Across The Tracks Read online

  Across the Tracks

  Xyla Turner

  AZINA MEDIA PUBLICATIONS

  237 Flatbush Avenue, #187 Brooklyn, NY 11217

  This is an original publication of AZINA MEDIA PUBLICATIONS.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  Copyright © 2015 AZINA MEDIA PUBLICATIONS

  Cover Page by Dynasty Cover Me

  Editor: Terri Griffith

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized edits.

  All rights reserved.

  eBook ISBN: 9781943132089

  DEDICATION

  To those that refuse to conform

  Stay original

  Stay true

  Stay genuine

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  My family and friends are the best.

  Love you guys!

  Shatisha, thank you so much!

  I appreciate all you do officially and unofficially.

  Yes, I said officially.

  Xyla Crusaders - thank you!

  I appreciate your continued support!

  I want to thank God.

  My wheel in the middle of the wheel.

  My strong tower.

  My provider.

  Thank you!

  NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

  Across the Tracks is another book that is dear to my heart, but for different reasons than my last interracial book, BOMBSHELL. I wanted to go beyond ‘opposites attract’, but show how prejudice on both ends can keep people apart. Not only in romantic relationships, but all of them. The goal was to show how we have these internal thoughts that stem from our own upbringing, which dictates how we operate towards other people. Unless we address and/or are challenged on these things, we will continue to live out our experience. Not always on purpose, but as our default. I wanted to write a book that conveyed those internal things, but also showed how we can actually overcome them and not just live happily ever after, but relate better with others.

  I really hope you enjoy this book, like I enjoyed writing Lisa and Rich’s story.

  Please note: There are some derogatory comments and racial slurs in this story. Not many, but the purpose is to address the subject in an authentic manner while also exploring the transformation of the characters.

  FOREWORD

  Xyla Turner is a new author who has hit the ground running, and hasn’t stopped. Since her debut novel The Chase: Double XX Series (Volume 1) on April 13, 2015, Ms. Turner has been dropping book after book non-stop. It is refreshing to see an author so dedicated to her craft and the painstaking time she puts into putting out meaningful and completed compositions of writing.

  I have the added personal pleasure and honor of knowing and being a friend of Ms. Turner. She is a wonderful woman who networks, supports and delivers on her promises. We first “met” on Facebook as I was starting to revamp my blog and gear it towards authorship. I did an Author Highlight on her right after the debut novel. She had a spark and passion about her that kept me motivated to keep up with my own projects.

  My favorite thing about Xyla is how she weaves pieces of her everyday life into her stories, providing insight that others may not see or know. The most notable aspect of her life is the teaching and education of kids and participation in the community. When she’s not at work and not writing, she’s interacting with everyone on Twitter and Facebook. She actively shouts out people. She’s so dedicated that you can’t help but be the same way around her.

  I can’t wait to read Across the Tracks. I can only imagine, based on previous works, that there will be an Alpha Male, who is being given a hard time by a woman that will not be controlled. And, true to her nature, the heroine will be a woman rooted in education. I love her intensity in the characters and I will continue to watch my friend Xyla grow as an unstoppable literary force.

  Author of Ebony Articles: Volume I and II

  DEDICATION

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

  FOREWORD

  XYLA’S OTHER BOOKS

  PROLOGUE: Leave it on the Court

  Chapter 1: The Court Room

  Chapter 2: The Article

  Chapter 3: The Dinner

  Chapter 4: The Accident

  Chapter 5: Lisa’s 6 Months

  Chapter 6: Rich’s 6 Months

  Chapter 7: New Chapter

  Chapter 8: No Fear

  Chapter 9: Three Years to Make Up

  Chapter 10: The Outside

  Chapter 11: Who is mad at who?

  Chapter 12: Does it matter?

  Chapter 13: Warnings

  Chapter 14: Owned

  Chapter 15: Father Dearest

  Chapter 16: In the Public

  Power of the Pen (Sneak Peek)

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  XYLA’S OTHER BOOKS

  XYLA’S CONTACT INFORMATION

  XYLA’S OTHER BOOKS

  The Chase, Part 1: The Double XX Series

  Love Under Attack (Formally The College President): FRCC Series

  BOMBSHELL

  Bookstore Chronicles 1

  Across the Tracks

  Power of the Pen

  PROLOGUE: Leave it on the Court

  15 years ago:

  Ouch!

  Danny tackled Lisa near the grass, running her over like a freight train. She probably should not have been playing tackle football, but tackling her that hard was simply uncalled for. Josh, Lisa’s brother, told him to knock it off on many occasions. It was the end of August in the city of Philadelphia and they were all playing in the Richard Allen Projects or as the broken sign on the sidewalk used to read, The Housing Development. It was normal for them to be playing sports in the middle of the patches of brown grass and the hard black concrete. Lisa’s dad forbade them to play anywhere else because there was so much broken glass and used needles laying around the development. Nothing was ever cleaned and even if it were, within the week, the streets would be filled with more trash and the results of a broken community.

