Odion itched to get out of this damn classroom. He looked at the clock above the door. Only another minute and he could forget about this place. No one gave a shit about memorizing dates or trying to figure out why people spent more time socializing online than in real life.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Odion shoved his notepad and binder into his backpack, swung it over his shoulder, and headed for the door.

“Going somewhere?” Mr. Skrinelli asked, shuffling some documents on his desk. “Have a seat, there’s still time.”

“But—”

“Have a seat.” Mr. Skrinelli was sterner the second time, gesturing him back to his desk. “You’ll know when class is finished.”

Odion looked back at the clock. It was two-thirty; the bell should’ve rung by now unless the clock was slow—which if that were the case, Mr. Skrinelli needed to fix it ASAP instead of giving him false hope that the day was over. Another minute passed before the bell finally rang. Odion jumped out of his seat and flew down two sets of stairs into the crowded halls of the first floor.

He punched in the digital code to his locker, threw his backpack inside and slammed it shut, storming toward the front of the school to see if he and his friends could catch any baddies on their way home.

“Finally, the day’s over!” Odion said, raising his arms in the air, a chill breeze whipping past him as he stepped outside. Toki and Malachi didn’t pay him any mind, ogling at some brunette who walked past them down the stairs. “Who was she?” he asked, pointing in her direction.

“I don’t know, but you missed one about two minutes ago,” Toki said, shoving his glasses back up to his eyes. “The curves on her, though!” He gestured an hourglass figure in the air.

“He ain’t lyin’.” Malachi nodded, his eyes wide with astonishment.

“So, did you get her Instagram?” Odion asked.

“’Course he didn't,” Malachi said just as Toki was about to answer. “No girl wants a half Guyanese-half Japanese yute with four slanted eyes. Besides, she was looking at me anyway.” He brushed his cornrows back with his hands.

“It’s called an epicanthic fold.” Toki curled his lips down. Malachi matched Odion’s gaze, not having a clue what Toki was referring to. “It’s a term describing the folds in the corners of people’s eyes which gives it its slanted appearance,” he said as his brows closed together. “I forgot because you’re an idiot, you wouldn’t have known that.”

Malachi’s light brown face flushed red as he laughed. It was always amusing to see Toki (or Tokin, which was his real name) get upset and then turn around and correct the ignorance of his adversaries. His quick wits and intelligence were why they named him captain of the debate team and vice president of student council.

“Not to mention the women I date don’t need to climb ladders just to kiss me,” Toki said. “I can see where that would become a pain in the ass. Just saying.”

“You mad, doggy?” Malachi asked, a smirk creeping his lips. “Don’t be hatin’ ’cause you’re only two feet tall. Blame your parents for that one.”

“Did you get her Instagram?” Odion shifted his attention to Malachi. He shook his head, lighting a cigarette. “What about her TikTok?” Malachi shook his head again. “Was her face lookin’ nice at least?”

“It wasn't bad.” Toki bobbed his head side-to-side. “I'd light it up if opportunity presented itself.” His eyes grew wide, rubbing his hands together as if fantasizing about the opportunity.

“Toki, you're soft.” Malachi blew a puff of smoke to the side. “You couldn't light up a ciggy if the directions were staring you right in the face.”

“That’s funny because your mom said something different last night as she was blowing my cock.” Toki grabbed his balls.

“Savage!” Odion cracked up in laughter.

“Bitch, be careful before I knock the brown off your face. That’s how niggas get clapped.” Malachi pointed at him like it was a warning. He turned his attention to Odion. “Speaking of, what happened with Apollo this morning?”

“What you mean?” Odion said, wondering why all of a sudden Malachi would bring up his name.

“Yeah, what happened?” Toki said.

Malachi blew another puff of smoke to the side. “So y’all really didn’t hear, huh?”

“Nah, spit it out already,” Toki said.

“Word around school is Apollo got into a fight with crazy Sandra, and he smashed her head against a wall. There was like blood everywhere!”

“Oh snap, for real!” Toki’s eyes grew wide.

