On the Come Up(104)

“Hold up now,” says Trey. “Who—”

Jojo advances on the Crown. “Who the fuck you think you talking to?”

I grab his collar before he can get any closer. “Jojo, no!”

“Man, sit your li’l ass down!” says the Crown in the beanie. He eyes me. “See, we thought we had put you in your place for that shit you rapped, but apparently not. Your aunty should’ve shot to kill when she had the chance. Now she just done gave you problems.”

At this point, I don’t know how I’m standing.

“Try it if you want!” says Jojo. “We’ll mess you up!”

The Crowns bust out laughing.

I feel sick though. This little boy is serious.

Malik grabs Jojo’s arm. “C’mon,” he says, and pulls Jojo with him. He and Sonny walk in, glancing back at the Crowns.

Trey’s right by my side, staring every single one of them down. He leads me inside.

Every inch of me is tense until the doors of the boxing gym close behind us.

Trey takes a deep breath too. “You okay?” he asks.

No, but I nod because I’m supposed to.

“Look, we can go home, all right?” he says. “This ain’t worth all that.”

“I’m good.”

He sighs. “Bri—”

“They stopped Dad, Trey. I can’t let them stop me, too.”

He wants to argue. I see it in his eyes.

“Look, they can’t do anything in here tonight,” I say. “Reggie and Frank don’t let weapons come through the doors. I gotta go after this.”

He bites his lip. “And then what? This ain’t gonna just go away, Bri.”

“I’ll figure something out,” I say. “But please? I gotta stay.”

He lets out a heavy sigh. “All right. It’s your call.”

He holds his fist out to me. I bump it.

I don’t know how any of those people in line will get in—this place is already super packed. I’m talking wall-to-wall. That dumbass Hype plays some Lil Wayne over all the chatter.

It takes me a second to spot Supreme. He’s over near the boxing ring itself. I throw up my hand to get his attention. He notices and makes his way over.

“You good with this, too?” Trey whispers.

He may have taken Mom’s place so she wouldn’t jump Supreme, but I’m sure Trey’s not too fond of him either. “You good” really means, “You want me to check this guy or nah?”

“I’m good with that, too.” I say.

“The superstar is here!” Supreme announces. I let him give me a quick hug. “And I see you brought your li’l crew with you, huh? Trey, boy, I ain’t seen you since you were about as little as this one here.” He reaches to ruffle Jojo’s hair.

Jojo dodges his hand. “I ain’t little!”

Supreme chuckles. “My bad, man. My bad.”

“So you’re Supreme?” Sonny says.

His eyes are almost narrowed at Miles’s dad. I can tell it’s taking a lot for him to not say what’s on his mind. But from what Sonny told me, Miles isn’t ready to tell his dad about them.

“The one and only,” Supreme says, and turns to me. “I got James a front row seat. I also got you a li’l greenroom in the back so you can make your grand entrance later.”

“We’ll come back with you,” Malik says, eyeing him. He’s not too crazy about Supreme either.

“Y’all go ahead. I’m gonna take this li’l wanna-be gangsta to find a good spot,” Trey says. “C’mon, Jojo. We need to have a li’l chat. How to not show your ass, one-oh-one.”

I watch them until they disappear into the crowd.

Supreme grasps my shoulder. “You ready to get this contract?”

I thought I was. But like Aunt Pooh would say, I gotta shake it off. I swallow. “Yeah. Let’s do it.”

Malik, Sonny, and I follow Supreme to the back. The hallway walls are covered in posters of hip-hop legends. It’s like they watch every single step that I take.

Supreme takes me to the “greenroom” — it used to be a storage room. It’s tiny, with just a few chairs and a refrigerator, but it’s a quiet place away from the chaos.

Supreme leaves so I can get in my zone. Plus, he wants to go keep James company out front.

I lower myself into one of the chairs. Sonny and Malik take the other two. I suck in a deep breath and let it out.

“I’m sorry about the Crowns,” Malik says.

“This is on me and Aunt Pooh.”

“All this over some lyrics?” Sonny asks.

I nod.

“That’s bullshit,” says Sonny.

“Jojo was ready to go to war for you though,” Malik says with a smirk.

Sonny laughs. “Like he was actually gonna do something.” He helps himself to some chips from the snack basket on the coffee table. “I know you’re not taking that li’l boy seriously, Bri.”

“Right. We used to pretend to be ‘gangster’ when we were younger, too,” Malik adds.

We did go through a phase. I saw Aunt Pooh throw up Garden Disciple signs so much that I figured I could, too. Even drew the GD symbol in my notebooks.