CHAPTER 10: DARK CLOUD

2:45 approached quickly as AJ arrived at the gym. She quickly began setting up. She was happy that she didn't have the place cones and jump ropes all over the court because the team had to practice their free throws. She was a little annoyed about having to refill the water cooler.

She let out a long sigh. It's been a long day and she knew it was going to be longer because she had to visit her dad after practice. She really wasn't looking forward to it, but she would rather do it now and get it over with and not have to do it later on in the month.

"Ms. Green, right on time." Coach Carter came into the gym.

"Oh, yeah," AJ shrugged. "That's me, miss always on time."

"Do you have a minute?" Coach asked.

AJ shrugged, she had no choice but to listen to him.

"Have a seat." Coach said as they both sat on the bleachers. He wasn't sure how this was going to go considering her lack of emotion for anything. He also knew it was normal for some trauma victims to act as if nothing is wrong, especially teenagers, they never want to talk to adults about their problems anyway.

AJ was confused, "I didn't do anything wrong, did I?"

"No Ms. Green, you have been excellent."

"Ok," AJ said with confusion. "So what's the problem?"

Coach sighed, he knew AJ probably didn't want to talk about what happened at Hercules, but he couldn't help but feel bad for. She seemed like a bright young lady with a promising future, and it was hard to picture her in juvenile detention.

"I, um saw the news last night. They were doing a story on the Hercules shooting."

AJ rolled her eyes. She was hoping nobody would see it on the news, but she also wasn't surprised. Coach seems to be the type of guy that knows everything even when you try to keep a secret.

"Great," She said. "Now you know, which means everyone is gonna know, which means I have to deal with-."

"That sort of tragedy is hard to keep a secret Ms. Green." Coach said back.

AJ was angry, she made it her mission to keep the shooting a secret. She didn't want to be called a murderer. Every single student at Hercules called her a murderer. Even some of the teachers had some concerns about her. She didn't want to have to explain what happened and still be labeled guilty anyway.

"Well, I don't want to talk about it." She said abruptly and looked away, trying to hold back tears.

Coach was silent for a moment. He couldn't force her to talk about this if she didn't want to.

"Have you talked to anyone at all?"

AJ shook her head. "Just my mom, my aunt and my cousin, they have their own problems and moms always at work so sometimes I can't reach her."

"Well, if you ever want to talk, I'm am here."

AJ shrugged once again. She's heard that line before. AJ learned the hard way that most people never cared about her well being. They were just nosy and wanted something to gossip about. Coach seemed genuine, but she just wasn't in the mood to dump all of her problems on him. He has enough on his plate with this rowdy basketball team. She remained silent as Coach pulled a card out of his pocket.

"This is the teen youth center that my son volunteers at. They have a support group every Tuesday and Thursday evening for trauma victims and survivors. I think it will definitely help with everything you're going through."

AJ looked at the card. She wanted to throw it away, but she decided put it in her pocket. "Me? Therapy? Not much to think about, sir. I'm not going to whine to complete strangers about my problems."

Coach was ready with a reply, but some of the players were entering the gym and beginning to warm up.

"Well Ms. Green, if you ever change your mind, you have the information, but it's not good to keep your emotions bottled up. Eventually, you will end up lashing out and it is completely destructive and unhealthy. You need a healthy way to vent."

"I'm doing fine, sir, everything is great," AJ answered with annoyance in her voice as Coach stood up and made his way to his chattering team. He began talking about fundamentals and how they are important and that they were going to run a new play. He also mentioned that they will be playing their first away game this Friday.

His voice seemed to fade away as she began having flashbacks about the shooting. Her best friend being shot in the head was the most gruesome, vivid thing she had ever seen. She was dead before she even hit the ground. A tear rolled down her face as she began to think about the blood on her hands and clothes. She was a mix of emotions, scared, sad, and angry. She warned her friend about being involved with gang members, but she didn't listen, and now her young life is over. More tears began rolling down her face but she wiped them quickly because she didn't want anyone to see her crying.

She couldn't help but think about the shooting ruining her reputation. Instead of being praised for saving her school, she was thrown in juvie because the police refused to do a proper investigation. All they saw when they arrived at the scene were two dead students and a teenager with a gun. The cops didn't even think to take her statement, they just assumed she was the shooter. The trial was the worst of it. She was already guilty to the judge until it was proven that the cop that arrested her didn't bother to investigate. It was proven in the trial that Officer McKinley had other arrests that he didn't properly investigate, mainly dealing with African-Americans. He would just arrest everyone directly involved in the crime and continue as if nothing ever happened. Officer Brian McKinley, that is one name she will never forget. She was relieved when the judge said she was innocent and free to go, but after three months of being in juvie, she didn't feel so innocent. She knew she wasn't the same AJ she was before and she wasn't sure if she would ever come back. She felt a dark cloud hanging over her that she could never get rid of.

