Chapter One.

The story continues when we first meet DeShaun and Nichole Holton.

1

                “Baby, dada loves you. I’m always gonna be here for you. No matter what happens, you’re all I got in this world. I will never give you up for anything. Nobody in this world is ever gonna keep you from me. I love you.” My best friend Marshall Mathers were doing his daily morning feeding speech as he fed his daughter Hailie at the kitchen table.

                “Morning baby.” I kiss Hailie on the cheek. “Morning honey.” I kiss Marshall’s cheek and he looks up at me. His eyes follow mine as I sit down beside them.

                “Where were you last night? I waited up for you.” He casts his attention back on Hailie as he tried once more to feed her a bite of applesauce. “Come on baby, eat. Look, Auntie Jasemine loves apples.” He holds the spoon out to me and my face scrunches up in disgust. Despite the small tumbling of my stomach, I wasn’t exactly hungry after last night’s escapades. “Please? She always eats it after you.”

                I sigh before taking a reluctant lick of the spoon he held out to me. He smiles as Hailie eagerly reaches for it.

                “I’m sorry.” I continue on with the question he’d just asked. “I was at work. I quit last night though, so I guess I’m looking for a new job.” I say and he looks over at me, a small smile spreading across his face. I instantly recognize the devious Marshall Mathers face of Persuasion. Didn’t work in fifth grade, won’t work now. “No, I’m not about to start a singing career Marshall. You already know how that goes!”

                

"But you sound so good!" He insists shaking his head. The doorbell rings and he scoots back in his chair. "Okay, baby. Daddy's going to give you the spoon now." He hands it to the small baby in the highchair before him and she immediately jams the applesauce against his face. "What's up man?" He laughs as his best friend DeShaun stands in the doorway, holding his hands over the eyes of the girl in front of him. 

"Guess who?" DeShaun asks eagerly and I laugh.

"Nichole!" I wave excitedly and she waves back. 

"You ruined it! I told you not to wave!" Shaun exclaims. "God that's why you can't smoke with me. You tell everybody on this side of 8 Mile, 'hey I'm high, I'm high!" Nichole's face frowns and she rolls her eyes. "Guess who won the talent show at the bar last night?" DeShaun returns his focus to us.

"You and Nichole?" I gasp in surprise as if I hadn't been sitting in the back of the bar last night, hidden in the darkness awaiting DeShaun's rap performance. As always, he was talented at taking the words that Nichole wrote for him, and turning into a rap that no one could even comprehend the depth of. Marshall and I love seeing him, but we're so young we normally have to watch him and ourselves while we clutch our fake IDs.

"Yup. My little sister was amazing. God, you two need to come perform. What'd we waste the time getting you the fake IDs for if you guys aren't going to utilize them." As if you probably guessed, Nichole and DeShaun had a similar situation to Marshall's and I. Except, they had two tiny little details we didn't. DeShaun didn't have a kid and his mom had actually adopted Nichole the first time she ran away from him. She lived in a little town outside of Detroit called Southgate, but when her and DeShaun fusioned their talents into unlocking the full potential that they both had, she ran away... And the Holton residence welcomed her with open arms.

"I told you man, I got Hailie. I can't be doing stuff like that." Marshall shook his head. "And Jas has work. We just don't have the luxury of an awesome mom who is okay with us staying out all late." He looks towards my mother's bedroom for the first time this morning.

"Where is she anyway?" Nichole asks, a hint of disgust evident in her normally peppy tone.

"Sleeping." I pick up Hailie's bowl and put it into the sink. "You know, she doesn't even wake up until after twelve." Suddenly, Hailie begins to scream and everyone quickly attempts to shush her. Of course, the mention of Mom's sleeping schedule clicks a switch in Hailie's mind. We should've known.

"Hai Hai." Marshall picks her up and bounces her. Her face turns a dark shade of crimson before she pukes up onto his shirt. He groans. "Jay, take her for a minute." He hands her to me and instantly she stops crying. 

"I swear, sometimes I think that baby is way too connected to you to be Kim's. You promise me you and Marshall aint never bump uglies and aint told us about it?" DeShaun lifts an eyebrow and I smile shaking my head.

"Oh God. Shut that child up!" My mom calls out as she slams out of her room. Nichole steps aside as the older, skimpily clad woman walks into the kitchen. Her flowing lingerie tail leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination, as DeShaun's eyes quickly travel to the ceiling to prevent the same actions that had just occurred in Hailie's stomach within his own. 

