Although it had been months since Toya's encounter with her mother she had still been distant. Isaiah and Kiari had both agreed to let her have her time because they knew that this was a sensitive time for her.

Each day for her lately had been like a movie playing on repeat. Eat, sleep, shower, school, that's all she was in the mood for.

She had long accepted the fact that this was her life and she'll never have that bond with her mother or sister ever again. Life could've been much worse but God had other plans for her, she knew that God gave the toughest battles to his strongest fighters. So that's exactly what she was going to do, she was tired of laying around so she climbed out of bed and headed towards the entertainment room.

Isaiah was laid out on the couch watching Fast & Furious 6 stuffing his face with a variety of snacks. Toya chuckled and shook her head. "You're home on a Saturday? That's a first." she said as she laid across his back and stuck her hand into his bag of chips.

"Ain't shit out there to do just yet." he shrugged as he positioned them so that he was now laid behind her with one arm wrapped around her making her let out a sigh of relief. He chuckled and placed a soft kiss on her cheek.

Toya would be lying if she said her feelings didn't run deep for Isaiah, every since she could remember she'd had a crush on him. It wasn't until last week that the realization set in that he just might feel the same way about her.

Toya and Syd had just walked into Algebra class and were going to their seats when all of a sudden an arm was draped around Toya's shoulder. Confused, she turned her head and came face to face with Cyrus. She instantly pushed him away from her and stale faced him.

"Why you always doing me like that baby girl. You know you want me?" he smirked as he slightly lifted her chin to look at him.

"What part of not interested do you not understand? The not or the interested part?" she asked as she mugged him and pushed past him. The class was pretty quiet, so all the students heard the encounter between the two and began to snicker making Cyrus's face flush with embarrassment.

"Nobody want ya flat ass anyways, ya mama didn't even want you" he said as he shrugged and turned to go to his seat. What he didn't know was that Isaiah was walking into the classroom and heard everything.

So when he turned around and a fist connected with his left cheek confusion plagued him. The punch was so powerful that his entire body rotated back to its original position. By this time there was a crowd of students that were in the hallway now in the classroom as Isaiah sent non stop blows to every part of Cyrus's body.

"ISAIAH STOP! HE'S NOT WORTH IT!" Toya shouted as she made her way through the crowd in an attempt to pull him from beating the boy half to death. Her pleads fell on deaf ears as the two boys fought as if they were strangers on the street.

It took five staff members and two upperclassmen to break the two up and even when they did Isaiah still tried his hardest to go back for more. He had warned Cyrus plenty of times about how he acted when it came to LaToya and today was the icing on the cake. There was no way he'd allow anybody to talk crazy to or about her.

"It's really like that Luckie man?" Cyrus asked, calling Isaiah by his nickname as he dabbed at his bloody nose. "What happened to bros before hoes?"

Isaiah mugged him hard and scoffed, "I done had to tell you too many times about disrespecting her. Fuck that bros before hoes shit when the female aint a hoe. You already know how I'm coming behind her. Ion even know why you tried that shit." he replied and stormed out of the classroom.

"What y'all two doing?" Kiari's voice jolted her from the memory as she walked up the stairs with Juri trailing behind her texting on her phone.

"Clearly we watching a movie banana head" Isaiah mumbled as he pulled the blanket over him and Toya.

"How you know I'm cold?" she asked while looking back and mugging him.

"Cause you got those little bumps on ya arm. The ones you get when you cold" he mumbled sleepily.

"Y'all so cute" Ri cooed as she made her way into her room.

"Man gone, you interrupting our favorite movie!" Isaiah said as he turned the volume up in the tv. Toya just laid watching the movie as her favorite part played.

"Yea Yea! Toy if you going with us go get ready, we leave in an hour!" Ri said before walking into her room and closing the door.

Toya started to get up because she knew it would take her a while to get ready. She was halfway from the couch when suddenly she was pulled back down. "Really Isaiah?" she mumbled as he pulled her closer to him.

"Where you going?" he groaned as he snuggled his face into her neck causing chills down her spine.

"I know you just heard her. If I want to go with her I gotta be ready in an hour" she whined as she wiggled her body trying to loosen his hold on her.

"Five more minutes" he mumbled.

