On the Come Up

On Saturday, Sonny asks Bri and Malik to meet him at the park. He’s meeting his online boyfriend in person for the first time, and he wants them there as backup. They promise to have his back, no matter what happens, and Malik eases Sonny’s nerves by saying, “If this guy isn’t who he says he is, it’s his loss, not [Sonny’s]” (433). To everyone’s surprise, Supreme’s son Miles shows up. While Sonny and Miles talk, Malik and Bri break their silence and talk about the night of the robbery. Malik explains that he felt abandoned by Bri because she was “more concerned about that chain than about [him], [her] friend who got a black eye” (435). He says that Bri seems preoccupied with money lately. She acknowledges that she was wrong to abandon him like that, but she also reminds him that the chain “was [her] family’s safety net. [She] figured [they] could pawn it if things got worse” (436), because money is much tighter in her family than in his. They reconcile and renew their friendship, and Sonny and Miles join them. Miles explains that his father forces him to pretend to be straight, but he is tired of pretending to be something he’s not for his father. He decides to do what he wants for once and that he’s “done being who [his] dad wants [him] to be” (439).

The next day at church, Trey brings his girlfriend, Kayla. They haven’t been to church in a while, but Jay is so happy about the possibility of having a job that she is willing to “face the gossip” (440). Curtis finds Bri, and the two make plans to get lunch off campus tomorrow for their first date. Grandma and Granddaddy come to greet them, and to Bri’s amazement, “Grandma has been over here more than a minute and hasn’t made one snide remark about [Jay] yet” (444). They make plans to have family dinner after church, and Bri is unnerved because her grandparents include Jay in family plans. In the car, Jay apologizes for leaving Bri and Trey all those years ago. She says it’s okay that Bri is scared, but “every single day, [Jay’s] goal is to be here for [Bri]” (447). Jay takes Bri and Trey aside and tells them that she and Grandma have decided to set aside their differences and try to be civil for Trey and Bri. She also announces that “[their] grandparents offered that all three of [them] stay here until [they] get on [their] feet” (452) and that she accepted. Jay urges Trey to go to graduate school like he wants, and Trey tells Jay that she has to support Bri’s rap career as well. Bri and Trey plead with Jay to let her continue rapping, and Jay reluctantly agrees. At family dinner, Bri looks around at her family and thinks about how they came to shape the person she is and her identity is tied to the people who love her.

Trey drives Bri, Sonny, and Malik to the Ring for her special performance. Bri is greeted with enthusiasm from the crowd, except for a few Crown members in the line. Bri tries to focus on her performance as she heads into the club, but the Crowns try to pick a fight with Bri on her way in. One of them implies that Aunt Pooh “should’ve shot to kill when she had the chance” (466). Supreme sends her to the green room, and Scrap shows up with a phone call from Aunt Pooh, who wishes Bri luck. Supreme praises Bri for associating with Garden Disciples and “trying to make it look authentic like [he] suggested” (472), but she dismisses his claims. Bri heads into the ring, and when it’s time for her to perform the prewritten song from the recording studio, she sees a Crown in the crowd, taunting her with her father’s stolen chain. Bri decides to throw aside the prewritten song, and she freestyles about her struggles with self-image, the assumptions people have made about her, and her determination to be her own person. She ends her song by declaring, “I’m not for sale” (476). The crowd goes wild, and Supreme and the record executive are the only ones unhappy with the performance. Bri is glowing, satisfied that she stood up for herself in the best way possible, and “for the first time in [her] life, [she] know[s] [she’s] exactly where [she’s] supposed to be” (477).

Bri and Curtis study for their practice ACT. Trey is heading to grad school, and Jay is scheduled to start her new job as the superintendent’s secretary next week, where she will be helping look into a new security firm for Midtown. The superintendent wants to meet regularly with the Midtown Black and Latinx Coalition. Sonny calls and tells Bri to check Twitter because “something huge just happened” (481). An unnamed celebrity has posted the video of Bri freestyling at the Ring, and they call her “the future of hip-hop” (482). They want to do a song with her, and Bri says that she wants to do it as long as she can “do it [her] way” (482).