I know I said I'd update last weekend but I wasn't feeling the direction this chapter was going in so I rewrote it! I'm much more satisfied with this. Side note: I updated one thing from the first chapter - how long Jazmine had to wait for her period. It said two weeks but I changed it to a month. I wanted to touch on it but I simply forgot, and I already skipped time in this chapter. But that's it, enjoy! R&R :)

I hadn't said anything to Huey since him and Riley came back last night. I hadn't been asleep and I had heard them pull up in front of the house, so when I went to peek out the window and saw Riley hoisting Huey out of the car, I knew something was wrong. I paced around my room, trying to gather up the courage to go downstairs and do what I could to help. I listened as I heard them shuffle into the house and knew I needed to hurry up.

I took a deep breath and fixed my oversized sweatshirt and left the room and walked downstairs quietly. It was dark, but I could see that they were in the downstairs bathroom so I headed over. The first thing I saw was Huey, his eyes lidded and head nodding all over the place. My eyes trailed down to where Riley's hands were, covered with blood with a needle and string in his hands as he tried to sew shut a wound on Huey's left arm. I crossed my arms, "What happened?"

I jumped back when Riley snapped at me, "He got hurt."

I just nodded and walked further into the small bathroom to wash my hands, pushing my sleeves up my arms. "You're not doing the stitches close enough," I mumbled softly. Riley moved so I could take his place and I started to undo what Riley had done. I wanted to laugh a little, before leaving Woodcrest, I had actual aspirations to be a nurse. At least I could help someone just once. I took my time, being gentle as possible before tying off the knot on his arm.

"I need scissors, so I can get to his legs." I glanced at Riley, who didn't have a mean look on his face for once as he went to go grab a pair of scissors. Once he came back with them, I cut through Huey's jeans, hoping that he wouldn't be too upset that I cut them off. I grab the bottle of hydrogen peroxide on the counter and cleaned the wound as best as I could before doing it again with rubbing alcohol. Again, I was gentle and took my time, to make them as neat as possible. Once I finished, I wiped off both the wounds again and turned to look at Riley. "Are you okay?"

He didn't look as bad as Huey, but I was willing to help him if he needed it. I glanced down at his knuckles, looking at how busted they were. I didn't say anything as I pulled him closer to me and started cleaning his hands. I grabbed the small tube of first aid cream and applied it all over before wrapping both hands with the small wad of gauze that was left. "There you go," I said softly before washing my hands one more time and then leaving to go back to my room.

It wasn't until after I knew that both the Freeman brothers were in their respective rooms that I went into Huey's… just to check up on him. He had gotten hurt and I had no idea how much blood he had lost, if anything were to happen to him I could get help. At least that's how I rationalized it. He had made an effort to take care of me, so why wouldn't I do it for him? Even if it was just this one time. I grabbed the Advil I knew I had somewhere in my bag and some numbing cream to rub on his wounds. I went into his room quietly, closing the door behind me and placing the Advil on his nightstand as I rubbed the cream on his arm. He looked peaceful like there wasn't anything wrong in the world. It was nice to see him like this, without a guard up. I sighed to myself and sat down against the wall, leaning my head back to close my eyes. I knew I wasn't going to sleep, especially at this point, and there were only a few hours until sunrise. There was no telling when Huey would actually wake up but I would stay with him until he did.

The next few hours crept by slowly, and I spent them playing on my phone and making sure Huey was actually breathing. When it finally sounded like he was going to wake up soon, I went down to the kitchen to get him and a cold glass of water so he could swallow down the Advil. I brought it back up to his room and placed it on the nightstand and went back to my spot for another three hours.

I knew he was awake when he started to groan. I had put the numbing cream on a few times during the night but that wasn't going to help much considering they were bullet wounds. "There's water and some Advil right there," I pointed to the spot next to him. "I just put some numbing cream on your wounds but I didn't think it was really gonna help."

He looked down, obviously in pain as he gulped down his water and pills, "Thanks."

