*Looks down below*

Riley walked out of his room, wearing a red and white jersey, white basketball, and red sneakers. He spotted Granddad talking on the phone while he leaned on the wall. "Ay, Granddad. Still talking to the girls' grandma? You can't find a woman in this state, so you might as well get one from across the world," Riley joked. "Hold on, Rachael." Granddad turned to look at Riley. "Boy, hush! You know how long it was to find this woman's number yesterday? Let me enjoy this while I'm still living! Since I ain't gon' get lucky any time soon, I might as well get lucky over the phone. Now go outside and start sweating!"

Granddad went back to the phone. "So anyway, Rachael, what did you say you got on?" Riley looked disgusted, as he said, "Gross. I'm out." Riley ran downstairs, as he spotted his brother and the other older kids. "Hi, Riley!" Jazmine greeted, cheerfully. "Yeah, whatever. Yo, Caesar! Your brother out there?" Riley asked. "Yeah, Reezy! JC shooting some hoops," Caesar responded. "What about your sister, Fae? She out there?" "I believe Gabby is outside doing something," Fae replied.

"Cool." Riley went outside, seeing JC giving the ball to Cindy and Gabby, while he leaned on the side of the house; watching them play. Riley walked towards him. JC was wearing a white tank top, dark gray basketball shorts, and white sneakers. "Ay, JC. Why you ain't playing?" Riley asked. "Man, I wouldn't step into their game if I was you, Reezy. Their minds is on this bitch. They've been beating me for how many times." Riley laughed. "Because you suck, nigga."

"Naw, homie. It was two against one. If you would've came soon, we'd be beating them like nobody's business," JC bragged. They observed the girls play. "I gotta ask this, Reezy." "What's up?" Riley responded. "Where'd you met Lil G from? Nigga, I never seen a girl like her," JC told him. Riley watched Gabby. She was wearing a dark red tank top that said BAD in the front and ASS in the back in black, bold letters, black basketball shorts, and red and black high tops. Riley shook his head. "It's a real long story. I gotta tell you about it later. You wouldn't believe it."

JC shrugged his shoulders. "Can't be that bad. Plus, I would date her if I were you. She real fine," he stated. Riley sighed. "Naw, it ain't like that between us and don't try to start yo' wack pick up lines. You ain't gonna get nothing from her," Riley said, a bit jealous.

JC laughed. "It's all good, Reezy. I already got someone on my mind," he admitted, looking at Cindy.

Cindy was wearing a white t-shirt, dark blue basketball shorts, and blue converse. Just as she made a shot, she asked Gabby, "Since when do you play basketball?" Gabby scoffed. "Since forever. You don't think I got game?" she asked. "I just never picture you playing any type of sports. You look too stuck up."

Gabby looked confused. "The fuck?" She took the basketball. "Who the hell you calling stuck up?" "Ay, it was my opinion. I just thought you was some little girly girl. You know, like Jazmine," Cindy admitted. Gabby looked shocked. "Oh, hell naw! Straight up insult right there. We gon' deal with this shit today."

Gabby dropped the basketball, as she walked towards Cindy. "You don't know me like that, C-Merph. I'm not what you think I am. I ain't girly, I don't do what other girls do, and I sure as hell don't act like Jazmine!" Gabby explained. "Well, damn! My bad. What you getting all mad for just cuz of what I said?" Cindy asked, "I thought we was cool." "We is cool, C-Merph, but you need to get to know me before you start judging me. Real talk, the only person that could be stuck up is you."

Cindy stared at her in disbelief. "Me? Yeah right! Why would you even let that go through your mouth?" she asked. "Cuz the only girl I see with all them papers in the air is you, Lil Miss Rich Girl. Shit, you know how happy I would be if I got what you got? I would've never been a runaway, I would've never been an orphan, and I would've never lost my mom!"

It was crucially silent, as Cindy stared at Gabby surprised while JC and Riley tried to figure out what was going on. Gabby took the basketball and give it to Cindy. "Look, just don't be judging me, a'ight? Being girly or stuck up or whatever ain't who I am. Try to go through what I went through...cuz no stuck up girly girl could never handle that type of pain."

With that being said, Gabby walked away.

