With Kayla's hand tucked securely in hers, Brielle made her way down the hallway of the elementary school so that she could get to the bottom of why Kayla came outside crying.

"Which way is your teacher's room?" Brielle asked as she maneuvered her way around the seemingly endless flood of young children.

Kayla pointed straight ahead, using her other hand to wipe at her face.

Not bothering to knock on the closed door, Brielle tried the handle, pulling it open to see Mrs. Parson at the desk organizing papers, "May I help you?"

"Yeah you can. I'm tryna figure out why my sister came outside crying?"

Mrs. Parson glanced at her student, seeing remnants of the tears that Brielle spoke of, "I'm not sure why she came out crying."

"You said you was gonna call my mama tonight." Kayla nearly whispered in a pitiful tone.

"Oh, I am." Mrs. Parson replied as she reached into her desk to pull out a sheet of construction paper, "Because I'm sure she'd like to know what Takayla drew during art time."

Kayla enjoyed drawing, and for a 7-year-old, was very good at it. This was probably the only instance Brielle ever wished that her sister wasn't an artist to be.

Upon first glance, the drawing wasn't bad at all. There was a person lying on a bed while another figure stood beside it, and money cascaded from the sky.

It wasn't until you paid closer attention to the details that the problem became apparent. Both people were clothless, and the money wasn't falling from the sky, but rather from the hands of the man that was standing over the woman on the bed. In Brielle's eyes, the most disturbing part was the additional woman who stood by a door, also holding money in her hand.

Brielle didn't know how much time she spent looking at the paper in her hand, but when she finally looked back to Mrs. Parson, the teacher's eyes held sympathy and sadness, "We've been working on these for days, but she only completed it today. I haven't shown it to anyone else"

The 'yet' in that sentence was silent.

Kids can be said to be the most observant beings, so it shouldn't have come as a surprise that Kayla was able to piece together what was going on, and then it draw it so accurately.

"I... I'll take care of it. You don't have to call my mama."

Mrs. Parson's demeanor shifted from caring adult to a teacher who wanted to ensure the safety of her student, "Showing you first was a courtesy, but it's my job to make sure this goes through the proper channels."

"I just said I'll take care of it. Kayla has a wild imagination, so this picture never even happened."

Kayla knew it wasn't the time to correct her sister, so she stood quietly and listened to Bri try to convince her teacher that it never happened.

• • •

"I started washing my own sheets now ma. Bri had showed me what 'Machine wash only' mean."

"You couldn't figure that out yourself, son?" Monica asked, "Common sense not so common huh?"

She'd come over to do Hakeem's laundry, and noticed that his sheets were missing from the dirty clothes yet again.

"I thought you'll be happy you ain't have to wash them."

"You washed two sheets. I still have to wash these." Monica replied as she gestured to the pile of clothes.

"I 'preciate you forever too."

Monica snorted, "Okay Hakeem."

She didn't mind washing his clothes, a simple task she fit into her weekday while also allowing her time with Hakeem. It wasn't as if his presence was largely felt in her home anymore with he and Grace still not being on speaking terms. It bothered her because Hakeem didn't seem to care if he spoke to his sister, yet he was reconciling with everyone else.

"When was the last time you called Grace?" Monica asked casually, trailing behind Hakeem up the stairs.

"She wanted to talk about some?"

"Does she need to have a reason to call her older brother?"

They'd made it to the stop of the stairs by then, and Hakeem turned to look at his mother, "Nah she don't but she really don't be tryna talk unless she want some."

Which was partially true. In the past Grace did only call Hakeem when she needed something, but that's because she saw him nearly every night when he came for dinner.

It was awkward between them now anyway since he knew she had herpes. He wasn't trying to be rude, but every time he looked at her, he thought about it, and then the fact that she wouldn't tell him who gave it to her made it worse.

Almost as if she were reading his mind, Monica placed a hand on Hakeem's arm, "She's still your sister."

"I know that ma. It's just a lot going on right now."

Her eyebrows dipped in confusion, "A lot like what?"

"Well it ain't really a lot, a lot. Just a lotta stuff going on in my head."

Instead of telling him she understood, Monica gave Hakeem a look, "Do you mean Brielle?"

It didn't take a genius to figure that out.

"No."

When he saw how Monica was still looking at him, he changed his answer, "Yeah."

She sighed, "You like Bri? Okay, great. But Grace is going through something you couldn't possibly imagine, and you don't even call to say hey."

"This the same Grace that sent them people to my house ain't it?"

"And instead of you figuring out why, you were more concerned with where Bri would be staying."

