"Camila there's nothing to argue about! I don't want you on that side of town." My mother explained while making breakfast.
"Mom, what's so bad about it? I'm almost eighteen years old. You can't keep trying to hold me back from certain things." I almost yelled. We've been talking about this whole situation for about twenty minutes. Ever since I woke up this morning I've been getting lectured on how a lady should not be in that part of the city.
"What's so bad about it? Camila, there's thugs that run around the streets. There's so much drug trafficking going on around there, it's ridiculous." Mother said, sounding a little more frustrated.
"Mom, please trust me. Ari is not like that, she's new to the school and needs new friends. An ever since Angela moved, I haven't had any friends. Please just let me hang out with Ari." I pleaded some more. "I don't know about letting you go off on that side of town. I want to meet this girl." My mother declared. "Deal." I bluntly responded. "Deal? Girl don't play with me, this is a privilege, not a deal." My mother snapped while scrambling some more eggs. "Now go on now." My mother smiled while motioning for me to leave.
Yes, my mother is strict, but she also listens. Unlike my father, he doesn't really listen as much. It's either his way, or no way. I walked into my room and laid out on my bed.
I can't believe James actually showed up at my house, and basically ratted me out. He's freaking crazy.
*Bzz Bzz*
Text from Ari:
Hey girl. How was last night?
I smiled at the thought of last night. Caz is a funny guy, it felt nice to be able to get out and have a conversation with someone besides James.
Text to Ari:
It was great. Had a blast, for sure need to get together again some time.
Text from Ari:
I'm going to the mall today, since it's over in yo direction you wanna come? I'll pick you up.
Text to Ari:
Definitely! I'll be ready in an hour.
I quickly jumped up and made my way to the shower. I washed my hair and body, and hurried and got out. I didn't feel like dressing up too much today so I decided to keep it basic. A pair of leggings, and a "Gates Academy" hoodie, considering it was cold as shit outside.
I threw my hair up into slicked back ponytail, applied some lip gloss, and ran down the stairs.
"Momma! Ari is on her way to get me so we can go to the mall. Come on if you wanna meet her!" I yelled.
"I'm coming, I'm coming. Hell." My mother said while coming out the kitchen. "She should be here any minute." I said while grabbing my purse.
"Where you going Camila?" My sister asked. "To the mall, why what's up?" I asked, knowing she wanted something. "Can you get me a smoothie please? With those little jello shapes in them?" She asked while making a puppy dog face. "Sure brat." I smiled while rolling my eyes.
"She's here, come on." My mother said while opening the front door. We walked out to Ari's car where we seen her listening to her music.
"Ari, this is my mom Mrs. Mendez, mom this is Ari." I introduced the two. Ari stepped out of the car and shook my mother hands. "Nice to meet you Mrs. Mendez." She smiled, and put on a fake proper accent. "Nice to meet you too darling, you girls have fun now. I'll see you later." My mom said before turning an kissing me on the cheek. I walked over to the passenger side of the car and got in.
"What was that? Your rich people voice?" I laughed.
"Been practicing, how was it?" She smiled while starting up the car. "Uh, I invited some of my friends to meet us up there. That's cool right?" She asked.
"Of course." I reassured her.
Considering the mall wasn't that far from my house, we pulled up within a couple of minutes.
We both got out of the car and walked into the mall food court.
I seen Mikey, Deonte, Pooh, and Caz sitting in the food court. Whenever we walked up up they were all laughing. "Nigga, yo ass built like a beer bottle. Shut yo ass up." Caz laughed while making fun of Mikey. "Bet bitch, what the hell you look like?" Mikey snapped back. "Yo ride home." Caz winked. I smiled at their childishness. "Wassup girl?" Caz greeted me while patting on the seat next to him, motioning for me to sit down. I sat down in the seat and watched as everyone was staring. "So rich girl, Ari told us last night was your first party." Deonte said while leaning back in his seat.
"Yeah, definitely not what I expected. " I nodded my head.
"Is that a bad thing, or a good thing?" Caz asked.
"For sure a good thing. It was bigger and a little more uh-"
"Turnt?" Ari finished my sentence for me.
