Worlds Divided | j. baker

six

Spencer finally came home, Coop following right behind him, and the first thing he saw was as Jordan in the kitchen with Alondra standing a fee feet away from him.  "Yo, who's this El Debarge-lookin' dude?  And why's he bastardizing the greens?"

"Jordan offered to help for the cookout."

"Help wouldn't be the word I'd use."

"Yeah, I don't think he's ever been in the kitchen before."  Alondra teased, but completely serious at the same time because she had to show Jordan what to do.

The Beverly Native looked beside him to Alondra, flicking water at her. "So everyone's got jokes today, huh?"

"Jordan? Oh, this the snitch." Coop smiled, watching Jordan walk out and follow Spencer towards the living room. "Speaking of cookout, why aren't you making tamales with your mom?"

"Don't worry, we made them yesterday. You'll get some later."

The cookout started about an hour later and there was music blasting, people barbecuing, and in the empty area, Alondra was dancing with a group of kids. Teresa was passing by with a plate of food to sit with a group of other moms, and stopped to talk with Alondra. "Mija, vas a comer?"

"Comeré más tarde. I'm dancing."

The kids around her agreed, some of them even grabbing onto her hands to drag her back into the music. "You talk like Dora." One of them commented.

Alondra laughed and spun a few of the kids around, not noticing that Jordan, who was sitting alone, was watching her.  "Yeah, I speak Spanish."

"I can say 'Hola'."  One of them cheered.  "Do you have a boyfriend?"

"No, I don't have a boyfriend."

"You should get one because you can take their money."

For the next like 30 minutes, she kept dancing with them until they got tired or hungry or both.  Once she got her own plate, she sat down at Spencer's table, and the only available space was beside Jordan.  He moved so she could get closer to the table and eat, but Chris was eyeing them from across the table.

"What're we talking about?"

"Music.  Biggie or Pac, who gets the number one spot?" Alondra stayed quiet, but out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Jordan was going to answer. While they discussed the differences between 2Pac and biggie, she ate her food. "Aight then, who had the better flow?"

"Rakim." Jordan and Alondra answered. For a second they glanced at each other, but the whole table was surprised that they both said an artist that wasn't even in the question. "You take it, I'm eating."

"He was a lyrical genius, had crazy mic techniques, the original smooth flow.  I mean, come on.  'Paid in Full', no artist has ever even come close to touching that album.  Greatest of all time."

Alondra nodded her head, and everyone, including Spencer, looked at Jordan in complete shock.  "Not gonna lie, that was fine as hell, but period."

"Alo, shut up.  Okay, babyface.  Give it up for my boy!"

"Bitch, I'll punch you."

× × ×

The cookout was still going strong, but it was hot outside and they were hogging a table, so to get more comfortable, the group moved it into Spencer's living room.  They ended up pulling out a card game that had to do with black culture, more specifically African-American culture.  It didn't really include Alondra, but she still stayed to test how woke she was.

Since before the game even started, Chris has been calling Jordan Carlton, and while Jordan wasn't exactly her favorite person, it was getting on her nerves. "At a black church, how long does praise and worship last? 1) 30 minutes, 2) an hour, 3-"

"Okay, ain't no way Beverly Hills gettin this one right unless he been binge-watching 'Preachers of LA.'"

"Chris, leave him alone." Alondra groaned, getting real tired of his pettiness.

"The answer's 3, whenever the director feels like she's done. Now, stop messin up the game! Cam, your turn. New card!"

"Aight, if black folks left America like white folks left the EU, who do we take?"

Chris, being a smartass, responded with, "I vote we take Carlton over here and Eminem.  The white folks can keep Spencer and Stacey Dash."

Alondra almost choked on her drink, then looked across the room at Chris with wide eyes. Being petty to someone you just met was one thing, but disrespecting someone in their own house? That was doing too much, and Spencer thought the same because he stood up and started walking towards Chris with everyone looking at them.

The tension in the room was thick and everyone felt it as they watched Chris and Spencer get in each other's faces.  "Since you felt like you had to leave us to succeed, you should just stay gone.  Besides, we got the upgrade anyway.  Ain't that right, Cam?"

Cameron pulled his hands out of his pockets and lifted his chin up, and Alondra sucked her cheeks in to keep herself from busting out laughing.  At the way Cam was standing and the way they thought he was better than Spencer.  "I doubt Cam could even touch Spencer on the field.  Pretty sure we got the upgrade."

"Well, we'll see about that at playof- oh, wait. That's right, Beverly hasn't been to the playoffs in years."

"They will this year. They got me." The entire conversation, Alondra was looking back-and-forth between Spencer and Chris. She felt like the situation would've been better if she had a snack to eat while it was happening, but that was besides the point.

45 minutes later, Alondra and everyone from inside the house was in the school stadium, along with like half the people from the cookout. The Crenshaw guys were stretching, but the Beverly guys were walking in through the gate they busted open. Alondra could see that some random people had their money out and were placing bets on which team was going to win.

Due to such short notice, and the equipment being locked up, the guys were playing with no protection and all the violence. "Alondra, come meet the rest of the team!" JJ called over.

It was gonna be a long night.

Aight nvm I lied 🙈 no sad shit yet but i feel like yall gonna HATE me when it happens

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