"What you mean? Why I'ma be concerned about somebody doing shit outta spite?"

"Curse again and you'll be picking your face up off the floor."

"You needa be telling Grace that. Ion understand how you over here yelling at me 'bout some she did. Ion treat her no any kinda way so what's the problem?"

Seeing that the conversation was going nowhere, Monica picked up her keys from the table, leaving the house without another word.

• • •

Josiah sat outside his home, staring at the glow from his phone while waiting for Kyra to get there.

This was the second night in a row that he'd beat her home, and there wasn't a need for a third time because she already had his attention.

He'd been home more in the week following he and Raelyn's loss, and it seemed like the more he was there, the scarcer Kyra was. Josiah neglected to be his usual unsuspecting self because he wanted to be comforted, and didn't have anyone to do it.

Headlights washed over his back window, and Josiah glanced at the clock to see the time:

12:31 A.M

He watched her slowly exit the vehicle, a smile on her face as her fingers flitted across the screen of her phone. Kyra was wholly unaware that she was being watched at the moment, and it was evident in the way she casually made her way towards the front door.

In all of their relationship Josiah had never felt the need to go through her phone. But now, he did.

When he opened the door, Kyra dropped the phone on the concrete, "Why you sitting out here like this?"

Josiah shrugged, "I been out here since 8. You ain't get my messages?"

"No." Kyra lied, "My phone been being stupid all day, what you said?"

"I asked what time you was coming home 'cause you know your last class at 2... It's 12 some right now."

Kyra grew defensive, the attitude Josiah was used to coming out, "You come home when you feel like it but I gotta check in?"

"I'm a grown ass man, and you're a pregnant woman,"

"You being a grown ass man didn't stop them boys from beating your ass last time."

Josiah and Kyra had a stare off, one Kyra usually won, but the difference was Josiah was usually in the wrong. When Kyra broke eye contact and looked everywhere but him, he caught it.

Wanting to remove herself from the situation, Kyra walked to the front door, using her key that rested on the same keychain that held Travis' house key as well.

They both remained quiet up until Josiah spoke when Kyra was about to walk into the bathroom, "The baby was a stillborn."

He didn't need to say a name or specify what baby because Kyra already knew, "When?"

This was the first time Josiah had spoken the words aloud, or even told anyone what had happened, so his voice broke on the last syllable, "Last week."

You'd think he would be used to loss after his history with Kyra, but the doctors appointment he attended with Raelyn gave him false hope that the first one of his children would come into the world.

Josiah planned on making up for how he treated Rae by being there the rest of her pregnancy and after the baby was born, but he wouldn't get that chance now.

"You said it wasn't yours, right? What's the problem?"

There was an unspoken understanding that Josiah was lying when he said that.

"We can focus on just our baby now." Kyra continued, "I wanna show you some colors for the nursery. What you think about purple?"

It shouldn't have come as a surprise that Kyra wouldn't be upset about Rae losing the baby, but for some reason Josiah thought she would care about him losing his daughter.

"Her and her mama doing a funeral tomorrow."

"And?"

"You wanted to go?"

He was simply being considerate of her feelings while also wanting her to be there for him.

Laughable, really.

"Do I wanna go.... to a funeral.... for you and the girl you cheated on me with baby?"

"If that's how you see it then yeah bruh. You always doing some extra shit, like damn. A nigga can't even talk to you about nothing without you tryna start an argument."

"What other way is there to see it Josiah?! You claim you hate the girl and the baby not yours, so what the fuck we going for?!"

"Don't worry 'bout it. You ain't gotta go."

Perhaps a more fitting response would've been for Kyra to agree to go, solely for the reason that she was carrying another man's child while the man she loved had just lost one.

Kyra went on with her earlier plans of taking a shower, setting her phone on the dresser as she went inside of the bathroom.

Unlike Josiah, Kyra wasn't careless, so if he did decide to go through her phone, he'd find nothing but messages between her and people she regularly talked to.

Except his mind wasn't on that anymore. He was more concerned with the fact that Raelyn finally responded to his message from earlier:

• • •

The car rolled to a stop in front of the house, birds making their presence known by filling the early morning sky with tweets.

There was no point in texting Bri to come outside because she was watching for his car from the window but Hakeem didn't know that, and she was more than happy to let him remain clueless.

After waiting a full 3 minutes from when she got the text, Brielle quietly crept to the door and outside where Hakeem sat parked in front of her house.

"Goodmorning." Brielle greeted cheerfully.

Hakeem's response was a grunt.

