“You, Kendrick Lamar, guys who made it out of here, but still give back, still come back,” Shondra continues. “We need you. We need more, so today means everything.”
“Whatever I can do,” I assure her.
“Well, there’s this one student I really hope you get to talk to,” she says. “He reminds me so much of you at that age. He’s in my English lit class and is such a good writer. There’s this writing contest I want him to enter that could lead to big things, but his friends called it ‘gay.’”
I wince. We may struggle with a lot of things in the hood, but we have homophobia down. That, we’re great at.
“So, of course,” Shondra says, rolling her eyes, “now he won’t touch it with a ten-foot pole. And both his brothers are Piru.”
Amir and I exchange a look, knowing what that means. When your family is Piru, a Blood alliance gang, it probably won’t be long before you are, too.
“They call him Bop,” Shondra says. “What’s his real name?” I ask.
“His name is Dudley,” she replies with mischievous eyes.
“Dudley?” Amir laughs. “That ain’t even gangsta. Your mama call you Floyd. Imma call you Floyd.”
The three of us laugh at his Coming to America reference, and it feels good to be home. As hard as I’ve worked to get out, to survive it, being back here today feels right. Even though I can’t ever think about Coming to America without thinking about Chaz’s last day on earth, it feels right to be here.
Shondra’s eyes shift just beyond me and light up with a smile. “Ms. James!” She reaches behind me to hug the petite woman with neat dreadlocks pulled away from her unlined face. “So good to see you. Now, it’s a party.”
“The whole neighborhood is buzzing about some superstar coming,” Ms. James says. “I had to come see for myself.”
“Ma.” I reach down and pull my mother close, her small frame and fierce spirit burrowing into my side. “I didn’t know you were coming.”
“And I didn’t know you were coming.” Her eyes, golden brown like mine, hold a light rebuke. “I wanted to hear what you have to say about life and stuff, Mr. Superstar.”
“I’m pretty sure most of it will be things you told me in the first place.”
“We’ll see.”
She studies my head, a frown on her face. “You cut out your locs. What else don’t I know? I had to hear through the grapevine you were in New York with your new girlfriend.”
Amir catches a laugh in his fist, and Shondra stretches her eyes with humor.
“Uh oh. Busted.” Shondra chuckles and drops a kiss on my mother’s cheek. “Good to see you, Ms. James. I need to go find the principal. Be right back.”
“Shondra, don’t be a stranger, girl,” Ma says. “I can’t remember the last time you came over for Sunday dinner. You ain’t that grown.”
“No, ma’am, I’m not.” Shondra laughs and turns to leave, speaking over her shoulder. “I’ll be taking you up on that. Nobody beats your greens, but don’t tell my mama I said that.”
“Um, is the b-bathroom still down the hall, Shon?” Amir stutters, looking all nervous.
“Yeah. Of course.” Shondra looks back at him like he’s crazy. “I’m going that way. You want to follow me?”
Amir grins at me over his shoulder as they walk away.
“Pussy,” I mouth at him silently, laughing when he scowls and turns to follow Shondra’s hips through the exit doors.
“I’m glad Amir is with you.” My mom takes Amir’s spot on the wall beside me. “You need somebody who’s known you since jump to hold you down, to keep your head on straight the bigger you get.”
“Ma, my head stays on straight. Don’t worry.”
“I do worry.” She dips the arch of her brows into a frown. “Especially when you don’t tell me things. Why’d I have to hear about you and Qwest on the news?”
“It’s not . . .” I sigh, frustrated with how out of control things have gotten in such a short time. “The media’s made it bigger than it is. We had a few dates. I spent two days in New York. That’s all.”
Any hopes I had of keeping things low-key and taking it slow with Qwest went out the window as soon as social media figured out I was staying in her apartment. In just a few days, our fans have made this into some epic love story.