Читать книгу The Coming of Age - Vincent Montgomery - Страница 7

Chapter 1

Ring…ring…ring…

I heard the alarm clock go off, and all I could think is Damn! I don’t want to go to school today.

I could smell the scent of fresh bread Grandma was baking in the kitchen, wafting toward the back of the apartment.

That shit smells mad good, I thought as I sat up and stretched. The sounds of the neighborhood bustle, horns honking, traffic, and people rushing to the subway reached my window, signifying the start of a new day.

I got out of bed and turned my oldies off and threw on Nas’s “Illmatic” to start my day off properly. As I walked out of my room door, I passed Grandma in the hallway. I gave her my regular hug and good morning kiss on my way to the bathroom. I was feeling on top of the world for some reason. This day felt better than most of days. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I was digging the energy already.

I hopped in the shower while “Illmatic” still played in the background. I finished my shower and headed back to my room to decide on which kicks I wanted to wear with the outfit I picked out for the day.

Damn, I see how Q felt in Juice, I thought while laughing to myself. I finally decided what to wear and headed to the kitchen after I got dressed. The freshly baked bread that I smelled when I woke up was sitting on the table, still golden brown and warm.

Grandma smiled as I quickly grabbed a knife to cut a few slices to take with me.

“I made it fresh for you, son.”

Grandma knew how much I loved bread. That was one of her ways to show me she cared.

“And this is why I love you so much, Grandma. This is the best bread ever.”

She smiled knowingly.

Bread in hand, I grabbed my backpack and headed toward the door. Almost absentmindedly, I checked my bag, more out of habit than any real purposeful action. What I was looking for wasn’t there.

Oh, shit… I almost forgot my work!

A small wave of relief rushed over me. I was so lucky I checked before I left. I would have been assed out if I had showed up without the merchandise. I jetted back to my room, closed the door for a little added privacy, and practically dove at the spot where I kept my stash. As I peeled up the wooden tile on the floor, I thought I heard footsteps. I hurriedly put the capsules in my book bag and gave my room a once-over. I mentally scanned over everything to make sure I was squared away for real this time before I left.

I grabbed my bag and rushed toward the door, telling Grandma that I was going to be home a little late. I was going to hoop with my homeboys, and I didn’t want her to worry. She acknowledged me with a nod.

I was halfway out of the door when Grandma called out to me.

“Stephen, aren’t you forgetting something?”

I patted myself down, slightly confused, because I was sure I didn’t forget anything.

“You aren’t going to give this old lady a kiss?” she said while looking up from the book she was reading.

With a smile, I went over, kissed her cheek once more, and told her I loved her.

As I exited my building and headed to the bus stop, I saw a chick (or a shorty, as we often called them) that caught my eye. She was standing near a couple of dudes that I knew put in work, who were eyeing her as well. I wasn’t the biggest dude on the block, but enough dudes respected me. They knew I had hands and wasn’t afraid to put them to work, so I wasn’t really bothered much.

I approached her, and up close, she was even more beautiful than I first thought. She had a creamy-brown skin tone, a slim waist with a coke-bottle-shaped body, long black hair, big brown eyes. I slightly hesitated to speak.

Damn, now she’s gonna think I’m too shook to speak to her. And these two corny-ass niggas have seen me hesitate as well.

If she noticed it, she didn’t let on at all. Shorty seemed to know what was up right out of the gate. Before I could say anything, she addressed me.

“Hey, how are you this morning?” she said kind of flirtatiously.

Her voice is even bad as fuck, I thought while sizing her up. I could feel the other two guys watching with the screw face, and it gave me a slight confidence boost.

“What up, Mami? What’s good?” I said confidently.

“Nothing. Just chillin’,” she responded with a slight smile, looking at the ground.

At that moment, I knew I had locked in on her. I could feel my confidence radiating from me, and she was feeling it too. The bus arrived, and we made our way to the back of the bus to get to know each other.

“I usually don’t even pay attention to niggas,” she said as we settled into our seats. “Too many lame niggas out here. They’re always saying the same stuff, using the same lines, and trying to impress me with the same moves they use on these other bitches out here. But you’re different. Straightforward, but real. I like that.”

I half smiled and half smirked in a way that I hoped looked like I was both a player but also the kind of guy she would still be interested in.

“Yeah, you see it, Ma. You already know.”

I gave her my math as the bus pulled up to the school and took hers as well. Once off the bus, we had to separate, as her classes were on the other side of campus.

As she waved goodbye, I yelled one more thing to her. “Don’t be out here flirting with these two-dollar niggas. I’ll see you later.”

She smiled and said, “I won’t. You got my attention already.”

I knew at that very moment she was mine.

As I walked up to the school, I saw my boys Rah and John posted up. They were ready to start wreaking havoc on niggas out here frontin’.

“What’s good, fellas?”

