"Yea, I got practice at six," I said, co-signing.

Kim took one last gulp of her pop. "Me too, I need my rest for that damn business law lecture. I can't afford to take any more naps in that class."

We all giggled because we could relate.

"Mitch, let me holler at you real quick!" Leon said as everybody gathered their trash and pulled on their jackets. Leon looked up and saw his boss peer from behind the kitchen door, so he took a few steps in the other direction.

"What's up, man?" I asked following behind him.

"Ah, that's the ninja that you were talking about?" he said as he stared in the girls' direction. I watched Ashley as she belted over, laughing at one of Kandi's jokes.

"Yea, why?"

"Watch her man," Leon said.

"Huh?" I said looking at him.

"I don't know much about much, only a little about a little, but wealthy girls like that don't usually kick it with people like us. Something's wrong with her."

"What… Lee man, you trippin'."

"Watch her, Mitch man, just watch her," Leon said walking backwards into the kitchen.

I jogged through the cafe' to catch up with the girls. I knew that they wouldn't leave me, but I didn't want them waiting too long.

"What was that about?" Kandi asked as I caught up to her.

"Man stuff," I said in my James Earl Jones voice, putting my arm around her. Kandi turned her body so that my arm slid right off of her shoulders, and slapped right back against my side.

"Y'all need a ride?" Ashley said as we exited the building. I followed behind the girls and walked out of the front entrance onto the concrete stoop. The fall air was cool and icy enough to put some pep in the laziest man's step, but many of the night-owl students seemed to be immune. They huddled around each other, trying to get their last nicotine hit before calling it a night. It kind of reminded me of the bums that used to huddle around the garbage can fires back when I was younger. The light from the fire used to stream into my bedroom like a night light. I used to peek out of the window and watch them pace back and forth, fighting to keep warm. I had come a long way since then; but at the same time, I wasn't too far away to go back.

"Naw, we'll ride with Mitch," Kim replied.

I noticed Kandi shoot her an ill look.

"OK, see y'all tomorrow," Ashley said, before bouncing down the concrete steps and landing on the sidewalk.

"I parked over here," I said, leading the way to the parking lot. I shoved my cold hands into my pockets as we maneuvered in between the white lines of the parked cars, until we found our way to my dad's old Beemer. It was a piece of crap to him, but it was a beauty to me. I shined that boy up weekly and took care of it like it was a brand new car. I smiled to myself as I approached my ride and saw how the moonlight bounced off of the blue paint.

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