Coach's whistle brought AJ back to reality. She saw Timo running back and forth still continuing his suicides and push ups. He had one more day to finish and surprisingly it seemed as if he was going to complete his task. She noticed some of the players watching him. It wasn't surprising that some of the other players began to feel for him. She knew that he was a good player, she could spot a good basketball player from a mile way. He just had a horrible attitude. AJ didn't feel sorry for him at all. She was still hoping that he would fail. She couldn't forget him throwing food on her sweater, and calling her names. She already made it her mission to make his life hell if he did make it on the team.

Practice ended on a high note. Coach named Jason and Kenyon captain and co-captain of the team. Kenyon was excited and invited Jason out to the burger restaurant. Jason decided to go, but he had a lot on his mind. He couldn't help but stare at AJ during practice. It looked as though she was crying. He immediately thought that she found out about her being his little sister, but after realizing that she didn't ask him about it, he figured it was something else. He began to wonder if something really happened to her during the Hercules school shooting. He wanted to invite her for a bite to eat to tell her himself, and to ask her about it but he backed out.

"Kinda quiet J," Kenyon said with concern as they walked to the burger restaurant.

Jason sighed, the only person he could talk to about this was Kenyon. He didn't feel like explaining everything to the entire team right now, but he knew he was going to have to eventually.

"I don't know man." Jason began. "I wanna tell her, but I don't know if I should be the one to tell her, you know? This shit is unreal, dawg. Why the hell did nobody say anything? My pops is such a prick, yo."

Kenyon sighed, He was more confused than Jason. He wanted to help, but he wasn't sure what to do. Kyra told him it was best to stay out of it. He didn't want to argue with her so he agreed, but this was still hard to hear. "I don't even know what to tell you, man, just do what you think is right."

Jason was still confused. He didn't know what was right. AJ could be upset with him knowing before she did. He knows for a fact her mother didn't say anything to her because she hated Frank. His uncle made that perfectly clear.

"So how's Kyra?" Jason asked, changing the subject.

Kenyon looked at him and nodded. Jason knew exactly what he meant.

"You serious?" He asked.

"Yeah." Kenyon nodded. "Just don't say nothin aight, especially Worm. I don't feel like hearin his mouth."

"I gotchu," Jason answered back. "Whachu gonna do, though?"

Kenyon sighed, he had a feeling Kyra was pregnant when Worm mentioned it. He didn't want to believe that he was going to be a father during his senior year of high school. He wasn't ready for fatherhood and he knew for a fact Kyra was not ready for motherhood. They both had plans to go to college and they knew raising a baby would make it extremely difficult. He felt it would be best for both of them if she had an abortion, but he knew deep down Kyra wanted to keep the baby and he couldn't tell her what to do.

"She wanna keep the baby so we gotta go what we gotta do I guess." He shrugged.

"Well I can't do much, but if you need somethin' I gotcha," Jason said.

"Thanks, man." Kenyon nodded. "So if AJ does find out, and she talks to you, what are you gonna do?"

Jason began to feel remorse, but he was also a bit apprehensive. He wasn't sure how to be a big brother. He knew some of his other siblings, but he never knew where they were so he never had a relationship with them. It would be nice to have a relationship with at least one of his siblings since he doesn't have much family on his mother's side.

"I guess just hang around her, you know, be her brother," Jason answered.

The bus ride to the correctional facility reminded her of how much she hated taking the bus to see her dad. She felt much safer when her mother drove, but she had to work a double shift so she wasn't able to. She sighed as she made her way in. She had to sign the visitor's log and walk through the metal detectors into the visiting room along with the correctional officers who were guiding her and the other families who were visiting their loved ones. It was always uneasy for AJ to be in a correctional facility again. She began having more flashbacks about juvie, particularly being in fights with her cell mates. She was beaten at first, but she eventually learned to defend herself. That is the only thing good thing she could say about being in juvie.

AJ sat patiently at a table waiting for the correctional officer to escort her dad. She didn't feel anything when she saw him. The sadness she did have when he first went in wore off a long time ago.

"Hey, baby girl!" He greeted, he wanted to hug his daughter, but the inmates are not allowed to touch the visitors.

"Hi, dad," AJ said back.

"Awww, I bet your mom gets so mad lookin at you, lookin like a grown woman. I bet you got all the boys chasin you huh?"

AJ smiled, she couldn't help it. Her father's mannerisms always made her laugh. "Maybe, well, I don't know." She couldn't help but think about Damien when he said that. She thought about him a lot and wanted to vent about him as well but, she didn't even bother with it. She knew the subject had to change quickly. She was in no way comfortable talking about boys and sex with her jailed father.

