Page 7 of On Everything
Pernelle’s voice was loud and over the top as usual. I couldn’t stand her in middle school because she was always the loudest person in the lunchroom. That was until I realized she was really a cool girl. She may be ghetto as shit and slightlyirritating at times, but she’s still my girl. Pernelle doesn’t play about me, and I don’t play about her.
“Girl, I'm standing out in the hall outside my apartment. I'm really dreading the idea of going inside.”
“Yes girl, I heard about Kairo wacking some dude from Brooklyn.”
“Oh, is that where this Diablo nigga is supposed to be from?”
“Yep. My brother said he’s familiar with the crew that he runs with. Says he can’t believe he didn’t smoke Kairo first. Diablo is supposedly some street nigga that is married to some big booty stripper named Bunny. Or Jessica.”
“Wow. So, it’s a big booty stripper that has Kairo about to go away for some years having a gun? I hope her big booty ass was worth it.” I rolled my eyes.
“Damn, so he did it with his own gun?”
“Yep, a gun I didn’t know his ass had.”
“So, you’re about to have to hold Kairo down once again? You need to try and get on Love After Lock Up the next time he gets out. At least profit from being a professional prison wife at this point.” I rolled my eyes at her.
“I’m not doing that dumb ass show, Pernelle, and I’m not even sure that I will communicate with Kairo on the other side this time. Especially since he in this situation because he cheated on me.”
“See, I told you that nigga was no good. You wonder why I eat pussy now.”
“Well, I don’t care how bad niggas are, I’m not eating no pussy. No disrespect to your community though.”
Pernelle was going through what I’m sure is a phase because I know her male-centered ass can only front for so long. Once a fine man crosses her path, she will be kicking Emoney and her backpack out on the curb. This has howeva been going on longer than I imagined. When they first hooked up, me and Kairo had a bet of it not lasting past two weeks.
“Anyway, best friend. Do you need to come stay with us tonight? I hate you going through this.”
“You sound like a lifesaver P because I really didn’t want to walk inside my apartment tonight. I just wish all of this was a dream.”
Besides the disgust, the betrayal, the mess inside my apartment walls, I was heartbroken yet again and wondering what I did to deserve this shit. I cook, I clean, I work. Kairo has a perfect girl, and he would rather wine and dine a stripper. That’s why being a good person doesn’t always pay off. Sometimes you are a good person for free.
“Okay, we will come and get you now. Just stay inside the building and me and Emoney will walk over and meet you.”
“Thanks, girl.”
“You’re welcome, best friend. I am on the way.”
We hung up the phone and I took off back towards the staircases to wait on her.
“Yo Ciara!” Markelle, my teenage neighbor, stuck his head out of the door, looking half decent because his hair wasn’t all over his head. His hair was cut fresh and lined up because of Kairo cutting it just yesterday evening. That was one thing about Kairo, he gave out free cuts to the boys in our building who looked up to him.
“What’s up, Kel?”
“Sup? Did Kairo get out?”
“No, he’s being hit with gun possession as a felon. I’m not sure how long he will be in this time.”
“Damn man, and I just sold him that gun too. He told me he needed it for his opps, but I thought he was just bullshitting. I didn’t think he had no opps for real. Shit, everybody fuck with the nigga around here.” He shook his head, giving me more information than I knew. I thought it was weird that I hadn’t saw this gun anywhere around the apartment before he pulled it out and killed someone. After all, there wasn’t really any hiding spaces around our unit. I spring clean damn near every week to make sure the rats never want to make a home up in my apartment.
“Now I feel bad for selling it to him, but mama needed money for the lights yesterday, so I jacked it up off some dude outside Denny’s Barbershop.”
“Markelle, you really shouldn’t be robbing and taking shit from people. You’re going to end up like Kairo, in and out of jail.”
“And I would rather that over the graveyard like the nigga he popped. You don’t get a release date out of there.”
He shrugged his shoulders, and my phone started ringing.
“Look who it is. Let me take this. I’ll see you around, Kel.”
