As September rolls into October Jazmine Dubois would be lying if she said that her life wasn't perfect. Well, almost. She's passing all of her classes and hasn't failed a calculus test yet, so that seems like a win in her book.

Besides, school Jazmine was now at a place where she can call Romy a good friend of hers seeing as how well they get along. She loves how easily things just fell together with them, and if Jazmine's been skipping lunch on Tuesday and Thursdays to 'work on homework' with her new redheaded friend then no one needs to know... especially the fact that they spend their studying time at Havanna's and sometimes at this new arcade center.

Plus her parents have been around more, and they've been able to keep up their routine of having breakfast together every morning just like when she was younger.

Jazmine smiles to herself as she continues to write in her diary, contemplating on all the great things in her life right now and how it contrasts greatly in comparison to this past summer. She hasn't felt so happy and normal in a while.

"Jazmine is something wrong?"

The strawberry blonde turns to her right as she sits in her usual spot on the Freeman sofa, facing her best friend who just stares back and how could she forget the best part of the past month.

Everything between her and Huey has been great; it's like last summer didn't even happen. Things are back to normal, back as they should.

"Nothing," Jazmine replies with her stupid smile still stuck on her face. "Just...nothing."

"Well, it's weird," Huey states, staring at her momentarily before returning his attention back to the book in his hand.

"You're weird," Jazmine replies back playfully, poking Huey's cheek.

"Not as weird as you."

"No, you're much stranger than me Huey."

"That's debatable."

The two at each other before Huey breaks it and looks away again, but Jazmine pokes the small dimple that appears in his cheek before it quickly disappears.

"It's okay, that you're overtly weird Jazmine. You've always been that way."

"Thanks, Huey," The mulatto teen laughs secretly wanting to get rid of the smirk that curves her best friend's lips. As soon as that thought passes her mind, she looks away, and Jazmine looks down at her pink and yellow polka dot diary before closing it and focusing on the TV in front of her.

Suddenly, Jazmine hears a familiar chime and quickly pulls her phone out of her back pocket, grateful for the distraction from her wandering mind. As she opens the message, she instantly lights up at the name of the sender.

Romy:

Hey, blue jay wanna go to this new pizza place in town?

Her smile having returned full force, Jazmine types in her reply to Romy, but her thumb hesitates over the send button.

"Huey, what time do you leave for work today?"

"At one," her best friend replies quickly as he flips to the next page in his book and Jazmine finally sends her reply.

Jazmine:

Sure, maybe around one would be great. Can't wait!

"Why?" Jazmine hears as she reads Romy's reply.

"Uhm," she starts, not knowing exactly what to say. Huey's not even looking at her, and she somehow feels pressure as she scrambles for what to say. "My parent's wanted to know what time I will be home." Huey doesn't reply, and she didn't really expect him to as he reads. Luckily she doesn't have to think more into this as the doorbell rings, and Jazmine jumps up to answer it.

"Jazzy!"

"Cin!" The Jazmine screams in unison as the two girls greet each other. "What are you up to today?"

"I could ask you the same Ms. I liked the way he-" Jazmine quickly covers Cindy's mouth and moves back, letting the blonde inside.

"Chill girl, I'm not gone tell anyone. It's really not that deep," Cindy chuckles and taps Jazmine on her shoulder. Basketball under her arm, the blonde begins to walk down the short hallway towards the living room. " For me, that is I don't know about you and-"

"Cindy, please!" Jazmine whisper shouts only to hear Cindy's laughter in reply as it echoes down the hallway.

Switching feet a couple of times Jazmine tries to calm her heartbeat and tone down her anxiety a bit; however, her little woosah moment is interrupted seconds later at the sound of a basketball hitting most likely the living room wall.

The teen quickly enters the room just as Huey speaks, "Jazmine what did I say about letting Cindy in before 2 pm?"

