THANKSGIVING DAY WAS Zuma's favorite holiday because of the turkey, hanging with his friends and family. He especially adores the turkey. Zuma was setting the table as Scuba was helping their parents with the food.

"Zuma! Remember you're giving thanks." His mom said as Zuma rolled his eyes.

He didn't mind giving thanks. It was just that his mom kept on telling him every 5 minutes as if he was going to forget.

Scuba brought out some of the food. "Turkey's still not done."

"Okay." Zuma said, looking at his watch. "Shit! I have to work."

"You're working on Thanksgiving?" Scuba asked unbelievably.

"Yep. I'll try not to be long." Zuma said as he grabbed his coat.

"See you later man." He said as he and Scuba did their handshake.

Zuma said bye to his parents as he left the house.

Zuma arrived at his job. He hated his job but he knew that he needed it. He parked outside where the employees park and entered the restaurant.

He put on his uniform and went to his first table. "Hi. How may I help you?"

"Yes can I get the walking salad please." A white man asked. The man looked at Zuma and gave him a glare.

Zuma frowned his brows but he wrote down his order. "Anything else?"

"I want some lemonade."

"Oh sorry sir, we're out of lemonade. We have Pepsi, Cherry Coke, and water."

The man groaned and rolled his eyes. "Since when were you guys out of lemonade?"

"Since Tuesday sir." Zuma was trying not to loose his temper with him. So he sighed and went to get his food.

A little while later he came with his walking salad. He put the salad. The man still looked unimpressed.

"I want my lemonade." He demanded in a low voice as Zuma rolled his eyes.

"And I already told you sir that we don't have any more lemonade." Zuma replied, trying to keep his calm but it's obviously not working.

"I want to speak to your manager." The man said, growing anger in his voice.

"Oh you're a Karen now?" Zuma sassed as the man forcefully dropped his menu.

"What was that you little negro?" The man said as Zuma reached his boiling point.

Without the unthinkable, Zuma grabbed a fork and stabbed the man in the hand with it. The man screamed so loudly that the other costumers and workers were staring.

"Zuma!" The manager exclaimed. All Zuma could see at the moment was the blood gushing out from the man's hand.

"That's it boy! I've had it with you! You're fired!" The manager said as Zuma scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Good. I never wanted work at this shit hole anyway." Zuma said, taking off his apron.

"And if you got your order from Archie Alexander, he puts his cock in the food and cums inside." Zuma said, walking away. He could hear people behind him gagging and complaining.

By the time he got outside, it got worse. His car was being towed.

"Yo! What the fuck?!" Zuma exclaimed as the tow truck guy waved him off.

"You didn't pay your car taxes." The guy said as Zuma rubbed his eyes.

"I was but I—"

"It looks like you just got fired." The guy said as Zuma rolled his eyes and looked at the car.

"Whenever you get the $500, you can get the car back." The guy said as he entered his tow truck.

Zuma growled very loudly and punched the air.

Thanksgiving couldn't get any worse.

Since he didn't have a car, he had to walk home. He had his hood on so no one could see his face. This day has been a bust. He might get charged with assault, he got fired, and he lost his car. What a day.

He hears beeping from behind him but he didn't want to turn around.

"What's up Zuma!" A familiar voice shouted. That made Zuma turn around. It was one of his best friends Gabby.

"You need a lift?" She asked as Zuma hesitated. But he shook his head. He entered the car and inside the car was his brother, his girlfriend, and his other friends Jessica and Evan. Oh and Jess's boyfriend Bobby.

Zuma and Gabby were close. Zuma thought she was a mean girl but she turned out a total sweetheart. Gabby is like a little sister to Zuma and Zuma was like an older brother to Gabby.

Zuma and Evan had a...history. Before Zuma and Yulia dated, Zuma had a summer affair with Evan. This was before Evan and Gabby dated. This happened for about 3 to 4 months but it got called off.

Zuma and Jessica have known each other since they were little kids. Jessica was Zuma's first girlfriend and first kiss in first grade.

Zuma didn't like Bobby. Bobby had always felt like he was better than Zuma just because he was a very good baseball player.

When Zuma entered the car, he gave Yulia a kiss on the cheek. She could tell something was bothering him.

"You okay babe?" She asked, rubbing his arms.

"Yeah I'm fine." He replied but the way he said it proves he wasn't fine.

"Where's the car?" Scuba asked as he didn't look up from his phone.

"It got towed." Zuma replied flatly, receiving looks from his friends from the car.

"What?" Zuma asked.

"What do you mean, it got towed?" Bobby asked as Zuma silently groaned.

"What I meant is. It got towed." He responded as Yulia squeezed his hand.

"What happened?" She asked as Zuma squeezed her hand back.

"I didn't pay my car taxes." He replied, putting his head on top of Yulia's.

"Your boss or manager didn't pay you?" Jess asked as Zuma chuckled to himself.

"No because I got fired." Zuma said as they all looked at him once more.

"I don't want to talk about it."

The rest of the car ride was silent up until they landed in traffic. They were gonna be late for the movies.

"This fucking traffic is ridiculous." Evan complained as Zuma smirked and rolled his eyes.

"Yo! Pit stop. I need a new phone, mine got fucking smashed in the fight." Evan said as Jess was already not like the idea.

"We're not going in the store, it's a zoo." Jess said as Yulia thought of the opposite.

"Yes we are cause Evan owes me new lipstick." She said, hitting his arm. "Thank you."

