Game On Read Free

for that.”
    Linus went back at Bigstick. “Cuz, why you trying to style on me? I ain’t said nothing when that breezy you sitting with was all on my socks a couple weeks ago down at Hart Plaza.”
    Bigstick smiled at the chick next to him before saying to Linus, “What that mean? Me and Tina here are just cool. Stop sweating yourself, homeboy. Nobody owns anybody.”
    â€œBigstick,” Dexter said. “You know Flip is feeling left behind because he’s been at Coleman for four years and still carrying sophomore credits.”
    The backyard erupted with laughter. Linus Flip had been drinking and the alcohol had him feeling some kind of way.
    He took offense. “Dexter, if you don’t shut up I’m gonna knock all those colors out of that loud shirt of yours.”
    Bigstick stood from his seat. “Linus Flip, I don’t know what’s wrong with you, fam, but you know all of us are boys and we don’t step to each other.”
    Linus asked Bigstick, “What? You gonna do something?”
    The tension in the backyard was getting thick.
    Something was bugging Linus, and Xavier had to step in before things got out of hand. “Linus, chill out, homeboy. You up at my crib with these shenanigans. What’s up with you?”
    Linus Flip shook his head and said to Xavier, “Yeah. It’s probably what Dex said. The fact that this is y’all’s last year at Coleman got me bugging, that’s all.”
    Xavier was real good at peeping out the truth, and Linus was lying. Dude was far from being on the level and Xavier was hip to it. There was something cooking, pulling, and pushing at Flip’s soul.
    Xavier said, “Come on, man. Don’t you see all of these pretty women around here? Go grab one and whisper sweet nothings in her ear, homeboy.”
    â€œI’d rather go for a walk to clear my head,” was all Linus said before stumbling past Xavier’s Ford Fusion parked in the driveway on the side of the house, headed toward the front.
    Dexter walked up to Xavier. “Linus has been acting shady lately, X. What’s up with that?”
    Xavier shook it off. “I’m sure it’s nothing major. Homeboy probably just got a few demons pulling at him.”
    Dexter said, “I saw him going to his car earlier and taking sips from a bottle in a paper bag. You know Flip don’t usually drink. Those gotta be some hella demons on his shoulders, my dude.”
    Xavier stood there playing with the peach fuzz underneath his lip and wondering what had Linus Flip bugging.
    Leave it to Dex to make light of the situation. He grinned and said, “Maybe he feels like he’s been replaced because we got a car now and we might not need him anymore.”
    Xavier screwed up his face at Dexter. “What do you mean ‘we’ don’t need him now, homeboy?”
    Dexter tried to be funny, patting Xavier on the left shoulder. “You know—our car in the driveway right there— we .”
    Xavier couldn’t do anything but smile at Dexter. The boy was a straight-up clown.
    Xavier said, “But on the real, though. He’ll be all right. Remember that dude saved us from Dylan Dallas and Dutch Westwood.”
    â€œI remember. How many years did Dylan and Westwood catch for murdering Felix Hoover anyway?”
    â€œThe judge threw final-game NBA scores at those clowns. Just put it like this, homeboy. They’ll be old enough to apply for Social Security when they get paroled.”
    Dexter was still holding on to the red cup. He poured some fruit punch onto the ground. “Hey, man, it ain’t liquor, but I gotta pour a little out for the homie Felix Hoover.”
    Dex’s girlfriend Marissa Steel walked over to them.
    She was seventeen years old with a caramel complexion and cute Asian eyes. She was wearing a white casual knit tank, some high-rise denim shorts, and gladiator sandals. Marissa draped an arm