Rah dapped me up, and John responded with his usual reply.

“You know how we do, baby. I’m chillin’. Chillin’, mackin’, chillin’, hangin’, mackin’, mackin’ and hangin’.”

We all started laughing as he leaned in to dap me up. I then started telling them about shorty I met earlier that morning.

“Y’all know Sabrina, right?”

They both looked at me, crazy surprised. “Damn, how’d you get that?” they both said in unison.

“This is what I do. I’m not new to this. I’m true to this,” I replied with a smirk on my face.

We started laughing again and walked toward the school doors. Once inside, I went to my locker and dropped off some of my books and picked others up. The bell rang for class, and I immediately started to get more focused.

I know what you’re probably thinking at this point: Damn, he’s pumping. In school, and actually studying? What can I say? I was a smart hustler.

I walked to my first-period class, and as expected, the trash was full. I used this to my advantage. I didn’t want to get bagged in school with drugs, so I put the ex-pills in a crumpled-up piece of paper. I then threw it by the overfilled trash cans while no one was looking. This was smarter, in my opinion. Nobody could pin them to me if they were found. It was the best method I could come up with. I could keep the drugs nearby without them being attached directly to my name. There was a hard part about this method though—watching it throughout the period and making sure no one picked the paper up and threw it away. But hey, this was NYC, and that rarely happened.

Although I had good grades in my classes, the deans and security guys were always fuckin’ with me. They had never caught me doing anything. It was all word of mouth, the things they had heard. I wasn’t always this young, ambitious drug dealer; however, a few things from my past changed me. This was the hand that was dealt to me.

Ding.

First period was over, and like on many other days, I was relieved that everything was starting out so smoothly. Walking through the hallway to my second period, I saw one of the customers. Now Nate was one of my regulars who normally copped e-pills. He gave me that look like he needed something. He already knew the drill.

There was a routine, and it played out the same every time. He signaled me somehow, usually by making eye contact inconspicuously. I then followed him to the bathroom. He gave me the bread, and I gave him the work. Smooth transaction every time. And then I went about my business.

I walked into the bathroom like normal, but this time, he wanted more. He usually got two, but today he wanted to cop four.

“Yo, don’t die on me, bro!” I said with a snicker, half joking and half serious.

Those were problems that I didn’t need. I was already moving under the radar. A student overdosing would ruin everything and possibly get me jammed up. However, I was not his father. He wanted four; I’d give him four.

“Nah, bro, it’s for my girlfriend. I finally got her to agree to try it with me tonight,” he responded while laughing.

I laughed it off as he took out the bread and handed it over. I quickly counted it to make sure it was the correct amount. I gave him a head nod so he’d know everything was good, and I then looked down at my watch.

Fuck! I am going to be late!

“Yo, get at me, son,” I said to Nate before jetting out of the bathroom without waiting for a response.

I ran through the hallway, trying to make sure I would not be late to a class I couldn’t care less about. I walked in the door, and Ms. Cooley was standing right there. She had her clipboard, waiting to write the late people’s names down.

“Not today, Miss. You won’t get me today. I’m on time.”

She laughed and continued to watch the door. I took off my Jansport backpack with numerous strings attached while slowly dropping my crumpled-up paper by the trash can. Same routine as earlier in my first-period class. The bell rang as I sat in my seat. Ms. Cooley closed the door and began to lecture the class about equations and exponents, with a quick review from the previous day.

I was sitting at the back of the class, thinking about all the money I had saved up and how to expand it. My thoughts were interrupted by Ms. Cooley’s voice.

“Steph, can you come up here and show us how to solve this problem?”

I had no intentions of really doing so, but she was one of my favorite teachers.

“Aight, but don’t call on me next time unless I raise my hand.”

She laughed again and agreed to my slightly serious demand. I went up to the board and knocked out the problem without hesitation. As I turned around, I locked eyes with my homeboy Rocky, and he started clowning me.

“Son, you’re the hardest person I know, but you actually do homework and get good grades,” he said, laughing.

“Dog, I joke around all day, but I’m not tryna be twenty-one and still in this motherfucker.”

I walked past him and dapped him up on the way back to my seat. Rocky was one of my right-hand men that always had my back. No matter what the circumstances were, I knew he wasn’t far behind. We grew up together, robbed people together, slept over each other’s houses when we were younger. So it was safe to say we were brothers. He was the pretty boy out of us, and he could hoop for real—not just all right, dribbling between his legs and maybe crossing up a rec league player, but hoop for real. The kid even got a few D1 scholarships offered his way. He was talented, smart, and charismatic, so you could understand why we meshed well together.

