I'm Not Dying with You Tonight by Gilly Segal

Author:Gilly Segal
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2019-06-26T16:00:00+00:00

16

Lena

Pine Grove Ave

“I cannot let Marcus get to Black!”

“What?” Campbell whispers.

I glance at her, like what are you talking about, and after a second I realize I said that out loud. And then, I decide I might as well tell her.

“Marcus and Black don’t get along too well. The tension’s been building for a bit. And then last month, we was at the block party for Labor Day, and me and Black was chillin’ and havin’ a good time, and here come Marcus, pulling his usual big brother act. Only, he did that in front of everybody, so of course Black had to clap back. Next thing, they was punching each other. Ms. Johnson, this neighbor, she was about to call the police, so you know it was serious. Big Baby had to break them up, because Black don’t need any marks on his pretty face, and Marcus don’t need to be violating his probation.”

Campbell stares at me, her mouth all wide. “Are you serious?”

“Girl, yassss. Everybody says Black is a thunderstorm when he wanna be.”

“Whoa.” She blinks like she can’t take all this in. “What happened then?”

“Well, then Pops showed up at the party, and me and Black had to take off. I knew Pops would take Marcus’s side. He don’t never give Black a fair chance. I did not want him hearin’ about Black startin’ drama, so leaving was the best option, get me?”

“Yeah,” Campbell says. “Sure.”

“They ain’t seen each other since, and I don’t want them seeing each other tonight.” I shake my head. “Bet your cousins ain’t all up in your business like mine.”

“No.” She sounds real quiet and folds her arms and looks away. I don’t like that she looks so sad, especially because Marcus’s nosiness triggered it. I’ll leave her alone, though. I wouldn’t want anybody to put me on blast in front of a bunch of strangers. Besides, Marcus is on us like white on rice, and I have to worry about that instead.

We start heading toward Seventh Ave. I walk as many paces ahead of Marcus as I can. Campbell keeps up with me. She clearly doesn’t want to walk with him. If her annoying cousin was following us, I wouldn’t be wanting to make a new friend with him either.

“I don’t mind him walking us down Pine Grove, but once we get close to Seventh, we gotta ditch him.”

She sneaks a glance behind her, and I have to admit the girl’s got some covert skills, because she’s faster even than I might’ve been.

“I could try to drop a hint that he should go away,” she says.

“He don’t take hints, never has. His mind is a hint-free zone.”

Our eyes catch, and we smile. I can tell we both want to laugh, but neither of us is trying to invite him into our conversation. I definitely don’t want to hear a what are you laughing at from his mouth.

“Are you guys close?” she asks.

“I wouldn’t say that, but he’s known me my whole life.

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