Knockout Games by G. Neri Read Free Book Online

Purple Rain about twenty times before he was born.”
    â€œI never saw it, but my Mom tried to show it to me once,” I said.
    K tried to suppress a laugh. “You hear that—her moms and you got the same taste!”
    Prince rolled his eyes. “Well, she got good taste then, ese . Are you kidding? That movie’s a classic. A little too gay, but there’s no denying—that chulo Prince got mad skills.”
    We sat and ate lo mein and dumplings and fried rice. We had ourselves a party. Kalvin had snuck in some beer and poured some for everyone! I didn’t really drink so much. Sometimes my dad offered me a sip of his, but it always tasted too bitter to me. But somehow here, it tasted sweeter.
    The King paid for everyone. I liked that. He was taking care of his boys. I don’t know where he got his money. I don’t remember them stealing from the pizza guy. But everybody was happy, so I just went with it. Destiny kept an eye on me, but seemed kind of quiet.
    I noticed the owner watching us. Maybe Kalvin knew him, but I’d think having middle schoolers drinking beer in public would be a bad thing. He wasn’t Chinese and he wore these big glasses that made it obvious he was keeping an eye on us. He just stood there behind the counter pretending to work, but I could tell he was just waiting for us to leave.
    It was like TKO owned the joint. Sitting at the right hand of the Knockout King was definitely better than sitting home alone or wandering the city by myself.
    Tyreese looked at me like he wanted to say something. He was going to ruin it, tell me that it was all a joke, or something. He leaned over to me and said in a tiny voice, “I guess you OK for a girl.”

9
    It began the next day, Sunday.
    Destiny texted me that the crew was hyped up on the video and wanted to play again. “ Fish gotta swim ,” she texted. I wasn’t sure what she meant.
    Then she added, “ K wants u there .”
    I got ready quick.
    They wanted to meet over by The Loop, which was a local hot spot. I went down once with Mom—it was packed with too many teens and tourists for her. Seemed like a crazy place to play the Knockout Game.
    But that’s what made it exciting.
    Mom had read in the paper about some attack on Grand Avenue by a group of young hoodlums. They called it a flash mob. “You better be careful, Erica. They say that pizza man might have brain damage from the attack.” She sighed, shaking her head. “Sometimes I wonder why we came here. . . .”
    When she said brain damage, I had a weird feeling in my head, like a dull burning sensation in the back of my brain. I didn’t want to think about that man and wiped him from my thoughts, but not before wondering if someday she’d read about me.

    We met by the Chuck Berry statue. Destiny was there with some of the Tokers. Chuck Berry was some kind of St. Louis hero. They said he invented rock ‘n’ roll. I’d never heard of him.
    I was a little nervous. There were no Eyez watching us but the cops were out in force among all the regular people walking around The Loop, shopping, enjoying their Sunday. It was stupid to try something here. We’d get caught for sure—
    â€œEr-i-caaa . . .” a funny voice said behind me. Then I felt a cold nose on my cheek.
    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Boner’s big eyes dancing next to mine. He was excited (though I didn’t want to see if he was excited like his name).
    Kalvin was holding him up to me, talking in a funny voice like a dog might. “Erica. Will you kiss me? Huh, huh, huh ?”
    Hearing that come out of his mouth made my mind go blank. I tried not to blush.
    Kalvin laughed. “I’m just shitting you. You don’t have to kiss the dog. Got your camera?”
    I held it up.
    â€œGood. Come get a shot of us in front of this statue.”
    He gathered everyone up just like a tourist family posing in front of a