"Psh, if I want to come in, I will come in," Cindy replies as she plops down in Mr. Freeman's chair.

"Anyway where yo brother at? He said he wanted to meet up to play ball today."

"Riley's still sleeping actually," Jazmine replies and pretends she doesn't notice the dimple slightly poking out of Huey's left cheek.

"Well, I'mma just pay lil Reezy a visit then," Cindy mischievously says as she stands and makes her way upstairs. Once a door upstairs (most likely Riley's room) slams Jazmine bursts out in laughter. She laughs until her stomach begins to protest, but her laughter returns as Riley comes running down the stairs and into the living room.

He glares at the two teens sitting on the sofa. Jazmine tries to school her face into one of innocence while Huey just continues to read his book, completely unbothered by his brother's anger.

"Who the hell sent Cindy upstairs?" Riley yells.

No one says anything and Riley's jaw tenses in anger, and it just makes for an even more hilarious scene to the teen girl as she takes in his stretched out t-shirt collar.

Jazmine's attempt at holding her laughter ultimately fails as her attention is brought to the side of Riley's head where the entire left side of his head is spray painted red.

"What's your problem now, Riley?" Huey asks still unbothered by his brother's angry presence.

"Why you send up there to wake nigga up, huh? She was yankin' all on my tee and wouldn't let me get up."

Jazmine's laughter becomes louder as Riley speaks until both Freeman brothers finally take in her cherry-red face.

"Yo, whatchu laughin' at Mariah?" Riley asks, his tone still tense with anger and Huey finally looks at his brother. "You might wanna find a mirror," Is all he says before looking at Jazmine and then turning back to his book.

"What? Why"

Another onslaught of laughter attacks Jazmine. "Y-your hair," She tries to get out, but can't stop laughing at the wild look in Riley's eyes.

"What? What about my hair?" The younger Freeman brother continues to pry, impatience lacing his tone.

"Your h-hair is re-r-red!"

"WHAT?!" Riley yells, his temper escalating even further.

"Yo, I gotta go," Huey interrupts and stands up, taking his book with him. Whereas Jazmine is still laughing and oblivious to a horrified Rile who runs downstairs to Mr. Freeman's den most likely to view his newly spray-painted hair.

Once the teen girl finally gets her wits about herself and wipes the tears from her eyes as she makes her way upstairs. Opening Huey's door Jazmine comes to an immediate halt at the sight of Huey standing in the middle of his room shirtless.

Her eyes wander along the long expanse of tone abs and mocha skin and stop at the faint little hairs leading into his pants, and her breath involuntarily hitches. Her mind immediately reminds her of her last 'encounter' with her best friend and how in control he was when she felt as though she was falling apart underneath his touch.

His smooth, but deep voice held a dark edge as he taunted her and left her yearning for more. So much more. Was it so wrong for her to have these thoughts about her best friend, to allow him to affect her this way?

"Jazmine-" The strawberry blonde looks up at the sound of her name being called, and her gaze refocuses on Huey's face as he pulls his shirt on his shirt down, hiding those formidable abs from sight. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, why?" She answers, silently proud that her voice didn't quiver...much.

Huey doesn't reply just slings his work bag over his black polo covered shoulder before moving around his room to grab his charger when Jazmine suddenly feels a cold hand touch her arm.

Quickly looking over her shoulder in the direction of the movement, she sees a smiling Cindy standing outside of the doorway. Once Jazmine hears Huey's shoes moving against the floorboards again, she returns her attention to the boy as he stops in front of her.

He gives her a small smile, one of his dimples poking out as he ruffles her before leaving the room, and Jazmine's ears are burning red.

"Bye Cindy," Huey calls out without looking at the blonde girl as he goes downstairs Cindy move out of her hiding spot behind Mr. Freeman's door and motions to her best friend, silently asking what happened. Jazmine just shrugs in similar confusion and follows Huey downstairs.

