Derica in '95

Main character:1

Erica Rhode, 15, white girl, brown hair, brown eyes, 5'2, 110 lbs. 2

Setting: 3

95- Detroit, Michigan in an area where there are very few whites, a ghetto place4

Conflict:5

Black girls want to beat up the white girls, racism basically, going to get beat up…6

******  "Detroit life for a white girl in '95"  ******7

Two tall black girls, Naomi and LaTavia, stood outside Erica Rhode's broke-down, faded blue, peeling, ghetto, Detroit house. They stared at her while she reluctantly creeped up to here house. LaTavia began to walk over to her with Naomi following and Erica pretended not to notice. 8

"So," LaTavia said, now in front of Erica, towering over the 110 pound, 5'2 girl, "I heard you've been talkin' smack." LaTavia viciously tossed her hands upon her gigantic black hips, covered in dark blue jeans topped off with a florescent colored orange shirt and white Nikes, waiting for an answer.9

"No I haven't." Erica insisted, still trying to walk up to her house.10

"You're going to stand here and lie to us?" Naomi demanded, grabbing Erica's worn backpack so she couldn't walk off.11

"I'm not lying. Believe what you want." Erica said, not scared of LaTavia or Naomi in any way.12

"Do you wanna get your ass beat?" LaTavia asked, narrowing her thick eyebrows questionable, "'Cause I have no problem beatin' a white girl down."13

"You have no problem jumpin' me." Erica said back, grabbing Naomi's ugly hands off her backpack.14

"I could beat you one handed if I wanted to. It wouldn't be very hard." LaTavia told her, looking at Naomi for approval. They both smirked, which make them even uglier than they really were; Erica simply rolled her eyes. 15

"Do it then LaTavia, quit wastin' my time 'cause I've got things to do."16

"Do you want me to white girl?"17

"Do you want to?"18

"You know I do but ya' know, it's so sad 'cause it'd be so easy."19

"Well then don't." and with that, Erica walked off, leaving the stupid looks on LaTavia and Naomi's faces for someone else to witness. A little way down the sidewalk, she turned around and said, "By the way, my name is ERICA, not 'white girl.'"20

*        *        *21

"They did that to you? Omigod, they're stupid anyways." A girl named Missy Jackson with curly brown hair and green eyes said to Erica.22

"I know," Erica replied to her best friend. "It was lame. And then I got home and all my mom wanted to do was scream about the bills and money and how I should get a job. Don't I have just a lovely life?"23

"My mom tries to do that too. It's ridiculous. She just needs to shut the hell up."24

"For real huh?!" Erica said a little too loud in Science, making her teacher give her a nasty look, a warning.25

Erica and Missy laughed at that, then a little quieter she said,26

"We just straight up needa' get outta' Detroit with all these crazy hater's 'round here."27

" Yep," Missy agreed, nodding her head, "But…it's never gonna happen."28

"God, we should just to shut up all these ignorant fools." Erica said. They looked at each other, just thinking, when Natosha whispered, flinging here long, shiny, black hair back to untangle it from here silver hoop earrings,29

"'Ey Erica!"30

"Yeah?" Erica asked, looking over at the girl. Natosha was one of them girls who think that they're thugs, wearing red and using slang, smoking weed and drinking beer.31

"You ain't heard?"32

"Heard what?"33

"LaTavia said it's on, you. She said you bes' meet 'er at the court or she's gon' get you on your way to yo house and das' her word."34

"WHAT???" shrieked Missy, eyes bulging. 35

"Dis' ain't got nuttin to do wit' you 'homes. It's the beef 'tween 'Tavia and Erica." Natosha told Missy, looking at Erica. 36

"She planned this all by herself?" Erica asked, knowing LaTavia's crew had something to do with it. LaTavia wouldn't have the guts to pull off a fight without somebody egging her on.37

"Not 'xactly." Natosha muttered. "Dem girls she rolls 'wit said she should. She was jus' like, 'aiight, I'm 'bout it."38

