A/N: I am so so so so so sorry for coming out with this late! I had a lot of things to do and blah blah blah, more excuses, and I finally got around to updating! Don't kill me you guys! Anyways, here's a new chapter!

Chapter Twelve: Trouble Brewing in Woodcrest, part Two

"Cindy? The fuck are you doin' here?" Riley said, shocked that he would see his ex-girlfriend at the mall.

"Ain't that a nice ass greeting?" Cindy retorted, putting her hand on her hips. "I thought you would be just fucking ecstatic to see me!"

"Cindy, hi. How you doin?" he said sarcastically, but his face turn back serious.

"That's better."

"Now, what the fuck are you doing here?" he repeated. Cindy rolled her eyes. God, he could be so insensitive sometimes. "Wait, wait. Don't tell me. I think... that you're stalking me, ain't you?" Cindy eyes squinted in anger, or maybe they squinted because he found out.

"God Riley you're so full of yourself! I can't even deal with you. I ain't even allowed to go the mall without asking yo ass for permission?" Cindy snapped at him. Riley opened his mouth, and then almost immediately closed it.

"Reezy, who is this chick?" Amani asked, standing behind Riley. Riley waved her off as if he wanted her to drop the question. "Is this...? Oh..." Amani said, figuring out the identity of the yelling stranger.

"What the hell does that mean? I am Cindy Motherfuckin McPherson and I am the baby mama of Riley Freeman," she said smirking. "Nice to meet you. And you would be the hoe who is tryna get Riley. Am I right?"

Amani laughed and stepped from behind Riley. "Oh, that's cute. Trying to defend for him, when in fact, it was you," she pointed at Cindy in her face. "Who broke them up in the first place."

"Excuse me? Who is this chicken head tryna have a go at me?"

Jazmine turned towards Huey. "Huey, what's a chicken head?"

"A chicken head is a girl who comes from a poorer area of the city and is suffering from low self-esteem and compensates that by prostituting herself for short lived friendships or attention," Huey told her while still looking at the altercation.

"Chicken head? That's cute." Amani folded her arms across her chest. She stepped closer to Cindy, and talked softly but loud enough to where Jazmine and Huey can hear her. "I've heard all about you. And from what I heard, I don't really think you deserve Reezy," she shrugged.

"The fuck?" Cindy narrowed her eyes. "Bitch, you think you cute and funny but you don't fucking know me!" she yelled at Amani. She couldn't believe this... bitch was trying to step to her. She knew that if this was a different setting, and a different situation with her not being pregnant, this chick would not have a chance.

"Oh really? Cindy McPherson, Freshman, goes to Woodcrest High, met Riley after a basketball game, didn't really become close friends until y'all did a fundraiser together..."

"How much did Riley tell her?" Jazmine whispered to Huey.

He shrugged. "I don't know, but it sounds like too much."

"Y'all started going out end of your eighth grade year, and y'all fucked by the end of the summer. In my opinion, you shoulda waited a little longer, 'cause you kinda sound like the chicken head, don't ya think? But anyways, things were going great until you," she pointed at Cindy again. "Decided to do something different and fuck another dude. And y'all had a big fucking argument and SURPRISE! Cindy's pregnant and claims Riley to be the dad. Have I covered all the bases, or no?"

By this time, Cindy was fuming. She wanted to jump this girl and rip out every track off of her stupid-ass head. How dare she? She didn't know how the fuck this girl knew everything about her (though she had a good idea on how,) but she did know that in 2.5 seconds, she will be on the floor.

"So you mad now?" Amani taunted her. "Figured. When people don't wanna go your way, you throw a bitch fit. You're probably thinking about ways you can hit me now. That's fine. Just know, that when that baby comes out, Riley better ask for a test, cause the way it sounds, it ain't the first time you cheated on him."

Jazmine blinked and stared at Cindy, who looked ready to strike at any time. It was one thing to talk about her, but to question her loyalty and faithfulness and her baby? "Huey? Go get Cindy. This isn't going to end well." Huey nodded and started to walk.