If it were anyone else, Hakeem would've told them no he wouldn't get up at 7 to take them somewhere, but it was Bri, and he was still working on making her like him again.

Since the day they had their talk, their friendship was tentatively being restored. Hakeem preferred to pretend the situation never happened, hating the feeling he got every time she brought it up.

Brielle wasn't that concerned with his feelings on the matter, and while she knew she would eventually have to stop bringing it up, that didn't mean she'd do it easily

"We should go get coffee." Bri suggested, "To wake us up."

"I'm already up."

"And in a bad mood. Let's get coffee."

Hakeem sighed, "Ain't your interview in like 30 minutes?"

That was the purpose of this trip, to take her to an interview for a position at a local childcare center. She wouldn't be doing much, just making sure the bad ass neighborhood kids didn't kill each other, but they agreed to work around her school schedule, and it was in her desired field of work.

"My interview is at 10 so we have a lotta time."

"10? What the hell you tell me to be here at 7 for then?"

She'd instructed him to be there early for multiple reasons. For one, she wanted to be around him without wanting him to know she wanted to be around him. And the second reason, which was more important than the first, was that she wanted to be gone before Alisha woke up and came demanding the money she'd asked for last week.

The plan was to stop by an ATM, somewhere far away from her house in the hopes that no one would see her, and get the money just so she would leave her alone.

A very brief thought of going back to Hakeem's house crossed her mind, but she decided against it almost instantly for a long list of reasons. At the top of that list: Her younger sister Kayla's wellbeing if she stayed in the home, as the drawing made it that much more real that Kayla's outlook on life was being tainted by the woman who birthed them.

Bri didn't feel like explaining that though, so she asked again, "Are you taking me to get my coffee or not?"

"You done hopped your lil bald head ass in here now so I guess Ian got a choice."

Brielle snapped her fingers, "Come on chauffeur. My Caucasian coffee is waiting."

"I'm tired of you already." Hakeem complained as he pulled away from the curb.

"You talk a lot for a taxi driver and I don't like that... No tip for you."

No matter how hard he tried, Hakeem couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face.

• • •

Aisha looked over the young man sitting at her kitchen counter, then looked at Raelyn, "I don't see why a girl put sugar in your tank over him."

Of all the times Josiah had come over, it was never while Rae's mom was home, their first time meeting each other being the other day in the hospital. He put a hand over his heart and shook his head, "Mama you barely know me and you throwing dirt on my name. Ion want no smoke I promise."

"It's more to know? You had two women pregnant at the same time, Raelyn was catching the bus because you ignored her about your daughter's appointments, you creep around my house like I don't know you're in here, and I'm more than sure you don't have a legitimate job. Did I miss something?"

Josiah thought about it, "Nah that's pretty much it mama."

Raelyn laughed and moved to hug her mom, "I like shooters ma."

"Aye hollup. We tryna help each other or hurt each other?" Josiah asked giving Raelyn a look, "Ion know what she talking 'bout Ms. Webster. I'm not into those typa festivities."

"Activities." Aisha corrected.

"I'm not real active but I'll go play basketball or some."

Aisha stared at him for a second before shaking her head and leaving.

"I was 'posed to say soccer? You threw me off when you was up there telling that lady I be shooting at people."

"She thought it was a joke. Shutup."

In the same way that Hakeem and Bri were working on their friendship, Josiah and Raelyn were working on their situationship. Unlike them however, Josiah was damn near off the hook already.

Or so he thought.

It appeared that way because Raelyn let him spend the night the night before the funeral, as well as last night, and was acting like she didn't have any major issues with Josiah. In a way, Raelyn thought she was 'using' Josiah for the comfort she felt like she couldn't get anywhere else.

At least that's what she told herself.

For Rae, it was the small things that made her like Josiah. She could recognize that it was her karma for even entertaining him when he was in a relationship, but she couldn't help it. He was very charming, seeming like he knew exactly what she wanted to hear.

She felt like he was trying to apologize by doing things he thought would prove his regretful nature. An example would be him attending the funeral when Kyra knew where he'd be.

"That's a small ass casket. I thought they used regular size." Raelyn heard Hakeem attempt to whisper to Brielle.

"Why would they put a baby in a regular size casket?" She whispered back.

"For some room? Ion know but my niece gone be cramped as hell. Jo cheap ass ain't buy that baby no normal size casket. Where the pastor?"

Raelyn laughed for the first time today, as she turned to look at Hakeem, "What the pastor gone do?"

"Y'all asking all these questions but ain't nobody tryna fix the problem."

