Duty or Desire Page 6

  19

  ALEJANDRO

  “Chrissie, no!” I shout into her ear, inches from my mouth. A mouth with blood trickling out. I know she can’t hear me or see me. Her eyes are open, vacant, unmoving.

  “Lex! Lex!” Behind me, I hear Lacy scream. In the distance, I hear sirens coming too late. My insides burn with pain from bullets imbedded too deep in my body.

  “It was my job to protect you,” I mumble to Chrissie.

  “I called 911 again,” I hear some girl say, her voice growing louder, closer.

  “Lacy, are you all right?” Another girl shouts.

  I’m face down, half of me on the ground, the other half draped over Chrissie’s prone body. My head rests on her wound. I pretend she’s the snake, wrapped around my body, forcing life into me.

  “Chrissie, it’s Angela and Robin! Chrissie!” They shout and cry, over and over again.

  “Alejandro, you’re going to make it,” Lacy bends down, sobbing, touching my face with one hand. She clutches my hand with the other. I can’t squeeze back. I can’t tell her I know she’s lying to me.

  “Did you . . . get . . . the video?” I force the question out to Lacy.

  Lacy nods. Between crying gasps, she whispers, “I got it all.”

  “Robin and me were across the street, with her camera,” Angela says, looking furious but wiping an endless stream of tears. “God, Chrissie. We’ll get justice.”

  My mind’s cloudy, yet somehow never clearer. Justice is hot and cold. My blood runs hot from my wounds; Chrissie’s body starts to cool. I gather my energy and pull myself so we’re face to face. Her open eyes stare at me. I close them and kiss them, and I know I’m glad I didn’t walk away from her—that I did engage. I didn’t follow the plan. I followed my heart. Her heart. Our hearts soon to beat together forever.

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  Patrick Jones is the author of more than twenty novels for teens. He has also written two nonfiction books about combat sports, The Main Event, on professional wrestling, and Ultimate Fighting, on mixed martial arts. He has spoken to students at more than one hundred alternative schools, including residents of juvenile correctional facilities. Find him on the web at www.connectingya.com and on Twitter: @PatrickJonesYA.

  Marshunna Clark is a young African American writer based in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. She wrote her first book in collaboration with a friend at age sixteen to combat the summer “I’m bored” syndrome, and her interest in various storytelling formats led her to pursue a degree in screenwriting at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.