"Don't worry, I'll buy some more babe." Zuma comforted. "With Scuba's money since I'm broke."

"Hell nah man." Scuba said, shoving his brother's head to the side.

"I thought we were going to the movies?" Bobby said as Zuma rolled his eyes.

"We are."

"Exactly we are, how am I going to text her in the movie without a phone?" Evan asked, getting looks from his friends.

"Who are you texting?" Gabby asked as she smirked.

"Ohhh shit!"

Evan pulled out of the long line and pulled in and parked into RightMart.

Zuma thought it was a good idea and a bad idea. He thought it was a good idea because he could buy Yulia a gift for their anniversary coming up. And it's a bad thing since Jess was right. It's a zoo.

"Okay guys we need to do this quick, 5 minutes. In and out." Jess said.

"Okay mom." Zuma teased as he intertwined with Yulia's hand.

"Stealth mission I promise." Evan said.

"You can't park your car here." Jess tells Evan.

"It's not a car, it's an SUV." Evan responded as Gabby got on his back.

Evan and Gabby were ahead while Scuba was right behind them. Zuma and Yulia were playing around behind the three.

Zuma kept on tickling Yulia on her side. Yulia would jokingly smack his hand away.

The friend group arrived at the back entrance where everyone wasn't allowed.

"Hey!" A voice from the crowd yelled out to the group. "We have some unfinished business."

"Suck my cock!" Scuba, Evan, and Zuma all said in unison.

"Pussy!" Evan added as they were going back and forth with the douchebag.

"Where's your mom at?" Scuba said as the girls were trying to pull the boys back.

"Tell your mommy I said hi!" Zuma exclaimed as Yulia held him back.

"Let's just get what you need okay?" Jess said, over the situation.

"In and out, I promise." Evan said as the group entered the employees' entrance.

When no one was looking and paying attention, Zuma tapped Gabby on the shoulder and whispered in her ear.

"Can you keep Yulia busy while I get her a gift?" He whispered as Gabby gave him a thumbs up.

"Evan!" Jess said. Evan must've been complaining about Lonnie.

Evan and Scuba were throwing a football around, while Zuma slowly walked away from the others.

He went to where the jewelry was. Since there was no workers around and it's Black Friday, Zuma just took a golden necklace.

He knew Yulia was going to love it. He put it in his pocket as he hears a whole bunch of yelling. He went back to the main entrance and saw that crowd was almost about to break down the door.

"Oh shit." Zuma cursed as the doors broke. Everyone from outside rushed in.

It all happened so fast. Zuma didn't know what the fuck was going on.

When he hears Yulia scream and on the ground. Zuma rushed over, pushing people out of the way, and got on top of her.

"Scuba!" He yelled out as Scuba came in running.

"Get Yulia out of here!" Zuma exclaimed as he went to go find the others.

Out of nowhere, a gunshot echoed through the store. It was Sheriff Newlon.

Some idiot decides to try to take the gun away from Newlon. The gun went off again but instead of hitting the air, it hit Zuma.

Zuma flew back as he groaned very loudly. He held the spot where he was shot at.

"Zuma!" Evan yelled out as Zuma groaned again. Evan's eyes went wide as he covered his mouth.

"Shit!" Evan cursed as he helped Zuma up. Zuma groaned even louder as he started limping with Evan.

Evan and Zuma made it outside. They see the others by Evan's car.

"Guys!" Evan exclaimed, getting everyone's attention.

Yulia screamed and Scuba rushed over to his little brother.

"What the fuck happened?!" Scuba said, helping Zuma walk.

"Get in the car! We have to go to the hospital!" Evan said as they all got in the car. Scuba helped Zuma in the car.

Zuma groaned as Yulia grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "Z!" She exclaimed as his eyes were shut tight. It hurt so much.

"Put pressure on it." Gabby said as both Scuba and Yulia put pressure on the wound.

Evan was driving so fast that it made it seem like he was running away from the cops.

Zuma could see the tears in Yulia's eyes. He put his free hand and puts it on her cheek. He rubbed away her tear as she held his hand.

He didn't hear anything else as it went black.

The sounds of beeping slowly woke Zuma up. His vision was blurry but it was coming back. Zuma looked around at his surroundings and noticed he was in the hospital.

His least favorite place.

Nobody was in his room up until a doctor came in. "Why hello there Zuma."

"What happened?" Zuma asked. His voice cracked.

"You were shot dear. Your friends rushed here as soon as possible." The doctor said as Zuma sat up.

"You have some lucky people in your life." She said as the door opened again. It the gang.

"Yulia." Zuma said, very tiredly. She went over to him and placed a big kiss on his forehead.

"How are you feeling baby bro?" Scuba asked as he went on the other side of him.

"I don't know." Zuma replied flatly.

"Who did this? I'll fucking kill them." Scuba said as Evan shook his head in agreement.

"And I'll help with the body." Evan said, receiving a smack on the arm from Gabby.

"It was Sheriff Eric Newlon but I'm pretty sure he did it by accident." Zuma said as he laid his head on Yulia's neck.

"I'm gonna fucking kill him." Scuba said, balling his fist up.

"Please don't." Zuma said as he began getting even more tired.

"Here Yuls." Zuma said as he reached over and grabbed the necklace.

Yulia started crying all over again once the necklace was in her hands.

"It was supposed to be for our anniversary but since I almost died." Zuma said, half-jokingly.

Yulia laughed and placed another kiss on his forehead.

Maybe next year will be different.

End Of Chapter