  The sun was high, causing Lisa to be temporarily blinded as she attempted to run the football through the mob of boys, she failed to see Danny coming for her again as he tackled her on the hard concrete. There was no patch of grass for her to land and like always, Danny seemed dead set on bringing her pain. Even though she was a skinny girl, who had not yet developed into the full physical stage of womanhood. The other guys, including her brother, got mad at Danny for hitting her so hard. After some minor pushing and trash talking, they cooled it since they were all neighbors, it would be squashed by dinner time. They always let her play because she was fast, she was a girl and nobody really wanted to tackle her except Danny.

  Lisa hopped right back up and yelled, “I’m alright.”

  Danny waved his arm in her direction and said, “See, she’s fine. Quit bitching.”

  “Lisa?” Josh was asking without asking.

  She nodded her head while the other guys scowled at Danny. He was always rough with her. He didn’t care whether she was a girl or not, Lisa was his enemy if she was not on his team. As it usually happened, she was never on his team and he made sure of that.

  Lisa’s father and brother were so overprotective when it came
to her. She was surprised that they let her play any sports at all. Their father, Aaron Johnson, was fine with almost anything, but she had to be with Josh. He conditioned his son to always take care of his baby sister, so that meant she was with him at all times. This resulted in Lisa being referred to as a tom-boy, but the Johnson’s did not care. She was safe, staying busy and Aaron did not quite care what other people thought of how he raised his kids. Josh and Lisa’s mother passed away only a year after Lisa was born. Their father said she died from an aneurysm. This was unexpected and tragic, but Aaron raised those kids the best way he knew how and if Lisa played tackle football and basketball, yet stayed out of trouble, this was fine with him. She was actually quite good at both sports since she was so fast. Then basketball became more than a sport for her, but a game that she loved to compete.

  Once they finished their game of football and Josh signaled for Lisa to gather her things so they could head home. They lived in an area where many low-income families had resided for decades. The place was crawling with crack heads, girls with cuts on their faces and drug dealers. They never heard the term gangs, but they knew whose corner belonged to which group. Her dad didn’t trust none of these people, which was another reason he made Josh stay with Lisa at all time. Aaron would use the N word often, but when he talked to Lisa, he tried not to curse or use derogatory language. Her father was a construction worker and this particular month he was laid off. He said that they (white guys) always laid off the black guys first. She was only eight, so she didn’t always understand what he was saying or how these things he mentioned impacted their lives. They had food on the table, clothes on their back, although Josh often complained that he wanted certain kinds of sneakers. Nevertheless, their dad made them focus on their education. His mantra was, nobody can take that away from you. Have your own, so you will not ever be laid off. He constantly drilled that into them, which seemed like it was on a daily basis.

  Her father often worked with his friend and County Chairman Wallace Pinkney. He and Wallace grew up together and they seemed to have a mutual understanding and respect for one another. Pinkney had this ambition of helping with the change of the New Philadelphia, helping low-income people, merging racial divides and attacking hard issues like education. The community loved him because he was from the same hood. He just happened to also be a politician, which meant he did some questionable things, like the upcoming community event. Her dad would shake his head at him when he saw Wallace on TV talking about the rich and poor working together. Aaron thought that was the politician talking, not his friend. Lisa's dad always said that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. White people made sure of that, so this notion of them working together to eliminate poverty, change the education system, or help to keep these kids out of jail was ridiculous.

  One of Wallace initiatives was the Over the Tracks community event that included food, games, sports, vendors and a celebrity appearance. Wallace had people canvassing all of north and south Philadelphia, to ensure that there were as many people as possible in attendance. He even had elected officials from other districts involved, black and white. This was supposed to be a spectacular event, so the police were ready for any sort of commotion. They had been there to keep the peace because they were like her father, who didn’t believe in that ‘kumbaya shit’ as he would say, but not in front of her.

  The event was beyond spectacular, there were people everywhere, black and white alike. They ran out of food, so Wallace ordered 100 pizzas because he didn’t want there to be any issues. They had community speakers, gave out awards, and held a basketball tournament and still people were out and about having fun. They were not necessarily having fun with each other, meaning mingling outside of their friends, but they were all there with no trouble. After the basketball tournament, Josh and friends all started to play a pickup game with Lisa. On the other side of the court, there were several white boys playing a game as well. Wallace must have seen this and saw it as an opportunity to begin the mending of the racial divide starting with the youth because the adults were not budging. He stopped both of the games and said they should just play each other. Lisa looked at her brothers who had smirks on their faces. She knew they thought white people were not good at basketball, so why not. She looked at the white boys and saw they had similar smirks, but she couldn’t decipher what theirs meant.