I just nodded and got up to leave. I wanted to talk to him, but I felt like now wasn't really the right time. He had just woken up and he was very obviously okay so there was no need for me to linger. For all I knew, he didn't even want my company. I sighed to myself as I closed the door to my current room behind myself and locked it.

I felt safe here, but locking it helped me make sure that nothing was going to catch me by surprise.

My day was eerily quiet. I heard Riley and Mr. Freeman argue a few times, but nothing from Huey. I figured he was just going to stay in his room all day and recoup to the best of his abilities. It was until after it got dark that I heard Huey get out and go downstairs, which led to an argument about what he and Riley did. I wasn't planning on leaving the room but Huey came up the steps in a rush and I heard him fumble.

I felt my heart slamming against my ribcage as I jumped up from the bed and opened my door to help him. He was leaning against the wall, grasping his leg. "Are you okay?" I asked quickly, hesitating momentarily before went over to wrap his arm around my shoulder and tried to support him to his room the best that I could.

He chuckled, "I don't think you can actually support me. I'm fine, Jazmine."

"Your leg though?" I said softly, trying not to feel offended. I knew I wouldn't be much help but it wasn't like I didn't help at all.

"This isn't the first time, but thank you. All Riley does is make sure that I'm not dead and calls it a day." He hobbled over to his room, leaning against the doorframe. He didn't say anything but he looked at me, his eyes too intense for me to make eye contact for longer than a second or two. "Are you doing anything?"

I felt my face go red, then my chest and I shook my head, "Why?"

"You're always in your room… you only leave to eat, use the bathroom and go to school. You don't have to stay in there. I mean I know it might be hard for you, but you don't have to be alone. I know my granddad hogs the living room, but he would give it up for you if you asked him. And you can always come in my room to watch TV or grab a book or something. Even when I'm not here. Just knock if I am."

"Thank you, Huey," I smiled, still not able to really look at him.

"I'm rambling, I lost a lot of blood last night didn't I?" He hobbled into his room and onto his bed and I followed him just to the doorframe.

"It was pretty bad when I showed up at the bathroom. I had heard you guys and it sounded bad so I had to see if everything was okay. I'm glad that I came down when I did. I should probably teach Riley how to do stitches the right way, it's not like I'll be here forever."

"I don't think Granddad minds, he really likes you." Huey took another Advil and nodded his head in the direction of his desk. "You can sit down over there, you don't have to stand."

I nodded and sat down at the desk, feeling happy to have an actual conversation that lasted more than a minute or two. It wasn't that nobody tried but it seemed like they didn't really know how to talk to me in the first place. Huey didn't act like that. He was aware, but it wasn't everything and it felt comforting. "He told me, but this is your house. He won't take any of my money either. I talked to my dad the other day… he said he would be okay with me going back home. All I have to wait is for school to end and we're a few weeks away from that."

"Where are you from, anyway?"

"Maryland. A really small town called Woodcrest." I had never really told anybody about myself before living here. It was almost as if I separated the two completely. Besides, no one ever really asked. Now that I thought about it, my only friend was Cindy.

"Was it nice?" He looked at me, his eyes genuinely curious.

"It was really nice. Both my parents were lawyers and I was an only child. I mean, I'm not anymore. My dad remarried and he has a kid who's a few months old now." I was wary of talking about my parents, knowing that at the very least that Huey's wasn't around.

"So your parents divorced?"

"Yeah," I shook my head, "My mom was really shitty. She is really shitty."

"How come?"

"She always had a wandering eye. My dad got tired of it. She ended up getting fired from her job and I doubt she'll ever be able to work at another reputable law firm again and for some reason, she came to Chicago, of all places. I think someone convinced here to move over here and then dumped her once we got here. My dad was really done with her at that point so he wouldn't give her any money."

"You don't have to go back to her, you know," Huey said knowingly.

"I don't plan on it," I grit my teeth. I wasn't angry at him but the idea of even living with my mom made me want to throw up. I would never want anything to do with her and any love we had was destroyed. I hoped with all my heart that the drugs killed her.

"Didn't mean to get you upset," he paused, "I just don't know anything about you is all."

