Faces of the Game (21 page)

              About three hours later Chelle was making her way down the street to Christi’s house.  She grabbed her notebook, a few highlighters, neon book tabs and a pen and she was out the door.  Chelle, Christi and Nefi sat and talked over three bottles of wine for the majority of the night before they all decided to go to Atlantis Café.  They never cooked, instead they decided to order crab legs once they got there.  It was a typical night in there; people were partying, throwing money, getting wasted and everything in between.  Instead of mingling, the three girls decided to sit in the booth and chill, eat, and laugh.  A waitress came over and asked the girls what they were drinking for the evening, and although they had all drank before they got there, they decided to order cognac since someone else was paying.  They walked out of there without spending a coin as usual someone put all of their food and drinks on their tab which is why they loved it.

              “Hey, step out of the car” one of the security guards demanded as Christi backed into an SUV that was parked near her car.  “Stay right there” he added.  “Oh shit, I didn’t know I was that close” Christi was nervous.  “Give me the damn keys, damn Christi” Nefi said in a high pitched sarcastic voice.  “Sir, she didn’t leave any dents or scratches on the car and she isn’t driving home can we just leave?” Chelle pleaded with the guard.  “I have to see if it’s alright with the owner.”  He said with an attitude.  Chelle stood outside of the car, she knew how to sweet talk people.  She looked at the owner of the SUV with an innocent glow, “Yeah, they’re alright man.” The guy said to the security guard.  “Thank you sir, we really do apologize”.  Chelle said.  “Alright baby girl, y’all be safe out here”.  Chelle smiled and got into the car.  “We straight, Nefi come on”.  The girls turned up the radio, Lil Boosie was blasting and they quickly left the parking lot, security guards were suspect to be snitches for some reason. 

              Chelle never made it home; she woke up on the couch the next morning.  “I’m out y’all somebody come lock the door.”  Chelle stood at the end of the hall and said to the two girls, Nefi’s room was closer so she got up and walked to the door. “Alright see you later” Nefi said as she closed the door behind Chelle.  Chelle looked at her watch, it was 7:30am she had time to log into her computer and check the status of her class schedule for the rest of the week. 
Make all A’s this semester, this is your last chance to be a straight A student.  You can do it! 
Chelle scribbled in the front of her 5 subject notebook.  She logged into her blackboard account for her online classes and dug in.

Camped Out

              Chelle walked out of the house and instantly felt leery about something, she looked to the left as she walked down the steps everything looked normal.  When she walked down the second set of steps, she looked to the right and noticed three unmarked SUV’s.  They weren’t just any SUV, they were Chevy’s with illegal tint and oversized antennas which was a dead giveaway.  Chelle slid on her sunglasses and exited to the left instead of the right where they were parked.  She decided to call Chip from her trac phone, “Don’t come back, I saw Jakes posted in the parking lot, they set up shop”.  Chelle tried to remain as calm as possible.  “Alright bet” Chip hung up the phone and threw it away.  Chelle knew she wouldn’t talk to him again for a few days, but she was fine with that she just wanted him to keep that shit away from her.  It was becoming a full time job to duck the Babylon, as Chelle’s mother called them.  Chelle was on her way to work, she hadn’t been in a while so she agreed to teach a class for second, third and fourth period.  Being a Substitute Teacher definitely had its benefits; she loved not having to answer to anyone and making her own schedule.  She was three weeks into the semester and she had herself on a tight schedule that allowed her to complete all of her class work days before it was due, she was loving it.    “Hey sis, what’s up?” Ash called Chelle from work; she hadn’t talked to her in a few days.  “Girl, I have to tell you something oh my goodness.”  Chelle couldn’t wait to vent to someone who would never mention it to a soul.  “What girl, what” Ash said playing.  “I’m at work right now, but you better answer your phone at 3:05pm sharp, I’m serious” Chelle said.  “Oh gosh I hate suspense, text it to me.”  Ash said anxious to know what the big secret was. “No, it’s impossible to do that.” Chelle said, they didn’t know how efficient the text messaging systems were or what could be tracked.  Chelle had heard stories of chicks looking at their boyfriends’ text messages online, she didn’t know how true it was but she wasn’t taking that chance.  She told the class she would be right back and she had one of her favorite students take names, it was just so nobody would leave class.  She went into the library and changed the number on her trac phone with her prepaid MasterCard.  She had figured out a way to register it in her alias, so she was good.  Whenever she needed to be invisible, she used it.  Chelle walked back in the class room and the kids rushed back to their seats as if they were behaving the entire time.  “Ms. Chellie can I use my cell phone?” one of the kids asked.  “As soon as you finish your work and it’s done right.  Don’t try me either; I’m checking it before you do anything.”  Chelle said.  Her students loved her because she was young, fly and she let them do what they wanted for the most part.  The Teachers loved her because no matter what, Chelle always got the kids to complete their work entirely and it was always right with the exception of minor expected mistakes here and there.  They didn’t know how she did it, but the Teachers and the Students liked it.

