I was unable to sit up because my shoulder was hurting profusely. “Ow!” I moaned.
“My baby, Ella, oh, sweetheart,” my mom cried, rushing to my side when she saw I was conscious.
Having her close, I got on her. “What are you saying to him, Mom?”
“I’ll let you guys talk,” Leo said. He was backing away and going toward the door.
“No! Please, Mom, don’t let him go. I love him,” I admitted.
“What?” she marveled.
Leo said, “It’s okay, Ella. Your mom has a point. You should not have been there.”
“No, Leo. My mom needs to know the whole truth,” I said, struggling to talk. “This is the guy you cooked the food for, Mom. This is Leo. I’ve cared about him for a while. He told me not to come around. It’s those stupid gang members who did this, not him.”
My mom questioned, “Well, how and why did you get shot, girl?”
“They were after me, ma’am,” Leo stepped up and admitted.
“Exactly. Stay away from her,” my mom said bluntly to Leo.
“No, no, Mom. I ran in front of him so they wouldn’t shoot him. He pushed me away so the bullet wouldn’t actually hit me. We were trying to protect each other.”
“You gotta believe me, Ms. Blount. I didn’t want any of this to happen. You best believe I’ma take care this though,” Leo growled.
“Oh no you’re not, son. The police is gonna have to get involved,” my mom declared.
“No, Mom, ’cause then the gang is gonna come after us.”
“They have already come after you. We are gonna get the whole community involved in this thing: your principal, Pastor King, other leaders, everyone. You guys are too young to ruin your future or to have your future stripped away by senseless violence,” she affirmed.
“Leo, that’s your name, right?” my mom said to the guy I cared for so deeply. “I’m sorry. I’m just a protective mama who wants the best for her baby. Thank you for caring.”
“I do care, Ms. Blount. I care a lot.”
“I believe that, baby. Eyes don’t lie. Ella ain’t never liked nobody. She said she loves you, and I respect that. Now it makes sense. You’re the boy she had me cook the extra food for. I knew she liked that guy—well, you—because she was trying to tell me how to cook. She wanted everything to be just right,” my mom joked. Then she looked at Leo square in the eyes. “Promise me you not gonna retaliate. If you do, you are no better than the one who shot my baby.”
Leo looked away. My mom’s gentle hands turned his face back toward her. She was very serious.
“Promise me,” she said.
“I promise,” he finally agreed.
“Great! I’ll be right back. We can’t stay in here too long. Ella needs to get some rest.”
When my mom left, Leo rushed over to me. “I want to hug you, but I don’t want to hurt your arm.”
“Hold me, please,” I said, shaking a little.
I wanted to yell out, “Yeah, I’m okay. Yeah, my mom has given me and Leo a chance. Yeah, I love him, and yeah, he loves me back,” but I just let him hold me.
“You know my mom is right. You can’t be taking matters into your own hands, Leo. You can’t think you’re a bulletproof vest.”
“Ella, what would I have done if he would have killed you? You should have hit the deck.”
“I didn’t want you to get shot.”
“Better me than you,” Leo responded.
“No, I could not stand it when I saw you in this hospital a couple weeks back.”
He touched my face and said, “And you think this is a picnic for me, coming to visit you here?”
I teased, “At least we know we are a match for each other. We can’t stay out of the emergency room, huh?”
“Yeah, well, we don’t need to be back here again. I’m not gonna live my life afraid. I promised your mom I wouldn’t go after those guys, but …” Leo shook his head. “What am I gonna do with you, girl?”
“Love me,” I said, remembering he said that before I got shot.
He kissed my forehead. “How could I not love you? You turn in work for me. You make sure I eat. You make sure I don’t get my head bashed in. You make sure I don’t get shot.”
“Yeah, but you pushed me out of the way, and you’re here to make sure I’m okay.”
“I guess you’re stuck with me,” Leo said.
When the door opened, Leo stood up. My mom came in with two policemen behind her. They questioned us, and we did not hold back. The Axes were nobody to mess with. Things had already escalated out of control. Somebody had to stop the bleeding. Everyone was so horrified about what had happened that my mom said our friends at the party had already given their account to the police. If we all stood together, maybe the Axes would be dissolved for good.
“I have all I need for now,” the officer said to me. “You’re a very lucky lady. It’s nice to see teens sticking together. Truly, the only way were are going to get crime off the streets is if you all do what’s right and face these monsters who think they can control us. Then we can all be free.”
“Just make this a priority,” my mom said.
“We are going to do our part to take care of this,” the officer assured her.
“You better,” she said.
While my mom talked to them at the door, Leo came over and said, “Get some rest.”
“My mom’s feisty, huh?”
“She cares about you.”
“I’m glad she knows I care about you,” I said to him.
“I love you, Ella Blount,” he whispered. I repeated his words in my head over and over and over before I fell asleep.
The next day I was released from the hospital and back at home. “You’re okay?” my sister asked. “I know you hate me. I’ve been such a jerk to you. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you died. It’s like the better half of me would have been gone. Why did you step in front of that bullet?”
“It was an accident, but it’s not like I had a lot to live for,” I blurted out.