  Lisa was nine, Josh was eleven years old and so were all of his friends, except Danny, who was twelve. They flipped a coin and the white boys got the ball first. Danny muttered that would be the only time they got the ball. Josh had taught Lisa how to play basketball and he always stressed that defense was critical because anyone could score, but to stop someone else from scoring was what mattered. Josh, sometimes, could be a real sage. The boys put Lisa on the point guard who brought up the ball, so she guarded him from afar at first. She didn’t know him and was not sure how he played. Danny yelled at her to get on him. So she moved closer with her hands extended on her sides. The white boy went to cross her over, but she anticipated the switch, stole the ball and laid it up on their side of the court, scoring the team’s first point. Her team cheered and to her surprise, all the black people cheered. There was a huge crowd watching the game. After she had made the layup, she felt a little more confident, so she pushed the ball out of bounds towards the glaring boy who she just stole it from and stood there. It might have seemed innocent to a non-ball player, but that move was a challenge. It said, ‘I just scored and I’m not running back, I’m going to stand here and guard you so I can score again.’ The boy picked up on the challenge and chest passed the ball to her really hard. He looked shocked when she merely caught it with quick hands and checked him.

  He started dribbling the ball, with his hand guarding it now, as she slid sideways to keep up with him. He glared at her, then muttered something. Lisa looked from his hands to his face and asked, “What?”

  He kept dribbling while saying through gritted teeth, “Y’all always cheat.”

  She looked at him with confusion etched on her face. Who was y’all and who cheated? He dribbled past her quickly, so she ran to catch up as he threw the ball to his teammate, who sat at the three-point line and sunk the three, scoring for his team. This time, the white people cheered and the black people groaned. Wallace had a look on his face that could have been read, maybe this was not a good idea.

  The game went on with the same sort of intensity. The tension could be cut with a knife and the emotions were extremely high over a quick game of pickup with kids. Now, it seemed like everyone was watching, with cheers and groans each time a team scored. The score was tied 22-22 with one minute left. There was no referee because, in a game like this, everyone called their own fouls. Fortunately, there was someone to keep the score and time. Lisa was tired because the boy she was guarding was fast like her. He scored on her twice, but other than that, he directed his entire team and set them up to score. And they executed this flawlessly and mostly behind the three-point line.

  After her team had lost the ball, Josh tapped her on the shoulder and whispered, “Take it from him again.”

  Lisa nodded and got closer to her opponent as he dribbled the ball up the court. He must have known she was going to try and steal it from him again. His elbows were out, so when he was getting ready to pass the ball between his two hands, she reached for the ball, but he elbowed her and she fell from the force of the blow. Outrage erupted from her teammates and the viewers on the sidelines to the point where Wallace got up and started pacing in front of the crowd with a lame attempt to pacify them. “It’s just a friendly game with kids.” He forced a nervous smile.

  When Lisa got up, she saw her dad staring at her. He did not audibly say anything, but what she felt he said was, ‘Get that damn ball.' She didn’t call the foul because only babies did that, but she did nod towards at her father in acknowledgment of his silent demand. She picked up the ball since Wallace had just separated Josh and her opponent. Mentally, Lisa was read
y to steal the ball again, so she pushed the ball towards the boy with a hard chest pass. He quickly grabbed it and started dribbling towards her again. She swatted at the ball several times to throw him off, but then he tried to do an around the back cross over and she had him.

  Lisa stole the ball from him and took off dribbling to their side of the court. She could feel him on her heels. Her strongest arm was the right hand, but with 20 seconds left, she couldn’t switch the ball to her right hand without losing time or him stealing the ball. His breath felt like it was right on her neck, to the point that she cringed. Lisa was a pretty good basketball player, however with the anxiety that was building in her stomach she feared that she would miss the lay-up. As she reached the inside of the paint near their basket, she felt a strong push on her right shoulder, but she had just released the ball with her left hand for the lay-up. The next thing she knew, she was on the ground with her opponent on top of her. He glared at her and whispered, “You’ll pay for that blackie.”

  The crowd erupted, then they groaned as he was pulled off of her and punched in the face by Danny. Followed up by Josh. By the time she got up, people were pouring out of the bleachers because that one incident turned into an all-out brawl. Strong arms pulled her out of the mix, moving her away from the stampeding crowd. She looked up and saw it was her dad, who was shaking his head. The police were at the scene on bullhorns telling everyone to stand back. Wallace just looked at the commotion with confusion and disappointment. Other people of all ages and colors were hastily leaving. Gunshots were fired in the air, but she was not sure if that was from the police or from the drug dealers. It did the trick because everyone scattered.