So, I told him everything about my childhood and back home. Mostly because I wanted to relive it and not because he asked. I rambled on and on, and I probably overshared a lot but he didn't interrupt me once or look like he was judging me. I told him about my aspirations about going into health care, and how before moving here I had a perfect 4.0 GPA, was in a bunch of clubs and the president of my class. I had so many great things going for me. I was going to go to college, do great things.

For hours, this went on until I realized I had been sitting in the room with Huey for a good two and a half hours. I stood up, "I think I rambled about myself enough. I'm sorry," I laughed for the first time in awhile, a genuine laugh that made my heart feel good.

"It's fine, but it is late," he propped himself up a little bit more." Oh, and Jazmine, you can still go to college and 'do great things'."

I wanted to cry a little, but I just nodded my head and said goodnight. He was right, I could still go to college and do what I wanted to do with my life.

It had taken almost a month for me to finally feel safe at school. A month of me constantly peeking over my shoulder thinking that Raekwon would be at my school, or better yet, someone who he was in charge of. I was even more worried that my mom would show up to the school, half high or half drunk and asking for me. I had finally stopped worrying, I was safe. I was paying attention at class and actually talking during lunch. I didn't have to try to hide in the crowd when I was in the hallways It felt really relieving to not have to worry.

I should have known that that wouldn't have lasted.

Can Jazmine DuBois please come to the front office.

I slowly made my way to the main office, cringing at the screaming that I heard coming from two halls down.

"WHERE IS JAZMINE? WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER AT!? I HAVEN'T SEEN HER IN WEEKS? WHERE IS SHE? WHY HAVEN'T YOU CALLED ME?" It was definitely my mom. She had definitely come out of her drug-induced stupor and noticed that I was gone. I rounded the corner, wanting to cry just looking at her. My mom had always been small but she was unbelievably skinny. Her hair was dirty, her clothes were even worse. She hadn't even tried to put on a front. Was this how bad she had gotten. She finally turned around and saw me, relief and anger coming to her eyes. "Jazmine. Jazmine sweetie, where have you been? Mommy's been looking for you," she whined as she wrapped me up in a hug.

I immediately pulled away from her. There was desperation in her eyes, she wanted her next hit and she wanted it soon. I had learned to know the look so well. It made me wonder, did Raekwon leave permanently or just wean her off just enough to notice that I was nowhere to be found?

"Where have you been Jazmine," my mom repeated again, trying to grab at me. I ducked her and stepped back, glancing at the two women in the small main office. They looked extremely worried and one of them shot me a knowing look. Where was the security that was always all over the place?

"I'm not going home with you," I swirled stepped back again, bumping into the wall.

"Excuse me? How dare you," my mom snapped, raising her hand up above me, "Raekwon says you've been gone for over a month! You didn't even tell me anything! Don't you know how worried I was about you?!"

"Ma'am, please lower your hand," one secretary said. The other one was calling for the deputy on campus, immediately.

"I'm not going home with you ever!" I screamed, bringing my hand up and ready to block whatever she planned on doing. I was so scared I could feel my heart in my ears and everything else sounded like whispering. Why did this have to happen? The rest of my class and I could've been back at the Freeman's, safe and sound.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" My mother brought her hand down and I winced but ducked down and under her arm before jumping back behind her. The secretaries were wild behind her, and I could hear running down the hallway outside the office. She was really going to hit me. I could barely feel the tears that rolled down my cheeks.

"Jazmine!?" I heard two voices say and I looked towards the door only to see Cindy and Huey. I could see Cindy dropping everything she was doing and just walking out the class as soon as she heard my name, but Huey? It was completely unexpected.

Cindy sucked her teeth, "What the fuck! Why is she here?" she looked at me, pulling me into a hug. I hugged her back as tightly as I could.

My mom turned and hissed at Cindy, "You! I knew you were a bad influence on my daughter! I should have told her to leave your sorry ass alone!"

Cindy looked at the secretaries, "All the pigs y'all got all over this school and where are they now?! This woman is batshit crazy and ain't nobody here to stop her!"

