I didn't proofread this so once I read over it and notice errors I'll fix it and publish it again. If you spot any spelling errors just skip over it for the moment lmao. Anyway thank you for 1.20k+ reads/views! Don't be 👻s! Comment! Tell me who ya favorite character is right now. For me it's between Taylor and Kordell cause they're both fun, hilarious asf, and cool. Anyway, I wanna post more chapters frequently, but I also don't wanna post too much so when each chapter gets a minimum of 4 votes I'll post the next one. Thanks for all the support! Love y'all💗

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Bryson's POV

Last night was fye as hell.

I wanted to be respectful of her and not really make no move first (dumbass I know), but she was feeling it last night so I said fuck it, why not.

After a few minutes I pulled up to my house and got out, locked the car doors, then unlocked the front door of the house.

I walked in and closed the door behind me and saw my dukes getting ready to head out.

"Hey ma. Where you goin? It's getting late..." I took my 12's off and sat on the couch.

"I got a hot date." She looked at me and winked. "Your old man wants to...rekindle our relationship."

"What that mean? He finna be back in our lives?"

She sat next to me with her purse.

"Not sure...we're tryna take things slow. He's realized it isn't fair that he's not in your life."

"I mean ion really care. It's been years since I've seen him anyway. Wouldn't really be different with him around." I shrugged.

"Bry. He was a liar. I couldn't trust him."

"Exactly. So what makes you think you can trust him now ma?" I looked at her.

"People change. He just got out of a relationship and realized that their love wasn't genuine. Yea I miss your dad and yea it's gonna take a minute to trust him, but him and I have remained friends all these years. I just wasn't sure if he needed to be back in your life specifically."

I was quiet for a minute. "Ma look. I'm technically a grown ass man now."

I cleared my throat once I realized I cussed in front of her. "He already missed out on a lot of important moments in my life."

"And that's why he's tryna be there from here on out. He wants to come to your graduation next week."

We graduate once school is officially out. It's stupid as hell cause it means we technically still highschoolers till we get our diploma.

"Ard well. You be safe. Text me if I gotta come up to Red Lobster and steal some cheddar biscuits and beat his ass."

My ma laughed. "We not going there lil boi. We going to this steak place."

"Wow. He fancy fancy. Really tryna win your heart back." I rolled my eyes.

"Bryson." My mom looked at me. "You're broken. Our family will be fixed, I promise."

"Whatever you say momma. Go have fun lil rascal." I got up and waited for her to get up so we could hug.

"Oh yea." My mom started while walking towards the door. "Where's Dell? I knew it was too quiet when you came in."

"Staying with his new bean."

"And this new bean's folks are fine with that?"

"Yea. His new bean is Isis' cousin."

"Ouuu. So he's in good hands. Just wanted to make sure, but bye baby." She declared while walking out the door to her car.

"Bye ma." I waved and made sure she got in her car and watched her pull off then closed the front door.

I texted Kordell once I closed the door to see what he was up to.

He sent a picture back of a selfie he took of Mariah sleeping on him on the couch they were sitting at in her living room when we were there.

Must be nice. Lemme see what Isis up to.

I opened up the FaceTime app and called her. It rang a few times then I saw nothing but the ceiling. It looked like it was her bathroom ceiling.

"Hey Bryson. Wassup?" She asked. I heard water running.

"Nun much. Whatchu doin'?"

"About to hop in the shower. I didn't know if I should answer or not, but you can stay on the phone. Ima just be a minute."

"Yea yea, that's fine." I walked upstairs and went into my room and changed into some basketball shorts.

I saw Isis reposition the phone and all I could see was her face. Everything else was covered with a towel.

"How come your nasty ass isn't getting in the shower?"

"I'm only getting in if I can get in witchu. Plus I take mine in the morning." I explained.

"Yea sure stinky. But brb." She put the phone back down and I heard the shower curtains open then close.

While she was in the shower, I went on Instagram just to see what's been happening on there. Prolly some new meme out.

I saw I had a DM so I went to check it. I didn't know who the person was but the message said:

Yo Ant. I need a favor💯

My heart damn near dropped to my ass. Ion know who "Ant" is, but I know what type of favor this nigga talm bout.