The two head outside, ignoring the loud sounds of Riley throwing things in the living room which Jazmine thinks would explain why her blonde best friend is still upstairs no doubt hiding from the chaotic Freeman brother downstairs.

Outside Jazmine hugs Huey and as usual, he lets her. Wrapping her arms around her best friend's neck, she spots a familiar tesla parked outside of her neighbor's house.

Quickly the teen girl successfully schools her features and lets Huey go. She waves as usual as he drives off in his black Audi, and once she sees his car leave her immediate sight, she quickly approaches the tesla.

"What are you doing here? You're a little early."

"No, actually, I'm on time, you said that you wanted to meet at 1. Did plans change blue jay?"

"No, 'Jazmine responds quickly, but when Romy's knowing look persists, she rolls her eyes and taps her yellow painted nails on the glass of the halfway rolled up car window. "Fine. Maybe you caught me a little off guard."

"Just a little?" Romy jokingly asks, his lips curved in a small grin.

"Yeah," Jazmine says with a small smile. "I didn't think you would be here exactly at 1."

Across the street unbeknownst to the strawberry blond stood Cindy who watched the exchange with mild confusion, seeing as how she never saw this particular car parked next door.

She doesn't recall the curly-haired girl ever mentioning a new friend. She's a little bit worried because of just how damn nice the girl can be, but Jazmine isn't the type attract weirdos or anyone that could be particularly crazy. At least Cindy hopes not.

A moment later, Cindy feels a presence behind her, but she doesn't take her away from the scene in front of her.

"Who dat Jazzy talkin' to?" Riley asks, scratching his head, purposely avoiding his freshly dyed right side of his head.

"I'on know," Cindy replies, deciding to play devil's advocate continues, "It's some dude she met."

"A dude? Let me find out Jazzy got niggas lined up at her locker."

"Boy no. Jazzy's the same as she's ever been."

The two lapse into silence as they watch Jazmine laugh until Riley finally speaks.

"So, you know this nigga?" He asks, and Cindy shrugs.

"Nope," Cindy replies, accentuating the 'p.' "So, you ready to play ball or what?"

"Yeah, I'on even know if I wanna ball anymore after what you did earlier."

"So, you salty. I know you not still salty."

"I'm McWuncler's fries in this bitch right now. 'Specially since you climbed all over a nigga."

"So?"

"So?" Riley says with a bored expression. "You can't be doing shit like that. Teasin' a nigga and shit."

"Teasin? So…" Cindy draws out. "Yo little wittle feelin's hurt, huh?"

Riley sucks his teeth, walnut-colored eyes narrowing at the blonde girl beside him. "Feelings? Never that. All I know is yo ass gone owe me something after I beat dat ass in ball."

"Fine. What do you want?"

"If I win you gotta give me that Rolex you got bust down over the summer."

"And if I win you gotta keep the left side of your head red for at least six months."

"Alright. Bet," Riley says as the two teens shake hands.

"So, are we balling here or?"

"Nah, we need an audience for this, let's head to Caesar's."

(*)

Approximately 30 minutes later, the two teens were outside of Caesar's house in the throws of their basketball battle. It was twenty-twenty, and no one had scored yet as the two sweaty teens battle for the winning point.

"You're not gonna win Reezy," Cindy says through labored breaths. "You might as well get used to that new hair color."

"Nah, you keep talking, but we both know you're head ain't been in the game," Riley pants as he makes a grab for the ball only to be blocked by Cindy's arm.

"What?"

"Yeah, you all heart and no skills," Riley says with a smirk and watches as Cindy's grasp falters just a bit, giving him the opening to grab the ball and shoots for a three-pointer.

"Oh!" Caesar and Hiro shout from their place on top of Caesar's jeep...only for the ball to bounce off the rim.

Riley raises his hands in disbelief and frustration at the sight of the ball and tries to beat Cindy towards the goal.

However, the blonde teen catches the ball and poses for her shot that Riley attempts to block to no avail.