"Yeah turnt." I laughed.
"Girl we need to help you loosen up. You're so stuck up." Mikey laughed while softly hitting my arm.
"Leave her alone, she'll loosen up when she's a little more comfortable with us." Ari said while rolling her eyes.
"Guys, I'm fine. Really." I smiled, feeling my face slowly heating up indicating that I was most likely turning red. Great. Why must I be such a shy person?
"Well, iono about y'all but I came here to get the new foam posits." Mikey jumped up and said.
We all got up and basically went our separate ways. Ari, Pooh, and I made our way to the Polo store, while the boys went straight into Foot Locker.
"Ight rich girl, if you're going to be hanging with us, we need you to at least have a little more style." Ari joked.
"Hey, on my defense I've never really hung out with people like that. Or ever really went anywhere." I laughed while rolling my eyes. We walked over to a section that had a bunch of different color Polo jogging suits.
"We should totally get matching suits Camila." Ari said while looking at the different colors.
"For sure." I smiled.
"Say fasho." Pooh laughed. "You're just so damn proper it doesn't even make since. I feel like I'm speaking to some high class person." She said while shaking her head.
"Is it that mad?" I laughed out. "Eh. You just make us feel a little illiterate. You're all "Hello, how are you?" and we're over here like "Ayo, wassup?"" Pooh said while picking up a yellow jumpsuit.
"Well damn, didn't realize the difference." Isaid shrugging my shoulders.
I knew they were just kidding any time they had something to say about how I talk or acted. So it really didn't bother me.
"What color do y'all wanna get?" Ari asked.
"Who said they gotta be the same color?" Pooh added.
"True. Well I'm getting white. It'll look cute with my braids." Ari said while looking for her size.
I decided to get a red one, since it's my favorite color. Pooh grabbed an all black one and we went and paid for our stuff.
We decided to go look around and find some more stuff.
"Aye rich girl, you ever had your hair braided?" Pooh asked. I shook my head no.
"Can I braid your tonight? I'm trying to get my name out with braiding. I love doing hair." Pooh explained. "Sure, y'all want to come over and stay at my house tonight?" I asked the girls.
"Let's do it." Ari smiled as we walked into the next store.
"Can I ask what's up with Diamond and Caz?" I questioned while looking through some clothes.
"Not shit. Diamond been obsessing over my brother ever since he made it big. Before the lil fame he got, she didn't want shit to do with him. Nigga done got some money in his pocket and now she's sucking his dick every other night." Ari bluntly explained.
"Well then, thanks for the brief summary." I laughed out.
"No problem. I just dead ass dislike that girl. She's fake. I put up with her long enough for my brother's sake, but now I'm just fed up." She responded.
"Hell Caz don't even want nothing to do with her. She will not leave him alone." Pooh added on.
"When I snatch them dusty ass braid out her head, she'll leave him alone." Ari said while scrunching up her face and rolling her eyes.
"It's that deep?" I asked.
"Yes girl. Listen, I love my brother to death. I've supported his every move. I was there when he was in and out of juvie. After mom died, him and my dad tried so hard to hold the family together. He's such a good person, too good of a person to be messing with a messy ass lil girl like Diamond. I just want what's best for my brother. To make it out these damn streets." Diamond explained her point.
"I feel you. If he's already doing so good, she's just going to drag him down." I said. I one hundred percant agree with Ari. Diamond doesn't seem like no good. I knew I got a weird vibe from her.
"See rich girl. I fuck witcha." She smiled.
We took our stuff that we got, and went and paid for it. We decided to go find the boys, and get ready to go.
"We been looking for ya'll for the past thirty minutes." Mikey said while wrapping his arm around Ari. "Sorry, we got caught up with girl talk." Ari smiled.
"Aye, we gotta go to the hair store and then we're staying with Camila tonight." Pooh informed the boys.
"Ight coo. We gotta go to the studio tonight and finish up this song." Caz said while reaching in his pocket to find his keys.
"Well, I promised a little girl a smoothie. So, I can grab that and we can go." I said while walking back towards the food court.