"Bitch you pay for the casket then." Josiah stated loudly, "Ian even pick it out I just went up there and paid bruh."

"Stop cursing before this church go up in flames."

Brielle scooted over two seats, "I'ma stay down here. I don't wanna be in the vicinity when God get tired of y'all playing with Him."

Everyone was surprised when Josiah abruptly stood up, walking out of the building without another word.

"Pastor?" Hakeem asked while standing up and looking around, "What typa shi- Aye Pastor?! My bro inna time of need and this man ain't even out here to help."

While Hakeem went on a hunt for the pastor, Raelyn went on a hunt for Josiah, easily finding him outside on the back steps. She didn't approach him at first because she was struggling with her own emotions as well.

She wasn't trying to diminish his feelings at all, but he hadn't had the same time to grow attached to their daughter as she had, and how hard he was taking it kind of confused her, seeing as she wasn't aware that Josiah was in the process of telling Kyra that he wanted to be there for Raelyn while she was pregnant. 

The longer she stared at his back, the more difficult it became to appear un-angry at him, "I don't see why you so fucked up about it. You were out here telling people she wasn't yours and you tried to get me to get an abortion."

"That's the shit that be fucking with me. I let somebody keep me from doing some shit I wanted to do, and now Ian gone never get the chance to fix that."

"Oh please, Josiah. You stay telling people you're a grown ass man, but now you tryna sit there and tell me you let her stop you? That's some bullshit."

"Ian saying it like that, I just meant I was stupid behind her and I missed out." He turned around to look at her, "On a lot."

Raelyn observed him carefully before her next question, "You gone have some cake?"

"What?"

"I'm tryna see if you having cake at your pity party, or do I need to go the 'I'm Josiah and I'm the only person to make a mistake or experience a loss' store to get one?"

It wasn't supposed to make him laugh, but it did, "I'm tired of expressing myself to you manly ass women. You 'posed to say, "it's gone be okay" or some."

She shrugged, "You coming back in or not?"

He made no effort to get up, still sitting on the steps behind the church, "Rae Ian never meant to-"

"But you did, and right now isn't about you, or me, so let's just go back in."

"Heard you."

They sat through the very short funeral of their daughter together, and when Josiah reached for Raelyn's hand, all previous composure was gone.

• • •

"You must not have any friends?" Bri asked as she buckled her seat belt.

"Here you go."

"I'm just asking." She laughed, "Because you waited for my interview to be done, now you tryna take me to the bank. I'm thankful, but you giving me 'I don't have a life' vibes."

Hakeem didn't answer her question, figuring she wasn't being serious. Yes he had homeboys, but he wouldn't have been with them right now anyway since they talked about going to the casino later that afternoon, "When you started going to banks? That's the real question."

"You tryna call me broke or some?"

"It's giving me 'Frankie wanna rob the bank' vibes."

Bri laughed, "Man shutup. You a real clown on God."

"I said it right?" Hakeem asked, briefly looking at Bri who was still laughing, "I felt like a bitch but it's cool I guess."

"Stop stealing my lingo before your bitches catch on and leave you."

"Come on now. Ion get left I'ma leaver."

They made small talk while on the way to Wells Fargo, the car ride once again consisting of laughs on Brielle's part, and smiles on Hakeem's from seeing her happy.

"Want me to pull inna back? Or the front? Ion know how bank robberies work so you gotta teach me."

"Put me out in the front before I get out this car and beat your ass."

"I'm not finna keep letting you talk to me like this. Threatening me and shit like I won't fold your ass up." He waited for Brielle to make eye contact, "Again."

"I-Security! Security!"

• • •

"Hand me the aux." Travis complained, "I can't take it no more."

"Right now, today!" Josiah shouted the lyrics.

Corey was laughing in the passenger seat, "We almost there."

"Can we please pull over?" Hakeem begged while holding his stomach, "I gotta shit so bad man y'all don't understand."

"You must ate some bad meat?"

"I had tried one of them lil drinks at the coffee place. That caffeine fucked my stomach up."

"Which bitch got you drinking coffee?" Travis asked curiously.

"I wasn't with no bitches. I was with Bri."

Bri was something, or someone, that Hakeem and his cousin didn't talk about. A sort of rule they'd established without needing to say it aloud. The problem with them not speaking on her was that they'd never come to a conclusion about how either of them felt.

With Hakeem it was somewhat obvious, and a blind man could spot the attraction he had to her or the hold she had on him.

Travis, however, was an expert at hiding his feelings, and you'd never know what he was thinking unless he told you.