"Excuse me? Crazy? I'm here for my daughter! Now come here, Jazmine!" My mom shouted as she yanked at my arm. I felt Cindy lift her arm from me and heard a hard smack.

"You crazy ass fuckin' druggie, don't touch Jaz," Cindy snapped. I don't know why but I couldn't find it in myself to stop crying. I knew there were people gathering around outside in a span of five minutes.

For the first time since I saw him in the doorway, Huey had said something. "Come on Jazmine I'm taking you home."

I looked up at him, Cindy loosening her hold on me and placing herself between me and my mother.

"And who are you? Are you some kind of slut Jazmine? Fucking around to have somewhere to stay? You have a home here, with me! I bet your father would be ashamed to learn his daughter was a whore." My mom spat at me, each word building up inside me until I shoved past Cindy and pushed my mother back with all the strength I had in my little body. I watched as she fell to the floor, caught off guard but not being strong enough to support herself anyways.

"Fuck you! How dare you say anything like that to me! Do you know what he did to me, Mommy? Do you know what Raekwon did to me?! All because of you! It's you! You ruined me! I hate you. I hate you, Sarah!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I wish I could have found it in myself to kick her, to do something more, but I felt a strong pair of arms wrap around me and lift me up. It had to be Huey, so I let him. He carried me out into the hall and I heard Cindy sniffling behind us. The cops had finally decided to show up and I watched as they halfway ran into the office to grab my mother up.

"Jazmine, relax," Huey mumbled in my ear, finally letting me on my feet and letting go of me.

"You gonna go home?" Cindy said as she glanced back behind us. My mom had started screaming again.

"Yeah, I got her. Go back to class," Huey said quietly, still walking in the direction of the exit.

Cindy sighed and shook her head, "Alright. Text me if you need me Jaz, I'll be over after practice, alright?"

"Yeah." I nodded quietly and waved as she turned back around to go back to class. I heard Huey sigh himself and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and led us out the school.

"You sure you okay?" He asked quietly, walking briskly to the parking lot. If we got caught for skipping we'd get in big trouble.

"I'm fine. Can we get stop to get some food?" I wiped my eyes again, still wet with tears. Huey had said yes and I was grateful I hadn't spent my ten dollars on something at lunch. I got into the passenger side of his car and he pulled out of his spot. We ended up going to Wendy's and when I offered my ten dollar bill and pushed it away, pulling money out of his own wallet to pay for me. "Huey, you really don't have too…"

"It's fine, my treat," he said as he handed me my drink and my bag of food. I thanked him and held the bag of food in my lap. He turned up the music a little bit and started to head back in the direction of home. It was when we were halfway home when he finally said something, right as he made a sharp turn. "Shit."

"What?" I shouted, holding onto the side of the door to keep my balance.

"Someone is following us."

I felt the panic bubble up in my chest. Someone was following us? My first thought was that it'd be my mom or Raekwon. Then I remembered that Huey was caught up in the streets too and that it could have something to do with him and nothing with me. Somehow, that made it even worse. But my gut was telling me it had something to do with me. I turned around and glanced past the seat but I didn't recognize the person that was in the car behind us.

Huey snapped, "Don't turn around again," then more softly he said, "But he's three cars back."

"Do you know who it is?"

"Your mom is in the passenger seat," he said angrily. "Fuck. I need to call Riley. I swear if this nigga tries to pull anything." Huey grabbed his phone out his pocket, unlocked it and handed it to me, "Call Riley, put the phone on speaker."

I grabbed his phone, my hands shaking so bad that I almost dropped it on the floor. I searched for his name and called him. I had to call three times for him to even answer, "Damn nigga, what the fuck you want? I'm in class and now she bout to bitch me out."

"Riley you need to get home. Some shit happened and I had to take Jazmine back home but now they're following us. I don't have my gun in the car. Call Gin Rummy or Ed and ask if they can send someone to watch our house for Granddad. I'm gonna drive around for awhile so call me when you get there, okay?"

"Man, fuck. Okay." Riley sucked his teeth and hung up.

