On the Come Up

by Angie Thomas

That’s when I learned that when people die, they sometimes take the living with them.

“Don’t worry, Bri,” Jay says. “God’s got us, baby.” The same God who let her get laid off from a church?

I gotta be one of the guys and then some in order to survive.

“Damn, Bri. He talked to you like a human being, now all of a sudden you’re thirsty for him? What kind of heterosexual bullshit is that?”

I knew you when you were afraid of Big Bird.” “Oh my God, it is not logical for a bird to be that big! Why can’t y’all get that?”

“Remember that time you threw a shell at me in Mario Kart?”

“Did Jesus moderate it?” I ask. “’Cause that’s the only way I see this working.”