I used to be in the business. You know, gang banging, trapping, stealing, fighting, all that. Ian wanna really be involved in it no mo for the sake of my mom and for football. I don't want her to worry about me all the time.

I thought I wasn't goin' get anymore messages from the niggas, but I was one of the best in the shit. Never got caught and I got shit handled.

I didn't know how to respond so I just sent "❓"

I went back to FaceTime and saw that Isis was still in the shower. I went back to Instagram when I saw another message pop up. It said:

You tryna drop sumn off rq?

I have no idea who this is. I know the leader's name is Monte, but ian never seen this nigga in my life, but sometimes other people would text other members for Monte's lazy ass.

I started typing.

Who is this bruh?

The typing symbol came up immediately and then another message appeared.

My fault b. Ian introduce myself. I'm Von. Known out in these streets as G. Monte asked me to text you. This Ant right?

My street name ain't no damn "Ant." It was "Stax" pronounced like money "stacks".

Nah fam. Wrong person.

The typing symbol came up again.

Oh shit you right. You Stackx. You Ant's cousin. Y'all profile pictures the same.

Record scratch. I'm sorry. What?

Hol on. What's Ant's real name G?

The symbol popped up, disappeared, then popped up again.

Kordell.👏🏽

I closed out the Instagram app.

————
Isis' POV

I turned the water off and grabbed my towel and stepped out onto the bath rug.

"Bryson? You still there?"

It was quiet.

"Hello?"

"Yea. My fault. I'm here ma. Wassup? You good?"

I could hear some tension or worry in his voice.

"Yea. I'm straight." I replied while drying myself off and putting my clothes and everything on.

"As long as you good, I'm straight."

"Ok well. Have you checked in on Kordell and Mariah?"

"Yea. Yo cousin knocked out. Mine is laid up with her on the couch." He explained.

"Coolio. Um...if you want I can call you back love." Something felt off to me.

"Nah nah. Stay with me...please." He begged.

Shit. Now I'm getting worried and I don't even know what's going on.

"Ok well maybe we should both get some rest. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day." I wet my toothbrush, put the toothpaste on, and wet it again.

"Today was actually good. Just got a lot of family shit going on. It'll be ok though."

"K. Well the carnival is next month. I have more than enough time to stock up on some cute lil outfits." I looked into the camera and puckered my lips. He smiled.

"You look fine in whatever you wear. You could wear a garbage bag and make it look like Versace."

I smiled and felt myself lowkey blushing. "Danke."

"Was that German?" He asked curiously.

"Yea, how'd you know?"

"Ion even know to be honest. It just sounds like it's not French... or Spanish... or anything else." He chuckled. "Nah but yea, I'm mad tired. Let's go to sleep."

"Bet it up boo. Lemme wrap up in here."

I did my face routine, which is lowkey pretty long, and put my retainer in. I keep forgetting to wear it every night, but I didn't get braces for nothing so ima get back to it.

I turned the light off and heard a car outside in the driveway.

"Hold on Bryson. Someone's outside."

"Well it ain't me. If it's a stranger lemme know so I can blast they ass."

"Bryson. No. Not in this neighborhood you won't. Wait here." I giggled, put my phone on my bed, and headed downstairs.

I peeked through the peephole and could see a figure walking towards the door. Couldn't really make it out since a peephole isn't that big.

I moved back real fast and waited to hear a knock or the doorbell ring.

There was nothing, but then I heard a key.

I didn't have time to react, but it was ok. It was just Talia.

"What the hell are you doing?! It's late." I exclaimed. I heard the car behind her honk and drive off.

"Wanted to come back home. I can't constantly be around people 25/8. I need time to myself now." She walked in and closed the door behind her then took off her shoes.

I looked at her and squinted my eyes. She was wearing a scarf.

"Why are you wearing a scarf and it's only 73° outside?" I put my hands on my hips.

"I'm anemic. I'm always cold duh." She readjusted her scarf and I could see a hickey on her neck.

She started to walk towards the stairs and quicker than you could say "I'm hotter than a whore in church", I locked the door and ran over to the stairs to block her from going up.

