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stutters.
    “Well, Lionel, you made fun of a girl who got shot and almost died. Have you ever been shot?”
    “No.”
    “Do you want to find out what it’s like to be shot?”
    He shook his head frantically. “No!”
    “Then I suggest you grow up.”
    I squat down in front of them. “Go to college boys. Join a fraternity, fall in love, treat people right. Because Karma is real… and a real bitch.”
    I pat both of them on their heads and walk away.
    I’m amped up now. I’m pissed too. I enjoyed messing with those pricks, but I’m pissed that I did it for Ella Pierce. Why the fuck did I do that?! I flashed a gun in their faces, showed my face. I’ve told Ella Pierce I’m an ex-convict and what I went in for. I mean, even if anyone did a background check they wouldn’t link me to Mickey, they’ll just see I’m a low-level thug. Mickey has always kept me in the dark from people. His important soldiers, he calls us. The ones that run the small lucrative businesses. I ran the heroin and meth labs. I was good at it too.
    I have a problem now, though. Ella Pierce mildly affects me. So maybe I shouldn’t call her.

 
    Chapter 5
    “Don’t Stay Away”
    Ella
                  He hasn’t called.
                  It’s been a week and he hasn’t called. Why do I care? Getting worked up over a guy I barely know is not my usual thing. I am Ella Pierce, damn it! Guys thirst for me, not the other way around. Well, not since Eric. Ugh! He still makes my skin crawl. This is stupid. Obviously, the guy wasn’t feeling it, so time to move on. Maybe I should move to the city this summer. It will be better than staying here and being bored.
                  I feel my cell phone buzz in my bed. I look for it under the covers. I find it and see that it’s Dina.
                  “Hey, babe,” I say.
                  “Hey, so I have some gossip for you.”
                  “I thought I told you that the minute graduation happened, I didn’t want to hear anything relating to high school.”
                  “Well, you are gonna want to hear this. It’s about Lionel and James.”
                  “What? Did they finally reveal their hard on for each other?”
                  Please let that be it.
                  “Better, the night of the carnival they got their asses beat. Okay, so Lionel supposedly told everything to Mimi Sherry. They’ve been hooking up for like six months.” Dina always adds something irrelevant to the gossip. “So anyway, apparently, Mimi told Kylie, who told me while we were getting mani/pedis, that Lionel came through Mimi’s window, crying like a girl and with a black eye. He said he and James were beaten up and that James pissed his pants.”
                  “What?! By who?” Forgive me God, but I can’t help the smile, spreading across my face.
                  “That’s the juicy part, even though given the ex-con thing we shouldn’t be shocked, but Lionel said they got beat up and taunted with a gun by the mysterious guy who was with Ella Pierce at the carnival.”
                  My mouth drops. “What?!”
                  “Yep, also, he got James to admit that he lied about sleeping with you. Maybe we should be worried he had a gun though, but given our parents, we were raised on them,” she says nonchalantly.
                  “No, Dina. That’s not a good enough reason.”
                  “But knowing you, it’s enough. I know your feels are like all over the place now.”
                  I bite my lip to keep myself from smiling, but I can’t help blushing. Right now it is enough for me, at least, for me to look into. If he really did do that, I have to know why. For me? Then why the hell didn’t he call?
    Tommy
    I haven’t called her. I haven’t even been following