On the Come Up

by Angie Thomas

I’m a hoodlum from a bunch of nothing.

Big Bird? I don’t trust that ho. Plus, have they seen his nest? He probably hides bodies in it.

“There will always be someone with something to say, but it doesn’t mean you gotta listen.”

I’m more of a “yes, people exist, but that doesn’t mean I need to talk to them” person.

Nobody ever realized they took part of me with them.