Chapter 17 THE GRADUATION

Eight years earlier

DETROIT, MICHIGAN

A U R E L I A N O

It's been one year.

One year of bullshit.

One fucked up year of peddling drugs to nameless faces, and taking them to nameless places.

I. am. so. over. it.

Today is the day I put an end to it all. Today is the day. I promise myself.

Sounds and smell filter back into my consciousness, as well as the unrelenting glare of the sun as I gaze around at the bustling, milling crowd.

Clustered according to cliques, tribes and sadly, race, we're unified by the red and black graduation gowns and caps we're wearing, and the rolled up certificates clasped in our hands.

What seperates me from the rest of the crowd is the fact that you can practically see adrenaline pouring though their veins. These lot are so high on the aftermath of power speeches that they look like Chihuahuas high on opioids, smiling away like it's actually going out of fashion.

Dipo seems like he's got the worst case of the smiles. It could power a whole lighthouse and then some. His mouth is stretched from ear to ear and I don't quite understand what the big joy is about. It fucking hurts looking at him. I can't even look at him without a shade over my eyes --- it's that bad. I mean, I understand graduating from school is an achievement and I'm glad to be amongst the top ten in my class, but I feel anything, but happy.

"Dude!" He calls out to me. One of his arm is around Roxy the bitch's waist, and another around one of his classmate's. I think Lisa's her name, or Tisha, or something ending with sha. "Come take a picture with us." He gesticulates for me to come over, and pouts, like we're lovers and that shit would actually work on me.

Not going over there, not when Roxy is there. This past one year has seen me acting as her lackey, dropping off drugs here and there indiscriminately, even when I was supposed to be at school taking lectures.

I'd complained to Abdul that she was taking undue advantage of the situation, but his head is so far up her ass that she can never do wrong in his eyes.

"Come on, dude." Dipo whines, tucking a stray strand behind her ear. Turns out she was just mouthing off earlier on when she said she'd told Dipo about the two of us. He remains blissfully unaware and I --- well let's just say I feel guilty, but I'm too damn chicken to tell him the truth.

Some day soon, maybe. Hopefully.

Roxy's been wearing layered clothing for some time now, even though it's summer time. She'd have worn a bralette and a mini skirt, or a barely-there dress today, and been prancing around, trying to catch my eyes, but now she looks like a granny in her stuffed up clothes.

Come to think of it, she's been acting pretty strange these days, walking slowly without the normal bounce in her step, and her face has been vampire white, which is quite weird, 'cause that chick loooves her spray tans.

Wonder what's up with her?

Naah! Don't really care. She's a bitch and will remain that way.

"Duuuude!" Dipo whines, for like the tenth time.

I flip him off and turn around, where I'm immediately swarmed with some chicks wanting to take a picture with me. Flashes go off without warning and I feel like a scared deer caught in the headlights of a car that's too close and could have avoided it, but still went ahead to get hit, because it decided --- fuck it all.

Yeah, no, I don't even want to imagine how I look in any of those pictures.

"Aureliano, there's this party taking place tonight, come with." Barbie enthuses. Just like her name, she looks like a live Barbie doll, with big blue eyes and full pouty red lips. An innocent deceptive look, 'cause I hear she's a shark in bed. A fucking man-eater.

Definitely. not. my. type.

I prefer to be the shark and not the other way around, thank you very much.

I turn down her offer, not because I don't want to go, but because I've got something to deal with, and I just don't have the time to pussyfoot around, partying, while everyone gets roaring drunk.

Sometime between getting roped into the shit drug trade and graduating today, I've become somewhat more level-headed.

Hallelujah, you say? Well, for me, not so much.

It's not fun growing up with an albatross around one's neck.

With shit heavy on my mind, I walk off, and run, smack, into someone else ---- again. "Hey, Aurey, congratulations on your graduation."

Damn! It's clingy Tracy.

So because I want to be nice, and seeing as I won't get to see her everyday ---- thank goodness I finally graduated ----- I decide to act pleased to see her. With a smile painted painfully on my face, I incline my head at her and ask how she's doing. "Hey Trace, how's it going?"

"Going well, thank you very much." She's got a nice smile on her lips and I feel a twinge of guilt at the way I've treated her this past one year. At least she got the memo and left me alone.

Looking at her now, she's radiating a peaceful aura which is quite comforting. I'm about asking her how she's been faring, when someone calls her name. "Tracy honey, it's time for us to go."

When I turn to look at the person who called out to her, I do a double take, my eyes almost bulging out when they land on one of my next door neighbors, the one that sounds like Alpacino, but there's something very odd about how he looks right now. He's clean shaven, as opposed to the beard he had on when last I saw him. And his clothes ---- what the fuck happened to them?