              “Hello?”  Chelle said into the phone as she was walking out of the School.  The bell had just rang, Chelle let the students leave three minutes ahead of time and they felt privileged.  “Hey girl, what’s going on?”  Chelle said as she answered her phone, it was her cousin Vae.  “Nothing, what you up to?”  “Nothing girl, just got off work.  I let the kids go 3 minutes early they’ll love me forever for it.”  Chelle said laughing.  “Girl, ain’t that it?  Kids get excited over the smallest things.”  Vae said laughing.  “Heck yeah, girl so why do I have a strong feeling them people posted outside my shit?”  Chelle said as she closed her car door.  Vae was baffled, she gasped “what?” almost in a whisper.  “Yes girl, I’m talking Chevy trucks, five percent tint, oversized antennas the whole nine”.  “Well did you tell what-cha-ma-call-it?” Vae was worried about her cousin; she didn’t want her to be wrapped up in anything that wasn’t going to help her.  “Yeah, that shit is getting the best of me.”  Chelle sat at the stop light, she looked in her rear view mirror, her side mirrors and then she looked to her left.  “Vae, I have got to stop looking over my shoulder this shit is wearing me out.”  “Girl you have to focus on you, you are about to graduate and that’s all that should be on your mind.  I know it’s easier said than done but girl, get so lost in your books that you forget what’s going on around you.”  Vae wasn’t in school, and that’s not the route that she wanted to take right out of high school, but one thing was for sure she was proud of Chelle and she wanted her to do good.  Chelle knew that Vae was someone she could always count on to keep it real no matter what. 

              Chelle decided to turn her phone off for a few hours and re-group; she played a bit of throwback Lil Wayne # 8
on “The Block is Hot”
Album really sent her mind to a careless state.   She turned her music up a few notches and blocked everything out, the song made her numb to everything.  Chelle backed her car in, grabbed her handbag and slid her sunglasses on. 
If they’re clocking me, all they will find out is that I work and go to school.  I hope they know how obvious those cars look.  I wonder if they have some sort of surveillance cameras in the cars, or if the antennas pick up on noises close by.  If they work on some sort of walkie-talkie system, or even worse what if they have my apartment wired? 
Chelle was internally going insane.  She wanted to just loose herself in music for the rest of the day with a good book, a bit of wine and a spliff… And that’s exactly what she did; she decided to read
“Forever a Hustler’s Wife”
for the second time, by her favorite Author Nikki Turner while she sipped her Moscato D’Asti. 

If the Walls Could Talk Back

              Chelle was convinced that her apartment was laced with wires in the walls, ceilings and floors.  She and Ash had a code talk that was even hard for them to understand sometimes, but they always stayed on the same page.  “Girl, I need head phones for my walls” Chelle started the conversation with that so Ash would know what was going on.  It didn’t matter if she didn’t catch on right away, Chelle knew it was only a matter of seconds before she ear to ear and eye to eye with her.  “Do they need sunglasses too?”  Ash said letting her know she was on the same page.  “Girl I don’t know, but can we meet in Kernersville or something for lunch?  We need a cute little spot to eat at where we won’t see anyone we know.”  “Let’s meet at friendly shopping center, Flemming’s Steakhouse sound good?”  Ash said, offering to come to Greensboro.  “Heck yeah, that’s even better.  Oh, we can do retail therapy after dinner.  Yay, girl’s day out!”  Chelle was excited that one of her best friends was coming over for a girl’s day.  Besides, Chelle had a lot to say and she didn’t feel comfortable saying it in her house or over the phone.  She had to let it all out as soon as they got there.

