"She's out! Congratulations, it's a girl!"
"Oh my days, thank you so much! My baby girl. What should I call her, Cas?"
"Brianna. I like the name Brianna."
𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐜𝐚'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕
𝟐 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫
You and Prince hugged. You hugged. It was so weird. You've been avoiding each other since it happened, but it's pretty hard because you live in the same house.
Every time you bump into each other, it's more awkward than before. Neither of you know which to go and you end up just standing there for a few seconds, staring at each other.
That's another thing you noticed about him. He was heavy on eye contact and it makes you even more uncomfortable. You preferred talking to him while looking at the floor.
"Look at me."
His deep voice filled your ears and you turned to meet his eyes. You were both sat on the sofa, eating Chinese takeaway. "What?"
"...how you feelin?"
You nearly passed out? Now he cares? Ever since he told you that Terrence killed Marcel, he's been more interested in your feelings. "How you feeling?"
He smirked a little. "I dare you to tell me how you're feeling."
"I dare you to say the same thing."
"The same thing."
You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion. "What?"
"You dared me to say 'the same thing' so I said it." It made you almost laugh. He's such a baby. "On a real though: how you feelin?"
And it's back to being awkward. He's just... what's the word?
Bipolar.
He doesn't care, then, all of a sudden, he does. "I'm fine. Can I call you Casyo? There's no point calling you Prince when I know your gov."
"Dunno," he shrugged, focusing back on his chow mein. All you can hear now is the faint sound of the TV in front of you. "I guess. I dunno what you get outta that but... whatever."
Silence again. It's not nice when the room's quiet but neither of you have anything else to say. This is all new to you. Casyo's not being a dickhead for once. He can be. But you have a sense that he's trying not to. You don't know why, though. The doorbell rang so you jumped up. "I'll answer it."
You didn't particularly care for who it was; you just wanted to escape that drowning silence. You looked through the peephole, but you couldn't see anybody. Either no one was there, or the person was really small. "Who is it?"
"Cas?" Said a high pitched voice. You opened the door slowly and looked down. A little girl with a lot of hair was standing on the other side, wearing a huge smile on her face.
When she saw you, her smile faded instantly. "I'm looking for Cas," she stated.
"Cas?" She meant Casyo - in other words, Prince. You never knew he had a daughter. But then again, you didn't know much about him. He's 17, though. She seemed too old to be his daughter. "How old are you?"
"I'm looking for Cas," she repeated.
Rude. You frowned, "does he know you?"
"I'm looking for Cas." She said nothing more and nothing less.
You didn't know whether to let this girl in or not. She seemed harmless, but you had no idea who she was and why she was here. "Listen, I can't let you in if you don't answer my question. Are you talking about Casyo or not? Does he know you?"
"...I'm looking for Cas."
"Fuck's sake," you muttered under your breath. It's like you weren't talking English. Just then, Casyo came to the door. As soon as he saw the little girl's face, his breathing quickened. "Do you know her?" You asked.
"Hi Cas."
He started moving weird. It's like the girl's doing something to him with her cheery smile and cute voice. "Why you here?" He finally spoke up. "What happened to your mum?"
"She got stabbed."
Her mum got stabbed and she's standing here all bubbly and shit? At least she had a mum. You didn't even know yours. "Is she dead?" Casyo asked, rubbing his beard. You noticed he did that when he was stressed. You wanted to do it for him. You wanted to calm him down.
No you don't, Becca.
"She's dead to me, whether she's dead or not." The little girl wiggled in between your legs and made her way into the house. You were in shock. She seems so nonchalant. So calm. "Why you guys still standing there?"
~ • ~
"I'll pay you."
"How much?"
"10 bags."
"Not enough."
You watched Casyo and this girl go back and forth. They've been like this for the past 4 hours. She has some sort of hold over him that nobody else does. You can't help but notice how he's so nervous around her. "Why the fuck would you need more than 10 bags?"
