MORP

"Gun, gun, he's got a gun!" is all I remember hearing as my friends and I took off running as fast as we could. I kept telling myself "I'm going to get shot, I'm going to die!," how could I have been so dumb? why did I put myself in these situations? but this is not where this story starts, oh no, this starts early on that same day.

It was lunch time, and there I was chilling with my boys at the "spot" which was a rail right in front of the lunch service area, we thought we were tough. It was a Friday and we were all stoked that the week end was upon us, its funny because it's the same now that I'm sitting here writing this story, Friday and I'm ready to go home. Well it was Friday and that was great but on top of it there was a dance, the Morp, which is "Prom" spelled backwards. It's a casual dance, where the girls ask the guys and everyone can attend. It was the happening thing as these dances were the place to pick up on people and just go crazy. The day went by and school was out, I walked home to relax and to get ready for the event that was about to happen.

Sitting in my room contemplating the the closet, thinking about what to wear. I kept looking at the selection that was in front of my eyes, and I did not know what to ware, and now you know what time it is.... CHECK LIST TIME!

• Slightly spiky hair: Check


• Blue short sleeve plaid shirt from Wally World: Check


• Baggie Dicky cargo pants: Check


• Brand new Rebook high tops: Check


• Chap Stick: Check


• Double Mint Gum (Double the pleasure, double the fun): Check


• Cologne (Michael Jordan, not a breath refresher): Check


• Mouth full of metal (Braces): Check

I felt like a hundred bucks, I was ready to party, ready to mingle and ready to make out with some poor girl (Imagine, not the best kisser with braces). By the time I was done with the check list it was about 8:30 pm and the dance had started. This is a must when you go to a party or dance, always make it a personal goal to show up late as this will enhance your entrance, unless people see you as a nerd or looser in which case you won't be noticed no matter how late you show up, sorry I don't make the rules. The year was 1999 my junior year, and music was the thing that life revolved around for most teens our age and at that time for me it was Deep House (please don't ask) and I thought that I could dance to it well, Hip Hop was great as well and as always I was all about it but for some reason I was in love with Deep House, and the way the "Rebels" danced to it. If you were in Cali around that time you know what I'm talking about. There I was walking in and all the lights were off in the Gym, the Strobe lights flashing off and on so fast that it made things look as if everything was moving in slow motion. Everyone in the middle of the dance floor getting their groove on to the sounds of DMX's "Party Up" , I recall the Bass thumping and rattling my every thought. I walked around to check out the action, as I always did also looking for anyone I knew. I finally found my buddy Chris and his girlfriend Valery (Her and I had a complicated past) So I casually said hello to the both of them trying not to bring up any past issues or memories. I walked away and ran in to my buddy Darrin, him and I were starting to build a good relationship, I was happy to have someone to try and pick up some digits with.

The night went on and we danced with a few girls we knew, loving the way the night was turning out, we had run in to some of our friends, Danny was there and he was good friends with Chris and Darrin as well as with myself, as the dance started to wrap up I remember talking to Darrin about 2pac (this was a topic that him and I could talk about hours) and his best songs, all the sudden we hear Valerie crying and it grabbed our attention so we stopped what we were doing to stare at her and Chris talking, I thought "Oh no, they broke up because I'm too much for her to not think about, poor fool but I don't blame her," but I was way off. I saw Chris's face and he was hot (angry) all the sudden I see him walking toward us, I got a little tense thinking of what I could have done or say to make her cry and him so mad, but I was stunned to hear what he had to say.

"What?!" was our reaction, I remember Danny getting so mad it was kind of scary, he was a bit unstable when it came to throwing blows. Turns out that a guy named Jerome got in to some words with Valerie and slapped her, I don't care how in your face or rude a woman is to you, you should never lay your hands on a woman. He asked us to get his back as he was going to confront Jerome outside so we said yes. There we were 4 guys ready for some words and fists to fly, it felt like the movie Reservoir Dogs when all the guys are walking down the alley way in slow motion with some sort of music joining our every step. We get to the front gate where Jerome was talking to a girl and we let Chris go and confront him, we weren't about to jump the kid, this was Chris's problem and he was going to deal with it. "Why did you slap my girl?!," Chris yelled out getting pumped up for a fight to what Jerome responded "Man I don't know what you talking about man, get your *bleep* out of here with that." Chris wasn't buying it so he brought Valerie and had her tell him right there what happened, she did and again Chris got in Jerome's face more aggressively, "Why did you hit her you *bleep*?, you never hit a woman, now I'm going to whoop your *bleep*," I think Jerome was a bit scared because he just keep saying he didn't do nothing and walked away. Its done I thought but it had just started.

About 10 minutes of being gone, we see a fleet of people and right in front was Jerome with Percy and another guy I didn't know, to our luck Danny was good friends with Percy who was the big man around, know for his gang affiliations, I thought to my self "Oh man this is going to get ugly" and boy did it. Now that he was backed up by a few of his boys Jerome grew some guts and confronted Chris about the issue saying that he did slap his girl because she deserved it, "what you going to do about it white boy?" I remember him saying out loud, now Chris was not one to be messed with but even he saw that our odds weren't so great, 4 of us and about 10 of them, by any means not a fair fight at all. Jerome kept getting more aggressive by the second and Chris was not backing down, he felt that he would be a hypocrite if he did and I don't blame him. We were there for him if things got out of hand and they were, Danny was trying his best to get Percy and his homies to back off and let Chris and Jerome handle this on their own, but when Jerome heard this he flipped saying that we came at him when he was by himself and didn't back down, "that's a lie" I said out loud, "he came to you by himself and you know it man." Things got more harsh, he started yelling and Chris by this time was fed up and took out what looked like a shank, Jerome noticed and made a big deal and Percy hit the wall, he was way mad at the fact.

"You *bleeping* skin head" Jerome screamed at Chris, he was everything but that, but I could see why he would think that. Chris was White, bald and full of tattoos. Well this kept going on for about 20 minutes and then all the sudden it turned Percy against Chris, Danny was in the middle of it trying to defuse it and he was getting both to calm down, but we didn't see Jerome. When I noticed that he wasn't around is when I heard some one yelling, "Gun, gun, He's got a Gun!," we didn't wait to see if this was true or not we broke as fast as we could, we ran for our lives down the street, I kept thinking "I'm going to die, I'm going to get shot, I'm going to get shot and then I'm going to die!," then after we had ran for about 3 blocks I heard what sounded like 3 loud claps, I ran even faster. We finally made it to an apartment complex and jumped in to some bushes, we hid there for about 5 minutes waiting for things to calm down, we saw people running past us, screaming like crazy. My heart was beating out of my chest, I was so shaken that my hands could not stop shaking. Darrin was right next to me, and Danny next to him. We all separated and went our own way after about 30 minutes of waiting things out, I later found out that Chris and Valerie got away just fine, no one was hurt as far as I know, and to be honest I don't know if a single round was fired at all or if my mind was so in to the moment that something that sounded like gun shots scared me half to death. That was an interesting night, I kept a low profile after as I didn't want to get in to anything that could end my life, and thank God, I was kept away from any harm.