Odion swallowed nervously. As unfortunate as that story was, that is something he could see Apollo doing given his short temper. “What else happened?”

Malachi shrugged. “That’s all I know so far.” He took a puff of his cigarette and blew. “I saw Sandra in the office when I went past there this morning. She had a bulge the size of a golf ball at the back of her head, so word must be true.”

“You mean a hematoma,” Toki said.

“What?” Malachi looked at him, confused.

“The golf ball-sized bulge at the back of her head is most likely a hematoma.” Odion and Malachi shared another blank stare. “It’s when blood clots and forms a lump underneath the surface of the skin. Since there are a lot of blood vessels around the scalp, any form of trauma to the area will damage the vessels, causing it to swell.”

“Nigga, how do you know all this random shit?” Malachi looked at him almost as if he were irritated.

“It’s called reading a book, stupid,” Toki said. “Try it sometime.”

Malachi’s response faded to gibberish as Odion watched Serenity exiting the school, her onyx black curls dangling over her face as she walked by, looking fine as wine. Odion licked his lips like he was ready to feast on a delicious meal. Out of the handful of Cuban girls he’d spoken to in his lifetime, she was undoubtedly the cream of the crop: the crème de la crème as the French would say.

A small tingle ran through him as she looked up, the sun bringing out the shine in her rich, bronze skin and sand-colored eyes. She smiled and waved when she noticed him looking at her. He returned the gesture and made a phone sign with his hand as he put it to his ear.

“Call me.” He mouthed silently to her, and she rolled her eyes. Not in a dismissive way, but more in a you’re-so-silly kind of way before heading down the stairs, disappearing out of sight.

Someone nudged his shoulder. “Aye, Odion, you listening?” Toki said.

“What’d you say?”

“I said that’s how your brother gets down, huh?”

Odion shrugged. “Yeah, I don’t wanna talk about him right now.”

“Ayo, the baddie that walked past us just now has got some of the biggest titties I’ve ever seen in my life.” Malachi tossed his cigarette to the side. “I swear they’re about the size of watermelons. Anyone know what cup size she is?”

“Cut that shit out.” Odion clapped Malachi on the chest. “Don’t be disrespecting my wife like that.”

Malachi laughed. “I could tell by the way she was looking at you just now she wanted the D.”

“When you look as good as me, they all want the D.” Odion smiled a great big smile, flexing his biceps.

“Yeah, but isn’t she still going out with Donovan?” Toki asked. Odion scoffed at his question, dismissing it with the wave of his hand. Donovan wasn’t a threat to anyone, regardless of whether or not he was still dating Serenity. If there was something Odion wanted, he was going to take it. Period.

“So when you gonna smash?” Malachi asked.

Odion shook his head. “It ain’t like that. Serenity’s wifey material. She ain’t like the rest of these other gobble-necks hangin’ around school. I’ve known Serenity since kindergarten. I’ll do my thing when the time’s right.”

“Yo Odion!” someone shouted from behind them as they were making their way down the stairs. Their voice sounded a bit stern for Odion’s liking. “Lemme talk to you fo’ a minute, fam.”

Odion turned his head toward the school entrance and heading toward them was Tyron, Bishop, Isaac, and Kelechi.

“Say wuddup to the vlog,” Tyron said, turning his camera toward all three of them.

Toki threw up a peace sign. Malachi went above and beyond that, brushing his cornrows back, posing, and saying a whole bunch of random shit that didn’t make sense. It was weird to see someone’s personality completely change, all because they were being filmed.

“Odion say sum for the vlog.” Tyron pointed the camera at him.

“What’s good?” Odion said, staring blankly into the lens. He really didn’t know what else to say and felt slightly stupid speaking to an inanimate object. How people did that for a living was anyone’s guess, but if they were making a decent living, why not continue to secure the bag. I wonder how those ASMR tubers do it.