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"One medium strawberry, banana smoothie with heart shaped jellos please." I ordered.
"Camila?" I heard Caz call me from behind. "Hmm?" I hummed.
"I wanted to tell you, thank you for being Ari's friend. She was nervous about going to the new school, and standing out too much." He thanked me.
"Of course. Ari is a nice person, hell she was checking on me before she even knew me." I chuckled.
"That's Ari for you. She's always making sure people's alright. It's a blessing and a curse at the same time." He remarked.
I snickered at his response. I loved how much love you can see between the two. You can really tell they're so close.
"You have a little sister?" Caz queried.
"Yes, her names Cathina." I replied.
"How old is she?" He asked.
"Ten, about to turn eleven. She thinks she's twenty five though." I smiled thinking about how Cathina has a mind of her own.
"Ahh, I see." He spoke.
"One Medium strawberry, banana smoothie. That'll be two fifty."
I gave the worker the money and turned to find the rest of the group.
"You guys ready?" I questioned.
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We pulled into the parking lot of the hair store. After listening to Ari go on, and on about Mikey I think I was just ready to get home and take a serious nap.
"You ever been inside a hair store? You got good ass hair, doesn't seem like you'd need to come inside of one of these." Ari asked while getting out the car. "Yeah, my mom stays in the hair store. Always trying to find natural products for her hair." I responded. I actually liked going into the hair store. When I was little I'd try on all the wigs and run around like a lunatic.
"Ou girl. I seen your momma's hair. It's so pretty. She needs to tell me her secret." Ari said.
"You can ask her tonight." I chuckled.
We walked into the hair store and went right over to the braiding hair. "Ight so, you got kind of a big head, which means lots of hair, which mean we gone need bags on bags." Pooh said widening her eyes as she looked at my hair.
"Thanks?" I responded thinking about the big head comment.
We all agreed on getting twenty bags, just to be on the safe side. Plus she said she's still earning, so she needs extras just in case she messes up. After collecting the items we needed we headed back to my house.
"Holy shit, your house is big as hell." Ari exclaimed. "Fasho. Makes my house seem like a shoebox." Pooh agreed as she look around. "Trust me guys, it's not all that." I shrugged my shoulders while running up the stairs.
"Your room is pretty." Pooh observed.
"Guys stop. You're like little kids in a candy shop." I laughed.
"Sorry girl. Just ain't used to stuff like this." Ari explained.
We set up the area so Pooh could begin on my hair.
-
-
"Tell me about yourselves. I want to get to know you guys a little more." I said as Pooh tugged and pulled on my hair.
"Well, I'm an only child. I stay with my mom. Dad ditched us when I was a little girl. Ever since then, it's kind of just been us. Making it day by day." Pooh explained.
"Damn. Why did he leave, if I may ask." I questioned.
"I ask myself that question everyday. He just up and left, I don't remember much of him. Even when he was home, all he did was run the streets anyways." She added.
"I'm sorry." I sympathetically said.
"Shit don't be. Me and my mom's are straight. We take care of each other." She confirmed.
"My mom died a couple years back. Cancer got her." Ari started her story.
"She was beautiful. Real old school. She always told me brother and father they needed to get out the streets. Told them God had a better plan for them. She never judged them though, just supported them and made sure there was a hot meal waiting for them once they walked through the front door. Sometime I can still hear her preaching to them; telling them that no matter what God would protect them. How she's never not prayed for them. And she wasn't lying. I would always catch her talking to God. Asking her to protect her babies and to lead them in the right direction. Right after Caz started taking off, that's when they found the cancer. Told us it was too late, that it was already too strong. We were all acting a full in the doctors office, but the whole time she was strong. Held her head high and told us, God never makes a mistake. I never understood how that women was so strong. She managed to keep all of us on our feet, and never once folded. That's my biggest inspiration. She inspired me to do something with my life. Finish school, and become a nurse or something. That lady was my wonder woman fasho." Ari teared up while finishing out her story.
"She sounded like a very beautiful woman. I know you'll make her proud." I said trying to hold back tears. I honestly don't know what I'd do if I'd lost my mother.
