Read At the Crossroads for Free Online Page A

services. He was a beast on the basketball courts and wasn’t anything to sneeze at on the gridiron, but there was something about the street life that had his nose wide open.
    Nard was the complete opposite of Bubba. He was short, fat, and had already been held back to give the ninth grade another try. He was also throwing rocks at the penitentiary, begging for them to let him in. His mother was a drug addict, and there was never any mention of afather. He was angry at the world for dealing him a bad deck of cards. In order for him to feel good about himself, he bullied smaller and weaker kids and was always on the prowl for his next victim. Franky tried to keep his distance from him, but now that they attended the same school, that wasn’t going to be as easy anymore.
    “What y’all doing out here?” Franky asked for lack of having anything else to say.
    “ ‘Bout to go get something to grub on,” Nard said. “You roll?”
    “Nah,” Franky said. “This is my first day here. I’m not about to skip. What’s up, Bubba?”
    “What’s good with ya, boi?” Bubba said as he walked over to Franky and gave him a brotherly hug. “So you up here now, huh?”
    “Yeah, man,” Franky said. “It’s about time. Tired of sitting around that house all day, ya heard.”
    “I feel ya,” Bubba said. “We got basketball tryouts today. You coming?”
    “Nah,” Franky said. “I can’t shoot that rock. I’m a football kind of guy.”
    “You a’ight,” Bubba said. “You’ll make the team if I tell Coach to pick you.”
    “Why you ain’t tell him to pick me for the lil b-ball squad?” Nard asked.
    “ ‘Cause you suck. At least Franky can ball a lil bit. Plus, they ain’t got no uniforms that wide,” Bubba teased.
    “Oh, you think that’s funny, Franky?” Nard snapped.
    Franky laughed as he imagined Nard’s fat body wobbling up and down a basketball court. “Yeah,” Franky said. “That was hilarious.”
    “Man, y’all always clowning. Anyway, I’m hungry. Comeon, man. Roll with us. We’ll be back before it’s time to go to class. The late bell ain’t gonna ring for a few,” Nard said.
    “Y’all go ahead,” Franky said. “I’ll see y’all when y’all get back.”
    “Okay, lame boi,” Nard said, staring Franky up and down to see what his response to the slight diss would be.
    “I got your lame right here,” Franky said, grabbing his genitals and thinking about his cousin’s warning.
    Sensing that this little situation could escalate into something bigger, Bubba stepped in. “A’ight, boi,” Bubba said, reaching out to shake Franky’s hand. “We’ll holla atcha later. I’ll see you around. Hold up a second. Who you got next period?”
    Franky looked at his schedule and ran his finger down the paper to see who his teacher was. “Mrs. White, I think. Next period is third, right? I missed the first two getting registered.”
    “Yeah, Mrs. White is cool. Let me see if we got any classes together,” Bubba said, scanning the paper.
    “We’re together for first period, but that’s about all. They got you in the slow classes, brah.”
    “Slow classes?” Franky asked. “I need to get that changed, then.”
    “Well, they’re not slow as in special ed, but the people you with ain’t the sharpest knives in the drawer. If you know what I mean,” Bubba said, sneaking a look at Nard.
    “Aww, man,” Franky said as the wind left his sails.
    “We got physical ed with Coach English. He’s the football coach. He’s cool, too, but he don’t play,” Bubba said.
    “A’ight, man. I’ll holla atcha, lady, whoadie,” Franky said, still pissed about being with the slow kids.
    “A’ight, boi, we out,” Bubba said.
    Franky slapped Bubba’s hand and winked at Nard.
    “Don’t let your mouth write a check that your lil narrow butt can’t cash, boi,” Nard said with a sinister snarl, showing the top half of his gold-covered teeth.
    “Yeah, I’ll remember that,” Franky said as he