"Sis. Mooove." She groaned. "I'm tired."

"I saw your Snapchat story missy. How's the lil boi doing, huh?"

"Why are you tripping for?! It's not even all that big of a deal. Yea I knew he was goin be there and yea if I really would've wanted to stay knowing he's also staying at the hotel overnight then I would've. I'm tired."

I sighed. "Did he touch you inappropriately?"

She was quiet. "No. He just...he wanted to smash. I could tell. He put his hand in my pants and I told him to stop and after that he respected me, but I wanted to leave. I felt too weird. I mean, Asia be out here doing whatever."

"Yea that's your best friend. I understand. Taylor and I are complete opposites. I used to feel like I had to be like her and do what she did whether it was rated G or R, but now, I just do my own thing. I do Isis Kimora Ray. You needa do Talia Annora Ray." I explained.

"Yea. I'm sorry for lying to you...and momma...and daddy. Please don't tell em though."

"I won't, BUT, if that lil nigga tries something again and it makes you uncomfortable or he harms you, I HAVE to tell them. I don't care."

"I know. Thanks though. His name is Aiden by the way."

She hugged me and I hugged her back.

"Ew." She said once she pulled back. "Why you touching me?" She joked.

"Girl go upstairs and go to bed." I rolled my eyes and smiled.

"Ok ok." She went up the stairs and stopped to turn around. "Oh yea...how was your hot date?" She raised her eyebrows up and down.

"It was aynun."

"What?"

"Nunya."

I watched her trying to rearrange the letters in her head.

"You play too much." She turned back around and walked up the rest of the steps.

"I love you too!" I yelled from the bottom step.

"Yea yea. Love you lots." She said and softly closed her door.

I went back and put the alarm on and headed back upstairs to my room.

Forgot Bryson and I were on FaceTime. I went up the steps two-by-two and got into my room and closed the door behind me.

"Pssst. Bryson...you there?" I whispered.

"Yea I'm here. I'm assuming it wasn't a stranger. Was getting a lil concerned since you took so damn long."

"Yea. If it were a stranger...I definitely would've been kidnapped by now."

"Yea." He replied and then there was an awkward silence between us.

I turned my tv on so that there was some noise. Just then, Bryson spoke up.

"Isis...can I be honest witchu?"

"Yea sure, wassup?"

"And you won't judge me?"

"I don't judge people period."

"Good... so.... well. I was never always the person I am today."

I was quiet for a second. "What do you mean? You were always good looking in middle school and stuff."

He chuckled softly. "Nah ma I mean like the way I carry myself and shit. I used to be a Blood."

I stared down at the camera for a second. "Ok..."

"Changed my life around once I realized its not goin' get you nowhere in life. It was making my dukes scared...our relationship went south...she couldn't ever trust me. That's why now I'm tough on myself...and Kordell."

I looked back at the tv for a second then back down at the camera as I got up to turn my light off then put my bonnet on and laid down in the bed.

"Yea. Does Kordell remind you of the old you?" I asked.

It was quiet for a second while he thought.

"I would say yea, but it's definitely a different situation. I joined a gang because I thought it would make me cool. I knew I wanted to try this whole rapping shit and I wanted to be able to rap about shit I done seen. Shit I knew about. I feel like Kordell joined cause I'm not doing a good job of being like his older brother. His mom tries so hard to look after him an-"

I interrupted him. "Woah woah woah. What do you mean Kordell "joined"? You mean as in past tense? How long ago did he "join" and is he still a Blood?"

"That's what I'm tryna figure out ma. This member that's in the same set I used to be in DM'd me on Instagram asking if I could do a favor for him which I thought was weird cause I been out of the game for a few years now. Come to find out he got me confused somehow with Kordell...I don't know."

I sighed deeply.

"I know. I'm speechless. I don't know why he ain't tell me in the first place. I mean we do have a lot of family members who are Bloods and are in the same set, so I'm not scared about him and other members...I'm scared about him and authority.

I swallowed hard.

"Yea. I understand."

