Knockout Games Read Online Free PDF Page A

yeah?”
    I hadn’t thought about it like that. “I guess so.”
    â€œWell, then you’ll fit right in.” She started walking again.
    We had been walking for almost half an hour, through parks and streets, even cutting through some alleys. She was looking for somebody, but didn’t say who. We came out into a drugstore parking lot, when she suddenly stopped like she’d just seen a rare bird or something.
    She pointed. “There.”
    I spotted a group of middle schoolers, still dressed in their school uniforms. Red shirts, tan pants, white shoes. “Tokers,” she said.
    I didn’t know what that meant, but she told me I should get my camera out. “You want me to record them?”
    These boys looked big for their age—sweaty, husky thirteen-year-olds—full of energy and always pushing each other around like boys do. Most of them were black. But there were a couple of Hispanic wannabes too. They were all trying to act older, arguing and pointing at people from behind a blue Prius.
    â€œAre they some kind of a gang?” I joked.
    â€œ Please , girl. Just do that thing you do with your camera. It’ll be better than those ants of yours.”
    She nudged me closer and I could hear them arguing:
    â€œHim.”
    â€œWho?”
    â€œDat guy over there. The white dude with the hat.”
    â€œThat old fool? I thought we didn’t do old heads?”
    I remember glancing at Destiny and then I whispered, “What are we doing?”
    All she said was, “You’ll see. Start filming.”
    I shrugged. Recording a bunch of middle schoolers arguing? Yeah, it was kinda funny, I guess. But I expected more. I turned my camera on and zoomed in anyway.
    â€œYou’re gonna make this look good , right?” she whispered back, like she didn’t want to scare them off. “I mean, you should see the shit Prince tries to shoot with his dumb phone cam, all shaky and shit. Sometimes, he gets so caught up in it, he don’t even see what he’s shooting, and all you get is the street. You got one of them shaky cam things on there, the one that smoothes it all out if you have to run?”
    â€œWhy would we be running?” I asked.
    â€œOh you know, they just playing games on people—pranks. Sometimes you gotta take off pretty quick, but that’s usually the funniest part. That shit you can put on your Facebook page and get tons of views with. That’s how you make friends.”
    â€œI don’t have a Facebook page.”
    She looked at me like I had said I don’t have a TV . And I wasn’t about to say that either.
    She whipped out her phone. “We’ll see about that. Keep filming.”
    She started tapping away at her phone.
    â€œI thought Facebook was uncool,” I said.
    She smirked. “All the better for this kinda thing.”
    â€œBut what am I doing?”
    â€œJust follow their lead,” she said. “Do this right and you’ll get on his good side. Got it?”
    â€œWho?”
    â€œWhat?” she said.
    â€œWho are you talking about?” I said back.
    â€œThe Knockout King, who else?”
    That was the first I heard of the Knockout King. “What is that, a boxer?” I asked.
    That was funny to her. “You’ll see, Fish,” she said. “These guys are cool. This’ll be better than reality TV.”
    I watched the boys arguing over the people they were spying on. One said he didn’t like that guy’s shirt; another said the dude reminded him of some guy on TV. Another said that guy looked like a wuss. They might as well be fighting over Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.
    Then one of them, a kid taller than me with nappy hair with a comb sticking out of the back, noticed me and my camera and stood up like I was a threat to him. “Whaddaya think you doin’?” he asked, his hand balled up into a fist.
    â€œShut up, C-Jay. She’s with me,” said