Chapter 1

I took a sip of the canned sprite I held in my hand. I looked around. Silence. We all sat on the porch, me, Jermaine, Rob, and Chris. Nobody said a word. I sat back, engulfed in my thoughts. Today was my childhood friend, Derrick Johnson's funeral. We all gathered at his mother's house for a block party to celebrate his life. We were the last four left at the house. I looked at my phone. 9:46 pm. It was getting late. And we had school tomorrow My eyes were blood shot.

We had been sitting in silence for about an hour now. My heart ached. I spent almost every day with Derrick, whether it be going downtown or just chilling with some females. He was my best friend. And to make matters worse, he wasn't even apart of the ongoing food between the hoods of Woodcrest. He fucked with everybody. The coolest dude you'll ever meet. All he wanted to do was have fun with his niggas and live life. He never aimed to harm anybody. But one thing about him, he was about a dollar. And when you're getting money and doing good, you're an automatic target in Woodcrest. No one wants to see anybody else doing good for themselves. Today was my last time seeing him. And not in a good way. Nobody wants to see their best friend in a casket.

We had a pretty good idea of what group of people was behind this. We've been in a ongoing feud with a hood named "the Swamp" , over on the Westside of the city. Derrick had been shot outside of the Walgreens on the 7100 block of west Cleveland. He was making a run for his mother, buying pull-ups for his little brother, Dennis, who is 4 years old. It was one thing on my mind. Retaliation. Yeah, I know going and killing one of theirs isn't going to bring Derrick back, but sitting and shedding tears isn't going to either.

"Yall ready?" Chris broke the silence. I nodded my head to his comment. Chris stood up from the bottom step and took my hand. "Let's go" Rob muttered raising up and yanking his car keys out his pocket. We piled into Rob's box Chevy. I sat in the back and stared out the window. I sat deeply in my thoughts.

Before I knew it, I was getting dropped off. "Ight lil bro, stay up." Rob said turning from the front seat to face me. I nodded my head and exited the car. He honked the horn one last stoke before pulling off into the darkness. Huey answered the door and I walked right past him. "Riley.." He called. I ignored him and went straight up the stairs to the room.

I kicked my shoes off and laid flat on my back in my bed. Huey walked in and leaned on the door. "Riley, I know you're feeling bad about this, and I know what you're thinking. Revenge isn't going to bring him back.." He declared.

I knew I was going to hear this. I sat up and stared at him. "Yeah, but sitting here and being sad about it isn't either.." I replied. Huey shook his head. "Riley don't get in this" Was the last thing he said before exiting the room.

Don't get in this? Ha. That was funny. Huey didn't know how it feels to have your bestfriend taken away. So until then, he had no say in what I do. I laid my head down on the pillow and drifted away.

7:30 AM - Monday Morning

We arrived at school the usual time. We attended the biggest public school in Woodcrest, J. Hoover High. It was about five minutes from our house on our side of town. Everyone from the Eastside went here. And some from the west, leading to all the violence on school grounds. See, almost every hood on the Eastside stuck together.

See, the Eastside ran about 60 blocks, and there is 6 hoods made up of these 60 blocks. The Eastside of the city started on 1st. From 1st to 60th. The 6 hoods that made up the east called themselves Drummond Heights, Concord, Hoover Park, Clark Square, the Low End, and of course my hood, Dark Side. From 1st to 17th was Drummond Heights, 18th to 25th, Clark Square, 26th to 33rd, Concord, Hoover Park was 34th to 39th, The Low End, 40th to 45th. And Dark Side was 45th to 60th. Us, Hoover Park, and the Low End had an alliance. The other three hoods did their own thing, such as fucking with out of towners and hoods from the Westside, therefore they couldn't be trusted.

The west was composed of 4 hoods. Jamarioville(named after deceased block legend Jamario Higgins), the Red Light District, Creek Row, and the Swamp. From 65th to 75th was Jamarioville, 76th to 85th, Creek Row, 86th to 97th, Red Light District, and 98th to 110th was known as the Swamp.

The Swamp was our biggest threat in the city and put together we contributed to 30% of the murder rate. Most niggas from the Swamp went to Red Light High, in the Red Light District. They knew not to step foot in Hoover High.

We exited the car and brushed past hundreds of students standing out in front of the school. We were joined by Michael Caeser, Hiro Otomo, Jazmine Dubois, and Cindy McPhearson. I was the only sophomore out of the the group of seniors.

First we had my bitch ass brother, Huey. He was the perfect student. He currently has a 4.2 GPA and will be attending Davidson University next year. He stood about 6'2, his afro was neatly shaped and his lining, CRISPY. He had a small goatee under his chin. Then, Michael Caeser, the crazy one out of the group.

Caeser was a cool dude until you pissed him off. He didn't care about anything, he would shoot an old lady if she looked at him the wrong way. He's one of most feared and respected niggas from our side. He had short dreads that came past his ears. He stood about 6'1 and had a tattoo on his inner left forearm that read "DARK $IDE." You couldn't tell by just glancing because he's dark skinned, but by now everyone knew what it read.

