I heard him sigh. I hated it when he did that. I closed my eyes, not wanting to face anybody. I felt hands grip my shoulders and push me back, causing me to fall carelessly on my back. I opened my eyes and saw Boss standing up. Slowly, I got up to stand next to her.
"Dammit Shaundi. I thought I could trust you." He said. I looked down, feeling disappointed.
"She didn't mean too. I pushed the damn truth outta her. If anything, it's my fault." Boss said, defending me. She got me by surprise. I thought she would be happy to see Johnny alive, but apparently not since she was more angered than happy.
"Why?" He asked.
"She knew something and I wanted to figure it out." She replied. She took a deep breath in and exhaled, calming down a little bit more. "Why won't you come back?" She asked in a soft voice.
"I don't want to." Boss looked at Johnny with rage in her eyes.
"Why not?" She growled.
"Because, I don't want to be a pop-culture icon! I don't want to be famous! I want the Saints to be the way they used to be!" He hissed. Boss shook her head.
"I can't believe what you're saying."
"And I can't believe you let the Saints become corporate whores who didn't know how to rob banks! I can't believe you made us slip so far from our original roots!" He yelled. "This is bull shit. Gangs are supposed to have gangsters in it, not fucking pop-culture icons!" Johnny stormed away from us, out into the streets of Steelport. I looked at Boss. Her nostrils were flared and her eyes were a threatening dark blue. She looked towards the exit and began following after Johnny.
"God dammit!" I said as I began following the two.
"Gat, this conversation isn't over!" Boss yelled. Johnny turned around to face us.
"When is it going to be over? When the fuck is being famous going to be over?!" He exclaimed. "I'm sick and tired of walking into a store in Stilwater and people begging me for an autograph! This is shit!" I knew everything he was saying was right. "Remember when you first recruited Shaundi and Pierce?!" My head shot up at the sound of my name. "They didn't care about their appearance, now everyone has to look good as soon as they leave their damn house!"
"Why can't you accept that we're liked?!"
"Because being liked is what changed us in the first place! Being liked turned into being famous. All the fame went into our damn heads, and we didn't know what the fuck being a gangster was all about!"
"Johnny," I began to say as I inched closer to him and Boss, "you're right. You are one hundred percent right, but that was the past. We may still be famous, but we're not letting the fame go to our head anymore. We know what being a gangster is all about, now. Just please come back." I begged. I was almost in tears. He looked away.
"Please." I said again. He looked up at me and Boss.
"Let me think about it." He said.
"I'll give you three days." Boss said turning around and walking back to her Criminal. It looked as if she was crying, but I couldn't tell if there were tears streaming down her face, or the rain drops that were falling heavily from the sky. Johnny turned around and began walking away from me, leaving me standing alone in the street. After several minutes of just standing there, I finally turned around and got into my car.
On the way, I couldn't help but think Johnny was going to leave. I frowned at the thought of him leaving, but I soon smiled as I remembered the time we first met. God, it felt like yesterday.
I was walking around the mall with my friends Deserae and DaNelle in Stilwater that afternoon.
"Shaundi, you've got the money, get me food." DaNelle complained.
"Alright." I said, flipping my dreads over my shoulder, then reaching into the pockets of my purplish bellbottom jeans. "Here's twenty bucks, go crazy." I said. The girls snatched the money out of my hands and ran to the food court in front of us. Walking, I followed after them, but I soon stopped in my tracks after I had seen Johnny Gat. I had seen him on the news once or twice. He had killed a couple hundred people. Give or take a few. I had to talk to him about getting me in the Saints. I walked up to him and sat at his table.
"Can I help you?" He asked, dropping his burger.
"I was wondering," I started to say as I twirled my chin stud around, "if I could join the Saints." I didn't know if he was the leader and trying to get new Saints, but I wanted in. I had heard about them causing trouble when I had first moved to Stilwater two years ago. He looked at me.
"As soon as that bitch that got blown up on that boat wakes up. She'll call the shots."
"Oh." I replied.
"But hey, I'll talk to her about you when or if she wakes up." He said, bringing my hopes up.
"Really?"
"Yeah, here's my phone. Put your number in there and I'll make sure to call you." He said, holding his phone out. I grabbed it and began dialing numbers. Once I had saved it, I handed it back to him.
"Shaundi?"
"Yeah."
"I like it." I smiled. "See ya around, Shaundi." I got up from my seat and walked away with my friends, still smiling.
A/N: Well here's chapter 9 for ya. I wanted to add how Gat and Shaundi met, because we don't know how they did. Hope you guys liked it.