Both my mom and my sister looked stunned. I was serious. My life had been super hard the last couple of weeks.
I explained, “Things have been messed up around here. Eva, you and I have been walking around in the same space not even speaking to each other. Mom, you work so hard you didn’t know how depressed I had been.”
“Here, come to this couch and sit down,” my mom said. “I need to talk to both of you girls. Eva is right, Ella. There is no way I’d be okay if you weren’t here. You know I watch the news daily, and there’s always somebody losing their child. I grip my heart every time, feeling for what they are going through. Well, I made some bad choices. I don’t want to lose you.” Eva looked away. “And, sweetheart, I don’t want to lose you either.”
Eva smiled. I knew that my tough and sassy twin felt things deep down. I was happy to see her feel love.
“You guys both know Trevon took me through a lot of turmoil. I was searching for love and wanted it so badly that I accepted anything. It was like I was in a daze. When I finally woke up, I got rid of his tail. But a lot of damage had been done. I knew it wasn’t a burden you girls should have to shoulder, so I didn’t tell you about it. I thought if I worked double shifts and picked up extra jobs, I could put back some of the money I let him waste away.”
“Mom, why didn’t you just tell us?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Eva responded. “We knew Trevon was no good.”
“It wasn’t right for me to let you guys think your dad wasn’t holding up his end of the deal. I was bitter and mad at him for leaving. However, I tricked him back in the day. I don’t like saying I got what I deserved, but he wasn’t in love with me. The kind of woman he wanted is the kind of women he’s with now, someone educated, petite, a more polished lady. I could have been that girl, but I got lazy and didn’t wanna work hard. Eva, you remind me a lot of myself, girl, so full of potential, but you think the world is against you. Ella, you care so muc
h about other people, but you have to know when you’re being too kind. You can’t put yourself in front of a bullet.”
“I know, Mom,” I said, replaying the event in my mind and not believing what I had done.
“I guess I just want both of you girls to know I love you so much, and I want you to be better than me. Make better choices. I been going to work and trying to further my education. I enrolled in technical school. I want to become a nurse. I can’t push you and tell you to be all you can be when you have a mama who hasn’t reached her own dreams and goals. Your education is important, too important for anyone to come and copy your knowledge,” my mom said, glaring at me.
I responded, “I understand.”
“I hope you do,” she replied. Then she looked at my sister and said, “You are too important not to get an education. People don’t pay people in this world who know nothing. They pay for education. So go and get yours, or you gonna wake up one day and regret that you didn’t try harder, be better, and excel.”
This was the first heart-to-heart my mom had had with us in years. Eva appeared to be taking it in. I did the same.
“I’m going to go cook. Your boyfriend wants to come by and check on you. I figured I better make a nice meal. I know he can eat,” my mom joked.
She went to the kitchen. Eva sat down beside me. I hoped we could work out our differences.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I put you in ISS.”
“You had good reason.”
“Yeah, but I could have let you in on it. I could have made sure your paper was not left to be caught, and honestly, I should have come up with another plan. Mom is right. I gotta apply myself more.”
“I can help you,” I said, knowing my sister’s grades were in trouble.
“You’re really not mad at me? ’Cause Charli and Hallie are.”
“Yeah, but they don’t live in this house, and they don’t know how you have been trying to hold things up around here.”
“Leo Steele, huh?” my sister teased. “You didn’t get my permission to talk to him.”
“I’m growing up, huh? For real, though, can I push you with school, and you not take it personally?” I was real happy when Eva nodded.
“Good, ’cause you know I love you. If I can get As, you can get As too.”
“I love you too,” she affirmed.
When someone knocked on the door, Eva looked at me and said, “Ahh, Leo is crazy about you. I thought he told mom he’d be here later on.”
I started fixing my hair. Eva gave me a thumbs-up. She opened the door. Both of us were stunned to see our father.
“Eva, can I please come in?”
Eva turned back and looked at me. We had not talked about why I left my dad’s place. Thankfully, my mom did not push me for details. She knew it wasn’t good though.
“It’s fine,” I said.
I had just gone through a completely tough ordeal. A bullet had hit a part of my body. It was a blessing that I was still here. If my dad came all the way over to make sure I was okay, the least I could do was speak to him.
“Who is that?” my mom said. She walked into the family room, drying her hands. “Oh, hey, Calvin.”
“Erika,” my dad replied, handing my mom an envelope. “I just wanted to give you something.”
My mom asked, “What’s this?”
“Just help for the rent. Our girls need to be stable. You don’t need to be this stressed.”
“Why you doing this?” she asked. “We were actually just talking about you. I told the girls I ruined things, not you.”
He said, “Sometimes we have people in our life who do stupid things. They need grace and so do we.”
My dad wasn’t making sense. It seemed like he was holding back. However, I was so happy he was blessing us.
“I know you are resting, pumpkin,” my dad came and said to me. “And I’m just so happy you are okay. Your mom called and told me there was a shooting. I can’t explain how awful I felt to get that news. Samantha felt pretty bad too.” I looked at him in a strange way. “I know, right? ’Cause when she came clean and told me the real story of why you left so abruptly, she and I decided that maybe the lavish wedding we were planning could be scaled back so I could really help my family.”
