What's Really Hood! by Wahida Clark Page B

Crystal on the other hand was on top of the world. The first couple of months getting off crack had been tough,
     but once they passed it had gotten that much easier. Whenever the urge did hit her to scratch that itch, she’d remember Wiz’s
     word, “Fight,” then she’d sing Alicia Myers’s “I Want to Thank You.”
I want to thank you, heavenly Father / For shining your light on me / You sent me someone who really loves me and not just
     my body.
    Wiz became her everything, her world and her new addiction. She had to have him all the time. Not just sexually, although
     it was liable to go down anywhere anytime, she had to have him around, close. He didn’t take her everywhere as he had before,
     because then coke would always be in her face or in her presence. But she kept a constant check on him, beeping him and would
     be like, “Hey, boo! Where you at? You comin’ home soon?” It irked Wiz slightly, but he understood, so he never let it show.
    “Gimme like an hour.”
    “An hour?” she’d pout. “You gonna leave me naked for an hour,” she’d purr, because she knew how to get him.
    “Aiight, twenty minutes.”
    Truth be told, between the game and home, Wiz was happily exhausted, but exhausted nonetheless. So one afternoon, while he
     and Crystal were cuddled in the afterglow, he asked, “You ever think about going back to school?”
    Crystal lifted her head from his chest. “You tryin’ to get rid of me, huh?” she asked, only half jokingly, because she had
     become very possessive of him.
    Wiz chuckled. “Naw, yo, I just asked, you know, ’cause I know how you told me how much you liked it.”
    “That’s true,” she had to admit. She rolled over on her stomach and rested her forearm on his chest and her chin on her forearm.
     “It’s not a bad idea… on one condition?”
    “What?”
    “You go back with me.”
    Wiz threw his head back and laughed. “Stop playin’. Me? Go back to school?”
    Crystal was feeling the idea more and more because school would mean less time in the streets and more time with her. “It’ll
     be good for both of us. We could go to Essex County and you can just test out and get your GED, then we could take business
     classes together. Turn that street money legit.”
    “We’ll see,” Wiz replied, realizing his plan had back-fired.
    Several weeks later Wiz had his GED and he and Crystal began to go to Essex County College together. He was still in the streets,
     but he let Nu-Nu handle things more and more.
    “Shorty got that nigguh fucked up,” Nu-Nu would say, “got Wiz in school and shit, yo.”
    Word got to Ali Smalls and he was proud of little cuz. He even approved of shorty because she was having a good effect on
     Wiz. School was good, moneywas good and love was good, until one day Veronica beeped Wiz.
    He and Crystal were home making spaghetti. So he picked up the kitchen phone and hit Veronica back. “You beep me?” he asked,
     cradling the phone to his shoulder and stirring the sauce.
    “Wiz, I need to see you,” Veronica said, sounding like she was crying.
    “For what?” he questioned.
    Crystal was fixing the table a few feet away. She knew who Veronica was and what she did for Wiz, but she definitely didn’t
     know what she did
with
Wiz.
    “Wiz, please, when is you comin’ over here?” Her sobs were getting heavier.
    Wiz knew in his gut that this was no conversation he wanted to have with Crystal right there, so he replied, “Tomorrow, as
     usual. You straight?”
    “No!” she blurted out, “I’m pregnant!”
    She said it so loud, Wiz swore Crystal heard her. He quickly glanced her way, but she made no indication she had heard.
    “And?” he quipped, trying to keep his answers short.
    “Please don’t do me like that, Wiz, I’m not a ho. I know it’s yours, please, just come see—”
    Wiz cut her off. “Whatever. See you then.” He hung up.
    Crystal could sense something in his mood. “Everything okay?”
    Wiz mixed the