Chapter 1 Gangs

One day, I heard a pounding at my big cherry wood door.
“Wake up, Aurora, or you’ll be late! And you know what being late does to a little white girl!” Why does she always have to call me a little white girl? I am white, and she’s black, but that doesn’t make a difference in the consequences of being late! I flipped my legs off my four poster bed, and scanned the room, looking for any clues to Chris’s possible invading of my privacy. My desk, with the tiny silver Dell laptop and bajillion papers scattered on it looked normal; my closet doors, with the many posters of boy celebrities and teen idols stuck to it wasn’t any different. I looked under my bed; nothing but a few dust bunnies and some empty boxes; but when my eyes scrolled over to my dresser, I froze. Chris had a pet cobra named Lilly, and she liked warm places. Two of my t-shirts, sitting on the dresser, were her warmth, and she lay there, slightly curled up in them.
I wasn’t going to yell, but what I did do was swing open my door and run to Chris’s room.
He was just sitting there, holding his new “iPod Touch,” and playing Tap-Tap, like there was nothing else to do before school.