"You two are so strong. I'd never think that you've been through this much." I said while turning my head so Pooh could start on the right side of my head.
"We can show no signs of weakness Camila. You don't do that, damn sure not in these streets. We all might be family, but you can't trust everyone. They see you folding even just a little bit, and they're on ya ass." Pooh explained. "But what's your story rich girl?" She added.
"Not really much to tell. I mean, my dad owns a business, that's how he supports us. They think I don't know, but I overheard my parents talking. We're slowly going out of business, and it's really taken a toll on my family. Y'all see this big house, and money. That's not what I see. I see a broken home, slowly falling apart. My mother and father haven't been happy with each other in years. I don't really care about the money, it's more of my family. If we went broke tomorrow, it wouldn't matter to me." I explained.
"That's real. Why do you think your fathers business is going down?" Ari asked.
"Honestly, I don't know. Maybe because of today's economy? I don't question it considering they don't even know I know. They think I'm completely oblivious to everything going on." I added.
"That's crazy. I hope everything turns out okay." Pooh said.
"Thanks." I smiled.
"Hey what's up with you and that guy? The asshole." Ari asked.
"Oh James? Basically, he's controlling as hell, and I've been trying to get away from him." I honestly answered.
"Girl you better cut that nigga off." Ari made a face.
"I've tried. He won't go away. It's like he's addicted to controlling my life, ever since we ha- never mind." I cut myself off.
"Let me guess, every since y'all had sex? That's nigga's for you. They take your virginity and think you belong to them." Ari rolled her eyes. "Nigga's ain't shit." Pooh laughed out.
"Nah, I wouldn't say that. Not all niggas is like that. Mikey is different. He understands me." She took up for Mikey.
"Well, most niggas ain't shit." I added. We all started laughing.
"Speaking of niggas. I wonder what the boys are doing." Pooh chimed in.
"They at the studio. Caz is helping the boys try to get their names out there." Ari explained.
"We should go see them after I finish Camila's hair." Pooh said.
"Fasho. It's not that late anyways, only like six o'clock."
-
-
After what seemed like forever, Pooh was finally done with my hair. My head felt so heavy, and no lie, it hurt like hell.
"Ouu girl, you look fine as hell. Go look." Ari hyped my head on a little.
I walked over to the mirror. The braids were really long, a little past my waist, but they were pretty. "Thank you Pooh, how much do I owe you?" I asked.
"Shit girl. Nothing, you cool people. I fucks witcha." Pooh smiled.
"Ight y'all, let's get going to the studio. It's already almost nine." Ari pointed out.
We walked out to the car and rushed our way to the studio. We weren't really on the bad side of the city, almost in the middle.
We got out and walked into this tall building. "Caz is cool people with the owners of this place, so they let him record her for free from time to time." Ari explained as we walked through the building.
We walked down this long hall and went into this room where we found the boys.
Mikey was in the booth, and Caz was messing around on the soundboard.
"Ight, that was good. But you coming in a little too fast, wait for the second verse." Caz told Mikey. "Wassup y'all?" He turned his attention on us.
"This is so cool." I said while looking around at the studio. "You ever seen a studio before?" Caz asked. "In movies." I shook my head.
"Well shorty, welcome to my second home. This where all of our futures are starting." He said with a smile, slightly showing his grill. I could feel myself literally starting to blush.
"So, what y'all got so far?" Pooh asked while stretching out on a couch over by the wall.
"Working on getting Mikey some exposure. His song is really good, I just think we need a real good catchy hook. My dawg can rap, but his ass can not sing for shit." Caz chuckled. "So I think that's what we're gonna be doing tomorrow, finding a female to do the part." He continued.
"Want me to do it?" I offered. I used to be in choir, so I had no doubt that I could do it. Plus it seemed fun. So why the hell not?
"Let me find out you talented bitch." Ari joked.
"Ehh, I think I can do it. Wanna try something and see if I got the vocals?" I asked, feeling a little too confident.
"Well, come on shorty. Let's see what you got." Caz said motioning for me to go into the booth.