“You betta talk to yo’ brother, fam,” Tyron said, leaning against the rails. “I was this close to smackin’ a few sparks outta this nigga’s face this mornin’.” He brought up his hand, showing a tiny space between his thumb and forefinger. “Next time I see him, it’s on-site you feel me,” he said, turning the camera back to him. “Aye, if this video gets over ten thousand likes, I’ll film the fight at an undisclosed location, but make sure you smash that like button.”

“You don’t want that kinda heat on you,” Odion said point-blank. It’s all fun and games to act hard and confident in front of a camera and do a whole bunch of stupid shit for views. But Apollo wasn’t about that life.

“I’d body that nigga, fo’ real.” Tyron laughed. “You see the size of yo’ brother? Apollo ain’t got the juice like I do.” He flexed his bicep for the camera. “Remember, if y’all wanna see that fight, smash that like button. And in the comment section below, type ‘fuck that nigga’.”

Odion smacked his face and shook his head. Tyron hadn’t the faintest clue of what he was getting himself into. “Bruh, I’m telling you, that’s not the kinda smoke you want.”

“Nigga, I want ALL the smoke. You just make sure you tell him what I said. Y’heard.”

Odion watched Tyron and the rest of them head down the stairs and along the grassy area near the football field, heading toward the plaza across the street. Tyron took one last glance over his shoulder and smiled, then proceeded to tackle Kelechi toward the ground, pinning him there for a few seconds.

“Aye, you think Ty’s serious about fighting Apollo?” Toki asked, fixing his backpack over his shoulders.

“If he’s smart, he’d take my warning and stay very far away from Apollo.”

“He’d be asking to get suspended if he uploaded it to YouTube,” Malachi said. “On the other hand, I low-key want to see your brother and Tyron scrap. On paper, it looks like a total mismatch, ’cause Ty’s built like a NFL running back, and your brother is about the size of a twig.”

“Well, according to the Book of Samuel, David did beat Goliath,” Toki said.

“Man, that Bible shit ain’t real,” Malachi said.

“Aye, don’t be disrespecting the Holy Book like that.” Odion laced him with a disapproving look. “My brother may be skinny and all that, but trust me when I tell you he’s a lot stronger than he looks. If them niggas end up fighting, it ain’t gonna end well for Tyron.”

“Is he stronger than you?” Toki looked at him wide-eyed.

Odion pressed his teeth together and looked off into the distance. “I don’t know, but I’m sure one of these days I’ll be forced to find out.”

#

Odion reached into his pocket and took out his house keys, unlocking the door. Marcella was pacing between the kitchen, entryway, and living room like she’d misplaced something of dire importance.

“Hey Marcella, what’s wrong?” Odion kicked off his shoes.

Marcella stopped in her tracks, face strained from thinking. “Your school called the house today,” she said. “Apollo received a ten-day suspension for using deadly force against a female student. Were you aware of this?” Marcella looked at him.

Damn, ten days? “Had no idea.” Odion shook his head and quirked his lip. It was a half-truth. Even if he did know about Apollo’s suspension, there wasn’t a chance in hell he’d tell her. Apollo was probably ecstatic he was off from school for such a long period.

“When that boy comes home, I’m going to give him shit.” Marcella narrowed her eyes and nodded. “Just you wait. He thinks he can—” She stopped in the middle of her sentence listening to the jingling of keys outside the door. “That’s him.” Marcella hobbled toward the door with purpose and swung it open. “Get your ass inside!” she barked as Apollo stumbled his way in, dumbfounded. She slammed the door with a blaring thud.

“Was that necessary?” Apollo looked at her as if she were crazy.

Odion’s heart danced in his chest when Marcella’s palm struck the side of Apollo’s face, spinning his head toward the door. It sounded like a leather belt being snapped into the air. Things could get real ugly if I don’t do something fast.

“Start talking. Now!” Marcella said. Apollo looked to Odion as if to suggest he’d better do something before things got out of hand. “Don’t look at Odion because he’s got nothing to do with this. Your school called and informed me you got suspended for ten days! What sort of shit did you get into now?” Apollo hesitated to speak. “Go on then! I’m listening.”