Toya rolled her eyes and relaxed her body against his, before she knew it she had fallen asleep and thirty minutes had passed. She jumped up from the couch and went into her room to shower and get ready.

By the time she was done everyone was downstairs and waiting for her. "How you get done before me and you the one that held me up" she stale faced Isaiah.

"Cause you like to take forever to get ready. It don't take none for me to" he shrugged as he grabbed a drink from the refrigerator.

"Let's go. I'm so hungry my stomach touching my back" Kiari groaned as she rubbed her stomach.

"When are you not hungry?" Toya asked as they all got into the car.

"You got jokes apple head?' Ri asked while pulling out of the driveway and heading towards their old apartments. Tango and Ian were having a barbeque for the apartment complex and of course they had to be there.

When they pulled into the gates on the apartments everyone's mouth dropped at home many people were out. They showed out on the set up there were bouncy houses, both an ice cream and snow cone truck, food trucks, and people walking around in the latest superhero costumes.

"Yall did y'all thang out here Tango man." Isaiah said as he dapped him and Ian up.

"Preciate it lil nigga! Gone and enjoy it, be a kid for once in ya life." Tango chuckled as he wrapped his arm around Juri's waist.

"Yea yea" he waved him off and grabbed Toya's hand, heading to enjoy the event. The group enjoyed their day as they interacted with all their old friends, Although they moved away they always visited the neighborhood because some of their friends still live out there.

Isaiah visited the apartments more often than the girls, getting into things that his mother wouldn't agree with. He was basically living a double life and was doing it well since Tori worked twelve hour shifts at the hospital.

Kiari tried many times to stray her brother away from that life but there was only so much she could do. They've had many arguments about the topic but it was as if she was talking to a brick wall so she eventually gave up. She never lose hope though, hoping that one day he would come to his senses and changed his life around.

If no one knew how smart her brother was, Ri did because she was the one that taught him all that he knew education wise. Isaiah was almost a straight A student, he had his slip ups here and there but when you summed it all up he was damn near a genius.

Isaiah was that student that was the first one done so he annoyed the other students in the class. Teachers hated his smart mouth and nonchalant attitude but was always surprised after grading his papers.

He understood where his older sister was coming from but he also knew that she was being a hypocrite. Kiari thought he was clueless to the things that she did in her free time. She didn't know that he knew about the parts she play in the street life. She was trying to convince him of staying away from the same life she was living, making him feel like she had no right.

What he didn't understand was that was her exact reason for trying to steer him away from such a lifestyle. She knew what it came with and she knew what dilemmas that came with being a street soldier. Her circumstances were different though, much to her disappointment she got tied to the life because of who her boyfriend was.

She wasn't proud of the decisions she made when it came to the things she did in the name of love, well in the name of Ian. Many mistakes were made but she knew that one day things would change for her and she'd be living up to her fullest potential.

She just didn't want her brother to make the same mistakes she made but she didn't understand what it felt like to be a man. One thing she did know, men had their pride, he was the man of the house so she knew that he felt like he needed to provide for them.

Isaiah and Toya sat on the hood of Kiari's Benz while eating their food and talking with their friends. As always they were cracking jokes, play fighting, and laughing at the other boys attempting to spit game to the girls that were around.

"Bestie can you come with me to up to the apartment? I gotta use the bathroom" Syd asked ash she did a slight pee dance.

"Yes ma'am, come on. I need to wash my hands anyways" she replied as she slid down the hood of the car. The two girls made their way to Syd's apartment with Isaiah's eyes on them the entire way.

Once he was satisfied that they were cool he turned his attention back to his phone, swiping through the pictures he took so far. When he got to the picture he and Toya took earlier a slight smirk appeared on his face but quickly disappeared when he heard Cyrus speak.

"Birds of a feather" Cyrus mumbled while smirking and shaking his head.

"Yeen tired of getting yo ass beat yet?" Luckie asked while eyeing him intently. After their fight in school the two boys had fought at least five or six more times because of Cyrus's slick mouth. In this moment he wasn't Isaiah he was "Luckie," Luckie only came out when it was time for business and the way it was looking he was about to have to put in work.

"Yeen tired of punk faking like yeen in love with her young ass." he chuckled.