"Ight Camila. Show us what you got, sing whatever. This is just me trying to see where your voice is at." Caz instructed.
I took a second to think about what song I wanted to sing. I remember something I had heard off of facebook a little bit ago, and decided to go with that.
Maybe I'm just too G for you
Maybe I'm just too street
I can't even roll in peace
Everybody notice me
I can't even go to sleep
I'm rolling on a bean
They tried to give me eight got on my knees like "Jesus please"
He don't even believe in Jesus
Why you got a Jesus piece
If you wanna leave just leave
But you ain't gotta lie to me
Even the blind can see
That you ain't gon' ride for me
You ain't even showing me the love you say you got for me
Ain't no loyalty, you lied to me
You said that you was gon' ride for me
I sung out the lyrics, making sure to keep my eyes close because Lord knows I was nervous.
I opened my eyes to find everyone staring back at me.
"Was I that bad?" I asked, feeling a little puzzled.
"Nah shorty. You was perfect." Caz said, letting a little smile escape his lips, again showing off his grill. Something about his damn grill, made him at least ten times more attractive.
"Really, I can go again if you want?" I asked, feeling a little proud of myself. I mean hell, a popular rapper just told me my singing was perfect. Who wouldn't be excited? On the outside, I was trying to be calm. In my head, I was jumping with joy.
"Can you give me a few minutes together to put a chorus together, and I want to get you right back in the booth so we can try it out?" Caz asked. "Of course." I said, a big ass smile forming on my face.
I stepped out the booth and walked over to the other girls. "Ight now girl, you dead ass killed that shit. I see you rich girl." Pooh boosted my head. "OKAY BITCH. I see you. Get some lil braids in ya head, and you feeling a lil hood huh?" Ari laughed while flipping my braids over my shoulder.
"That song has been stuck in my head for weeks, like no lie." I laughed.
"Aye Shorty, come here real quick." Caz called out. I walked over to him and sat in the seat by his. "Ight so listen, I'm loving your voice right now. It's going to go perfect with this song. I want to put something together that will really sound out, something catchy." He said while writing stuff down on a piece of paper. "You need help?" I offered. "Sure whatcha got?" He asked.
"Well first of all, what's Mikey's song about? It's gotta go with his lyrics." I said.
"Facts. Well basically his song is about love. You know Mikey got a lil soft spot." He giggled.
"Okay, okay. So, I think I might have something in mind." I smiled.
"Well, gon ahead shorty." He scooted the paper over to me. I picked up the pencil and started writing down lyrics that came to my head.
-
-
"Okay, be honest. Is this okay?" I asked him. He sat up and looked over at the paper. He read the lyrics and nodded his head. "I like it, let's getchu in the booth shorty." He smiled. I jumped up and went into the booth. I placed the headphones on, and waited for his cue.
"Go ahead, it's all you."
I just can't believe in it, I done put my trust so deep in you.
Far away, my eyes can't see with you.
I told you I love you, but my love is see through
I don't wanna feel like everything wrong, feels so right.
On my own, no ain no light. Don't fall off, just hold on tight.
"Was that good?" I asked while taking the headphones off.
"Yes ma'am, let me do some minor adjustments and we set to go." He nodded. I walked out the booth and went and sat down on the couch with the other girls.
As I was walking out the room I could feel Caz staring at me, which definitely caused me to tense up.
"Girl you lowkey turnt." Ari added. "And I'm lowkey tired, so I'm taking a nap." Pooh said as she stretched out on the couch. "I gotta talk to Mikey, I'll come back in in a few." Ari informed me as she got up to walk out the door.
I decided I would go see what Caz was putting together.
"Whatcha doing?" I asked while sitting next to him. "What I do best." He smiled.
"Why do you like music so much?" I questioned.
"It helps me escape. Plus, I'm good at it." He answered while playing around with some buttons. A slow beat started playing in the background. "We all got different escape methods don't we?" He asked while leaning back in his chair, placing both arms behind his head.
"Definitely." I replied.
"Iono if you've noticed, but we all have the same common goal. Making it out. You might hear us talking about it a lot, but it's because that's all we want to do. For once, we want to feel like we got some typa purpose. My purpose? It's to make it out doing what I do best, and then afterwards, bring my whole family with me. Music is my ticket out." He explained.