"Oh you understand? I've seen people shot, I've seen people badly beaten up...I've seen shit. I've seen people be falsely accused for shit they ain't do and are now locked up. I'm not sure you can really understand that Isis and it's not something you would wanna understand anyway. The shit is terrible."

I felt extremely uncomfortable talking about this.

"You're right. I apologize. So...how do we go about this? What do I need to do and how can I help?"

It was quiet for about 2 minutes.

I looked down at the camera and saw him pull a bag of sour gummy worms from our picnic date earlier out of his nightstand and open them up.

"My b, but I think you should tell Mariah. I can only imagine that Kordell didn't tell her because he doesn't want her to worry and plus he prolly doesn't wanna be seen as a bad influence."

I shook my head. "Got it. I can text her right now. She'll probably see it in the morning if she's asleep."

"Good thanks ma."

"No problem. If you need anything else just lemme know."

"Bet." He replied and ate more gummy worms. "So about this carnival...." He started.

"Would it be our second "date" is what you're about to ask?"

He looked down into the camera and smiled. "You know me all too well, but yea. Wassup wit it?"

"Yes." I replied. "It can be a date."

"Well it can only be a date if we do headass shit that couples normally do at fairs."

"But we ain't a couple though." I replied.

"Oh word? Check ya purse."

"My purse?" I got up from my bed and walked over to my purse I placed on my desk. I zipped it open and felt around. "What am I supposed to fin-" Just then, I felt a little slip of paper that I didn't remember leaving in there.

"Open it up and read it out loud." Bryson said.

I opened up the note and cleared my throat.

"You the one that I want in my life
You the one that I want every night
You the one that I want on my side
Promise for you I'll ride
I need you to be there for me
I'm so deep up in these streets
I stay clutching on my heat
I know these niggas wan' kill me"

I bust out laughing. "Bryson...you know this is YoungBoy right?"

"Duh ma. Skip after that part. Read the next part."

I read down and began to read out loud again.

"Isis. This finna be sappy as shit but just bare wimme. A nigga not used to doing this shit." I walked over to my bed and sat down on top of the covers and kept reading.

"Every time I talk to you, I get so nervous. Every damn time and ion get it. It's like every time I wanna make a good impression on you cause I be feelin' like you'd never fall for a nigga like me." I looked down at the camera and saw Bryson looking back at me.

"Keep reading." He replied.

"I been had a crush on you in middle school but you were always so wrapped up in school and I knew I was never someone you prolly paid any attention to since I was wild and did my own shit." I giggled.

"With you in my life now...it's like everything has gotten better...no cap and yea that sounds corny as hell but it's true. You make my life 10x better bruh. I never thought we would even get to the point where we FaceTiming and hanging out, but I'm glad we got to where we at. We boutta go to the same college and spend 4 more years together so I wanted to know...will you be my girlfriend Isis Ray?"

My mouth dropped open and I looked into the camera and saw him smiling back at me. "So?" He asked.

"I-Um- YEA OF COURSE BRYSON! I wish I could hug you right now. When the fuck did you put this in purse though?"

"To be honest, I can't even remember. Think it was earlier today before we left for the lil picnic date."

"Aw well that was really sweet and thoughtful. So like...we official official?"

"Hell yuh. Now we can do the headass shit that couples do at the fair."

"Yess and we can "pop out" by posting a cute fair picture." I squealed and got mad excited.

"Damn. I really pulled Isis Ray. Never thought in a million years I'd be this lucky."

"Well this whole time I liked you so it was gonna happen at some point. I just thought we would meet again in the future if we didn't go to the same college but look at God."

"He's the goat. No cap." He chuckled.

"Period pooh! I like that we ended on a good note. We should go to sleep now."

"I agree. We both goin' on mute like last time?"

"Yessir." I nodded and got back under my covers. "In 3..." I started.

"Wait!"

"Yes babes?"

"I love you ma. I mean that shit."

"I love you too baby." I smiled and bit my lip.

"Ok you can finish countin'."

"2...1..." I finished and heard the sound go off on his end.

I set my phone aside on the pillow next to me since I have a Full sized bed and kicked the covers in excitement.

Bryson is my fucking boyfriend! Wow bruh.

He finna be my college boo too.

Ain't no way I'm messing this up.