The ball swishes through the hoop, and Cindy smirks at having scored the winning goal.

"Aww don't cry, Riley. I'll fix you up real good," Cindy says with a small pat to Riley's cheek.

"Man whatever," Riley moves away and uses the end of his wife-beater to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

"Don't be a sore-loser Riley, that's pussy," Hiro calls out with a laugh as he hops off of the jeep and moves to dap Riley up. The younger teen crosses his arms and turns up his lip in response.

"You gon' leave me hanging like that? For real? A'ight man stay pussy."

"I ain't no pussy," Riley says and storms off into Caesar house.

"Good goin' McPherson or should I say McFearsome."

"Hiro. It was all worth it just to see Riley freak out."

"Oh, for sure that was the best part," Hiro chuckle before pulling out his chiming phone.

"Hook up of the week?"

"Yeah, this girl named Candy."

"Candy Stevens? How you pull her?"

"What do you mean McPherson? I got the moves," Hiro assures Cindy with a wiggle of his eyebrows. "Look at me, who wouldn't want a lil Asian in their life, especially one as fine as this."

"Cocky."

"Of course. Anyway, Candy is supposed to be 'helping' me study for my next chemistry test in a few days so I'll have to hit you guys up later."

"I would tell you not to stick your tongue down her throat, but I know you'll just do the opposite. Enjoy your little study date," Cindy says as she sits on the porch tossing the basketball in the air.

Hiro heads to his blue Camaro and pulls out of Caesar's driveway, beeping his in goodbye before stopping at the stop sign and turning right at the end of the street.

Cindy drops the orange the ball down on the ground beside the porch stairs and leans back on the palms of her hands. Taking a deep breath, Cindy lets her muscles sag and let herself revel in the cool October. Her birth month and in her opinion, the most beautiful time of the year, when the leaves change and the air is crisp and cool.

Exhaling Cindy wonders what else she and Riley could do today. Maybe hit up Ed and Rummy for a bit. Thugnificient had some packages he wanted help delivering too. Or they could-

"Good game." Cindy embarrassingly enough jumps at Caesar's voice as he stands next to her.

"Thanks, Cease. So, how's Mr. that ain't fair?" Caesar chuckles and Cindy enjoys the sound.

"He's cooled off, and he's on the phone right now."

"His grandad stay blowin' him up lately," Cindy comments jokingly.

"Yeah, if his grandad's name is Kennedy."

'What?' was Cindy's immediate thought. 'Kennedy? Who the fuck is Kennedy?' All of these questions, but Cindy continues to smile her easy-going smile and with a nod, replies, "Word."

"Yeah." There's a pause in which Cindy tries to recall if Riley mentioned anyone named Kennedy.

"What's on your mind?"

"Uh, nothing. Just wondering what I'm going to do now."

"Well, we can hit up this hit up this new pizza place downtown."

"Really? That sounds...like a plan."

"Yeah, of course for Cindy Mcpherson," Caesar chuckles again, and Cindy looks away and blames the weather for her red ears and burning nose.

"Plus, I've been waiting to spend some time with you anyway."

"Yeah, why is that?"

"Cause we ain't hung in a while and I've been waiting to tell you something important."

"It ain't about your new flavor of the month, is it? Sometimes it's like you guys forget that I'm a girl too and I reaally don't want to hear about that shit.

"Nah," Caesar assures as he holds out his hand to help Cindy stand. He's wearing this stupid smile that Cindy's always found so damn endearing. Cindy's heartbeat increases as she feels Caesar moving in closer to her so close she can feel his breath on her neck. She also notes in her head how good he smells, among other things that begin to make her nervous as the seconds past.

"You're beautiful." Cindy's breathing falters, and the sound of the front door opening and closing breaks the 'moment,' and Cindy quickly moves away, placing a healthy space between her and her male counterpart.