Cindy closed her eyes and tried to count to ten, calming herself down. But every time she reached ten, she could only hear Amani's words repeating over and over in her head, pissing her off even more.

"Cindy, calm down, okay? Think about this. Don't do nothing stupid," Riley said, stepping in between the two girls. "It's okay, aight? We can all act like civilized–"

"Riley?" Cindy finally said. "Shut the fuck up." she breathed in heavily, and exhaled through her nose. She slowly walked forward and was going to hit Amani, but instead, Riley stepped in front of her and got hit. He fell on the ground, clutching his nose. She stepped over him screaming to inch closer to Amani, who was backing away slowly, knowing she can't actually retaliate and hit her. Amani turned around and started running in the opposite direction. Cindy was about to start after her but felt Huey grab her out of nowhere. "That's right bitch! You better fucking run, stupid hoe! Betta be glad Afro Nigga holding me back, 'cause you'd be fucking dead!"

"Are you done yet?" Huey asked, his arms still holding her back. He was annoyed that this trip to the mall went from decent to fucked up in the course of twenty minutes. Plus, his brother may have a broken nose. He sighed.

"Almost," Cindy replied. She kicked Riley in the back twice. "You shoulda let me hit her." She looked up at Huey. "Okay, you can drop me now." Huey obliged and let go of her. She straightened up and walked over to Jazmine. "You ready to go?" she asked her. Jazmine rolled her eyes and went towards Riley. "Jazmine, I'm ready to go home!" she whined.

"You can't go around hitting people all you want!" Jazmine yelled at her friend. She pulled tissues from her purse and pushed against Riley's nose. "Hold this, I'll be right back," she told him. She looked around and ran to the nearest bathroom. She ran back holding two tampons in her hand. "Here, put these in. It'll help with the bleeding."

Riley looked at her hands, and back at Jazmine. "Girl, is you crazy? I ain't stickin that up nothin! Real niggas don't do that shit," Riley said muffled.

"I'm pretty sure real niggas also don't get punched by girls," Huey pointed out.

"Shut up!" Riley yelled at his brother. "It was a lucky shot!"

Jazmine huffed and made Riley look at her. "Riley, if you don't put these in, you're going to bleed everywhere. Your shirt, your pants, and your shoes. And I'm pretty sure blood doesn't come out very well on Jordans, do they?" Riley thought about it for a second and nodded. "Okay, that's what I thought."

When Granddad came to pick up his grandsons, he expected them to be in the same condition as he left them. Unfortunately, he was wrong. He pulled up to the Woodcrest Mall, and saw that Huey, Jazmine, and Cindy all looked fine, but Riley had blood all over his shirt and two… tampons stuck up his nose. What the hell happened to him?

"What's wrong with him?" Granddad asked, getting out of his car to assess the damage on Riley. "Did he try to take out Santa again?" He looked around the front door of the mall. "Where's the other little cutie pie?" Cindy scoffed and sat in the passenger seat of Dorothy. "What?"

"They kinda had a little… argument," Jazmine said, choosing her words carefully. "I don't think Amani is coming, Mr. Freeman."

"And what happened to him?" he repeated.

"He got in the way," Huey stated. Huey shrugged and grabbed Jazmine to follow him to the car. "He just doesn't learn," he muttered to himself.

Granddad shook his head and walked to the car.

"Dis some ole bullshit," Riley said to himself. He sucked his teeth and was the last person to get in the car. He sat next to Jazmine in the back seat. He looked down at his gray Polo, stained red. 'Well fuck. This is ruined,' He thought. He wanted to scream and yell and more importantly, slap the hoe that fucked up his threads. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't do any of those things. He sighed and looked out the window.

"I'll buy you another Polo shirt, Riley." His ears perked up and he turned to face her. "Your shirt. It's basically no good anymore, so I'll get you another one."

"Forreal? Maybe even two?" Riley asked, slightly smiling. His favorite brand was Polo and he liked it even better when he was getting it for free.