The longer Apollo remained silent, the heavier Marcella’s breathing became. She hated silence, probably even more so than Odion did, but for different reasons. Marcella believed silence was a variation of lying; that you were trying to think of an elaborate excuse that sounded believable.

“Boy, if you don’t start talking—”

“Some girl tried attacking me in the cafeteria this morning because I was reading my comic book,” Apollo said, irritated.

Marcella struck the side of his face again. “Watch your tone when you’re speaking to me!” Apollo moved his tongue around his lips and then brought his hand to his mouth to see if he was bleeding. “You shoved a girl half your size against a wall and made her bleed!”

“I was defending myself—”

“Defending yourself?” Marcella cut in, sharp and loud. “Defending yourself from what exactly?”

“She had a fork in her hand and was trying to stab me in the eye. What’d you think I was going to do, just stand there and let her do it?” There was a particular hardness to his tone as he said it, his eyes shifting between Marcella’s left and right eye. Anytime Apollo was infuriated, he’d pierce a sharp, psychopathic stare into both of your eyes. It was quite off-putting.

“Did you just raise your voice at me?” Marcella said with an eerie calmness. Her palm struck the side of his face for a third time, harder than the previous two. “Don’t you ever disrespect me inside of my house. Are you that much of a coward, you had to lay your filthy hands on a girl?”

Apollo slowly turned his face back toward Marcella, and Odion watched it grow horrifically dark, his pupils shrinking to black dots. A slow pang of terror dawned over him. Odion licked at his dry lips, palms moist, mind racing through several different scenarios as his heartbeat thumped inside of his ears.

“Take your ass to your room, and don’t come out for the rest of the day. If you do, I will personally—” Marcella drew her brows together and turned her lips down, something around the house drawing her attention. Suddenly the ground started to shake, and she flailed her arms in the air to catch her balance, leaning against the wall. Now the entire house was rumbling.

Odion fell to the floor and slid back against the bathroom door in the corner, regretting the decision of not jumping in sooner. There were screeching sounds coming from the kitchen: plates, cups, spoons, forks, and knives clanging together in a fury, a tumbling roar like thunder booming somewhere from upstairs. Marcella gasped and crouched against the wall, shielding her head with her arms.

This was the end. Apollo was going to kill them both, Odion was sure of it. The rage circulating across Apollo’s face, the way he clenched his fists so tight, Odion was certain he'd punctured several wounds into his palms. He’s gonna destroy the entire house! Odion whipped his head around to a hissing, sizzling, glass shattering bang coming from the living room.

“Oh God, what was that?” Marcella looked around now that the rumbling stopped. “Was that an earthquake?” She waited a moment before cautiously hobbling toward the living room. “Oh no, the television’s in pieces!”

Odion rubbed the sides of his head to stop the tense throbbing. He took a venomous glance at Apollo. “You motherfucker!” he said through clenched teeth before heading to the living room. Shards from the TV screen were scattered all over the carpet in front of the stand it was resting on, smoke steaming crazily from its rear.

“Odion, get me the broom from the storage cabinet,” Marcella said. “I have to call Best Buy tomorrow and find out when they can send someone to replace the TV. I don’t understand how it could break this quickly, considering we’ve only had it for about a year.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll clean it up. I don’t want you cutting yourself on all this sharp glass,” Odion said.

“I’ll be all right,” she said. “You forgot I work at a medical center?”

“Nah, but still. I’d hate myself if you ended up with a nasty gash.”

Marcella couldn’t help herself but smile. “You see, this is why I love you so much. You think that other one would’ve offered to help?” She looked up at the ceiling and frowned before rolling her eyes in utter disgust. “In that case, I’m going to see if I can remember where I placed my receipt.” She took her sweet time leaving the living room, mumbling about the aches and pains in her back.

Odion quickly unplugged the television from the wall socket, went to the storage cabinet for the broom, swept the entire area, and then vacuumed the carpet to make sure he had collected all of the shards the broom hadn’t managed to pick up. After he was finished, he sprinted upstairs and stormed into the bedroom.

