''Morning Ash,'' Deshaun greeted Ashley as she trudged into the kitchen in the morning, crumbs of toast spilt out of his mouth at the same time, causing his mother to roll her eyes at him.

''Ash?'' Ashley questioned, looking over at Proof, who instantly shrugged in response.

''Ashley too long and if ya gonna be my friend you need a nickname,'' he pointed out waving the crust of the toast in her direction.

''Hmm, but don't you think Ash is kinda basic, I mean aren't nicknames supposed to be different, like you being Proof and Marshall being Slim or Em,'' Ashley pointed out sitting down on the little wooden chair attached to the even smaller wooden table that Deshaun and his breakfast were currently occupying at least 70% of.

''Holy shit, wait I need to think''

''Language, your new friend is rather young too Desahun,''  Proof just shrugged, ignoring his mother as she left the room with a basket of washing.

''She loves me really,'' he pointed out, leaving Ashley in a fit of laughter, causing Deshaun to snort in response, ''anyway, you're totally right you need a rap nickname kinda.''

''I don't rap Proof.''

''You could always learn,'' he responded getting up to tidy away his breakfast, which appeared to Ashley as if he had all three daily meals in one sitting.

She watched him tidy away as she bit into her own toast that Mrs Holton had given her. Proof mother had tried to make her more, but Ashley refused saying that she couldn't possibly eat as much as Deshaun. It took her saying that she still felt queasy from yesterday to enable her to not be overfed.

''I think I'll stick to singing,'' she mumbled in response.

''People gotta hear you sing first though,'' the sudden presence of Marhsall made both occupants of the kitchen jump.

''Thought ya'd gone to work, man scared the shit outta me,'' Deshaun cursed, mockingly clutching his heart.

''Yeah well, I took a sick day told em I got to look after the kid that was shot outside the shop yesterday,'' Marshall explained, walking further into the kitchen towards Ashley. Once he was close enough he yanked the reminder of her toast out of her hand and ate the rest in one bite.

''Hey, that was my breakfast,'' she pouted.

''Ya so, I missed dinner last night cause you decided not to listen to me,'' he pointed out, flicking a crumb towards her, the only memory of the toast that had once been hers. Ashley just huffed crossing her arms and turning away from him.

''Yo they just believed you?'' Proof asked, his question circling them back to how Marshall managed to get a day off because he was 'looking after,' Ashley.

''Yeah well it's all over the newspapers, sixteen-year-old girl shot outside the record store last night,'' Marshall mimicked a news, reporters voice, ''so what we doing today?'' he then asked changing the subject.

''Well I was thinking we take Ash to the shelter, ya know show her around a little,'' Proof shrugged as he rested against the sink.

''I'm down, let me just get changed,'' Ashley stood up, taking a hold of her crutches as she stumbled out of the kitchen and back up the stairs she missed the unconvinced look Marshall was sporting towards Deshaun.

''Why are you looking at me like that?'' Proof asked as Marshall rested his head in his hands.

''Cause you're a fucking moron that's why. You wanna take her to the shelter are you being serious?''

''Yeah, what's wrong with that?'' Proof shrugged, ''if you aren't coming we'll just go without you, simple as,'' he then added, brushing past Marshalls chair, but was stopped when a hand clamped around his wrist.

''Nah I'm coming because knowing you you'd do some dumb shit and she'll end up with more than just a bullet wound,'' Marshall snapped, pushing his chair away as he let go of Deshanuns arm.

''What the fuck do you take me for I'm not gonna kidnap her,'' he shot back, raising an eyebrow in Marshall's direction.

''Man just shut up, you know that's not what I meant.''

''Well what did you mean, she's her own person Em, she can make her own mind up about what she wants to do. Like I get Sarah wants you to look after her, but I bet she meant as a friend and not a weird fucking dad, cause that's the vibe you seem to be going with right now,'' Marshall scrunched his forehead up, taking in what his best friend had told him.

''Now that's just weird.''

''What's weird,'' Ashley popped her head around the doorframe, she'd gotten changed out of the tank top and shorts she slept in. She now stood in front of them in a pair of skinny jeans and a long-sleeved black top, with a leather jacket thrown over the top. Both of them stared at her for longer than they perhaps had should have before Deshaun finally cleared his throat to respond.

''Nothing ya need to worry about,'' Proof wrapped her arm around her shoulder, leaving Marshall to watch as his friend led her out of the house.

Marshall followed behind them, keeping his distance, although something inside him told him that Deshaun was up to something and he wouldn't be surprised if it had something to do with getting Ashley to sing. After he'd spoken to Ashely last night and gone back to watch late-night Tv with him, all Desahun had spoken about was how he'd never heard a voice like Ashleys.

''She can sing dude, maybe she could sing some of ya hooks. Every rapper in this damn city will be lining up to get her voice on a track. Think about it you could be the first one,'' Proof had ranted.

''I dunno man, she don't know shit about rap, yeah sure she knows who Pac is, but I'm pretty sure that's it,'' he'd responded, he wanted to tear his hair out when Deshaun kept coming up with different reasons as to why he needed to hear Ashley sing.

''How about we just take this one step at a time man, she barely knows us and we barely know her. Maybe she'll sing when we're around without us pushing her too, cause there's a lot more on my mind than hearing some teenager sing man,'' it was then that he had to remind his best friend that he'd got Kim pregnant she was due in about a month or so.

Marshall shook the thought from his head as he flopped down into the driver's seat. His eyes flicked to the back where Ashley sat, playing with her hair and staring out the window. Shaking his head, he placed the key in the ignition and headed towards the shelter, his mind still trying to work out what in the world Proof could be thinking.