Free Nasty Girls by Erick S. Gray

you?” Jade asked, breaking away from him and observing his scruffy condition.
    â€œShit went bad last night,” James said.
    â€œBad? I heard someone got stabbed,” I said.
    â€œWhat happened to Roscoe?” Shy asked.
    James looked at Shy and said, “He got arrested.”
    â€œWhat?”
Shy, Jade, and myself exclaimed.
    â€œArrested. Fo’ what?” Shy asked, looking frantic.
    â€œHe down at Central Booking right now,” James told her. “They chargin’ him with murder and shit.”
    â€œMurder!” Shy shouted, looking baffled. “What the fuck happened?”
    I saw the tears building in Shy’s eyes. I thought she was bad last night; she damn near lost it right then.
    â€œJames, what happened? What did he do?” Shy asked, staring at James.
    â€œSome cats wild out on us, and we did what we had to do.”
    I looked at this muthafucka and shook my head. Okay, Roscoe’s locked up, and he’s free to come home. That shit didn’t sit right with me.
    â€œSo, why didn’t they lock you up too, if y’all were together?” I asked.
    â€œIt’s a long story, Camille. I need a fuckin’ shower right now,” he said offhandedly.
    Shy was full of tears. Jade and I tried to console her while James went into the bathroom to take a shower.
    â€œWhy?” Shy sobbed. “What the fuck did he do? Why he couldn’t stay his ass home?”
    â€œWe gonna find out what happened, Shy. Believe me,” I assured her.
    I knew James wasn’t telling us the full story, and he was acting funny and shit. Shy’s man was locked up, and he ain’t stressing it like that. James can be a shysty individual. I never trusted him.
    Â 
    T hursday morning came, and I found myself down at the Queens criminal courthouse on Queens Boulevard with Shy and Jade. We got word of Roscoe’s arraignment date, and I drove up there in my Beamer.
    The line outside the courthouse was ridiculous. Everybody was waiting to go through the metal detectors and be searched. I hated this shit. The last time I came up here for a nigga waswhen I was seventeen, and Michael, my boyfriend at that time, got his dumb ass locked up for crack possession. He got city time and did a year in jail.
    In front of us stood a young mother with three kids, one infant in a stroller, and she tried controlling the other young’uns. She had to be no older than nineteen, and was probably going to her baby’s father court date. She was young, but you could tell that time and life has not been good to her. She looked worn out, with her long hair in a shabby ponytail, and her clothing looked like hand-me-downs from the Salvation Army.
    Even though the line was long, it moved kinda fast. The courthouse had plenty of court officers doing their jobs up front. And they moved the line along at a good pace.
    I got up to the metal detector, and one of the male court officers smiled and tried to kick it to me while he ran the wand across my body. He was a tall black and kinda cute. But fucking with niggas that work for the law ain’t my style. I smiled and moved along.
    We got to the courtroom, where they were supposed to bring Roscoe out. All three of us took a seat in the third row from the front and waited. Shy was quiet the whole time. Jade peered off into space, and I wished I was somewhere else. But I had to be there for my girl, Shy. I knew what it felt like to have your man locked up, and there ain’t shit you can do about it. All she could do was wait and pray.
    One thing I’ve learned about these arraignments is that they can be a very stressful time for friends and family. People don’t tell you shit, and you can be waiting for hours until your people’s docket number is called by the bridge or court officer.
    The courtroom was semicrowded. I glanced at the time, andit was 9:55. There was minor chitchat in the room, which caught the attention of the