Chapter 11: Fast Money, Fast Lessons

The streets started catching up with me. As the days went by, so did time. It felt like every time I thought life was slowing down, another opportunity—or another lesson—was waiting around the corner.

Me and my best friend eventually linked back up after all the chaos. My auntie lived on the corner of 73rd and International, so I stayed with her for a while. Being there gave me a chance to breathe. Shit things finally started calming down, and for a second I thought maybe life was about to change. In a way it did but not like I thought.

But when you’ve lived with a hustler’s mentality, majority of your up bringing there really is no such thing as sitting still.

An opportunity came up for us to go to Reno, and it felt like it was made for me. I had already danced before in San Francisco, so stepping back into that world didn’t scare me. My auntie’s best friend was already dancing, so having someone I trusted made everything feel easier.

Before we even started working, My aunt and her friends took us whitewater rafting. I remember thinking maybe this was what normal people did for fun. I almost lost my life in that water, LOL and even though the fun only lasted a few seconds, it reminded me how fast life could change. One minute you’re laughing, the next minute you’re fighting to breathe.

Looking back, maybe life was trying to warn me.

After the fun was over, my mind went right back to what it always knew.

Money.

Me and my best friend started dancing in the club, and the money started coming fast. We made over a five thousand dollars. Yeah… we clipped a few customers too. Back then it wasn’t something we thought twice about. We were young, chasing money, and trying to stay ahead.

When you’ve spent so much of your life surviving, fast money starts feeling normal.

For the first time in a long time, I felt like I was winning.

Until I realized everybody wasn’t happy to see me win.

I posted one picture, feeling good about myself, proud that I was making money instead of struggling.

That’s when one of my cousin’s moms commented under my picture and said,

“Is that Aqua Wet booger in your nose?”

I laughed and shot right back,

“If it is, I’m getting money. Who cares?”

Looking back now, I probably shouldn’t have said anything, but I was young and didn’t care. Before I knew it, words turned into a fight. Everybody already knew she was one of the biggest haters in the family, but I still respected her because of my cousins. That day taught me another lesson.

Sometimes strangers will support your dreams before your own family ever does.

I refused to let it steal my happiness.

I was getting money, feeling confident, and thought life was finally starting to go my way.

That same night, I left my auntie’s house.

Around that time I had a boyfriend who was staying in a trap house. I found myself going back and forth between the hotel rooms where I was staying after work and the trap house just to spend time with him. Looking back, it amazes me how normal that life had become. We didn’t think twice about the environment we were living in because it was all we knew.

Every day was about surviving.

Every night was about making money.

While working Derby and International, I met a client named Albert.

I can still picture that day like it was yesterday.

I had on these ugly pink scrunch shorts that I couldn’t stand. Albert was an older Hispanic man with tattoos all over his body. He drove an old van, wore a white wife beater, and before I even got inside I could smell the alcohol. He was drinking a small bottle of Remy Martin.

I was nervous as hell.

But nervous never stopped me from getting in a car.

Money had a way of making fear feel smaller than it really was.

Albert drove me back to his apartment on 82nd and MacArthur. He didn’t live in a fancy neighborhood. It was the hood. Niggas stood on the corners, others posted up outside the liquor stores, everybody watching everybody. It was one of those neighborhoods where you could feel people looking at you before you even got out of the car. When we got inside, he looked at me with this serious expression that never changed.

Then he told me he had just served 34 years in prison for murder.

Thirty-four years.

I didn’t know what to say.

My heart started racing, but I stayed calm on the outside. Inside, my mind was doing what it had been trained to do ever since I was a little girl.

Watch.

Listen.

Pay attention.

Find the exits.

Trust nobody.

I kept wondering what his real motives were.

Then something happened that completely caught me off guard.

Albert handed me $3,000.

He didn’t ask for sex.

He didn’t want me to touch him.

He didn’t flirt.

He just wanted to sit there and talk.

That made me even more uncomfortable.

In my experience, nobody gives away that kind of money for nothing.

The whole time we talked, something deep inside me kept telling me something wasn’t right. It wasn’t anything he said.

It was the feeling.

Your intuition will whisper before danger ever introduces itself.

I finally made up a reason why I needed to leave.

That’s when Albert looked at me and offered me even more money just to stay.

For a split second, I looked at the money.

Three thousand dollars was already more money than most people around me would see in weeks.

But another lesson the streets had already taught me was this…

All money isn’t good money.

Some money costs more than it’s worth.

I turned him down.

It was around three o’clock in the morning when Albert dropped me back off.

As I walked away, I could feel him watching me.

I never looked back.

Something in my spirit kept telling me our paths would cross again.

In the streets, fast money always comes with fast lessons.

The only question is…

How much are those lessons going to cost you?