6:59 by Nonye Acholonu, Kelechi Acholonu Page A

out of this hideout or I will get rid of you myself.”
    That was when something inside me just snapped. Staring into Cam’s angry eyes suddenly made me angry, too. What had I done wrong? Nothing! So for him to be treating me as an annoying pest was so not fair.
    I swatted his hand away from my neck. “Stop it!” I yelled, fury bursting from my every vein. “Who do you think you are just treating me like this, Cam? It’s not fair and it’s hurting my feelings! You have no right to boss me around!” Now it was my turn to get all up in his face. “You apologize to me right now or I promise you I will never speak to you again. You hear me?” By the end of my tirade, my voice was hoarse from the yelling. I swallowed a big gulp, waiting for him to either hit me or yell at me.
    Cam’s face changed almost immediately. I saw a sudden flash of recognition and his face softened. Just when he was opening his mouth to say something, a deep voice from behind me rattled my bones.
    â€œWhat are you doing here, Cam?”

Chapter Thirteen

    Cam
    Pedro wasn’t supposed to find me out here. I was supposed to ambush the son-of-a-gun and then take his money. My plan was now ruined. All thanks to Olive.
    I tore my gaze away from her and focused on Pedro. “Sup, Pedro,” I said, rubbing my hands together. As I did this, I stepped in front of Olive.
    Pedro stared at the two of us, digging his hands into his pockets. “What do you want?” he asked, chewing on his cigarette. He wore a dark beanie over his equally dark hair and his clothes were baggier than any gang member I had ever met.
    Pedro had to be loaded. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out. But just in case, I X-rayed him. The world all around me opened up and I saw through his clothes. He had two gats on him and several knives. He expected a fight tonight. Great.
    â€œI said what do you want ?” Pedro snapped, puffing out a thick cloud of gray smoke. His black eyes narrowed at me.
    I stepped forward and glared back. “You know what I want,” I said.
    A slow smile spread across Pedro’s dark tan skin. “You want the money,” he said, folding his arms over his chest. Then he chuckled. “But I ain’t givin’ it to you because — ¿sabes qué? — your kind don’t deserve it.”
    And in a second, he pulled out his gun and began shooting at me.
    â€œGet down and get to the car!” I called to Olive who began screaming like a maniac. She fell to the ground and crawled toward the car at a fast pace.
    As Pedro shot at us, more gangsters appeared from deep inside of the shadows. They immediately ran at me.
    â€œOh, crap !” I cried out, and took off running in the other direction. They all pulled out their guns and shot at me. I quickly dove out of the way and ran faster. When the bullets died down, I knew that they were all chasing after me.
    I had to think fast — guns or powers? What would do the most harm the quickest? Without a second thought, I grabbed at my bag and tore it open. My guns were fully loaded and in my hands in seconds. Then I stopped, spun around, and began shooting at those douche bags.
    Two guys fell down and the other five dodged. When I ran out of bullets, I knew I had to do some man-to-man combat. Chucking my guns at two other guys, I ran at them. The two gangsters fell down unconscious and left me with the three others — Pedro included.
    â€œGet rid of him!” Pedro demanded, sending his fist crashing into my jaw. Pain flared around my face, but only for an instant. I flexed my jaw and began whaling on the other two that fell on top of me. Kicks and punches were flying everywhere. I couldn’t seem to find my way up from down but I did manage to avoid getting hit in the face again.
    When they began to get tired, I breathed heavily and sent them all flying backwards. They landed into the wall with a loud