"Gang shit!" Josiah replied happily.

"Ion know cuz. I just ain't think you was gone be fucking with her like that after all that other shit she was doing." Travis shook his head and shrugged, "You know what you doing though."

"If that's the case I shouldn't be fucking with you either."

"We family though."

"What you think Bri is?"

"Aye before y'all get too into that conversation." Corey interrupted, "This picture ugly?"

Everybody looked at the picture of Mia and Corey, "Nah, it's straight. Ian know she had no yams like that."

"Niggas real-life disrespectful. How you gone sit up in my face and talk about her ass?"

"You ain't used to care. That's your girl now?"

Corey shrugged, "Yeah I guess."

"All my niggas growing up man I love this shit dog. Pass me one of them napkins out the glove compartment. Y'all got me in tears."

"You asked us was it ugly 'cause you finna post it?" Hakeem asked.

"I'm thinking about it. Ian posted nobody in years all my hoes finna dip."

"I'ma keep it a buck, Ion see how you had no hoes anyway."

"Bitch I'm cute. Fuck you."

"Nigga said cute. That's how you know he ugly Keem."

Travis was staring out of the window still thinking about what had just occurred.

When Travis realized his feelings for Kyra, he came to the conclusion that when it came to Bri, it was a pride thing. When he was simply getting to know Bri, he thought she was cool and wanted to fuck with her. Then, when it came out that she knew his cousin, it became a competition to him.

So it wasn't the fact that she didn't want to be with him, it was the fact that she didn't want him but wanted Hakeem. He would be perfectly fine with neither of them talking to her, but Hakeem clearly wasn't going for that.

Travis didn't have Bri's new number, preventing him from texting her. The only other option he could think of was a house visit.

Content with his plan, Travis rejoined the conversation, "You gotta be doing 40 if we ain't made it the casino yet."

"I'm doing the speed limit. Ian got time for them folks to pull me over and it smell like a bag in this hoe."

"Nah forreal. Then we gone have to run them and right now Ian in the position to be running from nobody."

Travis laughed, "Ian in no rush. My girl ain't at home or none so I'm just asking."

He waited to see if anybody would question who he was referring to, and once again, they didn't.

A smirk remained on his face the rest of the night.

• • •

There weren't many people in the home on Saturdays since they all had things to do ranging from work to hanging with friends, or just not wanting to be home. By 12, Kayla had grown bored of watching tv and wanted to do something else.

Brielle was still in bed, so while she remained sleep, Kayla tipped over to Brielle and Darnishia's closet, kneeling down to lift the floorboard that hid a journal.

Kayla found out about Darnishia's journal by mistake one day after she'd seen her hide it in the closet. She wasn't sure why she went back to read it, but she did, and it inspired the drawing from school.

Once she'd made sure the floor board was back in place, Kayla rose to her feet, spinning around to tiptoe back out, only to stop in her tracks when she saw Bri staring directly at her.

"What's that?" She asked immediately.

"It's mine."

Brielle didn't believe that for a second, sliding out of the bed to go take the journal from Kayla's hand. Her belief about her lying was confirmed when she recognized Darnisha's handwriting on the first page.

She wasn't particularly trying to read what it said, but some of the words jumped out at her, demanding she pay attention to the messy script that decorated the lines of the page.

After a few seconds, Brielle looked down at Kayla who was watching her nervously, "Don't touch this again."

She nodded her head quickly and walked out of the room.

Bri closed the journal, going back into the closet and feeling around for the loose floorboard. She found it easily and put it back where it belonged.

It's amazing how history repeats itself.

• • •

i meant for this chapter to be read like a tv episode? with the cut scenes then return back to that character after another scene... how do we feel ab this style of writing? was it easy to read or overwhelming & confusing?

y'all tied of travis huh 🥴

um... i lowkey want bri to read the journal but then i also want her to respect her sis' privacy. she also might spazz when she read what's in them bc chile.

ouuuu question! would you have gone to the funeral? personally, i'd like to think i would've left if my man had an outside baby, but if i was still there i'd slide through & support. i'll prob even buy a fish plate to help fund the funeral

thanks for reading 💕

i know y'all's main focus is on reading, (which is why i add these at the end so you can skip it if you want to) but the loml, Millie311 is also writing a book w/ dave in it!

she's such an amazing writer, & her ideas are top tier. like she legit helps me center what i'm thinking and put them into words so i'm forever grateful.

i've read/am reading every book that's on her page. i just feel like y'all missing out so i had to put everybody on game lol. if you decide to check out her work, (which you should ofc) thank you sm 💜