19-Ditch day

Editing in Progress

Chapter 19 

Kehlani sat at the back of Savannah's scooter as they left school. Kehlani tucked her phone into her pocket after the call with her brother.

"I swear to God, I will murder your brother one day" Savannah stated with anger in her voice.

"I don't know what to say about that," Lani said, leaning her two hands behind her. She had placed their bags in between them.

"I am telling you!!! Your brother doesn't like me for some reason" She reported. Lani sighed at her.

"In his defense, he is not friendly to anybody but his male friend"

"I am not just anybody, I am your best friend and you are his sister. He should at least be civilized with me. Oh, my! I am telling you if I was dying, and there was also a dying plant beside me, I am telling you, your brother would save the plant and not me".

"You are overthinking this too much" She answered her friend with a laugh. Savannah just sighed and decided to change the topic.

"So tell me why you were raining and hollering colorful words and the Joaquin"

Kehlani rolled her eyes so hard, that Savannah was sure it would fall off her eye sockets.

"Girl, chill, your murderous intentions are showing"

"I am not planning to kill anybody. It is just that I don't know why he is so mad at me. I didn't do anything wrong. So I arrived at school this morning and apologized—"

"Why?" Savannah interrupted as she made a sharp three o'clock turn to a busy bike and mechanic street.

The street had mostly vehicle spare parts shops, mechanic shops, a single tattoo and a unisex saloon, bike shops, and a single Gym.

"I don't know, I just wanted to be friends with him. I mean, he sits behind me in class, so it would be weird if I didn't talk to him. But do you know what he said?"

"What?" Savvy answered, she raised her hand to wave at someone in one of the shops, and Kehlani also did the same thing. This was a street where everyone knew everyone, well that was only if you were a frequent customer.

"Why?"

"Why?" Savannah repeated.

"He asked why I was apologizing"

"Well he is not wrong, I just asked the same thing just now, didn't I?" Savannah brought her scooter to a stop, in front of the Gym.

"Screw you both! I am sorry, I just wanted to make peace" Kehlani said with an annoyed voice as she came down from the vehicle and angrily entered the Gym.

Savannah sighed and she followed Kehlani into the Gym.

"Hey, Marco"

"Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

"Since when did you care if I went to school or not" She countered.

"Since I started paying you school fees last year, you punk," Marco said punching her in the head. Savannah groaned at the pain in her head.

"You better have not been skipping classes"

"Oh, don't worry, I keep her on a tight leash, but she still wears this weird thing," Lani said, pulling the black wig from her head and her real chestnut hair.

"Hey!!" Savannah yanked her wig cap and placed it on the table.

"I don't skip classes, and don't hit me like that again" she hissed angrily at him.

Savannah and Marco's relationship was wild and complicated. Marco was Savannah's real father, but he went to prison for possession of illegal drugs and weapons.

This was when Savannah was eight years old. He had stayed in prison for six good years.

Savannah's mother didn't seem to know how to keep her legs closed and cheated on Marco. She didn't care for him when he was sent to prison and once he came out she served him divorce papers.

He was only able to get his life straight after two years of coming out of jail. He knew no one would employ him, so he went to sell drugs again, but this time once he was done he left.

The money he got was used to build the gym. He eventually united with Savannah, they have been trying to build back whatever relationship they had left.

Keyword: Trying

"I thought you were angry with me?" Savannah asked, walking around her to the mini-fridge. Lani's eyes went wide at the remembrance of their conversation.

Pouting her lips, she turned around and faced a sandbag. "I am not angry with you" she mumbled into the sandbag. Savannah smiled as she gulped down the water from the mini.

"You kids haven't told me what you are doing here?" Marco asked, moving around to help Kehlani get set up.

"School had already closed by the time we arrived" It wasn't a lie, Santiago called her after school hours, so they did arrive at the gym when the school closed.

Marco squinted his eyes, he didn't believe her. He handed her a wristweight.

"So, why are you two fighting?"

"She is mad at me because her boyfriend is mad at her" His daughter teased her friend. Kehlani's face turned red in embarrassment, and she immediately turned around to correct and reprimand her best friend.

"I ALREADY TOLD YOU I AM NOT ANGRY WITH YOU!!!" She yelled.

"You see, she didn't say anything about the boyfriend part," Savannah said, turning her back to speak to her father.

"You are too young to have a boyfriend"

The two girls looked at the grown man after he said those words. They both rolled their eyes at him.

"That was not needed old man, you just ruined the mood," Savannah said dryly as she slapped on her father's tummy lightly.

Marco stood by the girls as he watched them train. He corrected them carefully when it was necessary. The girls had been doing this since they began their illegal racing.

When Marco heard what his daughter had been doing, they both got into a huge verbal fight. Both of them said words, they either didn't mean or wanted to get off their chest.

He eventually gave in, but on the condition that they both at least learn self-defense training twice a week.

Marco went back to the front desk when he saw customers approaching. "It seems like your father is busy this afternoon," Kehlani said as she steadied the sandbag from moving around. Savannah looked back at her father and smiled, but immediately wiped it away and shrugged her shoulders.

"He did better clean up his act if he wants to have a good relationship with me"

"Can you not be so tough on him? Like he is trying and—"

"Did he tell you how he got the money to buy the gym" Kehlani paused on her words.

"Well it was just to get the building, he hasn't gone back to selling them again, has he?"

"I haven't caught him yet" she responded.

"How about you don't look for a reason to hate him" Savannah kept quiet after Lani spoke.

She was looking forward to being close to her father. It was just that having missed most of her life, she didn't know how to react to it.

"You kids should come over here, I need to show you something" Marco called out. The girls dropped off the equipment they were using and went to meet Marco at the front table.

"Have you two seen this?" He asked, turning his phone in their direction.

"Oh, the race?!"

"Yes we do"

"Are you racing?" He asked, he already knew the answer to the question but still wanted to ask. He could tell the race was bad news, and he didn't want the girls attending to it.

"Of course," They said, simultaneously giving him a reassuring smile.

"You know there is a trap and a lot of mafias, cult, and gang members would be there and—"

"And the trap is for them" Savannah interrupted him.

"What she is trying to say is that" Lani interjected immediately before the father and daughter would have the chance to argue. "There seems to be more than meets the eye. We are sure that mafias or cult members can raise half a million pesos in a week at most. So there is probably a catch for them and the catch is most likely not the money"

"How are you so sure they are not also doing it for the money"

"Why would a rich mafia family need half a million pesos"

"Not every Mafia family is rich"

"Well, we certainly were, when you were still part of it" Marco squinted his eyes at his daughter, Kehlani could swear she could hear a pin drop at their silence.

"What I am trying to say is everybody needs half a million at some point in their life," Marco said, pulling his phone back and tucking it into his pocket.

"Do you have your vehicle ready?" He asked. If he couldn't stop them, the least he could do was to ensure they didn't get hurt.

"Yep, it is an Audi R8"

"I thought you usually use a Toyota"

"Exactly what I asked!!!" Kehlani suddenly yelled out.

"Well not for this one, she is racing against Big Bill" Marco flinched upon hearing the name.

"I think you should reconsider attending this race"

"Not even considering it," Savannah said, brushing off her father's words of concern.

"Anyway, Let's go get your car" Savannah tugged on Lani's sleeve. Turning her head, she met her father's gaze, "We are Jamie's workshop just in case"

*EDITED*