On the Come Up

Curtis takes Bri home, and Bri tells her mother that Pooh was arrested. Jay calls around looking for answers, but the police “can’t provide any info yet” (374). She goes into her room and stays there for days, crying. Bri’s emotions are running high, and “[her] mom’s sobs won’t leave [Bri’s] ears” (375), and she feels more helpless, angry, and worried than ever. She realizes that she’s “got no choice but to stand on [her] own two” (375). Supreme takes Bri to her interview with DJ Hype, and he reminds her that Hype “may try to push [her] buttons,” but she should “be [her]self and say what [she] feel[s]” (377). During the interview, Hype implies that Bri didn’t really write the song because he doesn’t believe that a girl would be involved with the world of gangs and violence as her song claims. He also says that the lyrics are “a bit much [...]. [She] talk[s] about being strapped, [she] insinuate[s] that [she’ll] kill cops” (380). Bri becomes so angry that she storms out of the interview. Supreme congratulates her for playing the “ratchet hood rat role” (383) that he told her to play to get attention and publicity. Bri realizes that she wasn’t playing a role, and she really has become this person. She knows that when people listen to this broadcast, “they’ll just see an angry [B]lack girl from the ghetto,” and they “won’t care that [her] life is a mess and [she] had every right to be mad” (383).

After the interview, Supreme is delighted, claiming that Bri’s outburst is “the best shit [she] could’ve done!” (385). He drops Bri off at the pizza parlor that Trey works at, and she watches as Trey kisses his co-worker, Kayla. Bri is amazed because she “[hasn’t] seen [her] brother this happy in a while” (387). However, as soon as Trey sees Bri, he becomes cold and angry. He is furious that Bri went off on the radio and “showed her ass” again, just like she did on Instagram. He tells her that there’s a way to stand up for herself without making a fool of herself. Bri begins to cry, telling him that she just wants to save her family, and she is “tired of not knowing what’s gonna happen next” and “tired of being scared” (389). Trey comforts her, and Bri remembers how Trey has always taken care of her. She confesses that she feels like a burden and because he gives up so much for her, “the least [she] can do is make it, so he doesn’t have to give up anything else” (390). Trey assures her that he took care of her because he loves her and expected nothing in return. He tells her that it’s okay to cry, despite what she thinks, and that “admitting [she’s] weak is one of the strongest things [she] can do” (391). He thanks Bri for making sure he didn’t have to face life alone because otherwise, he might have ended up like Pooh: looking for family in all the wrong places. He asks her to stay off of radio shows from now on.

A few days later, Bri enters her mother’s room to check on her. Jay has been in bed crying for the past few days, and “her eyes are puffy and pink, and there’s balled-up tissues on the nightstand and scattered around her pillow” (395). She admits that she needed some space to process the news of Pooh’s arrest. Bri worries that she might be losing her mom again, just like she did when she was younger, “[staring] into red eyes hazy from drugs” (396). As she waits for the bus, Supreme calls Bri to tell her that there are record executives who want to meet her after school and “hear what else [Bri] can do,” and he wants her to “record some shit while they’re there” (397). On the bus, Curtis tells Bri that he has liked her for a long time, and he asks her out. She agrees. As Bri gets off the bus, Shana asks Bri if she would be a part of the student coalition’s meeting with the superintendent because “he’s meeting with them because of [Bri]” (403). Bri explains that she has other plans, but Shana tells her that the student coalition still has Bri’s back, especially in light of the DJ Hype fiasco. Shana adds that “a lot of people support [her]” (404) Malik continues to ignore Bri, and she worries that she might have lost his friendship forever.

After school, Supreme picks up Bri and takes her to the recording studio. Bri feels guilty that Pooh isn’t there with her, but she is quickly distracted by the grandeur of the studio, which she compares to heaven. Supreme orders Bri to record the song like normal and to “follow [his] lead on the other stuff” (407). Bri and Supreme meet with James Irving, a record executive eager to work with Bri. James starts talking about Bri’s father and how it’s a shame that he got caught up in the gangs and “you can act like a f***ing hoodlum and not be one” (409). Bri is annoyed, but Supreme keeps her under control. Dee-Nice, another successful rapper from Garden Heights, presents Bri with a song he wrote for her record. Bri is stunned that she won’t be allowed to write her own song, and when she reads the lyrics that were written for her, she is disgusted by the lines that feed into DJ Hype’s accusations about her having “PMS” and needing a ghost writer. Supreme drags her out into the hall and tells her that if she wants to make it in the music industry, she has to perform this song because James “[has] more cash at his disposal than he knows what to do with” (413). He tells Bri that her father wasn’t a gangster when they met, and Supreme helped create Lawless’s image. Bri realizes that she is “a do-over of [her] dad” (414) in Supreme’s eyes. He becomes controlling and threatening, and Bri finally gives in and agrees to record the song.