Behind us, the never-ending music thumps on. I could lose myself in it, find some honey to wriggle against me, soft and warm. There’s someone for me. Always. Any woman I want. The one in the hot-pink mini skirt. Damn. The one with the shaved head and earrings like Olympic rings. Hmhmmm.

It’s ten-fifteen. In an hour or so, I ought to shut this party down. Make sure everyone gets home safe, before the midnight curfew.

Or.

Or, I could shut it down now, and take the party to the streets. Bust into my arsenal and take it to the cops. Show them a taste of what Underhill really has to offer. There’s enough of us. We could do some damage.

I wish—goddammit. I wish I could have this conversation with someone else besides Noodle. Anyone.

No, not anyone.

Jennica isn’t the most bookish person I ever met, but she asks the right kinds of questions. The stuff she doesn’t know shows me what I know and don’t know. The shit she knows is on a whole other level. She knows how to stay calm when everything is flying off the handle.

“No joke,” I insist. “We gotta go down there.”

Noodle takes down his drink in a gulp. “Why, so they can throw us in jail? You want a replay of the other night?”

“Throw us in jail for what?” My throat is tight and my fists are like rocks.

“Aw man, you know they’ll find something. The whole point is they come after us for nothing now. We can get high and forget about it.” He reaches for the bottle. Offers it to me. Even though he knows I don’t drink anymore. Gotta keep a clear head.

Clear head.

Clear head.

“You think it’ll blow over?” I try to breathe. I shouldn’t give a whit about Shae Tatum. I don’t. I mean, I wouldn’t, if not for Sheila. I know good and well that I walk a line. I’m no innocent bystander. If I go down with a pig bullet in me, it’ll be my choice. My fight. I do what I gotta do.

“Naw,” Noodle says. “They’re gunning for us. Don’t make today no different than yesterday. Tomorrow, either.”

I look at him hard. Gunning for us. Sure. We live under the gun, Noodle and me. By choice. Cops roll up on us, it’s ’cause of who we are, ’cause of what we do, not how we look.

This is different.

There’s such a thing as innocence. When they start coming for our littlest ones, we can’t stand for it.

WILL/EMZEE

Usually I do homework on the bus. Tonight, I’m boycotting homework. It’s bullshit.

Without a book or a math problem, the ride is long. Interminable.