"Gun? How's Riley going to get back home? I'm so sorry." I said quickly, scared that this was happening and sad that I had brought the Freeman's into something they had nothing to do with.

"Relax," Huey said, making a left turn. "I know who Raekwon is, I'm not an idiot but he's crazy if he thinks he's about to pull up to my house. And I'm not gonna let him take you. But I don't want to be caught off guard and I don't want anything to happen to Granddad. And I can't protect you by myself."

"Okay," I nodded my head. I bit my bottom lip and closed my eyes, trying my hardest not to cry. I grabbed my phone and texted Cindy. She replied immediately and she kept me from breaking down for the next fifteen minutes until Riley finally called. Then five minutes later we were in front of the house, Riley sitting outside on the porch.

"C'mon, I want to get you in the house before he gets here and he's about to turn the corner," Huey said quickly, climbing out the car and rushing over to my side but it was too late. A car screeched up into the sidewalk right in front of their house, Raekwon's car.

"Jazmine, where you been?" Raekwon said, a smirk on his face.

I froze up but Huey grabbed me, pulling me along.

Raekwon got out the car, my mom following suit, already in hysterics. But I couldn't pay attention to her with Raekwon standing a few feet away from me. I could barely feel anything by my heart trying to lurch out my throat. All I wanted to do was drop down into a ball. "I know you know who I am lil nigga, give me the girl."

Huey snapped, handing me off to Riley, "She's not going nowhere with you. So leave. Don't start none, won't be none."

Raekwon laughed and shook his head, "I could kill both you nappy headed niggas right now. Now hand over Jazmine." He took three full steps and closed the gap between me and him, snatching me out of Riley's hands.

"Get the fuck off of her," Huey shouted, running over and shoving Raekwon back, grabbing me by my arm and putting me behind him. Riley stepped in front of him, pulling two guns out his waistband and pointing them at Raekwon.

"Leave nigga. Jazmine's not going with yo old ass so get to steppin'. You and that dusty ass snowflake you got. I don't give a fuck who you is." Riley snapped.

"You really wanna do this? Think again young blood. I been in these streets before you were born. You gonna start some with me? Huh? You think I'm scared to die? SHOOT ME, nigga. DO IT," Raekwon shouted, his chest huffing heavily. "You think that bitch is worth it? Which one of you lil niggas is she fucking? Or is it both of you?" He turned to look at me and Huey shielded me from his eyes. I could feel Huey shaking and I rubbed his elbow softly. I don't know why, but I wanted to comfort him. I had to.

"That little lightskin bitch let me fuck and she sucked me good," Raekwon chuckled to nobody but himself. For the first time since they got out the car, my mom had finally shut up. I couldn't see her but I had a feeling that she was looking in my direction.

Then I heard Huey let out a shaky breath and he pushed me back a step before he stepped past Riley, grabbing one of his guns. He pulled the safety and shut the gun into the air. "You think I won't shoot?" Nobody moved but my mom screamed, cowering back towards the car. Raekwon laughed again. I knew he always kept a gun on him but I didn't know why he hadn't pulled it out yet. Huey pointed it lower, shooting it right next to Raekwon's foot. "Get the fuck out of here."

"Haha, alright. Alright, young blood. You did this." He shook his head like he was disappointed but the smile was still on his face. He pulled at my mom, "Let's go, Sarah. Now."

She replied a meek yes and climbed into his car. He pulled off and zoomed off. But even after he was gone I was stuck in my spot unable to move. People were staring out their windows, a few brave ones were peeking their heads out the door. I heard Riley suck his teeth.

"This some fucking bullshit. You know what we just started? Fuck. FUCK. We ain't gone be safe out here nigga! And for what? Cause of her? You shoulda handed her ass the fuck over. Fuck." He kicked at the ground, staring at me angrily as he walked past me and storming into the house.

Even after that, I still couldn't move. I looked up at Huey, sobbing, "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." I kept repeating myself, unable to muster any other words.

He walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me, hugging me so tight I almost lost my breath. He shook his hands and buried his face into my neck. "I know what I was getting myself into. It's okay. Stop crying, it's okay."