“Why did you leave?” Eva asked.
“She didn’t tell you?” my dad asked.
“She’s a sweet girl who doesn’t cause rifts,” my mom said to my dad before looking at me. “She didn’t say anything. Do you want to now?”
“Samantha just told me it would be better if I was gone. Me being there was causing tension. So instead of being a problem for Dad, I left,” I uttered.
My dad said, “For the longest time Samantha kept telling me she didn’t know why you were gone. But that wasn’t the case, and she finally confessed. I realized we can all be with people who sometimes influence us the wrong way. I thought about Trevon, and I’m sorry for being so judgmental. You did a great job with our girls, Erika. And Miss Eva is a spitfire just like you. I love you both, and you’re welcome to my home anytime.”
I tried to get up to hug my dad, but my wound needed time to heal. He bent down and kissed my cheek. Eva was reserved with him, but she wasn’t mean. That was a blessing. My immediate family was still very dysfunctional, but we were coming together.
I just shouted out. “I love y’all.”
“All of you guys did not have to come over here!” I bawled. My sister had planned an impromptu get-well party.
I would have been fine just chilling with Leo, but Eva had Charli, Randal, Hallie, and some of the football players over as well. The boys went all out. Blake Strong gave me flowers. Brenton brought me candy. Landon gave me one of his dad’s new books. Amir gave me a card.
“Dang, y’all making me look bad. I should have gotten her something,” Leo joked.
“You’ve given me yourself. Just you being here means more than you know,” I noted.
We got to talking about grades. I told Eva, Randal, and Leo to come closer when I noticed the three of them were not as confident as the rest of us were. Clearly, they needed help with their academic performance.
“We’ve got two big tests coming up in math as well as in US History. I will rest now. Tomorrow after church, I’m gonna help the three of you guys for a couple of hours. Next week after cheerleading and football practice, we’re going to study, study, study. If you guys give me a chance to help you, I promise you’re gonna do well.”
The three of them gave me unhappy looks and grumbled. I knew if people weren’t used to studying, it was not going to be something they saw as exciting. For me, studying was my friend. When my teachers taught something I didn’t know, I would take the book and read the chapter. If I still did not get it, I reread the chapter. I also made notes on what I read. If it was my workbook, I highlighted the important parts. Another one of my tricks was asking the teacher to go over what I missed on tests when I did not score one hundred percent. I’d keep old tests to use as study guides. Therefore, when the exam came, I would not have forgotten all I had learned. These small things added together made all of the difference.
I actually had three good students who came in Sunday, ready to get to work. We spent one hour working on math. The second hour we worked on American history. Since we were all in after-school activities and had forty minutes between the end of school and practices, we could work on the books then as well.
Everyone was surprised to see me at school Monday morning. My arm was in a sling, but I was feeling better. Since I didn’t need to, I did not want to miss school.
“This week flew by. You’re an amazing teacher,” Leo said to me Thursday evening. “I’m actually ready to take the tests tomorrow. I feel like I will do a great job.”
“Well, I think the difference is you want to learn.”
“I’ve always wanted to learn, but some teachers just don’t try to make sure I get it.”
“Yeah, but I have been in class with you,
and you get frustrated. You had no problem making sure I explained it in a way that you understood.”
“Yeah, but none of my teammates were around to rag me for not getting it the first time, or second time, or third time,” he tried rationalizing.
That was not working with me, and I held my ground and said, “You’re a big, strong football player. Since when did you care what your teammates think?”
“You got a point. How’s that arm?”
“I go to the doctor tomorrow, but I feel good.”
“You heard, right?”
“What? About Shameek?” I asked.
“Yeah, and about six other Axes.”
“Yup. They were arrested. Two are in jail and four are in juvenile detention.”
Leo said, “It isn’t cool brothers got their life messed up like that, but I’m pretty happy about the arrests. Time to put all this gang stuff behind us.”
Telling him all I’d heard, I said, “Word’s out, they will be recruiting sometime soon. Just don’t let it be you.”
“Me joining the Axes? Please. I am worried about my boy, Landon, though. He’s talking some crazy junk.”
“Well, help him stay clear of those fools going nowhere fast,” I said.
At the cheer competition, things were different. Ella and Randal were able to compete because they had done well on their testing and gotten their GPAs up. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to perform because of my arm. However, I was sitting in the stands wearing the cutest Lockwood Lions’ competition cheer squad shirt. And I was not sitting alone. Several members of the football team were around me. A lot of our parents had decided to come to this competition, and they were sitting with me too.
When our squad went out onto the floor, we had so much spirit. The gym was shaking. Because we had already switched up the routine, it was easy for the girls to show out without me participating. Nothing bobbled, moves were crisp, and the tumbling was on point. The difficulty we added to the routine stood out. There were eight squads in our division. We had a chance to place. The same squads who had dominated us and looked down on us were smiling in my direction.
The announcer, who I did not know, called me on the loudspeaker to come to the center of the floor. Leo helped me up. I stood there with my team behind me.