"I want to buy a dollhouse."
"For £10,000?" Casyo exclaimed.
"It's vintage," she replied, slurping from a Ribena carton. "Quick, Cas. Cuz if you don't, all I have to do is march down to a police station-"
"Chill," he cut her off. March down to a police station? Why? What did he do? "Look, I'm a bit tight right now, money wise. All my shotters are dying cah we're in some serious beef so I'm not selling as much as I need to."
"Not my issue. I want the dollhouse and I want it now."
"Brianna..."
Ah. So this is Brianna. You thought she was dead by the way he spoke about her. Like a dead ex or something, not some strange little girl. That means he doesn't have an ex. Good to know.
No, Becca.
Brianna kicked off her sandals and got comfy in the armchair. "You said you would pay me back any way I want, with anything I want. And I want the dollhouse, Cas. Buy me the dollhouse."
"You're gonna have to wait - "
Her head shot up so abruptly that it made you jump. She stuck her thumb and pinky finger out, then put them to her ear, pretending to be on the phone. "Yes, police please. I'm Brianna and a boy called Casyo Waters shot me when I was 4-"
"Chill!" He grit his teeth in frustration. I could tell she was pushing his buttons. And I could also tell that she found it amusing. "Can you just relax? I'll get you the dollhouse when I can."
"Now?"
"Later."
She tutted. "That's not good enough Cas. I... want... it... now."
You had to jump in. "Hold on, Brianna, are you guys related?"
"We're not related. But he's my dad."
It made no sense, but you didn't wanna ask anymore questions. "Ok."
"So my dollhouse?"
Prince got up to switch on his PS5, then sat back on the sofa with the controller. "You can't have it now, Bri. Wait till I make profit..." he paused and looked down at the controller in his hand. "Why's my controller sticky?"
Shit. You forgot to clean it.
You weren't comfortable around Casyo but you were defo getting comfy around the house. Probably a bit too comfortable. When he went out yesterday, you played Fifa on his PS5 while you nyammed your way through pancakes and syrup. Guess you didn't clean the syrup off the controller...
"Did you touch this?" Brianna made him nervous - but that left his face in the space of 5 seconds. Now he was raging. "Did you fuckin touch my controller?!"
"Prince - "
He screwed me dirty. "Don't come and tell me bullshit, fam! Did you touch my shit or nah?!"
"Prince - "
"And what are you going to do if she did?" Brianna jumped in. "I wanna know, just out of curiosity, Cas. What are you going to do if she touched your controller?"
He stopped, looking at the object in his hand. "You need to leave."
"You didn't answer my question." She had him on ropes. He could slap you. He could strangle you. He could insult you. But he couldn't stand up to the little girl who barely reached his waist. "I said what are you going to do if she touched your controller?"
"Depends."
"If it doesn't involve buying my vintage dollhouse, I suggest you sit the fuck back down and clean it yourself."
Your mouth dropped. Now she swears, too? This girl doesn't look a day over 6. You don't know whether to thank her or stay quiet, cuz this is scaring you. She seemed so innocent. But when she opened her mouth?
I mean...
Casyo threw the controller at you, and hit you hard in the chest, making it burn. Your thudding heart was about to go up your throat. "Clean my fuckin controller, you dickhead."
Brianna gasped. "That's bad language, Cas. You need to set a good example for me. And you can do that by buying the vintage dollhouse. If someone else gets it, I'm going to ruin you, Casyo Waters. And I put that on Ricky's life."
"Ricky?" You knew a boy called Ricky. He moved to you while you were on the bus. You gave him your snap and added him back, but he hadn't popped up yet. "You mean Ricky Hatton?"
"How d'you know Ricky Hatton?" Brianna's tone changed as she turned to face you. "I'm his little sister, so if you're his girlfriend, I need to know."
You blushed. "No, I just met him on the bus a couple weeks ago. Is he ok?"