I told him to meet me after class, and he agreed. Thirty minutes passed, and I was just waiting for the bell to ring at this point. I was just ready to move on to the next class and then to lunch. A shrill sound broke my concentration, interrupting my thoughts. It was time to leave and not a moment too soon. I was relieved as I couldn’t stand this boring, easy math class much longer for the day. Rocky met me by the door, and I started telling him about my morning so far. I definitely couldn’t leave out Sabrina, the chick I bagged at the bus stop that morning.

He knew how I moved, so this was no real surprise to him. Aside from the fact that she was pretty as hell with a banging body, shorty was smart too. While walking and talking, we saw her waiting by my locker with a smile on her face. Rock hit me with a nod as he could see I had business to attend to.

“I’ll hit you later, fam,” I replied, returning the same head nod to him.

I greeted Sabrina as I approached my locker and said “What’s up?” to her.

“Nothing much. I’ve been thinking about you all day long, and so I wrote you a letter.” She kissed me on the cheek and made her way down the hallway.

I yelled to her, “You know I was going to walk you to class, right?”

She looked back and, with a laugh, replied, “I know, but you’re about to be late your damn self.”

I looked at my watch, and she was right. I was about to be late for my next class.

As I was walking to class, one of my workers was trying to re-up real quick. I really didn’t have the time, but I loved money. It was strange to me because he had never wanted to re-up this early in the morning, but fuck it. I let him buy the rest of my packs off me. It was less of a risk for me, and I got my money, so everyone was happy.

The bell rang before I got to class, and I was late. Since I was not really a problem child and my grades were good, I took my time to get to my next class. When I arrived, my teacher told me the dean needed me in his office.

What the hell did I do now? was all I was thinking as I walked to his office.

It couldn’t be anything serious, because they would have sent security for me. As I approached his door, I was glad I didn’t have any more work on me. I knew I was good, but for the love of God, I couldn’t figure out why they needed me in the office.

I got to the office, and Dean Capmani invited me in. I asked what he needed from me. He looked me over as if I should have known what it was.

“Did you forget you asked me for something last week? Remember?”

I wracked my brain, trying to remember, and then it hit me. “Oh yeah, that MetroCard, right?”

Smiling, he said, “Bingo. It came in this morning. You looked nervous, like you were worried about something. You okay?”

I smiled and replied, “You know I hate coming down here, man. You could’ve avoided all this by just sending it to my class, but you like to mess with me.”

“Bingo, Stephen, you’re two for two right now.”

We both laughed, and I reached out to take the MetroCard.

“Your teachers tell me you’re doing very well, so I wanted to speak to you one on one. I wanted to thank you for applying yourself more in class. I appreciate that. I knew you had it in you.” He extended his hand again but this time for a handshake, which I obliged him with.

I had a good feeling this morning when I woke up, and today was turning out to be just what I needed.

I walked back into the classroom and took my seat. As I sat down, I heard the teacher talking about Fredrick Douglass, and I quickly become intrigued. I got so caught up in the lecture that I forgot about the note Sabrina gave me earlier. When I did remember, I took the note out of my pocket, and I saw little hearts drawn on the front of it. I smiled as I opened it up. Shorty was feeling me hard, and she wanted to meet up over the weekend, if I was with it.

Hell, yeah, I was with it!

She also told me to call her tonight so she could get to know me better. I folded the paper back together in the same form in which it was given and tucked it back in my pocket.

The bell rang, and I headed to lunch this go around. I walked through the hallway to go see my crew. We met up at the same spot every day. I saw Rah, John, Rocky, and Risk. I called him Risky Business though. This was another brother of mine, same sign as me with the ambition to get it. This right here was the team, and we’d been together for years. We started joking as we walked to the lunchroom.

“Yo, those kicks are fire,” John said to me.

“You know me, son. I saw them, and I immediately had to cop. I haven’t seen anyone with these uptowns with the bubble check yet.”

Risk just shook his head and said, “Yeah, those joints are mean, son, no lie.”

My guys knew what I did, but they knew I was low with it. To them, I was the boss or the one, when speaking, folks tended to listen to. I was cool, calm, and collected no matter the situation. I watched the older heads go out and get it. I also saw the mistakes they made too, so I patterned my outlook of the game off their mishaps.

I came up with a new solution with all the OGs out the game. We were young, but we were getting it. The whole team knew ways to eat, but we weren’t flashy with it. I made sure they stacked bread in those Nike boxes just like I did.

“Yo, I forgot to tell y’all about the weekend. I came up Friday night after y’all left the court,” Rocky blurts out.

“I caught this Mexican cat sleeping, son. Y’all know me. I was getting my shots up, and I see him knocking back some beers, so I knew he was bent. I walked up to him and say, ‘Manito, you got money on you?’ You wouldn’t believe it, but my man pulled out a stack of twenties from his book bag. All I was thinking was ‘This man is not leaving this park with that bread on him!’”

I glanced over at him, ready to hear the outcome. “So what did you do?”