After a while, at the mall, Jazmine dragged Huey to her favorite store, with Caesar, Hiro, and Fae behind them. An hour ago, Jazmine was persuading Huey to come to the mall with them. After trying to decline numerous times, Huey finally agreed to go if Fae joined with them. Fae was about to refused, until all of them agreed on this without her saying so.

Nonetheless, they were all at the mall together. They looked around the store Jazmine took them. With a lot of dresses with different variety of colors shown, the teenagers looked a bit frightened except for the mixed, green-eyed girl who was excited. "Isn't it beautiful?!"

Suddenly, Caesar looked at his wrist watch. "Wow! Would you look at the time, man? It's my cue to go to the food court," he said. "I'll go with you. We all know how you get when you're bored, Caes," Hiro told him. They both quickly walked out of the store, as Fae recommended, "Maybe I should go with them." "No way! As much as I like Huey's opinion, I would want a girl's opinion, too!" Jazmine stated. "Trust me, you don't want my opinion," Fae insisted.

Jazmine laughed. "Of course I do! It's great to have you back, Fae! I'm going get you the prettiest dress that will make you look beautiful!" Fae took a deep breath, as Jazmine went to go shopping. Her and Huey sat down in the chairs. "I can't believe you made me come here," she scolded at Huey. "If I had to go, you had to go," he said. "If this is your way of saying you hate me, you're doing a great job at expressing it," Fae said.

"I never hate you."

Fae stared at him once she heard those words. "I said it before and I'll say it again," Huey told her, "It wouldn't been fun if you weren't here. I have no choice, but to come here, but with you by my side, it's not as awful as I assumed it would be." Fae put her head on his shoulder. "Thanks, Huey. That's somewhat charming of you to say," she responded. Huey looked at her, then shrugged. "Just being honest."

"Oh, Huey!" Fae put her head up, as she and Huey turned to see Jazmine wearing a peach summer halter dress. "What do you think of this dress, Huey?" Jazmine asked. Huey raised his eyebrow, intrigued. "It's nice. You look pretty, Jazmine." The mulatto girl blushed, as she hugged Huey. "Thanks, Huey! You're so sweet."

Fae looked down, noticing Huey never complimented her for her outfit, but complimented the cheerful girl for her new dress. "Fae, do you like this dress?" Fae looked up, seeing Jazmine staring at her in anticipation. She was indeed pretty in the dress that hugged her figure perfectly and with her hair flat iron into loose curls being hold in a ponytail, she was stunning to look at. "Yeah...you look very lovely." Jazmine smiled. "Thanks! It's official. I'm going to buy this dress!"

Just as she went to the dressing room, Fae's phone started ringing. She walked out of the store, as she answered. "Faith speaking." "Hey, Fae! It's Lay!" "Along with Ni-Ni!" "Why am I not surprised?" Fae replied. "Oh, no need to get moody! We just want to know what did Huey think once you caught his eye," Layla said. "Yeah, you were looking so pretty, Fae!" Shani complimented.

"I wouldn't know. He didn't say anything about the outfit," Fae said. "What? That doesn't make any sense. Did he at least confess his feelings to you?" Layla asked. Fae closed her eyes, as she took a deep breath. "No...you girls were wrong. He wanted to tell me...something else that was important. It had nothing to do with him being attracted to me."

"Are you sure?" Shani asked, confused. "Positive. He doesn't think of me that way." Fae looked through the window, observing Jazmine giving Huey the dress to hold. She sighed, as she said, "I believe he has feelings for another girl." "Are you kidding me? How can you tell?" Layla asked in disbelief.

"Trust me, it's self-evidence. If you two saw them together, you would think they'd be a couple." "No..." Shani said, upset. "Oh, wow. I'm so sorry, Fae," Layla apologized. "Why apologize? It's not the end of the world," Fae reassured, "I don't care who he's attracted to." "We know you don't mean that, Fae," Layla said, knowingly.

"Believe what you want, but it's not going to change anything," Fae concluded, "I have to go." "Okay...later, Fae," Layla said. "Bye, Fae. We're here if you still want to talk to us," Shani comforted. "I'll see you guys later," Fae said, as she hung up.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath once more, feeling the way she felt throughout her childhood: sadness.

Okay! I don't know how the next chapter is going to play out, but I'm just making stuff up as it goes along. XD