"So you likin Richmond? You play ball there?" Frank asked.

AJ sighed, "Richmond is okay, and they don't have a girls team this year, so mom decided for some odd reason I would like being the manager of the boys team."

Frank sulked, he knew how much AJ loved to play basketball. He knew this was hurting her.

"Damn, that sucks, sweetheart!" He said.

"Yeah, it does, I wanna play, not be some maid for the team, but the new coach is good, though, we won our first game, and he knows a lot."

"That's good sweetheart," Frank said again, "I bet you usin all them smarts to help them win huh? I don't even need to ask about your grades do I?"

AJ nodded, "My grades are fine. Mostly A's, a couple of B's"

"I know, you my smart girl! You get that from your mom, though."

Frank smiled, he was happy to hear that AJ was doing well. He couldn't help but be concerned after the Hercules shooting. He scolds himself every day for not being able to be there for her physically like a real father should. He felt even more guilty because he needed to tell her something. He needed to tell her that his youngest son Jason attends Richmond and they might run into each other, but knowing she is managing the boys basketball team, they may have already. He could tell just by looking at her that she hasn't been the same since the shooting and being arrested. The last thing he wanted to do was make more of a mess in her life, but he knew this needed to be said. He was sure Michelle didn't because she hates him. He had to find a way to ease it into a conversation, this wasn't going to be easy.

"So what's the team like? Them boys better be bein nice." Frank began.

AJ sighed, "Most of them are okay, except this one. He's a complete dick head and always picks on me. Like, when the Coach asked me to help him with a play, he got all mad and said I was being a manager to flirt with guys."

Frank scoffed, "He's a hater baby girl. You're probably better than him."

"I know I am," AJ scoffed, she was getting annoyed at the thought of Timo and didn't want to talk about him any longer.

"There's Kenyon, that's Kyra's boyfriend, he's nice. Then this dude Worm, he's pretty funny." AJ paused for a second. This would be the perfect time to ask about Jason since he had the last name as her father.

"There's this other kid, Jason Lyle. Do you know him? Are you guys related? Is he a cousin or something?"

Frank felt his heart beating faster than ever. He had a flashback of Jason's last visit when he told him about AJ. He was scared that AJ was going to have that same reaction. They do share his hot-headed bloodline after all.

"Um, yeah, I know Jason, he's um…" Frank paused and looked down.

"He's what?" AJ shrugged noticing Frank getting tense.

"He's my son." Frank murmured.

AJ couldn't believe her ears. He could have sworn that Frank said that Jason was his son.

"I couldn't hear you, dad."

Frank cleared his throat, "Jason is my son AJ."

AJ was silent for awhile, she began fidgeting with her fingers. She had to keep her composure. She didn't want to make a scene in the prison. Frank noticed AJ fidgeting with her fingers and looking around with a distraught, confused look on her face. He felt terrible. He knew he should have told them sooner, but it was hard dealing with Michelle after they had broken up and he ended up in prison. Michelle hated him for cheating and she didn't want AJ to see him or know her siblings. He had to beg her to allow AJ to visit him once a month. After realizing his two youngest kids were going to Richmond, he had to make sure they know. He wanted them to know. He wanted them to get to know each other. Some of his older children had followed in his footsteps and ended up in jail themselves and he had no idea where the rest of them were and he was sure none of their mothers wanted anything to do with him as well. Being in jail made Frank realize that he made one too many mistakes with and relationships. He slept around and he had hurt a lot of the women he dated. If he could go back in time and change things, he could. He knew he wouldn't have to see the distraught look on his youngest daughter's face that hurt him so much.

"So he's your son, that would make him my-"

"Yeah, he's your brother," Frank said.

"Wow." AJ scoffed, "I have a brother and God knows how many siblings for almost sixteen years, and you didn't bother to tell me?"

"I'm sorry AJ." Frank began, "I should have told you."

"Um, you think?" AJ raised her voice.

"Your mom didn't want me to tell you and-"

"That's not an excuse!" AJ yelled. She couldn't help but be mad at her mother as well. Why didn't she tell her when she told her that she was going to go to Richmond? She had some explaining to do.

"I'm sorry sweetheart, I really am. You have every right to be upset." Frank said with sympathy in his voice.

"I wasn't asking for your permission," AJ said as she stood up and grabbed her bag. She didn't want to hear anything else Frank had to say. She just wanted to leave.

The correctional officer escorted her out of the visitor room as another officer escorted Frank back to his cell. He thought he would feel better by telling her, but seeing her reaction made him feel worse. He didn't want this visit to end this way. He had a small hope that she would stay with him longer, but he knew that she was angry and needed some time to cool off. He knew that AJ and Jason would come together and no matter what happens to him while he's in prison, AJ and Jason would have each other.