Tariq is a 16-year-old African-American male from Underhill. He’s shot twice in the beginning of the novel by a white man and dies from his wounds. The entire narrative is comprised of people trying to determine what happened to Tariq, why he was shot, whether he was in the 8-5 Kings gang, and, most importantly, whether or not he was a good person. Tariq is survived by his younger sister, Tina, his mother, Vernesha, and his grandmother, Redeema, as well as his father, who is hardly in their lives. He’s also survived by friends like Tyrell, and others, like members of the 8-5 Kings. All of these people have a different idea of who Tariq was.

Tyrell was Tariq’s best friend. The two made a pact when younger (a pact that included Sammy and Junior) to never join a gang. Tyrell used to always be protected by Tariq, which meant that he never had to worry about the peer pressure of joining a gang. Now that Tariq is dead, Tyrell is faced with the daunting task of being bullied by the 8-5 Kings to join. He’s a numbers person and loves math, and he hopes to leave Underhill to go to college, but he wonders if he will become yet another statistic and join the Kings.