Gone is the vintage shirt and Italian shoes, and where's his showman walking stick? He looks like a totally different person, with his long sleeved cotton, botton-down shirt and corduroy pants. I decide to sneak a look at his shoes and I'm bowled over, when I see plain black sneakers on his feet.

Plain black sneakers? This man has got to be his twin, and not my neighbor.

Where the heck is his partner, anyway? Come to think of it, I haven't seen them in a long while. They seemed stuck at the hip, like twiddledum and twiddledee.

On a hunch, I turn to Tracy and pull her aside, out of view of the man I think is my neighbor, and into a cobwebbed rose bush. Her eyes go wide as her mouth opens in an o. "What -----" I quickly cover her mouth with my hand and shush her, craning my neck to see my look-alike neighbor looking left and right for her.

"Listen Trace, I'm sorry I pulled you to the side like this, but, who is that guy?"

She makes funny noises and that's when I realise I've still got my hand across her mouth as well as nose, so I remove my hand and let her speak.

"He's my uncle." She gasps, trying to draw in as much air as she can.

Uncle?

I peek out from our hiding place, only to see Look-alike neighbor getting closer.

Something's not right. I can feel it. But I can't put a finger on it yet, unfortunately.

Tracy suddenly coughs, and like a blood hound, Look-alike neighbor zones in on our hiding place, and immediately heads towards us, so I duck out the other side, leaving Tracy coughing out leaves I might not have mistakenly stuffed into her mouth.

As I turn round, I see Tracy stepping out of the rose bush, and right into the concerned arms of her uncle, Look-alike neighbor. He's talking to her but I can't make out his words, so I inch closer.

“. . . take you home so I can get back to work."

My ears perk up when I hear the word 'work'. Alpacino wannabe never went to work, all he and his friend ever did, was throw party after party and hang around with unscrupulous-looking fellows.

And where the fuck did his Italian accent vanish to?

Something's definitely not right, and I'm going to get to the bottom of this right about now.

With an arm around her shoulders, Tracy's uncle guides her away, and I follow them at a safe, but close distance.

I ditch my graduation gown and cap in a huge flower pot, stuff my certificate inside the back pocket of my pants and rush after them, not so subtly. Luckily, the crowd covers up my sloppy movements.

Ridges the size of a mountain appear on my forehead, when I see them entering a grey Toyota Camry. It's an absolutely normal, white collar-job-kinda car, nothing fancy.

But what happened to the coupe he normally drives?

After tailing them for almost twenty minutes, my Buick decides to park up, right when they're about to turn off the intersection and onto a street.

"Fantastic! Fucking awesome timing. THANKS A LOT, SLOW POKE." I hit the front tyre with my foot and groan, as pain radiates throughout my leg.

I begin hopping on one foot like one-legged Lew. I'm sure I must look a sight with the continous hopping and nursing of my right foot, and manic frustration building in my eyes.

"Hey Aurey, need a ride?" I look up from my sore foot to see Barbie leaning out of a shiny black Corvette and smiling like a Cheshire cat that had too much cream to drink.

"Um . . . naah, thanks, I'll be fine." I mutter and look away quickly, embarrassed to be caught in my current situation.

"Aww! Come on Aureliano, I'll drop you off wherever you want to, I promise."

And that's what I'm scared off.

Right now, though, I've got no option. Calling the tolling company to come get my dead-beat car would take about fifteen minutes, enough time to loose track of Tracy's uncle's car tail. However, if I get into Barbie's car and she takes me wherever I want to go, then . . . "Okay, I'll come with you," I tell her, already moving towards her car.

Once I'm seated and I give her the directions to where I think Tracy's place would be, she tries to make small talk, but when she sees I'm unresponsive, she falls silent and puts on a seductive song, probably with the hopes of setting the mood.

Her hand suddenly lands on my pants, dangerously close to lil' boy and my eyes instinctively slide to her bare laps and linger for a fraction longer than necessary. The dress she has on is leaving nothing to the imagination, such that if I tilt my head a little to the left, I'd definitely see her panties, or maybe she's not wearing any.

So, before my imagination begins to run hoops, I let it go and instead, allow my eyes slide up to her face, where the curve of a smile is already lingering. She lets out a giggle as our eyes connect, but I return it with a shake of my head and look in the opposite direction.

Not today, Cheshire cat, probably not ever.

With my face firmly fixed away from Barbie, things get a little heated when I feel her fingers move an inch closer to lil' boy.

Maybe giving into her won't be so bad.

Just as I'm about turning to Barbie to tell her to take us somewhere private where she can go shark-attack on me, I catch sight of Tracy waving to her uncle. With the speed of light, I unbuckle myself and practically launch out of her car while it's still in motion.

So . . . I might have lied a bit earlier, when I said I was getting more level-headed.

