“Yo, check your girl, Ka,” Dray says to Kasim, who’s been standing there like a useless tree stump.
Donna shoves Dray and puts a finger in his face. Chantal finally comes over to pull Imani away. I go to my friend, whose arms are frozen at her sides. “I’m sorry,” I say to her.
“Imani, where you live?” Chantal asks her.
“Over there on Montgomery and Lawton,” she says. “Please tell Pri and Donna not to beat me up. I swear, I wasn’t trying to get with Dray.”
“Pri’s not even thinking about you. And don’t worry about Donna. You’ll be all right.”
With that, my stomach settles. I would have to fight my own cousins if they tried to hurt Imani. She’s been more of a friend to me at school than they have.
Then Pri rushes past us toward the house while saying, “I ain’t staying around to watch that shit. She’s gonna get all up in his face, then next thing you know, she’s coming home in the morning with a fucking black eye.”
Just as she says this, Dray grabs Donna’s neck and shoves her against the car with a loud thud. Both Chantal and I run to Donna just as Kasim rushes toward them and tries to get in between.
“Calm down, man. Calm down!” Kasim yells in Dray’s face.
Chantal pulls Donna away, who is now holding her head down with her arms crossed. And Dray keeps yelling, even as Kasim extends his arms to keep him from getting too close to Donna again.
“You already know how I roll, D! It wasn’t even like that!” he shouts with spittle coming out of his mouth.
My fists are clenched because rage burns through my whole body. I want to lunge at Dray’s face, but Pri has beat me to it and is already yelling and cursing at him at the top of her lungs. Kasim holds her back until she pushes him off her, and then Dray begins to pace around his car.
My hot rage begins to melt. Maybe it’s the cold. Maybe it’s the way Dray holds his head and bends over as if he is about to let out a loud wail. Then I begin to see him for who he really is. Dray, with his sunglasses even as night spreads across the sky, and his gold cross gleaming, and his love/hate for my cousin, reminds me of the lwa Baron Samedi, guardian of the cemetery—keeper of death.
I hate him. I hate what he can do to my cousin. I hate that he is friends with the boy I’m beginning to like. I hate that he sells drugs that make people die. The detective’s words ring in my ears—all she needed was information—the time and place of a party. If I can give her that, then maybe I can get this terrible man out of my cousin’s life for good and get my mother back. An eye for an eye, and Dray has only one left.
Back in the house, I rush to the bathroom and pull out my cell phone, wallet, then the detective’s card. Breathing heavily and with fire still raging inside of me, I stare at her name on the card for a long minute before I start texting. I send her my name and my new number. That is all for now.
I jump when someone bangs on the door. I stuff my phone and my wallet with the card in it back into my coat pocket and open the door. It’s Donna with tears in her eyes.
PRIMADONNA’S STORY