The Stars Beneath Our Feet

On a Saturday morning, Lolly and Vega walk back from the rec center after playing basketball. Vega asks Lolly about how it’s going with Rose. Ever since the contest, they both have still been building in the storage room, but the atmosphere isn’t as tense anymore. Rose has even been muttering to him every once in a while.

At a bodega on the corner, two guys are selling drugs and listening to Tupac. Jermaine used to say that “listening to Tupac was like listening in on the mind of every young Black man in the ghetto” (131). As Vega and Lolly pass, they discuss whether they’d ever join a gang. Vega doesn’t even like guns. Lolly likes doing things his own way, but if he were in a crew, he’d have to do what they say.

Lolly has figured out what Rose is building: a Lego version of the St. Nick Houses. He is impressed that she has captured every little detail and no longer minds having her there. He feels like they are making something together. Vega laughs that Lolly is in love “with an ugly girl” (133). Embarrassed, Lolly calls Rose “Frankenstein” and “a monster” (133).