Luckily, my action hero skills kick into play as I do a double roll, right across the street and land, you guessed it ----- at Tracy's feet.

You'd better believe it when I tell you even Jackie Chan has never looked this good. I rise up, quite like an avenging angel and watch, as Tracy's mouth falls open. "Huh!' is all she's able to get out.

I hear the toot of a horn and turn towards it, just in time to see Barbie giving me the finger. She screeches off and I obviously don't need a crystal ball to tell me she's angry. Scratch that ----- she's livid.

We turn to look at each other and veins begin to pop out on Tracy's forehead. I've never seen her acting anything, except sweet, but staring at her right now is like staring at a bull just before it charges. "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH YOU?"

Two steps.

I take two steps backwards and open my mouth in wonder, and then I close it again.

Never heard Tracy swearing. Ever.

It's a total turn on.

"I'M WAITING!" Her voice booms out, startling me.

You gotta believe me when I tell you my reply creeps into my mind, and it's out before I know it. "I . . ." I take a deep breath and plunge on. "Did you know that a woman spends almost a quarter of her life lying on her back?"

Staring at me pointedly, she shakes her head and rolls her eyes. "Try again!" Boredom oozes out of her words.

So I nod and open my arms out expansively. "Yeah, I'm sorry, you got me. I actually came to find out if you've popped you cherry. She looks confused, so I surge on. "I mean if you've finally gotten that hymen removed. In other words, are you still a virgin?"

"WHAT?!" The look she gives me is borderline psychotic. And then as suddenly as it comes, it defuses, as her face undergoes a myriad of emotions, finally settling into one I least expected ----- mirth. She throws her head back and shoots out a huge belly laugh.

I'm taken aback and can only stare at her with my mouth hanging open. Once her laughter peters down to a few chuckles, she cleans the side of her eyes and raises an eyebrow at me. "Alright, now I know you can throw out jokes, but come on, I need to know the real reason you followed me, and please don't tell me it's because you like me, or you can't get over me. That's bullshit, and we both know it. This past one year, you've practically treated me like I was non-existent, so spare me the sob stories."

I slump my shoulders in defeat, because who am I kidding, I suck at trying to keep my real intention a secret. "You're right, It's not because I want you or anything, it's just . . . "

Can I trust her?

If I don't tell someone, even if that person is Tracy, I'm definitely going to go round the bend. Instinct tells me she isn't as dumb as she looks, plus there's definitely more than meets the eye with her uncle.

"Why don't you come on inside and tell me what seems to be the problem, and who knows, I might be of help." She surprises me with her last statement, and I readily jump at it as she shepherds me inside her house.

One hour later, after a tub of lemonade has been deposited inside our stomachs, I'm still not closer to the truth than when I first got here. I'm beginning to think there's more to Tracy than meets the eyes. She's like a clam, not giving out any information on her uncle and what he does.

She'd talked about everything and anything, except him, and when I'd brought him up, she'd smiled and expertly steered the conversation to another topic. She's been using delay tactics all along and I'd like to know why.

The only thing I'm able to gather about her uncle is his name; Alvarez Juacinta and the fact that he's of Mexican descent just like me, but even that, I had to guess, judging from his name.

I decide coming here is a wasted journey, and so I throw back the last drops of lemonade into my mouth and make to stand up, when Tracy leans close to me and fixes me with a steely gaze. "So Aureliano, is there something you want to tell me? Something relating to the kind of job you do on the sidelines."

I stare at her, ruminating on the meaning of her words.

Does she know something?

Naah! She can't know I've been peddling drugs, surely.

I decide it's time to scram before I loose my cool and start spewing out secrets. Beads of sweat pop up on my face as I hop down from the stool where I've been seated on for the past one hour. "Thank you for your time, Tracy, and I'm so sorry to have bothered you this way, but I've got to take my leave now."

Yeah! That should definitely pull a wool across her eyes.

As I turn around to walk away, her voice, deathly silent, has me halting in my tracks and turning back around to face her.

"Aureliano Hernandéz, 20 years old, lives with his mother, has a best friend by name Dipo Majekodunmi. An absolute man whore who is currently working for a drug baron he doesn't even know the name of, but we're still working on finding out who he is. He doesn't like his job though, but he has no option. He's currently looking for a way out."

The last statement she stresses, and then stops talking altogether. She cocks her head to the side and assesses my reaction.

Now I understand the first part of her words is something she would have known, what with being in the same school, but the part about me working for a drug baron and me looking for a way out? How did she know about that?

When she see's the shock on my face, she stands up, stretches her hands out to me and says. "Special agent Tracy Mallone, pleased to meet you."

My eyes can't get any bigger as I stare at her. "You've got to be fucking kidding me." I spit out unbelievingly.

Tracy, the clingy virgin is a federal agent?