Late 2002

Sara Johnson grew from being the reluctant white girl from the Midwest. Now 18 years old, she was an expectant student at Juilliard. Her train ride would depart for New York in the next hour. Her father, Roy, saw her off along with siblings Chenille and Derek Reynolds. "You're gonna knock those dancers outta their slippers," her Black homegirl proclaimed. She and Sara patched things up last year when the three of them celebrated her successful audition at Stepps. "They don't know who they're up against."

The speakers loudly went off. "Now boarding: Chicago to New York."

"Well, that's you," Roy stated. He hugged her, which she warmly reciprocated. They were initially strangers bonded by Ms. Johnson's unfortunate death. Now, the trumpeter and the aspiring dancer had grown closer as father and daughter.

It was hard for Sara to say goodbye to Chenille. The young mother was her first friend in the South Side. It was harder to say goodbye to Derek. He inspired her to give her dreams of ballet and Juilliard another chance and taught her to dance hip-hop. They spent the remainder of their high school years together. With their last summer ending, they were bound in different directions. "I couldn't have come this far without you," Sara whispered as their foreheads kissed.

"You got this," he softly replied. I won't stop believing in you." After giving her encouraging boyfriend the tightest squeeze, she grabbed her luggage and boarded the train. Her brown eyes lingered on the three people waving to her as it slowly pulled away from the station.

Early 2003

Derek couldn't leave the South Side. He did get accepted into Georgetown. Fear didn't hold him back. Loyalty did; no matter the circumstances, he was there for his loved ones. Kenny, the father of Derek's nephew, Christopher, was notorious for two reasons. First, the tall, slick talking brother had a record of blowing Chenille off. Second, he was hardly a father to his then two–year-old son. He would show up whether the timing was good for him. As a result, Derek bore the weight of being an uncle and surrogate father. Chenille told him he should still attend Georgetown, but Derek maintained, "It can wait."

While he helped raise Christopher, Derek and Sara would talk over the phone. She'd tell him how New York was and how she could see Central Park from her new dorm room. "So, how is Georgetown," she would question each time.

He would reply, "It's slamming." Derek couldn't bring himself to tell her the truth. She needed to focus on her dreams. She would worry if he had told her, and it would throw her off her game.

2005

Derek intended on deferring to Georgetown for a year. That backfired the day Kenny resolutely abandoned Chenille and Christopher. The boy was four when he saw his daddy's back the final time. The rejection stung him and essentially Chenille. As much as she and her baby daddy quarreled, she still loved him. Momma Dean (Chenille and Derek's grandmother) continued providing her support. She'd thought Kenny was a ne'er-do-well from the jump. The subsequent morning, Derek wrote an email notifying the Dean of Admissions that he was rescinding his application. He hit the "Send" button, anguishing over his unfulfilled dreams about med school.

He couldn't hide his frustration even when he spoke to Sara. She told him about her new friends at Juilliard. He wanted to be happy for her, but his ego kept blocking it. Derek became more proficient in lying about Georgetown. He would fabricate what college life was like for him. The fake descriptions outfoxed his long-distance girlfriend. Or so it seemed to. As summer was approaching, the physical distance between the high school sweethearts factored in straining their relationship. Derek couldn't bring himself to face Sara. It would lead to telling her the truth.

One fateful night, Chenille brought her glum brother to Stepps to cheer him up. Momma Dean didn't have to work and agreed to babysit Christopher. The siblings met with some of their peers, Snookie, Eric, Shawna, Mike, Porsha, Tanisha, and Diggy. Also there was Nikki and her friends Alyssa and Jasmine. Derek usually steered clear of his ex, who liked to forget that she dumped him. It was just her luck that her latest boo was absent. The light-skinned sister noticed him alone at the bar. She confidently strutted over and sat close to him. "Why ain't you dancing?"

"I don't feel like it." It was true; he couldn't dance with Sara in his mind. Derek wanted to get out of there fast. His attention was drawn to her. She was wearing her favorite spicy perfume that night. It had a tantalizing effect on him after those years of resistance. "You wanna get outta here?"

Her lips curled into a seductive smile. "What do you have in mind?" Offering her to leave with him and doing so were Derek's first and second mistakes. Going over to her crib was his third. His fourth was when they reminisced about the good in their relationship. The most fatal of these was kissing her amidst nostalgia. The kickoff was innocent, but the next was ravenous. Tasting her caramel skin felt right to him. He didn't want to think about Georgetown. He wanted an escape from his troubles, and he got it. When Derek carried Nikki into her room, he embarked to the point of no return.

He regretted it as soon as he woke up. He glanced at the disheveled woman next to him. She enjoyed every second of their tryst. As Derek showered, he profusely scrubbed his dark skin. He could clean off the evidence, but the memories were etched in his head. Worse, he betrayed Sara with Nikki. He got dressed and walked out without saying anything else to her. As soon as he returned home, Chenille interrogated him on his whereabouts. He said he was taking a late-night walk after he left Stepps.

A month passed after that shameful night. Derek resumed spending time with Christopher while Momma Dean went to work. He avoided his friends and Nikki altogether. One day, Derek was reading to his nephew. There was a knock on the front door. His sister, who was looking through a magazine, opened it. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to Derek." The responding voice was Nikki's; that wasn't good. Chenille was beyond mindful about the latter dogging her brother with another dude. He steps out of the boy's room without being seen by either of them.

"Uh-uh, you need to go."

"Puh-leeze. This ain't nothing to do with you, Chenille."

"Listen, wench. If you don't get your trifling ass out of here, Imma throw it out myself."

"Do that, and I'll have you arrested for harming a pregnant woman." Both Reynolds siblings were in disbelief. "I'm sure you of all people can understand that."

"Say that mess again." Chenille disapprovingly glared at her. "I dare you."

"Fine." Nikki defiantly inched close to her face. "I'm pregnant with your brother's baby."

"How do you know it's not one of your other men's?"

Nikki looked directly past her and gave Derek a wicked smirk. "You wanna tell her, or should I?" That was how Chenille learned the whole truth. It took her massive willpower to restrain herself from beating the crap out of her pregnant enemy and cussing the daylight out of her "knucklehead brother". After Nikki finally left, she inquired him, "What about Sara? How do you think she's gonna feel about this?" Those two questions haunted him the morning after. He couldn't lie anymore.

Derek brought the next ticket to New York. He had told Sara that he needed to see her. For the first time ever, he was outside her dorm room. She was overjoyed to see him upon opening the door. When he didn't hug her back, she realized something was wrong. They sat on her couch. She was flabbergasted then wounded by her boyfriend's deceit. She sharply rebuffed his hand with a flick of a wrist. "I'm gonna get ready to meet my friends. Congratulations on the baby." Her voice cracked as she declared this. "You can see yourself out." She went straight to the bathroom without looking back. Derek walked out of the premises with a broken heart.