The Hate U Give (The Hate U Give, #1)

by Angie Thomas

I turn to the cops. “I’m sick of this! Just like y’all think all of us are bad because of some people, we think the same about y’all. Until you give us a reason to think otherwise, we’ll keep protesting.” More cheers, and I can’t lie, it eggs me on. Forget trigger happy—speaker happy is more my thing. “Everybody wants to talk about how Khalil died,” I say. “But this isn’t about how Khalil died. It’s about the fact that he lived. His life mattered. Khalil lived!” I look at the cops again. “You hear me? Khalil lived!” “You have until the count of three to disperse,” the officer on the loudspeaker says. “Khalil lived!” we chant. “One.” “Khalil lived!” “Two.” “Khalil lived!” “Three.” “Khalil lived!” The can of tear gas sails toward us from the cops. It lands beside the patrol car. I jump off and pick up the can. Smoke whizzes out the end of it. Any second it’ll combust. I scream at the top of my lungs, hoping Khalil hears me, and chuck it back at the cops. It explodes and consumes them in a cloud of tear gas. All hell breaks loose.