"He's not," she sighed, but she didn't say why.
Casyo said, "don't chat to him. Ever. We don't fuck with them man there, you hear me? And Bri, I'll get you the fuckin dollhouse when I make enough profit. Until then, you can get the fuck out my house."
"No," she yawned. "I think I'll just stay and be a nuisance."
"Fuckin prick."
"What was that? What did you say, Cas?"
"Nuttin."
𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐲𝐨'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕
This is my worst nightmare. She shows up out of nowhere to make me look like a dickhead in front of Rebecca.
Not that I care what Rebecca thinks about me.
"I'm goin out. Don't break anythin. And you - clean my fuckin controller. If you make me ask again, I'm gonna fuck you up." I needed to get out of that house before she says anymore.
Brianna's the only person I can't say no to. She has me wrapped around her finger. When she was 4, I was beefing her older brother, Ricky. I stole a gun to go and end the beef once and for all. But something went wrong.
We're not gonna talk about that.
I parked outside one of my traphouses and made my way inside. This place used to be packed with mandem. But everyone's dropping like flies cah they clearly don't know how to defend themselves. All I know is, I'm losing a lot of fucking money.
"Where's Jerome?"
The room went silent. All 6 boys looked at me with blank faces. But I don't have time for this.
Brianna's shown up out of nowhere and Rebecca got my fucking controller sticky. My patience is at its thinnest. "Answer the fuckin question!"
"He's dead. A couple minutes ago."
I paused. And there goes another one. Now there's only 6 of us. I wasn't gonna get the youngers involved but I have to since these lot clearly don't know how to use a shank. "How many of Kyro's boys are still out there?"
"A lot. I ain't even seen some of them before, man. No one knows where they're coming from but every time we dead a nigga, 10 niggas pops up. We're fucked."
"We're not." Why are people so negative? Shit might seem bad now, but they don't know what's gonna happen in future. "The youngers have to get involved, that's all."
"Youngers? As in, give them shanks and shit?" This guy. His name was Tory. And everything I said - he questioned me. Like I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about.
"Yes. How else do you expect them to defend themselves? They're not that young. 15 and 16. They know how to use a knife."
Tory sighed. "But they could get excited and do dumb shit-"
"Then I'll handle them," I snapped, silencing him. He contradicts me to the point where it's annoying. But I can't kill him. I need as many boys out there as possible cah I refuse to lose this battle. "Don't hesitate. When you see one of them niggas coming for you, back out whatever you have and use it. If you don't, I will kill you. You understand?"
They looked between themselves and started sniggering. "It's the pussy," Tory said, nodding his head. "He's jeeting the opp thot."
Jeeting the who? I'm jeeting the who?
"Oh swear?" My tone alone silenced them again. There's no way they could disrespect me like that and get away with it. Me, Casyo Waters, jeet an opp thot? "Where you gettin that info?"
"The pussy good good. See how you're acting? Shit, you're turned on right now, innit?" Tory's about to die. I dunno why my brother didn't kill him before. "It's calm, g, we understand. She's got bunda."
"No she hasn't." I didn't know if that was true or not because I don't look at her ass. "And she ain't a thot." I used to think of her as a jbag, too. But seeing her cry like that two weeks ago actually made me deep it. She's just a girl who's grieving the death of her older brother.
"Yeah, she got him pussy whipped - "
A bang on the door stopped him mid sentence. I would've murked him right there, but the banging continued.
One of the mandem got off the sofa and peeked through a hole in the curtain. His mouth dropped. "Yo, they're outside!"
"Who?" I frowned.
"Kyro's mandem. Every single one of them. Bro, there's like 60 man!"
Everyone started panicking. Except me. I don't understand how panic helps any situation. "Prince, what the fuck do we do?!"
"Text or call whoever you love," I stated. "Cah this might be the last time they hear from you."
- 𝖝ø🤍