Brother's Keeper✔️

4. Dancing 2 a Different Beat

Jordan POV

He may not have a lot, but he was so happy to be back in college.

Away from the hood life in St. Louis. He did whatever he had to do to make it back to school, and selling a little bit of illegal things was nothing to him. Marijuana was legal in most states now, so he felt like he was just a salesman running a business.

That is what he wanted to major in. If he could hustle his way to college with a mother that could care less, and a father he never knew, with little money only the Minority Student Leader scholarship, Pell grants, and a bunch of student loans, he could do bigger, better things. Last year, he realized he needed more than the basics to get by in college.

Most other students had parents that were sending them cash for necessities and food and snacks not covered by a meal plan. What if a class required a project that needed supplies? What if he had a late-night study cram session, and need caffeine to keep him going? All he had to get by last year was his wits.

He started an on-campus job working the cafeteria in his dorm, but that was barely enough to keep up with everyone else. So he would take some of his earnings, head to St. Louis and meet with the corner dealer, and bring bags of weed to sell on campus. He became everyone's pusher man. Half the school was smoking something, not like he was the only provider.

All he needed was a few trusted customers, and the money came rolling.

He did not pretend to live a high-roller lifestyle, because he only made enough to get by and stack a bit in case of emergencies. Like his mother not affording his train ticket back to school, so he dipped into his stash.

He did not know choir boy well enough to tell him the truth. Some people still looked at a little marijuana as a hardcore drug, when in fact it was medicinal. Calmed him down and helped get him through his depression.

"Cool, you have a TV man, my last roommate was broke as a joke like me, we used our phones and computers to watch movies."

The iPhone and much needed laptop were another perk of his dealing. He seriously had fewer things coming into his first year, so now that he was able to buy the basics, he took care of his things. He sat his laptop on the desk. Also, he pulled out a framed picture of his siblings. He was the oldest of five. Two younger sisters, two younger brothers.

He needed to make it because of them.

"You can watch it any time you want, no problem," Manny said.

He looked over at his roommate and wondered what type of guy he was. Quiet and shy for sure, he never said a word to him last year even though he saw him around the building and in the cafeteria. He heard he could sing, but singing church songs was not his style.

"So, what else do you sing? I know it's just not church songs."

"Uh...yeah."

"Come on man, stop playing."

"I'm not. My father is a pastor, he didn't allow secular music-"

"A PK! A'ight, I get that...but please tell me you snuck and listened to some. No Breezy, no Drake, no Lil Baby. Come on man, help me out."

"I guess I know who they are, but haven't got into their music.

"Oh, then I have to school you, roomie!" He hit the Apple Music app on his phone and played Wild Side by Normani. "This my bae in my head boy, wait till I show you the video."

He talked and watched music videos with Manny for a while. He was kind of quiet, but he could tell he was a cool guy. He made a lot of friends last year, but only guys that wanted something from him. He did not get close enough to anyone so that they knew his whole story.