"Don't press your luck," Huey told him.

"Don't be silly, Huey!" Jazmine smiled. "I can get you two!" Riley smiled and turned back to the window.

"Do you not know how much Polos cost?" Huey asked her.

"What, like 20 bucks each?" She said. Huey shook his head and turned to his window as well. "Are they 25 dollars?"

Jazmine stretched up in her bed and looked at her alarm clock. 11:37, Monday morning. And someone was ringing her doorbell? They obviously didn't know her well enough to know that she didn't wake up until noon. She rubbed her eyes and got out the bed. She grabbed her phone from her nightstand and walked down the stairs.

"I'm coming!" she yelled to the person outside the house. She opened the door to feel a large gust of cold wind come towards her. "Jesus!" she said, closing the door in the person's face. She giggled when she heard Huey sigh. "Sorry!" she opened the door, hiding behind it when he walked in.

"Good morning," he said sarcastically. He looked her up and down and lifted his eyebrow. "Do you always answer the door half-naked or is that just for me?"

Jazmine looked down at her pajamas, a tank top and short-shorts. "I just woke up," she admitted to him. He gave her another look. "What? You know I don't wake up until really late."

"Yeah, I know, even though I texted you that I was coming over," he said, taking off his coat. She unlocked her phone to see... two unread texts from Hubby. She must've really been knocked out. He glanced around the house, noting it was pretty quiet. "Dad's at work?"

Jazmine nodded. "I guess. He probably had to go do paperwork for one of his cases." She went and sat on the couch. "What are we gonna do on your last day in Woodcrest?" she smiled.

He rolled his eyes. "You act like I'm not coming back," he said, sitting next to her. "It's only going to be four days, not four years."

Jazmine put her feet in his lap. "I know. I'm still going to miss you." She played with her hair, avoiding his look, as if it'll make her cry. "So what do you want to do, like I asked earlier?" she said, changing the subject.

Huey shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, I thought you had something planned. That's what you said last time, right?"

Jazmine thought about it for a second, then snapped her fingers and ran upstairs. She came back down yielding a pink notebook. She opened the notebook and flipped through several pages before reaching her destination. "Monday: Movie Day," she read off the page. "Then after that it's a list of movies. I want to watch The Notebook, Titanic, 500 Days of Summer—"

"Do you have a movie on there that isn't unbelievably bad?" Huey complained.

"What are you talking about?" Jazmine looked at her list. "These are all great movies! The Notebook was so beautiful! I cried during that scene when they did the kiss… it was perfect writing," she turned her head to the side and sighed dreamily.

"Perfect?" Huey scoffed. "Far from it, actually. Now if we were talking about Do the Right Thing…"

Jazmine shook her head at the idea. "Uh-uh. We're not watching that again! It made me sad, and not in the good way, either."

"It showed you the way racial tension are in other cities and how the police still treated black people, and this was way before Rodney King—"

Jazmine grabbed his face and turned him to face her. She gave him a quick peck on the lips and a gentle, longer kiss next. "Are you done?" she asked him, blinking her bright jade eyes and smiling. He nodded quickly. "Good. Can we watch The Notebook now?"

Huey frowned. "No."

"Huey..." she whined. She sat in his lap and nuzzled into his neck. "Pwease?" she said in her child-like voice. Huey sighed. He hated when she used her baby voice on him, mainly because he and she knew he couldn't resist it.

Huey tried to fight the urge to say yes. "For the last time, I'm not watching that shit," he said unconvincingly. She pulled herself away from him. She blinked a couple of times and gave him a pouty lip. He rolled his eyes. "Does that work on other people?"

Jazmine shrugged. "Usually."

"I'm not other people, Jazmine," he smirked as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "One day you're going to realize your little girly moves don't work on me."

"Oh really?" she said, giving him a look. "You can resist my womanly charms?" she put her hand on her hip.

