#Tuestimony
I walked away from getting jumped by 10+ people with unbelievably minimal injury.
I was 14 years old at a very poppin teen dance party. *For my RVA folk, it was at the Cavalier Skateland on Williamsburg Road.* Normally, I'd go with a couple homies... but on this day, it was just me and 13 year-old Sister.
Back then, I was all about dancing with girls. Ive never been shy or afraid to approach a girl. So... while walking thru the dance floor, I spotted a hot lil tamale just dancing by herself, while her friend was in front of her dancing with a boy. Other dudes were in the area, but they were staying back. To me... that meant one of two things: 1) Dudes tried to dance with her and she rejected them. 2) Dudes were intimidated by her foxiness and were scared to approach. This was my golden opportunity, cuz I liked being the first guy to dance with the fly chick just to show cats that "Im that dude". **SIDEBAR: I am telling this story from the perspective of 14y/o Me. So, as I use these flattering compliments about the girl, it is not 34y/o Me recounting the beauty of a 14y/o lil girl.** Anyhoo, I made the decision in my mind to walk thru the bystanders and turn them into witnesses of my immaculate and never-failing charm, cuz she was NOT gonna tell me "NO" when I asked her to dance! So... I made my way thru most people and I got about 15 feet away, but there were two final dudes I had to go thru. I didnt think anything of the two dudes... but apparently, they were looking for trouble!
These two dudes were facing each other, doing a thug type of bop/dance toward each other. How can I explain it?... It wasnt gay-like. There was plenty of space between them. But they were facing each other and swaying their arms and making gunshot hand gestures and what not toward each other in-sync with the music. Like... "Knuck-If-You-Buck" type of thing... Know what I mean? Okay... so... the lil hottie was immediately behind the space where the dudes were boppin/dancing. All I had to do was walk between the guys and the girl was right there. So, that's what I did. However, as I was walking between the fellas, I mistakenly stepped on one of their shoes without realizing it. I asked the girl to dance and she said YES (of course) and we started to dance. Only seconds into dancing, someone punched me in the back of my head. At that point, I had no idea what was going on or about to happen. But I was not about to get punched while dancing with this cutie pie and not do anything. And that's when it all went down!!......
I turned around and there were 4 dudes standing side-by-side, which included the 2 dudes I walked between. They all seemed to be doing that fighting gesture of one open-hand slapping the closed-fist hand.
I asked in a very concerned curious tone, "What is going on?"
One dude replied, "You stepped on my shoe and you aint apologize."
**SIDEBAR: I had been in a ton of brawls at this point, so scrappin wasnt anything new for me. So my pride kicked in and instead of apologizing then and trying to diffuse the situation.... my mind said that I can't let nobody hit me and get away.**
So, without apologizing, I said "Ok... which one of yall hit me?"
And while the one dude was saying "I did!", I swung and punched him in the face. Im talkin... I didnt let him finish saying the whole "I did." He got to about "I d--" and then 'Bladdaw!' my fist connected with his nose. Keep in mind, I was looking at 4 dudes in front me. I was well aware of that and I had a plan for them. When I made the decision to swing on the dude that hit me, I had already told myself that I might not win the fight if they jump in, but Ima hurt a couple of them. BUT... before I could even throw my second punch, I was hit in the back of the head again!
In that split-second, I knew it was over. Cuz 4 dudes were already in front of me and I still got hit by another person who was behind me. I turned around and swung on that dude and then I started feeling blows from everywhere. I tried my best to do some super combination of protecting my face and still swinging against all these people. In the brief moments when I was able to actually look around, I noticed my lil Sister watching me in the middle of this gang-beating... holding her face and pouring-out crying, scared, and not knowing what to do. All that was on my mind was hope that she didnt come over to try to help, cuz they would have hit her too. After I threw few good punches and a couple elbows... I realized there just too many to handle... so I stopped fighting back and just covered my face. I slipped on some juice and fell to the ground, and then I curled into a fetal position, still keeping my face tucked. I felt the pressures of punches and kicks but I think my adrenaline was so high, I didnt actually feel any pain. After a while, I felt someone pushing on me and telling me to get up. I looked... and it was a security guard! I was so relieved! I stood to my feet and saw the group who banked me exiting the side door. I said "Thank You" to the guard, thinking I was gonna go to the bathroom and check myself out/clean myself up and carry on at the party. But nope!... this BOZO security guard told me to leave, along with the guys who jumped me!!
I reminded the guard that he got me up off the floor bcuz all those guys were beating on me. The guard said that I was fighting too, and the venue had a NO TOLERANCE policy for fighting, so everybody involved needed to go outside. I was like... "Bruh, I was fighting in self-defense... I cant go outside where there are no security guards with the dudes who were still in the process of beating me when you intervened!" Again, he commanded me to exit through the side door, right behind the dudes. But I was able to convince him to allow me to call my Dad to come get me. The phones were on the other side of the venue, in the front office, so after making the call, I just stood by the entrance door... as it was no way those guys were coming back in.
I didnt even know how many guys there were until my Sister came to me while I waited for Dad. We stood outside next to the police car that was parked in front of the venue. **SIDEBAR: I have no idea where the police officer actually was. He/She wasnt in the car, and he/she certainly wasnt there to stop the fight. It must have been a just-for-show cop car.** Sis told me there were somewhere between 10 and 15 guys on me. That number was confirmed by a bunch of others who came outside to check on me and express their sympathies. *POSITIVE NOTE: I got soooo many squeeze-hugs from girls that witnessed the brawl... they made me so happy! Haha** My Sis was still crying... some of her friends who were there were crying. I was still mad at why the fight started, I was mad at the guard for trying to kick me with the dudes, I was mad I got beat in front of the flyest girl who was there and I didnt get to see her afterward.
When Dad got there and I checked myself out...
1) My lip was bleeding
2) I had a tiny knot behind my ear on my neck
3) Three scratches on the front/side of my neck
4. A small cut on my forehead
NO OTHER INJURIES! No concussions, no damage to any bones (back, rib cage, arm, leg, etc), no black eyes, no busted nose, no head trauma, no internal bleeding, no bruises. I put some ice on the small knot and used some Neosporin and a couple band-aids for the minor cuts. But I walked away in 'I-can-play-basketball-right-now' shape. One would think that the damage would have been more extensive... but I believe God had a different plan!