The kiddie crew is sitting on a stoop someplace, talking about going back to school; Namond, for one, is excited to return and see which of the girls got either "fat" or "phat" (as the captions have it) over the summer. (Based on the girls we see later and the guys' excited reaction, I tend to think it's the former.) Randy says he recently saw Kwaneese Davis, who developed big titties at some point, and Namond announces that he's going to get all up in her this year, miming what he thinks he's going to do in case the other guys aren't quite sure. Michael taunts that he tried to do that the previous year, so Namond teases him about trying to get with some girl named Tina, who is reportedly a big sucker of dicks. Michael agrees that Tina sucks dicks almost as well as Namond does, and then gets up and starts play-jabbing at Namond, who flinches away. Michael eventually grabs him around the upper arms, at which Namond starts whining at Michael not to rip his jersey; once Michael's let him go, laughing, Namond claims that if he wasn't in his new clothes, he would have fucked Michael up, but I think we all know by now that Namond's almost the little bitch Carcetti is. Presently, Monk rolls up and starts handing money out to all the kids for school clothes or whatever else they might need. Namond takes his and marvels that it's $200 (holy shit!); Monk tells everyone they have Marlo to thank for it, and we cut across the street, where Marlo and Partlow are once again watching the results of Marlo's largesse. Namond is not too loyal to Bodie to take his share (heh), but Michael refuses to take any and starts walking off. Randy offers to "hold" Michael's (double heh), but Monk ignores him and goes back to the car. Before Michael can get very far, he's intercepted by Marlo, who demands, "Too good for my money?" Michael -- trained, no doubt, by years on the corner -- quickly looks down at the sidewalk as Marlo goes on: "Or is you such a bitch-ass punk you worried about where my money come from?" At this, Michael forgets his well-honed survival techniques and gives Marlo a direct and challenging glare. Marlo, at first, looks stunned at this effrontery; then he blinks, nods slightly, and smiles: "Yeah." He turns back to look at Partlow, like, "Do you see what's going on here?" Partlow is possibly too far away to get it, and just gives him a squinting chin nod of confusion, and Marlo turns back to Michael: "Ain't no thing, shorty. We cool." Michael looks back down the block at his friends -- all of whom are watching in guarded terror for the moment Michael gets shot in the head in broad daylight for his insolence -- and trudges on. Marlo goes back to his car. When we cut back to Namond, it looks like he's exhaled for the first time in a couple of minutes. Nice work from Jamie Hector -- particularly when you know what happens with Michael later in the season.