              “Where do I start, girl he’s out of sight out of mind.  As far as I know he’s still in Charlotte but you know he’s always on the go.  I am so glad sis, oh my goodness I cannot believe I’m saying this but I don’t want to see him right now.”  Chelle dropped her head.  “What!?  Are you serious, sis what did he do?”  Ash was shocked that Chelle was saying this, she knew it was more to it, but for Chelle to start by saying she didn’t want to see Chip was unusual.  “Girl, so I was walking out of my apartment the other day and I see three unmarked undercover cars sitting over to the right parking lot.  Five percent tint, Chevy trucks and jumbo antennas; girl you already know.  I had to play it cool, but I want to go over there and look in the windows.  I know nobody is in the cars because they stay parked and who knows they might be onto someone else but that would be too much of a coincidence.”  Ash’s eyes grew big and she stopped drinking mid-sip.  She was uncomfortable for her friend, but she knew Chelle was a beast and could hold her own.  “Girl, so did you say something to him?  Well I know you did, what did he say?” 
“Well, I told him not to come back because the Jakes were posted.  He said ok and he threw away his phone.  He called me back from a DC number but I didn’t ask any questions, I just changed the number in my phone.”  They sat in silence for a few moments, “So in other news, this is your last semester right?”  Ash asked Chelle trying to lighten the conversation.  “I think so” Chelle said laughing.  “Get em’ girl” Ash said laughing.  Their food arrived and they talked about everything under the moon.  Next, they went shoe shopping.  Walking out of the store with two pair of shoes each, they were satisfied. They looked at their receipts and said their favorite shared quote “we’ll get it back” they laughed because they always said that when they knew they had spent too much money.

When Did You Fall in Love with Hip Hop?

“I need to go to NY but I don’t have a way.”  Neese said into the receiver, as Chelle answered the phone.  They looked enough alike for them to take their chances, besides Neese knew all of Chelle’s information if she needed to talk her way out of something.  Chelle sat on the phone for a second or two, “ok when do you need to go?”  She flew for free since her Mother worked for the airlines. “This weekend really, I wanted to go on Saturday morning.”  “Don’t you have an ID of mines that looks like you?”  Chelle asked.  “Yeah we kind of look alike with the one I have, I’ll use it.”  Neese was eager to get to NY, she had an event that she lucked up on and she couldn’t miss it even if she had to sleep in the subway; of course she had somewhere to lay her head.  Chelle was always there for Neese when she needed her to do something like this, she wanted her to live out her dream more than anyone in the world and she was going to make sure it happened by any means necessary.  “I’ll call you with your flight information in a few minutes, bye girl” Chelle said smiling.  She called Chip from the house phone, “hey baby I’m going to Queens this weekend, what are you doing?”   “I’ll probably be out that way, what’s up you coming to the big city to see me?”  Chip said already knowing that they both were talking about Charlotte.  “Yes boo, I can’t wait to see you.  I fly out on Saturday.” 

                    Chelle hung up the phone and called her cousin back from her trac phone, “Hey little lady, you ready for this flight number?  My other phone went dead…”  “Yeah, let me go get a pen and paper, hold on.”  Neese was relieved that she would be able to go after all.  “Ok, go ahead” “It’s LGA 7587, don’t lose it.”  Chelle said in a firm voice, “I’ll call you back in a little bit.  No, as a matter of fact log into my email address and print the boarding pass in the morning.  My email is charm22 at yahoo dot com”.  “Charm 22?!” Neese said laughing, “Yeah girl, you know I’m a charm, a jewel, you know.”  Chelle said back laughing, “Shut up that’s your initials and your age.”  Neese started laughing, “What’s the password?” “Oh, it’s room112” Chelle replied.  Neese’s laughter was out of control by this point.  “What the hell?”  She said as she continued to laugh, she was laughing at Chelle’s password but she was also laughing out of excitement.  She felt a heavy burden lifted off of her shoulders, she was going to panic if she didn’t make it to New York.  “You know I’m a goof ball on the low.  I’ll call you tomorrow or something, I’m about to go study.  You need to be doing the same thing jit.” Chelle said as she giggled the girls hung up the phone.