Chapter 28
Kalil
Mak has been at the gymnastics studio since seven this morning. She’s in a weird mood right now and she’s grilling these girls. She has four of them hanging in a pull-up position with their legs straight in front of them. Three more are doing hand stands, raising and lowering themselves as their legs move in scissor - like motions. The rest of them are running around in small circles while pointing their toes to the floor. None of them look happy. One in particular is doing a lot of complaining. She looks older than Mak, but I know all the girls in this group are no more than 18. Mak yells “go” as her and Kendra start to walk towards me. The girls move to different sections and begin doing what the girls before them were doing. Kendra yells for Michael to take over and release them in five minutes. Mak says ten.
One girl yells, “This is stupid! Amber screwed up, not us!”
She’s the one who was complaining before.
Without looking at her, Mak says, “If one of us goes in then we all go through it.”
Kendra adds, “We’re a team. We do it together.”
The girl says, “No, we’re a team. The two of you are just coaches and you know the saying, those who can’t do, coach.”
This upsets Kendra. She stops walking and turns to face the girl.
“Run that by me again?”
Amber looks at the girl and says, “Brittany, you really need to think about what you’re saying and who you’re saying it to.”
She looks like she’s ready to jump on Brittany. Mak has yet to acknowledge any of them. She’s still walking towards me. She’s wearing a pair of black cotton shorts that really should be considered panties since they’re so short and a bright pink jacket with a hood. She pulls the hoodie over her head and shoves her hands into the pockets. Brittany and Amber are still going back and forth. Kendra and Michael are trying to calm them down.
When she reaches me, Mak says, “Everybody just go home.”
Brittany says, “Of course we can all go home now. Like I said before those who can’t do, coach.”
Mak takes a deep breath then turns to face the group. “Bite your tongue, Brittany. I said everybody go home, end of discussion.”
She’s way too calm.
“It’s not the end of the discussion just because you say so. If you don’t agree with what I said then it’s too easy for you to prove me wrong, right?”
Mak doesn’t get a chance to say anything. Amber is furious. She doesn’t even say anything. She just swings at Brittany. Michael grabs her. What would have been a good slap becomes barely a tap. Kendra has Brittany. Mak doesn’t move.
She asks, “Two days before the classic and this is how y’all act?”
“You’ll talk about everything except what I wanna talk about.”
“Brittany, this ain’t what you want and I ain’t in the mood.”
Brittany says she’ll go home when Mak proves her wrong. I lean against the wall. Is this little girl seriously challenging Mak? It seems like it, but the way Mak is reacting is as though she’s just having a simple conversation.
She takes her hood back off and says, “Okay, you call it. I’ll follow you.”
She’s so nonchalant right now. She even comes and leans against the wall next to me.
Brittany says, “Tumbling.”
Mak nods her head. Brittany says something about a pike double back or triple something like that and Mak nods her head again.
“Where’s KJ?” she asks.
I look down at her. She’s not even watching Brittany.
“At the house with Kaeden.”
I glance up. Brittany has started to flip. Mak is still looking at me.
“I wanna go to Olive Garden.”
Shouldn’t she be watching Brittany?
“Tonight?”
“Yeah, it’s too late to start cooking anything.”
“Okay.”
Some of the other girls are clapping for Brittany. Mak tells me to hold on and walks to where they’re standing. She finally shows some emotion towards the situation.
“So now what Brittany…am I supposed to copy what you just did…prove who’s better at this, prove that I can actually do it?” She doesn’t give her time to respond. “And then what? What exactly does that prove…I’m not a judge, I’m your coach. The time and energy you just wasted challenging me proves nothing, but what I’ve been saying all day, none of you focus on what matters! You wanna prove that you’re better than me, so for this, for a challenge that means nothing, you give it your all, but for competitions and probably for the duration of the Classic next week each and every one of you will give mediocre at best!”
They all look embarrassed now, especially Brittany.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re better than me because I’m not the one you’re competing against, I’m the one telling you exactly what you need to do in order to be the best, so yes it’s end of discussion when I say so and yes I’ll talk about everything I want to talk about and yes you’d better listen to and do everything I tell you and I won’t say it again, everybody go home!”
They all scatter. I feel like I should be leaving with them. Brittany looks as though she wants to cry. Mak turns away from them and comes back to where I’m standing.
“They changed the Big Boi tribute to Saturday, so I have to go straight from St. Louis after the Classic ends to be in Atlanta Thursday, which means I’ll have to come in tomorrow to show them the choreography.”
So this explains her mood. Her schedule is thrown off by the change. She hates not being able to control her time the way she wants to. Not to mention she’s only been back from New York two days. She leaves for St. Louis Monday morning. I wonder if this is how her schedule will be from here on.