Rocky looked at me, halfway incredulous and halfway laughing. “Fuck you think I did, son? I pulled one of the empty bottles out the trash can and hit that nigga right upside his head. I grabbed the cash, and I bounced quick fast.”

We all started laughing, and I told Rock he was wildin’. We all knew Rock gave it up, so we weren’t surprised. He was always ready for the quick come-up and showed no fear at all.

“How much you get from that, son?” I asked.

“A quick 1200.”

“Damnnnnnn!” we all said at the same time.

That was easy money to us. Shit, I had nearly a hundred thousand stashed away from hustling. I had no intentions on hustling forever. I wanted to get a few good years in and escape to the clean life with businesses of all sorts.

I started eating my pretzel from the cage in the cafeteria along with my apple juice I got every day.

Out of nowhere, Rock blurted out, “Yo, Steph, Sabrina is bad, though. How’d you get that?”

Before I could say a word, Risk looked at me in awe. “Hold the fuck up. What did I miss? When did you bag her?”

“This morning, son, on the way to school.”

“So you going to hit that or not? If not, pass that to me. She’s been on my radar for a minute now!”

I responded with my regular cool tone. “Chillllll, son. Y’all got all the bad chicks. Tonya, Toya, Stacey, remember?”

We all laughed.

“Yeah, they’re bad as hell too,” Rah replied.

“My point exactly. Y’all have all the chicks, not me. I’m low.”

The bell for lunch rang, and we all headed to our next class. The end of the day was near, and I had so many things to do. I already finished all my homework, so I didn’t need to bring any books to the crib. I had to re-up with the connect later on, and then I was going to hoop later. After all that, I needed to find time to call Sabrina. Maybe I should make her wait a few days. I didn’t want her to feel I’m jocking her, but whatever. I’d see how I felt once I got home this evening.

School was out for the day, and my first stop was the connect’s spot. I grabbed a few extra grand this morning out the stash. That on top of what I usually brought, I was thinking I wanted to cop more pills this time around. I would talk to the connect and see what he thought.

I get to the spot, and the connect, Jose, greeted me. Jose was a different breed—a Dominican cat who had to be in his mid- to late forties. I heard he made a name for himself in the streets in the seventies and eighties. I wasn’t sure about that, but I did know for sure he didn’t play with the cash. So when I’d come to him, I’d come correct. We had a little history between us. I definitely came a long way. From him fronting me the product to when I started copping my own from him.

“Dímelo loco. Ya regresaste? You’re back already?” Jose asked me.

Smiling, I answered him, “Yeah, I’m tryna get this money.”

He stared at me intensely, as if he was sizing me up. “You’ve come a long way, from me fronting you pieces to you copping for yourself.” I acknowledged his statement with a head nod. Then he asked, “How much are you trying to cop today, manito?”

“Shit, I’m trying to cop five hundred or one thousand pieces of ecstasy,” I replied.

Jose looked at me with a shocked face. “Carajo loco. You’re aren’t playing,” he said, slightly impressed.

“I’m just trying to get more money.”

Jose knew me since I was little. I started pitching nicks and dime bags for him when I was twelve, and this was where I was now. I got good prices from Jose, so I fucked with him hard. The product being great was an added bonus.

Jose looked over at me again. “When are you going to stop playing and start messing with this cocaine, manito?”

As he pointed to it, my mind started racing. I was thinking I wanted to mess with it, but I didn’t want to dip in the stash for more bread. I liked that I had come up and didn’t need anybody to front me anything anymore.

The look he gave me as I was going over this in my head was like he was reading my mind. “Loco, mira, you’ve been coming to me for years. It’s time I do you a solid. I’m going to give you a kilo of this pure Colombian cocaine free of charge. I know you’re smart enough to figure out how to break it down and move it. It just like you’ve done with the weed and pills over the years.”

I was trying to maintain my cool, but even I, Mr. Cool as a Fan, was a little taken back by his generosity. Free of charge too? How could I say no to that?

“Que lo que tiguere? What’s it going to be?” he asked.

His voice jerked me out of my own thoughts and back into reality.

“Shit, I’ll take it and break it down. But I’mma be honest. I’m kind of sketchy about it ’cause I’ve never sold this shit before.”

He assured me I wouldn’t have a problem at all with it. “If everything goes well, as I know it will, you’ll be back buying more in no time. This shit will sell itself, manito, no lie.”

“I’ll take it! And give me a thousand pills of the ecstasy too,” I yelled out.

He smiled and said something in Spanish that I couldn’t quite make. I knew I was on to something bigger than pills. I could just feel it. I got my work from him and put it in my book bag. I took my textbook out and carried it in my hand because I didn’t want any slip-ups with that kilogram.

As I was walking, my mind started racing. I was thinking of all the ways I could really start getting more money and whom I could get to sell this shit. I headed to the court to play a few games of basketball with my team and tell them about the shit that just happened with the connect.