Kelly

"Yeah, he surprised me with this" Courtney said showing me her necklace as we sat in the lunchroom.

It was now lunch, which means one more class and I'm out of here. I was happy to come back to school after my 14 day suspension, but now I'm realizing school is highkey dreadful.

"Damn" I whispered looking at her diamond necklace."he got my bitch iced up" I exclaimed.

We both shared a laugh before warren plopped down next to Courtney.

After seeing warren talk to prince that one day I started noticing him in class. So that's how I learned his name.

"What you want warren" Courtney said rolling her eyes. He smiled showing his dimples."Courtney? Why you be curving a nigga? Give a youngin' a chance" he said grabbing her hand.

She snatched her hand away."I have a nigga. No thanks"

I chuckled while watching the scene. I support Marcus and Courtney but while looking at these two argue I noticed they'd be kinda cute together.

I shook my head."I'm about to go get some hot Cheetos...y'all what something?" I asked.

"Yeah let me get s-" warren began to say until Courtney interrupted."aht aht" She said putting her hand up to him."bestie don't get this nigga nothing. Can you get me a snickers"

"Girl" I said before laughing. I walked away hearing Warren suck his teeth and tell Courtney."You he acting so corny courtney"

When I came up to the vending machine I instantly lost the thought of getting hot Cheetos when I seen some ruffles.

"Ugh" I sighed not knowing what I want. I felt somebody tap me on the shoulder causing me to tense up. I turned around and relaxed when I seen it was just Prince.

"Hey" I said turning back around, pressing the number to the snickers for Courtney."wassup, you been ignoring the hell out of me" he said playing with my crochet Senegalese twist.

I ended up taking my hair out and getting it done by this girl named shalonda who live in the same projects as me. 

I've been going to her for a long time and every time I went she slayed the hell out of me.

"Watch out" I said grabbing the snickers and turning around."and my bad a lots been going on" I finished.

I tried walking past him but failed as he grabbed my arm."whats been going on?"

I furrowed my eyebrows and snatched away."don't touch me, and mind yo' business"

He put his hands up in surrender and backed away a little."my bad, my bad, you right" he smirked while looking me up and down, then licked his lips.

I had on high waisted black jeans with rips on the knees,a plain white shirt, block bomber jacket, and all white Air Forces.

"Damn" He said lowly, but I still heard him. I sucked my teeth and walked past him like I intended to do the first time.

I sat back down at the table and handed Courtney her snickers."you didn't get nothing?" She asked taking the chocolate.

"Nah" I said grabbing my bookbag and pulling out my notebook. I looked at the clock on my phone seeing we had about 20 more minutes left of lunch left. I was going to take advantage of these 20 minutes and draw.

Drawing was something I had a passion for. I started drawing when I was 10, my dad was a artist as well. He drew real good and when he showed me a painting he did of my mother I instantly had a heart for drawing.

I felt a presence next to me, I looked over then went back to paying attention to my drawing when I seen it was just prince . "That's dope" he said peeking over my shoulder.

I looked over at him and smiled."You think so? I've been working on it for awhile" I said looking at the drawing.

The painting was a person eye, with tears coming out. The tears dropped and formed into a rose.

I felt the picture was to represent the pain of someone, which is why their crying. Roses symbolize balance, and represent hope, promise,and new beginnings.

So basically the picture explains the pain your feeling will make you stronger and will better yourself.

"Let me see" Warren said reaching over and grabbing my notebook. I looked at him with my head tilted.

"Damn princess, you can draw" he said turning the notebook multiple angles."Let me see" Courtney said snatching the notebook.

I chuckled at warrens facial expression, I felt prince looking at me but I ignored him."c'mon guys be careful with my drawing" I whined.

"That's my bestfriend!" She exclaimed."yesss, why haven't you showed me this?" Courtney said pouting.

The bell rung causing me to quickly get up." I gotta go, can you give me that?" I asked. Courtney stood up and grabbed her book bag, then handed me the notebook."that's bomb as fuck Kelly, like real shit"

She said as we walked side by side. Warren and Prince disappeared somewhere.

"Thanks Courtney" I said nearly putting the notebook back into my bookbag. "And I haven't showed anybody the drawing, until today" I chuckled.

"I knew you could draw..but that? Wow" she said looking at me with a smile.

I smiled back and thought about my drawing.

Hopefully all this struggle and pain will go away, and form into something beautiful.

Just like the drawing.

———————

Woowoo

I sat in the car with my dad and Warren. We was talking about this hit we was doing, and counting money.

