Xiomara;

I drive home from work and walk inside, finding Latoya on the couch chilling with Junior. "Alonzo ain't home yet?" I ask, already taking off my heels. José was gonna be here any minute so I needed to hurry.

It's been about a week since I met Dave's friends. I've bumped into his mom a couple times at the hospital and I've spoken to her over the phone a few times too. The nurse said he's been showing signs of waking up so lately, my faith has been through the roof. I just couldn't wait for him to hold me again.

"He said he out with his lil girlfriend." Latoya chuckles putting emphasis on the word. We both know how mad Alonzo gets hearing Toya and I call Ximena his girlfriend. It's just that they're so cute together, even though it's also clear that they only see each other as homies. Ximena's a tomboy but you can tell it's something she'll grow out of.

"You just come back from visiting Dave?" Toya asks.

"Yup." I respond, tickling Junior hearing him erupt into a fit of giggles.

"You ain't never come home this early from visiting the hospital, you usually wait until visiting hours are over. You 'bouta go do that thing, huh?" She asks knowingly.

"Yup." I say again but dismissively this time.

I walk out of the room so I can go ahead and change into something more comfortable. I wear some shorts and a matching top with some sneakers. I wasn't wearing all black since it ain't like I'm about to rob the shit out of somebody. In fact, I guess you can say I'm about to get up to something much worse.

I walk back into the living room throwing my hair in a ponytail while checking through the blinds to see if José has pulled up already.

"Well somebody excited. Girl watchu' doing wit' all that ass." Latoya says seeing me look out of the window before dropping her gaze to my ass which I know is sitting right in these shorts.

"I'm 'bouta let Latrelle kiss it before that nigga take his last breath." I mumble still peeping through the blinds. I'm so excited to get this shit over with. Knowing Latrelle is still breathing while Dave is still on life support hasn't been sitting right with me ever since I found out Latrelle was the one who did it.

"Aight he here," I announce, seeing José pull up in his truck.

"Be careful, girl. Just in case yo' ass don't make it back and you get caught, I love you and I'ma keep half yo' closet in use for you, okay?"

I laugh since there ain't even much in there anyway. "I got this." I tell her and finally head out. I get in José's truck, sitting in the back since Juan is already occupying the passenger seat.

"Y'all remember the plan right?" I ask. I can't afford for shit to backfire on us. Latrelle knows how I work when setting people up since I was doing that shit with him so Juan, José and I need to make this shit go down quick and right.

"What you think? Just show us where this puto live." José snaps.

I nod and sit back for the rest of the ride to Latrelle's neighborhood. José and Juan ain't even supposed to be on this side of town because of the beef but as long as they aren't spotted, there wouldn't be a shoot out right here in the middle of the street.

They drop me off a little down the street from Latrelle's house and I let them know the door number before watching them drive round the back. I walk the rest of the way to the crib and knock on the door since he's expecting me. He thought I was here to come back to him which makes me wonder how naive he really is.

"What's up, shorty?" He smirks, opening the door for me wider. I can hear voices in the living room, letting me know he's with his home boys but it shouldn't be a problem as long as we all move quick.

"Hey." I sigh, walking inside. He tries to kiss me but I quickly move my head back. "Look, Latrelle. I know I said I forgive you but I ain't tryna do all that yet. You need to show me that you actually sorry for getting Alonzo into dealing. That shit was foul."

He chuckles. "Yeah I gotchu' ma. I guess we can take shit slow." He says although I can tell he has no intentions to actually follow through with what I just said. It's a good thing he won't even have the chance to 'get me back'.

"Good." I smile. "I'm finna go get a drink, I'm thirsty as hell."

"You just get back from work?"

"Yeah but I went and changed before I came here." I say, trying to engage in a little conversation with him so nothing seems suspicious.

"Say less. I'ma be in the living room wit' Darius and Reggie." He says and leaves me by the door.

I head down the hallway and look over my shoulder to make sure he ain't watching me. Seeing that the coast is clear, I head for the back and unlock the door for José and Juan where they're waiting outside. They both have masks on while holding their straps. José puts his finger to his lips gesturing for me to be quiet like I don't already know.

We walk quietly towards the front of the house, hearing the guys talk loudly as they play video games. Once we near the living room, the plan is immediately put in action. José grips my hair and drags me into the room, holding his gun to my head while I scream and thrash around, pretending to be scared.

Commotion starts up in the living room as everybody stands up in shock but none of them are strapped. This way it didn't turn into a stand off like I half expected it to. Everybody starts yelling while I continue screaming, being thrown to the floor by José.

The only problem is, Latrelle knows my routine when I'm setting people up so all this is familiar to him. He knows he's being set up but before he can even shed any light on what's really going on to his homeboys, Juan sends a bullet through his brain. He's dead in an instant.

"Shit!" Darius yells as José and Juan take off running where they came from.

"Oh my god, Latrelle!" I exclaim, with tears streaming down my face. I crawl over to his lifeless body on the floor, pretending to be sob as I create a scene for Darius and Reggie. "No! How can this be happening?"

"Fuck!" Darius croaks out, crying over Latrelle's body with me after he had fallen to his knees. I don't have a problem with Darius or Reggie, I've known them both since high school, but he's really crying like a bitch right now.

I feel like yawning and heading home already but I had to play the rest of my part.

"Zo, you gotta go. We gotta take care of this shit." Reggie says, picking me up from the floor as I cry.

"No! Not Latrelle! He's dead, Reggie! They killed him!" I yell, refusing to let him drag me away.

"It's gon' be aight, Zo. Just go home, get yourself together." Reggie says, helping me to my feet.

"Reggie, he's gone!" I cry into his chest. "They took Latrelle!"

He consoles me for a little while before seeing me out out of the house while people in the neighborhood were coming in to see what happened after hearing the gunshots.

Before I knew it, I was walking down the street wiping my tears.

While I was thinking out the whole plan, I pictured myself smiling by the end of it after seeing Latrelle dead but the truth is, there's nothing to smile about. In fact, I'm starting to regret what just happened. I'm starting to feel like a monster.

Latrelle just died because of me and that alone makes no difference to whether I was holding the gun or not. I was the cause, I did the planning, I did the the setting up. It was all me.

I try to think about Latrelle shooting Dave, how he showed no remorse when he intended to kill my boyfriend so why should I? I guess it's because I'm not a monster like he is. I would go hard for Dave but not like this. This isn't who I am. I just want out of the hood so bad.

I walk a couple blocks and appear at the corner where José is waiting for me. I get in the truck and wipe my real tears before any of them notice.

"You good?" José asks, driving away.

"I'm straight."

I look down at my nails, frowning slightly. Everything went smoothly. If only I wasn't feeling so much guilt.