Then we had Hiro Otomo, the Asian dude. It might seem weird to have a Asian person from our hood, but it's not. Well, Hiro isn't the regular Asian. He was black in my eyes because he talked like us, walked like us, and liked the same stuff we liked. He stood about 5'11, the same height as me. He had a low fade and narrow eyes. Hiro wasn't exactly crazy or a killer, but when it came down to it, he would pull the trigger or sucker punch somebody without hesitation.

Next we had Cindy McPhearson and Jazmine Dubois. They were the goddesses of the senior class. They both stood about 5'5. Every nigga in the school wanted these two girls. Jazmine's brown hair was straightened and flowed down her back, while Cindy's hair was in her signature two braids. Cindy's blue eyes lit up in the sun when she saw us.

"Aye fags!" Cindy shouted as they joined us. "Wassup lil ugly" Caeser replied, dapping both girls up. Jazmine immediately hugged Huey. See they've been together since my 8th grade year and their sophomore year. They were truly in love. But it was on thing, Jazmine was a virgin.

I could tell it bothered Huey a little bit that she was taking so long to give it up. Hell, I would've gave up a long time ago. Well, considering the fact that Huey was fucking other hoes while they were together(YEAH, Huey) it might not have been such a bad thing.

We had now made it inside the school where students were everywhere. Cindy slapped the back of my head. "Wassup, lil nigga" She laughed. She knew I hated when I was called "lil nigga." I smirked and replied, "That's why yo mama-." She shot me a murderous glare, then we laughed it off. Man, Cindy was my best friend, we could talk about anything, whether it be bitches or her boyfriend.

She was currently dating a nigga from the Red Light District named Damien. He was a cool dude, I guess. I didn't really know him like that, though. Friday was their 1 month anniversary and Cindy planned on giving him her virginity.

The group broke up and I went to my locker. After gathering my things I went to first period. Time for hell.

The first four classes went by pretty fast and before I knew it, it was time for lunch. We all sat at our own table, the one right by the line. It was me, Caeser, Hiro, Cindy, Huey, and Jazmine. I was the first at the table today, to my surprise.

I sat and stared into space for a minute until I was rudely interrupted by someone cupping their hands over my eyes. My whole body jolted and they backed up. Jazmine began laughing and pointing at me. I turned and looked at her. "Dude you got scared?" She laughed.

"Hell naw, you just caught me off guard, that's all." I replied. By this time, the rest of the crew had made it to the table. "WASSUP BITCHES" HIRO exclaimed, sitting down. "Uh uh, who you calling a bitch?" Cindy snapped. "Shit, if the shoe fits, wear it.." Hiro smirked.

Cindy reached over the table and slapped the shit out of him. Hiro gripped the red hand print on his face. "Damn I was just playing, girl!" Hiro proclaimed. "Oh well" Cindy shrug off and went in the lunch line.

Across the lunch room, I spotted Charles Terry walking over to our table. We all eyed him because he was from the Westside, but he was cool because he's from Creek Row, and they currently beef with no one. We still had to watch him, though.

He stopped at our table and leaned over it. "Man I know y'all coming to our party Saturday." He said. We all looked confused. "What party?" Caeser questioned. "Aw shit, look me and a couple of my guys throwing a party Saturday on 80th and Jackson." He announced. I shrug my shoulders. "Ain't shit else to do, we'll be there, and it better be some bitches.." I replied. He smirked and walked back to his table.

"You sure you really want to be that deep in the Westside?" Huey questioned, raising his eyebrows. "Duh nigga, ain't shit gon happen to us" I claimed. "Yeah niggas know where we from, I bet shit don't happen to us.." Caeser interjected. Huey shrugged his shoulders and got in the lunch line.

The rest of the day went by quickly and was pretty boring, this was unusual for this school. I was walking to my locker when I noticed a group of people on one side of the hallway and the other group on the opposite side. Words were being exchanged and hand signs thrown. I looked closely and realized one of them was Caeser.

They were arguing with a group of Red Light District niggas. I slipped my brass knuckles out of my pocket and walked to the front of the crowd. The closet nigga to me shouted, "FUCK DARK SIDE!" I cocked back and sucker punched him in the side of the head. After being hit, he dropped to the floor clutching his head. This sparked a riot, because when I swung, Caeser swung, and so did the rest of Dark Side. The riot ended with them niggas running out the school.

"Soft ass niggas!" Hiro yelled. Caeser was cracking up. "Man you knocked that nigga out with them brass knuckles" he cried, hitting my arm. I replayed it in my head. When I hit him he fell awkwardly, which made it even funnier. "Yeah man" I replied.

Huey came in the school. "Hurry up" he stared at me. "Damn nigga here I come right now" I replied. "Ight y'all" I shouted. Huey and I got into the car and we were on our way home.

When we arrived people had been texting my phone and my Twitter and Instagram notifications had been blowing up. People were tagging me in something. I went in the house and laid back on my bed. I checked instagram first. Apparently, someone had recorded the fight at school and the video had me knocking out a nigga named Lil Greg from the District.

I laughed at the video then put my phone on the charger. After this, I was in a deep sleep. I forgot to do my homework, FUCK !