Concrete Rose: Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

Lisa refuses to speak to Maverick and blocks his number. After two weeks, Maverick finds himself listening to sad R&B music. Lisa was his best friend, and he can’t bear the thought of living without her. Ma tells Maverick he has to deal with the consequences. Everything is difficult, since Iesha still hasn’t come to get Li’l Man yet; Maverick is exhausted, and Li’l Man is expensive. Ma even asked for an extension on the electricity bill so they could buy a changing table, and she’s considering taking weekend shifts at her hotel job. Dre helps out by buying baby clothes and stopping by to watch Li’l Man so that Maverick can nap.

Maverick hopes the job with Mr. Wyatt will help his situation. Tomorrow is his first day of school and work; he’s not excited about work, but he hasn’t been this excited about school since he was little. He’ll get to be with his friends Rico and Junie, but not King—King got expelled last year. Maverick should be resting up, but instead, Li’l Man wakes up screaming in the middle of the night. Maverick can’t figure out what’s wrong, so he wakes Ma up for help. Ma thinks Li’l Man is teething, and she tells Maverick that there are teething rings in the freezer. She gives Maverick a death stare when he says he needs to sleep for school tomorrow.

Maverick fetches the teething ring and tries to give it to Li’l Man, but he won’t take it. He keeps screaming louder and louder. Maverick feels ready to snap. He sets Li’l Man in his crib and walks out the front door. On the porch steps, he sits with his head in his hands. He doesn’t want to be needed so much, and he feels like a failure. Eventually, Ma comes out and tells Maverick that she settled Li’l Man. She assures him parenting is hard for everyone and tells him to get some sleep.

Maverick drags himself out of bed hours later. Li’l Man is still asleep, so Maverick irons his clothes and eats breakfast. In the kitchen, Ma tells him to stay focused and to be on time for work. She asks if he packed enough for Mrs. Wyatt, who’s going to watch Li’l Man for the day, and tells Maverick to try to talk to Iesha at school. Maverick apologizes for last night, but Ma just says that now he knows how Iesha felt.

Ma says that Maverick and Iesha also need to discuss a new name for the baby. Maverick says he has an idea, but Ma will think it’s stupid. He tells her he wants to name the baby Seven, which is the number of perfection, and his middle name will be Maverick, so that he can be the best version of Maverick. Ma says it’s not stupid, but he still needs to talk to Iesha.

Li’l Man starts to cry, so Maverick goes to get him up. A horrific stench greets him, and he calls for Ma, but she insists Maverick can handle it. As soon as Maverick lifts Li’l Man, poop streams out of his diaper all over Maverick’s clothes. Quickly, Maverick cleans up his son and throws on wrinkled clothes off the floor. He tucks Li’l Man into his carrier and runs next door to Mrs. Wyatt. Mrs. Wyatt laughs, takes the carrier, and sends Maverick to school. She assures him that Li’l Man will be fine, but Maverick hopes his son doesn’t think he’s abandoning him like Iesha did.

As soon as Maverick is around the corner, he feels free. He stops in to say hi to Dre, who’s out washing his car. Dre objects to Maverick’s clothing choices, but Maverick explains that Li’l Man pooped on him. Dre howls with laughter, but then Maverick admits that he walked out on Li’l Man last night. He says he went back, and Dre says that’s what matters. Before Maverick leaves, Dre gives him his watch—it used to be their granddaddy’s. Dre tells Maverick to bring it back tomorrow and focus on his grades.

Garden High is actually Jefferson Davis High School, but nobody calls it that. Maverick looked up Jefferson Davis and believes that whoever named the school was trying to insult the mostly Black student body, since Jefferson Davis was the president of the Confederacy. Maverick enters the building and reminds himself that his goal is to graduate. He notices a Garden Disciple named Ant giving him dirty looks. As Ant passes, he tells Maverick to tell Dre to watch his back. Then, Junie and Rico appear out of nowhere. Since Ant is outnumbered, he says again that Dre needs to watch his back, and then he walks away.

Rico and Junie say that the GDs have been at it recently, and they mention that something happened last weekend. Since they’re at school, they can’t tell Maverick what they’re talking about, but they assure him that the “big homies” aren’t upset that Maverick is stuck at home. They ask how being a dad is, and Junie is shocked to hear that babies can poop on you. Rico studies Maverick’s outfit and says that his Jordans (Air Jordan sneakers) are fake—they have cracks. Rico and Junie howl with laughter, but Maverick is incensed. Now he has to go get his video games back from Red, the local hustler who sells stuff out of his trunk and who got him the Jordans.

The bell rings. It feels good to be back with friends, joking about having cranky old Mr. Phillips for History. Maverick follows Junie to Mr. Phillips’ class. There, he spots Iesha’s best friend, Lala, and asks her if Iesha is at school. Mr. Phillips tells Maverick to sit down. By midday, Maverick is exhausted; he naps in the library during his free period and then heads for Spanish. Before he gets there, though, King pages him that he’s outside. It used to be their tradition to skip some of the first day, and King must want to continue with it. Maverick saunters past the secretary and the security guard, but the guard starts to follow him. Maverick races to the parking lot and leaps into King’s car, and they race out just in time.