“The fuck is your problem?” Odion said, nearly slamming the door behind him. Apollo remained silent as he sat at the edge of his bed, looking outside the window. “Nigga, I’m talking to you!” At this point, he didn’t care if Apollo didn’t like the usage of the word.

“You remember that one time you got busted for cheating on Mr. Herrera’s music exam, and he flat out gave you an F for it?” Apollo asked.

“What?” Odion scrunched his face. “What’s that gotta do with anything?”

Apollo turned to look at him. “Do you remember?”

Odion nodded. “What about it?”

“But you never actually cheated on the exam, though, right? It was all just a big misunderstanding, wasn’t it?”

Odion nodded again. “Yeah, so what of it?”

“And no matter how hard you tried explaining yourself, the dude just wouldn’t listen.” Apollo’s lips broke into a steady grin. “I remember the times you used to come home vexed because nearly half the class started calling you ‘Mr. Cheat’, and Marcella would coddle your emotions, telling you the kids at school were wrong and that Mr. Herrera was a jackass for ripping the exam away from your desk. That must’ve felt nice. Knowing there was always someone who’d listen and not criticize you for everything.” Apollo shook his head and made a dismissive sound with his mouth.

“That shit happened back in eighth grade. The fuck’s that gotta do with anything?”

Apollo held his gaze for a moment before returning his focus to the window. “You’ve never truly understood what it feels like to be all alone, have you? To feel unwanted, inferior, beneath your peers. To rarely be heard and never listened to. To have people tell you they wished you were dead—”

“Nigga, you nearly destroyed the entire house just now!” Odion said.

“What’d I tell you about calling me that word?” Apollo narrowed his eyes at him.

“I don’t give a fuck what you think about that word! You nearly caused us to be homeless! I just finished cleaning up the shit you started, simply ’cause you can’t keep your emotions in check. And this is the thing that always pisses me off about you.” Odion pointed his finger at him. “You always try and play the role of victim. Nothing is ever your fault. You always say, ‘It’s because of them why I’m this way’ or ‘It’s because of that.’” Odion paused to collect his breath. “You always lie and deflect your problems by bringing up shit that happened years ago.”

Apollo nodded his head and frowned. He always did that whenever he disagreed with a particular point, but that was because he never liked hearing the truth. The truth was painful to a lot of people. It was like being forced to take bad-tasting medicine. You’d do whatever you could to avoid it so that you didn’t throw up afterward.

“It’s sad.” Apollo wiggled his mouth around and tilted his head side to side as if he disagreed with himself. “Well, no, not sad. It’s a shame.” He got up from his bed and stood in front of the window, digging his hands into his pockets. “You’re the only blood relative I have, and even you despise me.”

“Stop bitching and grow the fuck up.” Odion rolled his eyes. “Your biggest problem ever since Mom died is you expect people to feel sorry for you. Instead of looking at the positives in your life, like the fact you’re still alive, you got clothes to wear, a bed to sleep on, food to eat, a roof over your head.” He paused and looked at him for a moment before continuing. “You choose to focus on all the negatives. I lost Mom, too, just so you’re aware. Her sudden death left a huge void in my life that no one could ever understand,” he said, balling his hands. Odion couldn’t stand to look at him any longer. “If you haven’t realized that life ain’t fair and never will be, I don’t know what to tell you.” He headed for the door. “The sooner you get that through your thick-ass skull, the better it’ll be for all of us.”

“But you’re missing the point, as always.”

“Oh yeah?” Odion said, resting his hand on the knob. “And what point would that be?”

“Just because life isn’t fair doesn’t mean it can’t be enjoyable,” Apollo said, looking him up and down. “If there’s anyone who’d know life isn’t fair, it’d be me. Life isn’t enjoyable for me—”

“And whose fault is that?” Odion asked incredulously. He couldn’t believe Apollo would even attempt to go there.

Apollo closed his eyes and rubbed his hands through his dreads. “You see, this is what I mean by not listening.”

“Maybe it’s ’cause you ain’t saying anything worth listening to.” Odion looked at him for a long moment as Apollo’s eyes brewed with irritation.

