Page 31 of 4 Corinthians

“Why?” She looked up at me with a confused expression. “I like it. It’s fun.”

“It’s not fun.”

“It is!” She rolled over and got on her knees.

“It’s not!” I told her. “It’s stupid, boring, and your body will hurt. Tell him you want to do something else. Tell him that you don’t want to do it!”

“And do what else instead? Play basketball with Mercy?” Cross rolled her eyes, then pushed her big curly hair from her face. “Basketball is dumb, and so are people who like it.”

“Hey!” Mercy said from the top bunk where she was lying down. She looked over the railing at us. “Basketball isn’t that bad!”

“You only play because your daddy said you can't box anymore; you don’t even like it,” Cross told her.

“It was better than boxing,” she argued. “Who wants to get hit all the time? I didn’t like it and told my daddy after the first practice. I would rather play basketball.”

“You should go play basketball with Mercy,” I told Cross.

“No, thank you. I’m sticking with this.” She raised her fist, then pretended to fight. “I’m going to be so good that people will hear my name and know that I’m going to win. Every time I walk into a ring, I’m going to win.”

I didn’t say anything, just watched her throw punches. When she finally stopped, she looked at me and lifted her brow. “What are you crying for, Corinthians?” she playfully smiled at me. “You scared we are going to end up in the ring together?”

“Yes,” I truthfully told her.

Cross climbed out of her bed, stood next to me, and put her arm over my shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you,” she said, laughing.

“Madea said, ' Come here so we can pick the kind of pizza we want,'” Krude said, running past the door. Mercy climbed from the top bunk and ran behind Krude.

I went to the bathroom and came back to find Cross standing over Psalms with a weird look on her face.

“What’s going on?” I asked as I walked into the room. Psalms looked nervous while Cross looked angry.

“What happened to her?” Cross said, pointing to Psalms' wrist.

“I fell,” Psalms answered, moving Cross to come stand behind me.

Cross pulled Psalms back before she could get far enough from her. “Fell?” Cross questioned her. “It goes around your whole wrist; that’s not a bruise you're getting from falling.” She lifted Psalms' arm.

“That hurts!” Psalms cried. “Let me go!”

“No, what happened to you?” she asked her again.

I jumped between them, put Psalms behind me, and pushed Cross back, making her fall. “She said, let her go!” I yelled. “You’re hurting her.”

“I didn’t hurt her!” Cross got up. “She has a bruise on her wrist, and I want to know where she got it from.”

“I fell!” Psalms told her as she cried.

“You don’t get that kind of bruise from falling!” Cross angrily yelled. “And don’t push me again!” Cross pushed me back, and I bumped into Psalms.

“Don’t touch me again, Cross,” I warned her.

“Then tell me what happened to her wrist!” Cross told me. I shook my head, and she came closer to me. I knew she was going to hit me, and I couldn’t have that. I waited until she was close enough to hit her. Just as I raised my fist, Madea came into the room.

“You better not!” she yelled, pulling Cross away from me. “Have y’all lost your damn minds? You’re fighting?” No one said anything. “Oh, y’all can't hear me? Y’all deaf now?”

“No, ma’am,” Cross answered as she glared at me.

“Then start talking, where y’all about to start fighting?” she asked, even though it was obvious that we were.