"Yo Cindy, Cease, y'all wanna go hang with Ed and Rummy?"

Caesar clears his throat before replying, "I'm gonna pass, I actually gotta go pick up my sister from work. But I'll be in touch," Caesar says this last part while staring at Cindy and she feels nervous again, but she maintains eye contact.

"Aight well we'll see you later," Riley says completely oblivious to the rising tension between his two friends as he finishes off his Capri-sun and throws it in a nearby trash can on his way down the porch steps.

Cindy follows and tries not to show how elated she feels on the inside as they hop in her ride and head towards the Wuncler estate.

(*)

"Yo, this the street, slow down," Riley says, and Cindy does so as they try to find 3591. On the way to Ed's house, they decided to make a quick delivery in one of they're areas, so it didn't take long for Cindy to bust a U-turn and head in the direction of Cherry Tree Lane.

"Wait, let me turn this down I can't see," Cindy says, turning her stereo down as she looks for the white mailbox numbers with squinted eyes.

"Nah, yo ass just blind."

"Shut up," Cindy says with a pout. So what if she was prescribed glasses to wear? She doesn't want to wear those clunkers. Her vision is mostly fine; it's just moments like these when she's looking for some tiny ass numbers on a mailbox when she's all the way in her car on the driver's side is when she has a problem. "Where we supposed to be meeting him?"

"Behind his house-aye, I think this it. Blue mailbox in the front." Cindy stops the car and places it in the park a few meters down from the actual house. Riley hops out and heads to the backyard while Cindy stands outside and smokes and scroll Instagram while waiting. The blonde comes across a picture of Caesar on her timeline from this morning.

In the pic, he's sitting on his porch smoking and took the picture as the smoke filtered from his lips. His dreads are pulled back in a lazy ponytail and shirtless with a beaded necklace around his neck. Cindy stares at the picture a moment longer just thinking about his light brown eyes as he wears a half-smile in this picture before beginning to type out a comment.

McFearsome38Hot: 'Dat boy think he sooo fine, huh?'

His reply comes a couple of minutes later, and it causes Cindy to roll her eyes, but she smiles nonetheless.

CaesarTheGreat: 'Must be if you in my comments. Must be really feelin' the kid right now.'

A moment later Cindy spots Riley returning down the street to the car. "You good?" She asks as she pockets her phone. Riley doesn't say anything, and Cindy rolls her eyes as they both hop back in her SUV.

Cindy drives for a while before pulling over in the parking lot of a park underneath the shade of a large white oak tree.

"Somebody beat us to punch."

Its quiet for a short stretch of time before Cindy asks one simple question, "What's his name?"

Her tone is hard, and it's all because some dude is moving in on their spot and honestly she's ready to confront the person and tell that amateur to fuck off because all of Cherry and Deer Lane is her and Reezy's spot.

"Rome? I haven't heard of anyone called Rome. You sure it wasn't that guy Red?"

"Nah, it's not him. That nigga don't even sell like that plus he mostly do parties, not house calls."

"Then, who is he?" Riley doesn't reply which serves to irritate Cindy more to the point where her right leg is bouncing up and down at high pace. She exhales loudly trying to calm down before speaking, "What aren't you telling me, Riley?"

"Nothin' man."

"Riley. We are a team. That means you need to tell me what the fuck is going on or you're going to piss me the fuck off."

"Alright man, that wasn't the first time I heard of em'."

"And you didn't think to tell me?"

"I ain't think it was a big deal, but shit, now…"

"And now?" Cindy prompts.

"And now I know we need to figure out who he is and confront him. He can't keep taking our spots and customers. That's kinda what I wanted to hit Ed and Rummy up about since they back in town.

"How long?"

"Since this summer. I heard about him a couple times, but I'm getting too many calls from people about em'. Even Gnais (Ya-nis) hit me up about the nigga."