"Hi Madison." Nichole replies as respectfully as she can although her voice is still peppered with hate.

"Move." Is the woman's response as she tumbles past me and makes her way to the bathroom. I bounce Hailie as I step aside and she slams the bathroom door. 

"I forgot how cheerful she can be in the morning." DeShaun rolls his eyes as Marshall comse back into the kitchen without a shirt on. 

"Sorry." He apologizes as he scoops Hailie out of my arms. "I hate leaving her with you for so long." He shakes his head. 

"Babe, you know I don't mind." I smile to him as he sits her back into the high chair. He turns around and wraps his arms around me. "What?"

"I found this under my pillow and I know it only could come from you." He holds up the five hundred dollars I'd made the previous night. "You know you don't have to do this for me. I'm trying to get in some extra hours at the job. I'm gonna pay you back every penny." He begs and I shake my head.

"It's okay. Now you can buy Hailie diapers. Using your shirts isn't acceptable anymore." I pat his bare arm and he looks at my hand before grinning at me. I can see the adoration in his eyes. 

"Oh!" Nichole blurts out. "We have something for you."

"What's up?" Marshall turns back to hem as he picks Hailie up and lifts her carefully into the air. Her laughter fills the kitchen and we watch as DeShaun leaves the room for a second and reappears with two small boxes. "One for you and one for you. M, open yours first."

DeShaun hands the box to Marshall who looks at them both quizzically. DeShaun bites his lip as Marshall balances Hailie in one hand and uses the other to open the box. "No way." He stares at the fresh pair of black Nikes before him. "These are fresh as f**k. Dawg." He breathes out. Something falls out of one shoe as he turns it over and I dived to pick it up. He swallows as I hold it up to him. It's a necklace with an M on it, that looks as though it's made out of diamonds.

"Are--Are those real?" My eyes widen. 

"Sixteen karat. That took a lot of hubcaps kid." Nichole gives us her most menacing serious face and Marshall watches as I slowly put the necklace on his neck. I can tell he's trying to hide his emotions. Marshall doesn't like to cry. "You guys--"

"Jaz open yours before he gets all b***h mode and cries on us." DeShaun laughs and Marshall quickly turns to watch. I slowly unwrap the little box and gasp when I see the small diamond necklace with J on it inside. I gasp and Nichole and DeShaun exchange glances.

"We fucked up." They both say in unison, and we both look over earnestly. Marshall watches as Nichole takes the necklace off his neck and DeShaun takes mine from me. They look at each other before switching necklaces and coming to put them on our necks.

"Now that's what I call fresh." DeShaun laughs.

"So you two are branding us." I lift an eyebrow and Nichole stares at me with a serious face. 

"Yes." She says and I laugh as Marsahll nods to the two gratefully as Hailie immediately grabs his necklace in her hands. 

"No Hai Hai." We both say together and he lightly tugs it but she holds her baby death grip on it and puts it into her mouth. 

"Well, I think Hailie likes them just as much as I do." I laugh. The toilet flushes and DeShaun quickly picks up the shoes, tosses them in the box, and kicks them under the table beside us. I tuck my necklace into my shirt, and Marshall allows Hailie to completely devour the J into her mouth as he holds her close. 

It's sad when you have to hide all your valuables from your mother in fear that she'll steal them and pawn them off for money that God only knows what she'll spend it on.

She comes out of the bathroom and staggers toward us. The kitchen suddenly reeked more of Kahula and Armaretto Sour than Hailie's baby puke. The only reason I know that is because.... I'm not gonna blame it on the bar. I'm going to admit to you that my mother is indeed a raging alcoholic. 

"We're out of tissue." She says bitterly and Marshall whirls around quickly.

"We had a whole roll yesterday!" He exclaims and she shrugs before leaving the kitchen. "Hailie's out of diapers anyway." He sighs. I grab the baby out of his arms as he disappears out of the kitchen to get a shirt.

"Have I mentioned how much I hate your mother lately?" Nichole lifts an eyebrow and I laugh.

"You guys are coming to school today, right?" DeShaun looks at the clock worriedly and I nod.

"Yeah, Marshall's bringing the Chevy from Kim's after school so we can stop walking all the time." I smile and they both exchange wary looks. "I know. I don't want him going over there either. You know how she can be."

"Alright well, we're gonna go Jas." DeShaun gives my mom a dirty glare. So dirty I felt like I needed a shower after seeing it. Nichole nods, waving to me as she follows her "older brother" out of the back door.