“We’re coming with you.”
She doesn’t respond. She’s watching Brittany walk out. “She’s fifteen. Would it be bad if I hit her?”
“Only if you have issues with jail.”
“They’re so misguided. If I had asked her to do that just because she wouldn’t have been able to.”
“Why didn’t you do it?”
“That’s not what I’m here for.”
She has her own way of doing things. Instead of embarrassing Brittany by actions, she chose to embarrass her by words.
I pretend to box her and say, “You should have done it, it’s okay to knock ‘em down a few notches when they think they’re that high.”
She slaps my hand away ignoring what I said and says, “Feed me.”
I’ll get a response out of her.
“Unless she’s right…those who can’t do, coach.”
“Brittany watches too much TV. Are you challenging me, too, Mr. James?”
I shrug my shoulders and say, “Prove me wrong.”
She smiles and says, “I bet I can do more pull ups than you.”
She takes her jacket off and looks at me. I’ve seen her do pull ups. It’s part of their daily routine. Gymnastics training falls in line somewhere with crazy and insanity. I’m pretty sure I can beat her, but it would probably be a close call and I have too much pride for her to almost beat me at anything.
“Do what Brittany did and we’ll talk about the rest later.”
She’s not wearing a shirt, only a sports bra. I guess gymnasts don’t really do clothes. Just as she starts flipping Brittany walks back in. Being the perfectionist that she is, Mak adds more to it. I’m pretty sure this is knocking Brittany down more than a few notches. By the time Mak stops Brittany is crying. What happened to all the bravado from earlier? Mak was smiling when she finished, but once she sees Brittany she stops.
Brittany says, “You can actually do it?”
“Of course I can do it. How else would I be able to tell you how to do it?”
“Then why didn’t you do it earlier? You just let me call you out like that.”
“Like I said before, I’m not here to compete with you or any of the other girls, I’ve been where you are a
nd I don’t need to prove anything to anybody.”
Brittany wipes her face and stares at the floor.
“Why are you still here, Brittany?”
She glances at the door then looks back at Mak.
“Amber’s threatening to kick my ass if I leave without apologizing to you. She’s freaking crazy…she said you’re better than all of us on your worst day and she’d beat the crap out of me if I ever disrespected you like that again. I’m sorry for what I said earlier.”
She turns and rushes out the door without waiting for Mak to respond. Amber’s alright with me and I’m glad she did what she did, but obviously Mak isn’t, so I should probably go save her. I grab her jacket and run to catch her.
Makynzee
I love the food at Olive Garden, but now I’m too tired to enjoy the aftermath. Kalil is carrying KJ as we walk across the parking lot. He’s still saying him and KJ will leave with me Monday. I tell him he can just meet me in Atlanta Thursday. He doesn’t respond so I look back at him.
He shoves KJ into my arms and says, “Take him and go to the truck, if I’m not there in three minutes leave me.”
Wait…what?! Three minutes? That’s not even a normal time limit. I turn to go to the truck, but I’m only able to take a few steps before a man blocks my path.
“They stay,” he says.
Kalil’s hand is on my arm pulling me back to him. “What the fuck are y’all doing? They go.”
I’ve hugged Kalil twice since leaving the studio. My arm was wrapped around his waist before he picked KJ up to leave the restaurant. How did I not feel a gun anywhere on him? KJ is gifted with the ability to fall asleep anywhere, anytime and apparently he’s decided that now is a pretty good time. He’s dead weight in my arms. Kalil still has my free arm. I need it to adjust KJ’s weight, but when I try Kalil tightens his grip. Does he really think I’d try to move away from him right now? If anything I’d feel a lot safer behind him. Why hasn’t he pushed us behind him yet? Shouldn’t he be putting himself between us and the huge guy in front of us? When I glance back I get my answer. Three more guys are closing in on us. I guess we’re in the safest spot right now.
The guy in front smiles and says, “You know we can’t let them leave, Black.”
Who the hell is Black? I keep my eyes on him. His teeth are stained a brownish color. Coffee or smoker?
“Move that hand any further and I’m putting a bullet in it,” Kalil says.
My eyes drop from his face to his hand. It’s at his waist.
“You’re bluffing…besides, you’re outnumbered.”
I can’t tell if he actually moved his hand or not, but my ear is ringing. KJ jerks awake and goes into a scream-cry. As I pull his face back down to my neck Kalil pushes us against the car we’re standing by and uses his body to block us from the three guys behind us. He points his gun at the three of them and somehow has another one pointed at the guy he just shot in the hand. Not only did I not notice one gun, but I managed to miss the second one as well.
“I said they go, Felix!” he yells.
I’m guessing Felix is the one he just shot since he’s the one who responds.
“You fucking shot me!”