"So" my dad said tying a rubber band around the stack of money he just counted."your taking Warren with you?"

"Yeah" I simply said turning my phone off and sliding it into my pocket."That's a problem or something?"

"Nah" He said shaking his head."actually I'm proud you is taking him. He needs to get used to being a hit man"

I furrowed my eyebrows and looked back to warren. He had his solo beats on and was on his phone, not paying attention.

"Man" I sighed, looking back forward."pops me and warren talked the other day and he said he wanted to go to college and shit"

"Ok..and?" My Dad said looking at me then back to the money he's counting."He still gone do the job, he can take his ass to college but he not backing out the game"

I took a deep breath."what you mean he not backing out? You gone force him or some shit like that?" I asked.

My dad chuckled."come on now prince. This shit runs in the family. You start off a hit man and when you get my age? You gone have it all"

"Maybe I don't wanna do this shit nomore" I said scratching my head. "Oh hell nah" my dad said before starting the car.

"Where we going?" I asked."We going somewhere. I'm finna show you why this shit so deep son. You talking all that dumb shit right now"

"Yeah aight" I said waving him off. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked my texts.

I smiled when I seen Kelly text me.

Text start:

Kelly: Hey, my bad I haven't texted back since you last texted me...wyd?"

Me: yeah you buggin but shit I'm chilling wyd this weekend?

Text end:

After realizing she wasn't going to text back I put my phone back into my pocket.

"Who got you smiling like that?" My Dad asked.

"Princess" Warren said."oh so now you wanna take yo headphones out nigga" I said rolling my eyes.

"Who the fuck is princess?" He said stopping at a red light.

"Nykell" I said.

"Prince what did I tell you?" My Dad said shaking his head, continuing to drive as the light turned green.

"I don't fuck with her" I said getting annoyed."I'm doing what yo told me to do"

"That's good to hear. Speaking of Nykell her grandma having a little barbecue this weekend. We gone pull through for a quick minute aight?"

"Hell yeah" warren exclaimed."Some good home made food"

"Hell yeah" my dad mocked him."we all know yo momma can't cook"

"Stop playing with me pops" warren said getting salty.

I chuckled and shook my head, pulling my hoodie on and going to sleep.

I could tell this ride was going to be a long one.

—————————

Courtney

"Marcusss" I whined as he kept turning his head every time I tried giving him a kiss. "Aight aight" he laughed finally giving me a kiss.

Our kiss turned into a French kiss, our tongues danced together. He pulled away and looked at me for a second."damn" he sighed.

"What?" I asked with furrowed eyebrows. He lit a blunt so I rolled my window down.

"I don't know Courtney, it's like I love being lowkey with you cause my family not all in our business and shit" he started."but at the same time I getting deep ass feelings for yo ass and I wanna start bring you around"

I sighed already knowing where this conversation was going."Marcus please don't start this" I said looking at him.

"Nah I'm not starting nothing Courtney I just don't wanna keep this shit lowkey nomore"he said taking a few hits of his blunt.

"You know damn well if my mom find out she'd make sure I never see you again. Her and yo brother still together you know how much tension that'll be between them?" I said.

"I don't understand why you think that it's not like I'm grown as hell"

"Marcus you gone be 18 next month, I'm 16 my Mom Is not going to allow that"

He was quiet for a bit, he took another hit of his blunt then put it out.

"Courtney if you can't tell yo mom we together I can't be with you"

I jerked my head back."you got me fucked up Dwayne" I said calling him by his middle name."that's some wack ass shit forreal. I'm not telling her because I love you and she gone break us apart."

"Nah" he said shaking his head."Courtney we been messing around for almost 2 years now. I'm ready for you to meet my moms and shit. We can't do that because you scared of what others may think."

"So what you tryna say? Since I'm trying to protect our relationship from my mom by not telling her you don't wanna be with me?" I asked felling my eyes get hot.

"If you wanna put it like that, yeah" he said looking at me.

"Bye Marcus" I said opening the car door. He grabbed my arm and pulled me into the car, then reached over and closed the door."stop playing with me"

Tears was already coming down my face.I covered my face with my hands and began crying.

I heard him sigh."Court-"

"No! Stop because you just fucking said if I can't tell my mom about us you can't be with me. That's fucked up because you know the deal with us. You already know how much I love you and you got me dude. You shouldn't need approval from my mom"

I wiped my tears and pulled my hoodie on."fuck you and this necklace I don't want nothing to do you with" I yanked the necklace off my neck and tossed it to him.

I opened the door And proceeded my way into the apartment.

I couldn't help but burst out crying even more.

My heart was broke.