"Didn't we already establish this a while ago?" Huey wondered. He looked up into her shining jade eyes, which were for some reason, very glossy and made them look prettier than they already were. Her cheeks were a slight tint of rosy pink, and her smile... God, her smile. It would and could make anyone just go crazy, even hard Huey. He knew he didn't deserve her; no one did. But especially him. He was such an asshole to her when they were younger, telling her things her young naïve mind didn't need to know at the time. Even after all that, even after all the things he did to her, she still picked him. He was one lucky asshole.

"What?" Jazmine said, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Is there something in my teeth?" she smiled big to show all her front teeth. Huey half-chuckled and shook his head. "Then what?"

"I don't tell you this often, but you're really beautiful," Huey said as he looked in his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck. She smiled and bit her lip. That was another thing that drove him crazy: her lip biting. Her little nervous quips that only annoyed her were the cutest things to him. He wanted her. Now. "Jazmine? I kinda don't want to watch a movie anymore."

Jazmine wrinkled her nose. "You don't want to watch a movie? Then what do you want to do?" she asked. She looked at him roll his eyes. "Oh!" she said loudly as she finally got it. A blush crept over her face as she really understood what he wanted to do. "Oh..." She got up from her spot on him, and walked to the stairs. She turned around and ordered him over there with her finger while going up the stairs. He happy followed her request and ascended the stairs.

Cindy finally finished packing the last bag to go to her aunt's house on the other side of town while the Freemans went to Chicago. She didn't understand why she couldn't just stay at Jazmine's house while they were away, but her dad insisted that his sister wanted to see and talk to her and she didn't really complain; her cousins were some pretty awesome girls.

She got off the bed and walked to the door. She placed her socked foot on the wooden floor, almost losing her balance. She started to "skate" a little more in the hallway and soon she was doing figure skating and ballet moves that she remembered from eight years ago when her mother wanted her to be more girly.

"Nice moves, Black Swan," Riley snickered, looking from his door frame. She saw him and stopped instantly, scratching the back of her head. "Don't stop now, Ballerina. It was just getting' good," he smirked.

"Shut up, Riley," she blushed. He shrugged and turned back around to his room. "Hey, Riley?" she squeaked out. She coughed and cleared her throat because it sounded so foreign to her.

"Yeah?"

"What… time are we leaving the house tomorrow?" she asked him.

"I don't really know, Cin. I think the plane leaves at like, 12-something. So we probably leaving at like 9 or 10," Riley estimated. He looked at Cindy's face. "But I don't know for sure."

"Oh," Cindy said. She stood there awkwardly for a minute, while looked deep in thought, something she has never seen him in. "Well, I should go back—" she started leaving to her room.

"How come you never talk about her?" Riley asked, still thinking. "Your aunt, I mean," he clarified after seeing a confused look on her face.

Cindy shrugged her shoulders. "I don't seem them very often. Probably two times a year. I never know what's up with them or anything 'cause my moms didn't really like my aunt," she thought carefully. "Or any of my dad's side of the family, for that matter." She tapped on her chin. "I think my moms hates everyone."

Riley laughed. "So that's where you get that from."

Cindy pouted. "I don't hate everyone!"

"Uh-huh. Well you hated me enough to give me this," he retorted, pointing at his bandaged nose. She winced and moved a little closer to him.

"Does it hurt, Reez?" she whispered to him, wanting to touch his nose. He slapped her hand away. "I guess that means yes," she scoffed, giving him a small smile.

"Hell yeah, it's still hurtin', girl!" he joked with her. "Shit, you givin a nigga a right hand like that, shit, imma be hurtin for a little while, ya feel me? That was some Mayweather shit right there!" he said.

"Boy! That betta not be you doin all that damn cursing in this house!"

"Naw Granddad! That was the TV, not me!" he yelled to his elder. He rolled his eyes after, which made Cindy stifle a laugh. "Man, I gotta finish packing... unless you wanna watch..." Riley joked. Cindy rolled her eyes and shook her head no. "Aight then." He turned to back to his room.