"Why it matter so much? You real pressed about some young pussy, you don't even be this worried bout makin no money on da block" Isaiah responded. Al that could be heard was laughter as the boys around them clowned Cyrus.

"Got more mon-"

"CAP" Luckie laughed, "Nigga I wish you would fix ya mouth to say you got mo money then me. You damn near work for me, I'm the one put you on. Nigga stop playin wit me" he continued. It was very rare that he threw his weight around, he was cool but being lowkey but when he was feeling tried it was a totally different story.

Before Cyrus could respond Toya and Syd were back. Toya instantly noticed Isaiah's hostile demeanor making her furrowed her eyebrows, "whats wrong with you?" she asked as she hopped up on the hood of the car.

"Niggas out here showing out and shit. I'm straight though." he shrugged.

"Be direct lil nigga" Cy replied as he eyed him, he was salty about Luckie calling him out in front of everyone.

"I'm convinced you was supposed to be a hoe or some cause you stay doing some hoe shit" Luckie replied making laughter erupted throughout the crowd.

"Na, I fuck to many hoes to be a hoe, you could be too if you wasnt busy out here trying to adopt one." he shrugged.

That's all it took for Luckie to jump from the hood of the car and rush Cyrus to the ground. There was no doubt that Cy had height on him but Luckie was a more skilled fighter and today he was gonna remind him of that. Again.

Before anyone knew it damn near the entire apartments were watching the two boys go at it. When one of the younger boys told Tango why they were fighting he decided to let it go on, this was long overdue. Cy loved to talk shit to Luckie because all in all he was a laid back dude but when it came to the people he loved, specifically the women, Isaiah was gone and Luckie was present.

It wasn't until Cy started to lose consciousness that he decided to break the fight up. Toya stood by and watched in admiration as he defended her. The last time she'd seen it they were at school and she didn't want him to get in trouble but today was different, they were in the hood where nobody really cared to break a fight up.

Even after getting home and calming down Isaiah was still fuming from the fight with Cyrus. There was a soft knock at his bedroom door but he didn't bother to answer, figuring they'd think he was asleep and go away.

Toya opened the bedroom door and slowly walked into his bedroom to see him laid on his back, staring at the ceiling as music played lowly throughout the room. "You okay?" she mumbled as she climbed into the bed and snuggled up next to him.

Sighing deeply he turned so that they were now face to face. "Na, I'm not. Im tired of niggas thinking they can just throw around the fact that we pratically adopted you in our face. Yes I said our because that shit affect me too." he said honestly.

Toya tried hard to hold back the blush that creeped up on her face. "If it doesn't bother me, don't let it bother you. I know how I got here, shit I'm the one that was there. I'm not ashamed of it so they can talk all the shit they want." she replied while looking deep into his eyes,

If she was older and more seasoned she'd recognize the look of a man who was in love. It was the exact look he was giving her now, a look that made the butterflies in her stomach flutter again. For the remainder of the night the two listened to music and talked until they fell asleep.

Little did either of them know today set the tone for what would become of the two of them in the future. In a few days Toya would be fifteen and it would be what she would describe as the best birthday of her life.

_______________________________

Toya & Isaiah {Luckie} ^^^^

____________________________

Author's 📝

*excuse any errors*

Sorry for the late update 🥴 WP was tweaking yesterday so I didn't wanna update during that time !

Luc— I mean Isaiah got some anger issues but some of y'all knew that already 😭

The man don't play when it come to the women he love 💯 he gone step errtime ‼️

How do y'all feel about the Kiari & Luckie situation 🤔

Toya & Isaiah 👭

As some of you know , this book will be coming to an end 😢 there will be one more official chapter then the epilogue !

I always planned for this to be a short story & wasn't sure where I would really end it , I feel like there has been enough given about Toya's childhood & how she met the lohl 🥰

If you haven't already check out Work #1 "To Good To Be True" to read about the trials and tribulations of their adult life 🤸🏾‍♀️

Lastly, follow my writers IG for sneak peeks of new updates , convo w me , & much more ‼️ @MillieRockinOnWP 😭

Thank you to the Witchcraft Queen 🧹 👑 TaNonnn 💕

THANK YOU 🙏🏽

COMMENT , VOTE , & SHARE 💚✅