“It’s so easy to look at all the positives in life when you’re the one who isn’t ostracized and ridiculed for liking something simple as comic books.”

“You ain’t ostracized and ridiculed for liking comic books.” Odion shook his head. “You’re ostracized and ridiculed ’cause you’re a fucking psychopath.” His breathing started to quicken. “You murdered our previous foster parents, claiming they were pedos, but I know that’s a lie ’cause it’s something you do all the time.” A pinch of anger rose to his chest. “I’m warning you now. Lay a finger on Marcella or any of my friends—”

“Or what?” Apollo’s lips formed into a straight line.

Odion took a deep breath. “I’ll kill you myself.”

Half of Apollo’s mouth curved into a smile. “You think that’s what Ma would’ve wanted?”

“Mom would’ve wanted me to do the right thing,” Odion said matter-of-factly. “She always told us to stand up for our beliefs, remember?”

“Then I suppose what Cassandra told me about you is true.” Odion narrowed his eyes a little, uncertain of what Apollo was referring to. “Telling her you wished I was dead. Not that I’m surprised, but it does prove you despise me.”

“Perhaps if you weren’t psychopath, I’d consider you a sibling of mine. But that ain’t the type of energy I want around me or my people.” Odion pursed his lips together. “You may possess some sort of supernatural ability that makes you stronger than the average human, but I’ll defend the ones I care about, even if that means I die trying.”

“How noble of you,” Apollo said sarcastically. Odion rolled his eyes. “Tell me something,” Apollo said, preventing him from leaving, “what makes you think you don’t possess these so-called ‘supernatural abilities’?” Apollo used finger quotes.

“There you go denying again.”

“I’m not denying anything,” Apollo shook his head, “but you seem to know more about these abilities than I do. Ma used to say there was a great power within the both of us and that it was our destiny to make the world a better place. Do you remember?”

Odion refrained from turning the knob. “Actually, I don’t remember Mom saying any of that, but to answer your previous question, it’s ’cause I ain’t a freak like you,” he said as his voice fluctuated, squeezing the doorknob tight. He didn’t sound as confident as he should have. What if Apollo was right? There were times those thoughts had crossed his mind, but … no. It simply wasn’t possible. He and Apollo were nothing alike. That’s all there was to it.

“And I’m the one who’s in denial, right?” Apollo said. Odion bit on his tongue and squeezed the knob even tighter. Just calm down. He’s just trying to get me in my feelings. He closed his eyes and held his breath for three seconds before exhaling. “Your silence is telling.”

“You and I ain’t the same, bruh!” Odion snapped, his lip quivering as he pierced a sharp look at Apollo. “You’re a child of The Devil, and you just need to …”

“Die?” Apollo raised his eyebrows. “Was that the word you were looking for?” Odion didn’t respond. “If you want me out of your life so bad, all you have to do is say it, and I’ll leave. I wouldn’t want you to feel uncomfortable in your own home.” He shrugged.

Odion scoffed at his response. “Do as you wish. Just stay the fuck away from me and my friends.” He opened the door a crack.

“It really is a shame you know,” Apollo said, preventing him from leaving once again, “especially with Ma being gone and all, and you being the only blood relative I have left. Always treating me like shit.”

Odion closed his eyes once again to prevent them from twitching. This was the sort of psychological tactic Apollo loved using on people. Very manipulative; always tried tugging at your emotions, but Odion wasn’t going to fall for it.

“Life’s funny.” Apollo chuckled. “The mind can only take so much before it snaps, and with the way you and everyone else have treated me throughout the years, don’t be surprised if one of these days all of you end up regretting the horrible things you did.”

Odion reluctantly turned around.

“Ma was also a big believer in karma in case you’ve forgotten.” Apollo brought his eyes closer together, twisting his mouth into a murderous frown.

Odion maintained firm composure even though his knees trembled a little bit. “Like I said, stay the fuck away from me and my friends, or else I will kill you with my own two hands.” He left the room and closed the door behind him.

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