"Hey, Riley?" Cindy asked him. Riley turned to face her. "I'm really sorry for punching you and making you angry and anything I ever did to you!" she told him with tears in her eyes. She gave him a big hug.

"Are you like hormonal or something?" he asked her while she was still hanging on him. "Cause you ain't never been this touchy-feely."

Cindy let go and gave him a look. "What I can't give a hug no more?" she put her hand on her hip.

"Yeah, that's the C-Murph I know," he smirked, giving her a slight punch on the shoulder. He turned around to go back into his room, but stopped when he heard her say something. "What you say?" Cindy stood on her tip toes and gave him a small kiss. She pulled back and immediately blushed after seeing the shocked look on his face.

"I'm sorry, that was uncalled for," she shook her head, trying to rid herself of her embarrassment. She was about to hide her head in shame in her room when Riley grabbed her arm and gave her a more powerful kiss. She returned it, giving in to him and wrapping her arms around his neck. She pulled away again, and stared at him. "Um…"

"I love you. And don't ever forget it, okay?" he pulled away from her and closed his door. She stood there for a minute before going back to her room. What did that mean? Was it secret for something? Why did he do that shit? She needed to lie down for a minute. Her head was hurting.

Jazmine eyes fluttered open as she woke up in her bed. She smiled and rolled over to get close to Huey, but he wasn't next to her. She blinked then rose out the bed. She looked around and was met with no one else in the room. She huffed and got out the bed, putting on her clothes that were throughout her room. She opened the door, peeked out of it and started walking to the stairs. As she was going down, she was met with Huey going up.

"Nice of you to finally wake up," he said sarcastically, picking a grape from his bowl and popping one in his mouth.

"Maybe if you didn't put me to sleep..." she trailed off, smiling. She took the bowl from his hands and ate his grapes. "It wouldn't be a problem, now would it?"

He grabbed the bowl back from her. "Oh, so it's my fault now, isn't it?" he asked her. She nodded her head and tried to get the bowl back, but Huey held it over his head. "But I remember a certain someone using her choir voice on me, going so high I thought dogs were going start barking," he smirked, putting his finger on his chin as he "thought." Jazmine face turned from rosy to deep red in two seconds. "Couldn't all that 'singing' make you sleepy?"

Jazmine slapped him in the chest. "Whatever. Go put in a movie," she told him, going into her room. "I'll be down in a second."

Huey went down the stairs, and to the living room, where the movie selection was. Most of the movies were terrible, and Huey would rather watch Bush talk about meat for two hours than watch Mean Girls. He finally saw Final Destination and deemed it watchable. He sighed and put the movie in the DVD player.

"Did you pick a movie?" Jazmine asked, coming down wrapped in a big blanket. Huey nodded and gestured to the screen. She looked at it to see what movie was playing. "Huey, you know I don't like scary movies," she pouted. "Can't we watch a nice romantic movie, please?"

"I'm pretty sure you asked me what I wanted to watch, right? Well, I want to watch this," he retorted. She had a face that looked like she was going to start crying. "Don't be scared, Jazmine. It's not even as bad as you think, okay?"

"You promise?" she sniffed, sitting next to him and draping the blanket over his legs.

"I promise."

"You said it wasn't as bad as I thought!"

Almost an hour into the movie, Jazmine had her face buried into Huey's shoulder blade. This movie was worse than when they saw Friday the Thirteenth the day before she went to camp when she was 14.

"It isn't!" Huey told her. "It isn't a slasher movie, so you can't dream of someone coming to get you."

"But it's Death!" Jazmine poked her head up. "They're dying because Death wants them. You can't avoid Death, Huey!" Jazmine put her head back on his shoulder. "Call me when it's over."

He rolled his eyes and looked back at the screen. He smirked as his favorite part was coming up. "Hey Jazmine? The bad part is over."

She turned towards the TV. "Really?" She watched on the screen as the group tried to escape the car about to get hit by a train. She let out a sigh of relief as they made it safely. Then, in an instant, she watched in horror as a man was decapitated. She screamed and ducked under the blanket. "You lied! I hate you!"

