Mike Mathews was a socially awkward, thirteen-year-old African American. He didn’t have a father, lived alone with his mother in a small apartment in a crowded neighborhood flat. His mother worked two jobs just to afford their living. Without a father figure to look up to, Mike was a very quiet and had a low self-esteem. He had trouble communicating with people and fitting in a crowd. But that all changed one night.
It all started in seventh grade, when Mike was invited to a party thrown by his class fellows. He was never the social type and thought it would be a good opportunity to make some new friends. In the party he noticed that most of the ‘cool’ crowd was in a corner. When he approached them it turned out they were doing drugs. Mike got offered a joint and because of the atmosphere he was in he got peer pressured into smoking it. It was a feeling like never before, he wanted more. So he started hanging out with those kids and selling drugs on the street. He became a hustler, his mind got corrupted and now he was fascinated with material objects. …show more content…
Sometimes it takes more than money to get respected. Mike understood that he must prove himself and do something big without fearing the consequences in order to get more noticed by his friends and foes and get more respect. He stood out and made himself known around the area by selling drugs and robbing people. But unfortunately he got caught once and had to blow the whistle on his partner. Going to the police, or somebody of authority, to turn in somebody over something minor is highly considered as one of the worst things a person can do in the hood, especially with people who have had charges pressed against them before (i.e. criminals). Because he was a whistleblower, he no longer had any respect from the thugs he looked up to, so he felt he had to prove to everyone he was