“Well, that’s his hangup. Shouldn’t be my problem.”

“You’re right. But it is your problem because you’re affected by it. I know it’s shitty, excuse my language, and it’s definitely not fair. But these people have to justify Garrett’s actions. They need to believe you’re a bad guy who got what he deserved in order for their world to keep spinning the way it always has.”

“How does that help me, Doc?”

“It doesn’t.”

Jus shakes his head again. Trey’s number flashes through his mind. “So why even try to be ‘good’?”

“You can’t change how other people think and act, but you’re in full control of you. When it comes down to it, the only question that matters is this: If nothing in the world ever changes, what type of man are you gonna be?”

A dense silence settles over the room, but just as Jus is about to speak again, SJ comes back in. For a minute, she just stands with her back against the doorframe and her eyebrows furrowed.

“SJ?” Doc says. “Everything all right?”

She snaps out of the daze. “Assclown Christensen seems to be shedding his douchey skin, you guys.”

“Huh?” from Jus.

SJ comes over and drops down in the empty seat next to him. She turns to look at him. Right in his eyes. “He wants to clear this up,” she says.

“Wait.” Jus shakes his head. “Back up. I’m confused.”

“Jared. That was him on the phone.”

“Got that part.”

“Well, he’s pissed about what they did with the Halloween picture. Says his dad is calling some people so they’ll show the entire shot, Blake’s Klan idiocy included.”

Jus doesn’t know what to say. Isn’t this the same guy who was about to press charges against Manny for the beatdown he got? Why the hell is he being Mr. Noble all of a sudden? “What do you think is up with him?”

“I honestly couldn’t tell you. He seemed a little…disillusioned? Like I picked up the phone and called him an asshole, and it sounded like he just kind of crumpled. ‘I can’t even disagree with you, SJ,’ he said. ‘This is all my fault.’ I had to look at my phone to check who I was talking to.”

Jus’s jaw clenches. “So now he wants to be the Great White Hope—”

“Correct me if I’m wrong,” Doc interrupts, “but Manny and Jared were good friends, right?”

Jus shrugs. “Yeah, I guess.”

“It occur to either of you that maybe the guy doesn’t want his friend’s name dragged through the mud any more than you do?”

Neither SJ nor Jus responds.

“Cut Jared some slack. He’s grieving too.”

Jus’s eyes drift across the room to where Manny and Jared used to sit side by side in Socio Evo. “Yeah, okay, Doc.”

“I need to hit the men’s room.” Doc stands. “Excuse me.”

When Doc leaves, Jus’s awareness of SJ’s presence kicks up a notch. He looks at her hands on the desk and sees that her nails are painted green. It makes him smile: during one of their tournament prep sessions at her house, they’d taken a break to make a snack run to the local drugstore. Just before they checked out, SJ asked Jus what his favorite color was. When he told her green, she ran off and came back with the bottle of nail polish.

Justyce clears his throat. “So—”

“Wait, I need to say something.”

“Okay.”

She turns to face him. “I owe you an apology. For…bailing.” She picks at her nails. “After the tournament. With no explanation. I’m sorry.”

“Oh.” Some emotion he doesn’t recognize surges in his chest. He’s on dangerous ground and he knows it. Especially considering the way she’s looking at him. “You, uhh…mind explaining now?”

“I panicked?”

“You panicked.”

“Well, there was Melo…and I didn’t know where you stood with her or how I fit? Anyway. Point is, it won’t happen again.”

“Okay.”

“I mean it, Jus. I want to be here for you. Anything you need. A friend, a hug, whatever.”

“Thanks, S.” Jus bumps her with his shoulder. “I really appreciate it.”

She nods. “So we’re good?”

“Yeah.” Jus smiles. “We’re good.”

VP RELEASED FOR RABBLE-ROUSING!

BY: SONYA KITRESS

For The Tribune

Julian Rivers, executive vice president of Davidson Wells Financial Corporation, has stepped down from his position following troubling reports of his involvement in the Justice for JAM movement. According to CEO Chuck Wallace, photographs of Mr. Rivers on the front lines of an Atlanta march that shut down traffic for hours last week triggered the loss of several high-profile clients and approximately $80 million in revenue for the asset management firm. In a press release yesterday afternoon, Wallace stated: “While we respect the gravity of the tragic loss of a child, involvement in publicly disruptive activity is grounds for investigation and potential dismissal. Mr. Rivers has been a tremendous asset at Davidson Wells for well over nineteen years, and while we hate to see him go, we’ve mutually agreed to part ways.”

Rivers’s son, Emmanuel, was killed in a shooting during a dispute over loud music in late January. A trial date for the shooter, who was indicted last month, has not yet been set.

There’s not a whole lot Jus is sure of these days, but he knows he shouldn’t be in this seat at the back of the number 87 bus right now. If it weren’t for the newspaper article in his pocket, he’d be studying for finals or hanging out with SJ. But all he’s thought about over the past few days is how sad Manny’s parents were when they invited him over to tell him they were moving.

Doc gave Jus a copy of the article about Mr. Julian “stepping down” the morning it was released. His first thought: instead of Sonya Kitress, the name on the article should be Nunya Bidness. Manny’s parents more or less sponsored the Atlanta chapter of the Justice for JAM movement, so of course they’d participated in the local marches. It wasn’t their fault the one they were photographed at overflowed onto the highway, blocking all northbound and southbound lanes.

The day the Riverses shared their relocation plans, they also told Jus that Mr. Julian had received an ultimatum. Basically: Sever all ties with that so-called movement or clear out of that corner office (in so many words). Mr. Julian told Jus he “calmly explained the meaning of civil disobedience” before removing his framed degrees from the wall.

Jus is on the number 87 bus, the final bus in the commute from Oak Ridge to Wynwood Heights, because what Quan said—there’s no escaping the Black Man’s Curse—has been echoing in his head since he left the Riverses’ house. He has no idea where else to go or who else to turn to. SJ’s great, but not for this, and while he could go to Doc, Jus doesn’t really want to hear any more stay good even though the world craps on you advice.

Mama would throttle Jus if she knew where he was going—everybody in the neighborhood knows who Martel is—but frankly, she hasn’t been any help lately either: every time he calls or stops by, she brings up SJ.