"Whatever man."39

*        *        *40

By the end of the day, the entire school knew about 'The Fight,' and word as, Erica was going to get jumped.41

"C'mon Erica, don't do it. They're gonna jump you." Missy said, chewing her nails worriedly. "Those b!tches might pull me into it 'cause if they jump you Imma help you."42

"Ooh!" Erica raged, throwing her bag on the ground. "I hate these stupid girls thinkin' they're better than you and me because we're white and they're not like we're 'posed ta' envy them or something."43

"Sucks being us doesn't it?"44

"NO, it sucks 'cause we live in this place with all these haters!"45

"Haters are we?" Erica heard from behind here. She turned around to see LaTavia and Naomi, along with their whole crew, standing behind her and Missy.46

"Do I have to repeat myself?" Snapped Erica, glaring every singly one of them down. 47

"No, you don't 'cause I heard you. I was just checkin'."48

"Well then why'd you ask LaTavia?" Erica asked in a snappy tone.49

"You know what white girl? You just need to shut your mouth."50

"Ooh…are you tough now because you've got your lil' posse with you? Is that is? 'Cause I'm not scared of you and I won't ever be scared of you. If you wanna fight me, let's go."51

*        *        *52

"C'mon now Erica, be reasonable. You know if you start poundin' LaTavia to the next world that you're going to get jumped, don't you?" Missy told Erica, trying to talk her out of this dirty business.53

"I DON’T REALLY GIVE A fuCK!" Erica screamed. "If I get beat down, then I get beat down, there's no way out now. I just gotta show these fools that they ain't runnin shit!"54

"But you don't need to fight her."55

"Yes, I do." Erica insisted.56

"No, you don't."57

"Yes, I do."58

"No, you don't."59

"Well we're on out way to the court now and it's too late to back down."60

"No it's not." Missy said to Erica. "Really, you don't need to fight her, that's just stupid. That's what she wants anyway."61

Erica stopped walking for a minute and turned to look at Missy. She had this look in her eyes and Erica knew Missy was right, but what could she do?62

*        *         *63

"Aiight people, listen up!" Naomi told the crowd who came to witness 'The Fight.' "To make this shit REAL entertainment, they're gonna battle." 64

"Hold up," some chick from the crowd, wearing a blue and red FuBu shirt and pre-faded jeans with Nikes, called out, "Erica's white."65

"We can see that." Naomi told the chick.66

"How is she supposed to battle? White girls can't rhyme."67

"Well this girl's gonna have to and… oh! Look, look! There she is!" Naomi shouted and everybody turned to see her come up. Nobody expected here to show.68

"White girls," LaTavia murmured under her breath. Everybody lightly filled with laughter, they were black and after all, in their opinion, it was funny. 69

"Let's go." LaTavia said to Erica as she approached the crowd. "Let's go white girl."70

Erica stepped up, her only loyal friend behind her and she said,71

"No." It so clear it shocked the crowd; she couldn't have been misheard.72

"Excuse me?" LaTavia demanded. "Did you just say what I think you said?"73

"NO." Erica repeated. 74

"Uh, uh," LaTavia said, getting really mad, "You brought me all the way out here and you talked all that shit and you wanna say 'No' like you can just walk away? Oh, hell NO."75

In a flash LaTavia pounced on Erica and punched her in the face again and again as Erica tried to get out of LaTavia's grasp. Naomi jumped in and Missy tried to save Erica but LaTavia's crew held her back. People here and there were yelling, "That's not fair!" and soon, a whole mosh pit of people started fighting over weather it was right or not. Punches, kicks, pulls, pushes and everything else in between were being thrust out, half the time hitting the wrong person. Missy got loose of the people holding her back and drug Erica a few feet back from the mass of people.76

Erica lay there, laughing about it, holding her side and said,77

"Detroit sucks."78

By: Miss Micaela Nicole Carroll79