"What pushed you to want to rap?"
"It was on accident actually. Just chillin with some boys, and we was freestyling. I started spittin out some good shit. Mikey told me I should make a song, so I did. People loved it. Thought it was some real shit that I was saying. Hell, even my ma was fucking with it. That's when I kinda seen a future for not only myself, but everybody else. Decided I wasn't gonna stop. Started getting better, and better." He told me while looking up at the roof.
"I love the vibe everyone has with each other. You guys are a real family. Every time one of y'all talk about making it, it's never just about yourselves. Y'all add everyone else to it too." I continued on with the conversation.
"Of course. We all grew up together. We just wanna watch each other eat. That's what family does." He added.
"I've never had anything like that. My family doesn't really care what I want. It's more of what they think I should do, because they think they know best." I expressed.
"What do you want to do?" He asked, raising up to make eye contact.
"Honestly? I don't know. I haven't really done much, to know my options. My parents expect me to be some lawyer or something." I rolled my eyes.
"imma be real witcha, it's not about what they want. At the end of the day, if it doesn't make you happy it's a waste of time. You need to get out, explore more. Find what fits you, and makes you happy." He encouraged.
"Easier said than done. It's hard getting them to listen."
"Make them listen. If they don't hear you at first, eventually they will. " He added. "Tell me, what's yo escape?"
"Mine? Definitely writing. I love it." I answered.
"What do you love about it? What typa writing?" He asked, sounding very interested.
"Anything. Stories, poetry, songs sometimes. I love doing it, because you can express yourself in a different way. It's like taking the pain from inside of you, and throwing it on some paper. It's a lot easier than talking about it." I explained.
"Well there you go shorty. Use that as your starting point. You like writing? Then write. Write a book, write some music. Start off small, and then go big." He sounded like he was getting a little eager.
"You're right, I'll for sure think about that." I smiled.
"Good. Because real shit, I seen you sit here and write out some lyrics in what, five minutes? Go into the booth, and sing them. I would have never had that courage when I first started. I see something in you, not sure what it is. But I'm feeling it. You ever wanna link and put something together, you let me know. I got you shorty." He said while looking me up and down.
I was listening to everything that he was saying, but trust me... it was hard. I just loved looking at him. I really don't know how to put in words. Like what the hell is this? Do I have a small crush on ole dude? Hell. I don't know, but I'm blocking the feeling out.
"Thank you, for real. That really means a lot." I smiled. I looked down at the clock and realized it was a little past eleven. "We better get going, it's getting kind of late." I said while standing up.
"Ight. It was nice seeing you. I'm guessing I'll see you again real soon." He smiled. I nodded my head and walked over to Pooh.
"Aye, Pooh. Get up." I shook her a bit until she was awake. We walked out the room and out to the parking lot where we found Mikey and Ari laughing.
"Y'all ready to go?" Ari asked.
"Yeah, it kind of late." I responded. She nodded her head, and turned to give Mikey a kiss.
"Ight y'all, drive safe." Mikey called out before walking in.
"Sooo, how was it?" Ari asked while starting the car.
"How was what?" I questioned.
"Girl I know you was in the chattin it up with my brother. Wassup with y'all? Y'all vibing with each other or what?" She asked.
"He's really nice. I like him, but we're just friends. Nothing more, nothing less." I assured her.
"Girl I seen they way y'all be looking at each other. Y'all thought I was sleep on that couch. Nu uh girl, I was getting front row seats to a ghetto love story." Pooh laughed out.
"Oh that's funny." Ari giggled.
I just shook my head and looked out the window. I couldn't get his smile out my head. Or the way he talked, hell the way he walked. Boys at my school, are nothing like him. He's different, and I'm absolutely loving it.
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How'd guys like this chapter?
I really wanted to focus on getting to know the characters a little more. Kinda see where everyone's heads at and allow Camila a chance to get to know everyone, and kind of fill them out.
Hope you guys enjoyed. ♥️
-Nicki ❤️