“Outnumbered or not, I got plenty of bullets.”
We’re surrounded by the three who were behind us. None of them are saying anything. I’m trying to watch them and get KJ to stop crying. I wonder if anyone can see us and if so have they called the cops yet.
Another voice says, “Put those away, we have no need for them. Felix, I said tell him I needed to speak with him, how did it get to this? You don’t listen. You cause more problems than ever necessary.”
Kalil is blocking my view so I can’t see who it is.
“Y’all come at me like this? When I’m with my fucking family? Any you supposed to be my boy?”
He’s livid. I’m glad I can’t see his face.
“That wasn’t my intention, I would never approach you like this. You know Felix goes overboard sometimes. However, in our defense this is extremely important.” the guy says.
This guy’s accent is rich. He speaks English well though.
“Fuck Felix and your intentions! You suddenly forgot where the club was?”
“But you’re hardly there anymore. Not that I can blame you, she’s quite lovely.”
“Don’t fuck with me right now, Santiago. Disrespect me again and I’m putting a bullet in you, too,” Kalil says.
“You know, you really need to work on your people skills. That was a compliment. Your family can go, but we really need to talk.”
He turns to another guy and speaks to him in Spanish.
“Dejarlos salir, tener Carlos seguirlas.”
I barely catch it over KJ’s whimpering, but he’s telling them to let us leave and have someone named Carlos follow us. Then what’s the point in letting us go?
I say, “Derrota el proposito.”
Everybody’s quiet. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.
“What’d he say?” Kalil finally asks.
I tell him.
He looks at Santiago and asks, “So that’s how we do now?”
“All of this yelling and guns has my brain a little fuzzy. She didn’t let me finish. I need you to stay with us, and I know there’s a lunatic following her. It’s only for her safety. You know I would never harm your family. You’re like the black as hell brother that I never had,” he says.
Seriously?
“Then why the fuck are we still standing here?!” Kalil yells.
“Hablas espanol?”
I’m assuming he’s talking to me, but the answer is obvious. If I didn’t speak Spanish how would I have known what he’d said.
Kalil points his gun at Santiago and says, “I told you not to disrespect me. You talk to me not her.”
“Black, we’ve known each other ten years and you’re going to shoot me over her?”
He sounds extremely surprised by this.
“Right in your fucking heart. Try me,” Kalil says.
He calls Kalil a maniac and smiles as he puts his hands up in surrender.
“Bien. Ella puede traducir, su voz es mas relajante.”
I tell him that’s still disrespectful then tell Kalil he wants me to translate because he thinks my voice is more soothing.
“I’m about five seconds away from wiping out your goon squad,” Kalil says.
“Leave us,” he says.
Santiago starts to speak again, but Kalil hits him.
He holds his face and says, “I’m sorry, you fucking maniac!”
“You know better than this,” Kalil says.
He continues to speak in Spanish. He wants Kalil to let him see who he’s speaking to. I’m trying to decide if I actually want to see him when Kalil steps aside. His body is still halfway in front of us though. When he sees me he smiles and starts speaking again. I translate for Kalil.
“He expected me to be scared.”
He looks back at me and says, “You should be.”
KJ has stopped crying, but he’s repeatedly squeezing and releasing the back of my arm. It’s irritating and feels weird, but it’s obviously keeping him calm so I don’t stop him.
Kalil asks, “What you want, Santiago?”
I’m still expected to translate.
“He wants to know if an hour gives you enough time to take us home and meet him at the club?”
“You don’t make my schedule. I’ll be there when I get ready.”
“He’s apologizing, doesn’t want you to be upset about us being here, but it’s important.”
“If it ain’t life or death it ain’t justified.”
Why doesn’t he just talk to Kalil, this is frustrating me. I tell him this. He smiles at me. He tells me he likes my spunk. I tell him it’s late.
“I’m still standing here,” Kalil says.
I stopped translating so he’s getting irritated.
“He said you’re lucky to have me, every man should have
a woman like me.”
Before Kalil can respond I tell him I’m tired and I’m leaving. Neither of them tries to stop me.
Santiago says, “I like her, Black!”
He seems excited. Why am I just discovering that Kalil has a nickname?
Santiago adds, “Damn, all that ass though!”
I turn around to tell him I can still hear him, but I don’t get it out. Kalil hits him.
“I said don’t disrespect me.”
“Jesus, what did I just say about compliments?”
Kalil starts walking to us and says, “Thanks.”
I turn away and quickly get into the truck. Truth be told, I’m scared out of my mind right now. There’s no question in the fact that Kalil would do any and everything he can to protect us, but what happens when that’s not enough. What happens when the people who approach us have every intention on hurting us? What happens when we become a target for the sole purpose of hurting him?