Keysha's Drama by Earl Sewell Read Free Book Online Page B

with her,” she said to her boyfriend. He glanced at me with judgmental eyes before stepping away to sit in his car, which was parked in the vacant lot near the building.
    â€œWhy did you leave me hanging like that?” Toya asked. Her voice was edgy and full of confrontation.
    â€œToya, I got scared. I didn’t know what to do. The police were arresting you. You were yelling and hollering at them. What was I supposed to do?”
    â€œYou were supposed to have my back!” Toya pushed my shoulder and I backed up. She wanted to fight me. I could see it in her eyes.
    â€œToya, look. We just have a big misunderstanding here,” I said, trying to calm her down. Other people who were just hanging out on the block started paying attention to our conflict. If we kept up our loud argument, it wouldn’t be long before a crowd would form and encourage us to knuckle-up our fists and beat each other senseless for their entertainment.
    â€œNo, there is no misunderstanding. All I know is that I should kick your ass for what you did. Because of you, the department of family services took Junior away from me.”
    â€œThey took Junior from you?” I was surprised by that.
    â€œYeah, and it’s your entire fault,” she said, absolutely convinced of her reasoning.
    â€œHow is that my fault? I told you not to bring that boy in the first place.”
    â€œI called you, Keysha, because I wanted you to come and get him for me. I didn’t care about going to jail because I knew I’d get out. But I didn’t want Junior to go with me. Instead of helping me, you ran your scary ass out the door.”
    â€œYou know what—” I stopped backing away from her and stood my ground. “—that is not my fault. I told you that if something went down and we needed to get away, Junior would be a problem. You should have thought about the consequences before taking him along with us. Plus, why are you always blaming other people when things don’t go right for you?”
    â€œNo. That’s not the way I see it.” Toya pushed me hard and I pushed her hard back. “Everything that went wrong is your fault. We would have gotten out of there quicker had you not been lollygagging for thirty minutes with that salesgirl.”
    â€œFight!” I heard someone on the street yell out. Before I knew it there were people gathering to watch the outcome of our conflict.
    â€œToya, let’s not do this,” I pleaded with her. “We’ve been friends far too long.”
    â€œNo, I’m about to open up a can of whup ass on you.” Toya reached into a back pocket and pulled out the straight razor she’d shown me a few days earlier. I quickly backed up because I didn’t want to end up with a facial scar like my mother’s friend Simon. She opened it up and swung it at me but I was too far away from her.
    â€œIt wasn’t my fault!” I shouted at her, hoping to get her to see my point of view. “Why are you always starting fights?” I asked but didn’t get a response. I quickly scanned the ground in search of a weapon of my own but didn’t find one.
    â€œCome on, Keysha, you can’t run. It’s about to go down,” she taunted me. I was a nervous wreck. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t turn and run because there was a crowd of people surrounding us; I certainly didn’t want to step forward and risk getting split open by a razor.
    â€œToya, please,” I pleaded with her, but she swung at me again. This time she aimed for my face.
    â€œSomebody help me!” I shouted out, but someone from the crowed answered back.
    â€œHelp yourself!”
    â€œToya, how was I supposed to know that was going to happen, huh?” I asked. I figured that if I kept talking I might get through to her. “I mean, why would I want to see them take your baby from you?”
    â€œBecause you wanted a baby with