Nobody had told Wade that Janelle ran the largest female gang in the surrounding Lakefront area. Her gang, like most female gangs, was associated with an extremely violent male “brother” gang in the same area. Janelle had been arrested for stabbing another girl and two boys in the year before coming to the school. She was on bail awaiting trial in both cases. Janelle had inflicted damage on a captured boy from another gang when he did not obey her command. When a male gang captured a member from another gang in a fight, the captured gang member was generally held for ransom. Captured members would be exchanged for weapons or car parts or for another gang member who may have been captured by the opposing gang. The value of ransom depended on who the gang prisoner was and what ranking the captured member held in the gang. Lower level gang members did not command much ransom. A prisoner who was of little value to the gang was sometimes given over to the sister gang to do with as they pleased.
Some said Janelle was eighteen years old, but others said she was nineteen or older in that school year. She was definitely older than Wade by several years — and much older in street smarts. Prior to her probation, Janelle had been in trouble with juvenile authorities on several occasions. The police department was now giving her a last chance to get herself straight, and Westbrook Alternative was part of that last chance. She had served much of her childhood in foster homes and detention facilities and had been in trouble from a very young age.
Janelle was attracted to Wade and much about her fair complexion and long, light brown hair attracted him to her. One day near the corner of the playing field, the boys were taking a break after a game of touch football. Janelle and other girls were over at the nearby basketball court just finishing a basketball game. Janelle waved for Wade to come, and began walking toward a tree near a fence at the far end of the large school yard.
Wade jogged towards her without bothering to put his shirt on. As he approached, Janelle disappeared under the overhanging branches of the large tree. As soon as Wade got close, she took a few steps, putting Wade between her and the large tree trunk. Wade offered no resistance.
She faced him and moved close. “I’ve been looking at you around the school. I like you with your shirt off.”
As Wade moved into her approach, she pulled his head toward her firmly by the back of his neck, at the same time using her body to push him against the tree.
The kiss was forceful, her tongue plunging deep. Her thigh pressed firmly between Wade’s legs.
Janelle’s breath caught. “I want you.”
Any cautionary thoughts Wade might have had were wiped out by the penetrating kiss. “I want you, too,” he heard himself say.
“I’ll find a place where we can be alone soon.”
“That would be great” were the words that came out of Wade’s mouth.
Janelle abruptly turned and walked off toward the other girls, stopping only once to turn back, smile, and wave.
Still stunned, Wade joined the other guys with a smile on his face.
“I saw you with Janelle,” an older boy said.
“Yeah,” Wade replied, still smiling.
“I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Wade looked at the other boy, “What do you mean?”
“She can be one mean chick. She runs the Red Aces gang. She’ll turn on you in a heartbeat.”
“You’re kidding,” was all Wade said.
No more words were exchanged as the boys returned to the locker room.
Wade didn’t have any classes with Janelle and only saw her on the playing field, except for sometimes before and after class from a distance. She was always with the same few girlfriends. A few days after the kiss under the tree, during a break in math class, a nice girl sitting next to Wade said, “Janelle says you are her new guy”.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“She says you are hers. I guess you’ll find out.”
Wade felt worry creep into him. He was concerned about what had happened and about the strange new relationship he seemed to have gotten himself into. He was pleased with the way things were going at his new school. He didn’t want to blow everything.
Wade had a counseling session coming up in two days with Mr. Pete, and he wondered if he should mention the incident. By this time Wade felt comfortable in his counseling sessions. Sometimes the sessions got tough, especially when Wade was asked to explore feelings about his parents and early life at home. Nothing had ever come up in his sessions like the incident with Janelle. Toward the end of each session Mr. Pete would always ask, “Is there anything you want to talk about?”
In this session Wade said, “Yes” and nervously told Mr. Pete about what had happened.
Mr. Pete asked Wade several questions. “When she told you that she wanted you, what exactly did you say?
“I said I wanted her as well.” Wade told Mr. Pete that he hadn’t known anything about Janelle until afterwards, when he was told about her reputation.
“What were you told about her?”
Wade repeated what the older student had said on the practice field. Mr. Pete thought quietly for a moment before saying, “I think you may have a real problem here. Janelle is a gang leader. She’s had a very violent past. Her reputation is everything you’ve heard and a lot more. When you said you wanted her, she may have taken that as a commitment from you.”
Mr. Pete paused for a moment before continuing. “She has a strong need to control those around her in order to remain head of her gang. She can not only be violent in her own right, but she has the affiliation with her brother gang members, who can be extremely violent. If she told other students that you were hers, she’s probably also told that to her other gang members as well. For her to not succeed in winning you as her new toy would now be an affront to her authority. If she feels you have rejected her, all she has to do is ask her brother gang to enforce her retribution.”
“If you go forward with the meeting you agreed to, and for some reason you can’t or don’t perform to her satisfaction, she may turn on you. In fact, you may find that your private meeting is not so private after all. She might well decide to bring other members of her gang and have them watch or participate in your activities. You would be at their mercy, which means it may not end well for you. If you try to break off this thing with her at this point, she’s likely to see that as a rejection and loss of face.”
Wade felt fear in the pit of his stomach. He was angry with himself as well for being such a fool that he hadn’t thought any of this through. “What do I do now?”
Mr. Pete thought for almost a full minute, looking the whole time at Wade, before replying, “Over the weekend I want you to think about your situation. Look at each scenario. Think through what happens if you take a certain course of action. What is she likely to do? Think also about what could happen if you don’t take that action. I am not at this point concerned about whether you feel being with her is moral or not. I just want you to think through all of the possible moves you can make and all their possible consequences.” He continued, “Our next meeting is next Tuesday, and in that session I want you to tell me what options you have seriously considered and why. We can devote the entire session to this. In the meantime, I don’t want you going to any of the places Janelle goes or to places where you could end up in a chance meeting with her. You know what times she’s on the field, you know where she hangs out on breaks, and you know where she goes after school. Don’t, under any circumstance, find yourself in any of those places when she is there. Change your normal habits. Have no communication with her or her close girl friends. In fact, the less said to anyone the better. Do you understand?”