"Gnais?" Cindy asks in shock. Gnais is a long friend and dealer of Ed and Rummy. Cindy and Riley met Gnais their first year of business, and he taught them a lot of essential shit and still does.

He's really chill and laid back, but no one deals on Gnais spots, everybody knows not to step on his toes out of respect and fear of how far his reach really is. He has a lot of loyal customers, most of which are high paying and anonymous.

"Fuck!" Cindy curses switching the car back in drive and pulling out of the park. She turns her music back on and tries not to grip the Italian leather on her steering wheel to hard as she drives to the Wuncler estate.

"Hey," She hears Riley say minutes later, his hand outstretched with a finely rolled blunt. Cindy takes it between her slim french manicured fingers and takes a drag. She deeply inhales and exhales as she makes a turn with one hand on the wheel. She smokes again before passing it back.

She nods, and Riley starts drumming his fingers on the console between them, and it doesn't take long for her shoulders to relax. Just like that, it's okay. Cindy briefly glances over at Riley before returning her eyes to the road. The young punk somehow can tell what she needs without words. It's cool...but scary all at the same time.

Way across town more specifically in the downtown area of Woodcrest Huey is logging out of his computer in preparation to go on break. It's a loooong 30 minutes, but he needs all the time he has to get away from the incessant customers and his ridiculous co-workers. As usual, Huey spends his break checking his messages and replying to the important ones and leaving the other BS messages on read before reading.

Upon reaching the door of the computer and phone repair 'guidance' store, he flips on the outside lights and that annoying glowing sign that says 'Welcome' and 'Computer Wizards' he's approached by Pen. And as much as Huey doesn't want to believe that someone named their kid after a writing object that is actually this guy's name.

Debating on whether to exit the door and pretend not to notice his co-worker or just endure the socially painful experience of listening to this nigga because once again today he's on his way over. Believe it or not, Huey doesn't hate his co-workers; he just doesn't have the tolerance for bullshit and listening to their oversharing for extended time periods.

"Hey, Huey, I wanted to know if you could cover my shift tomorrow morning?"

"And why would I do that?"

"I need to take my ol' lady to the 'doctor.' " Huey has to refrain from scrunching up his nose at the term. They're the same age. "Yeah, she pregnant...again."

"No."

"C' mon man if it was you I'd do that shit, man."

"No," Huey says and walks out. Pathetic. Especially seeing as how this isn't his first time doing some shit like this. Trying to get someone to cover his morning shifts and taking his girlfriend or side-chick to the Wuncler Clinic for an abortion is nothing new. Plus Pen was on vacation for two weeks before now.

While sitting outside the Taiki Juice bar at his usual table and starting his routine of checking his messages his phone rings while reading an article link Caesar sent.

"Hello," Huey answers Mr. Dubois thinking that he wants to ask him one of his 'hypothetical' questions regarding his clients.

"Hey Huey," Tom greets in his usual cheery voice.

"Tom," Huey replies, staring at the altercation across the street between Pen and Salim. Huey doesn't need to in front of the shop to know that Pen just gave Salim the same bullshit excuse which most likely pissed Salim off considering how the older man is throwing his weight around and pointing his finger in Pen's face.

"Do you mind calling Jazmine to remind her that her mother and I won't be home until late tonight."

"Jazmine told me you all had plans tonight."

"No, not that I am aware of. I've actually been trying to call her for the past three hours, and she hasn't answered."

"And you thought that I would be able to reach her?" It's more of a statement than a fact Huey sighs trying to grasp Mr. Dubois' faulty logic. "Right."

"Thanks again, Huey!"

Huey ends the call and ignores the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that Jazmine lied to him earlier as he heads back to work early. He needs a distraction.

Hey, Y'all it's been A WHILE! But double updates!

Still, love y'all and thank you for your support! Don't forget to review and let me know how y'all feel about this chapter. And what do you guys think about Cindy's reaction to Ceaser? Sound off on the review page!