Huey held in his laughter. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't miss that opportunity." Jazmine punched him in his thigh. "Easy!" he winced in pain. "I'm sensitive."

Jazmine poked her head out. "You should have thought about that before you tricked me," she said, poking at his chest. She covered her head again. "I'll be out when it's over." She laid her head in his lap. He looked down at her and curled a lock of her hair. "You're still a jerk." she pouted.

He sighed. "I'm sorry." He pulled the blanket from her head, but a lightning flash from the movie made her pull it back over head. "Jazmine!" he yelled. He smirked. "While you're down there, you want to go for round two?" He heard her giggle. "Is that a yes?" The door unlocked and opened, showing a tired Tom Dubois. He felt his face redden. "Hey Tom. Um... how are you?"

He gave Huey a look. "Huey." Tom looked around the room. "Where is my daughter?"

Jazmine poked her head from under the blanket. "Hi Daddy," she squeaked out. "Okay, I know how bad this looks, but it's not what it looks like, I promise. See, we were watching a scary movie–"

"Final Destination. Great movie by the way."

"Right. We were watching Final Destination and a really scary part came on and you know how I am about scary movies in the first place and I panicked and ducked under the covers. I don't even know why we were watching it. Anyways, the movie's over and Huey was just leaving, weren't you Huey?" She spoke so fast that Huey didn't catch the end until after he processed it.

"Uh, yeah. I was," he added, getting up from his spot. He walked with Jazmine to the front door and put on his coat. "Umm..." he started to say. Jazmine giggled. "What?"

"You're the most awkward person I know," she smiled.

"And you're the bubbliest person I know," he retorted. He gave her a kiss on the forehead and walked to his house. He opened the door and said hello to his grandfather and proceeded to walk up the stairs. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going, so when he was going into his room, he ran right into his brother.

"Oh my bad bro," Riley said to him, looking up. He brushed off his shirt and then Huey's.

"Nah, it's cool," his brother replied, shaking it off.

Riley's eyes lowered. "What the hell are you so damn happy about? You ain't never said anything is cool between us," he asked suspiciously.

"I'm sorry I thought a meaningless accident was miniscule. That was my mistake," he rolled his eyes. He went over to his bed and laid down, grabbing a book from his nightstand and opening it to a page.

"So," Riley started, turning around and sitting on his own bed. "I bet… the reason why you so happy is because you got some pussy today."

"Riley…" Huey sighed, putting his book down.

"Oh, I see. That's what it is," Riley smiled. "See? I knew it all along. Through all yo' hard, pissed-off-at-the-world exterior, there be a human being up in there. And I knew that it would Jazzy Fresh would break that. Mmhmm. As soon as a nigga gets pussy, they ain't mad at the world no more," Riley stated. "Wise words by Reezy Freeman. I copyright that shit."

"Riley, your logic is stupid," Huey said. He looked over at him and shook his head. "Just because I have had sex before, doesn't mean my… wait, why am I discussing this with you?" He looked back to his book and opened the page. He felt his phone vibrate and he looked at it. Riley watched him as he opened the text and… smiled. Well, it wasn't an actual smile, but like a half-smirk thing that only a few people would categorize as a smile. Riley was one of those people.

"Nigga, you just smiled!" Riley pointed out. He jumped up and got closer to his brother. "Yep, I knew it. A text from Jazmine. You definitely got it in, since you don't smile."

"If I tell if I had sex, will you shut up about it?" Huey said, slightly annoyed. He just wanted to get to his book, was that too much to ask for? Apparently it was.

"Yeah, sure."

"Fine. Jazmine and I…" he started. "had sex today. There, happy?"

"Yes. Very," he said quietly. He got off his bed and left the room. Huey finally got peace and tranquility in his room. He opened his book again, and started to read.

"Hey Cindy! Guess what I heard!" he heard Riley yell.