White Trash Trailer Park (8 Mile fanfiction)

Chapter Twenty: The Gang and Ryland

The next evening, while Jimmy was working, Ryland decided to call Future for a ride to the bank so she could pick up her inheritance. She was so excited she could barely contain herself. Her legs were bouncing the whole time and she was picking at her fingers. She still felt as though it was all too good to be true.

But it was true. She walked into the bank, showed her ID and was shown the account her mother had. She was told she could take out as much money as she wanted at a time. Her heart raced with happiness.

She left the bank about 20 minutes later with a wide smile on her face. Future looked at her a moment, eyebrow raised.

"What's up with all this?" he asked, gesturing to the bank.

Ryland smiled. "My mom left me money before she died. I only found out last night. I wanted to come and make sure it was all legit and take a bit out today."

"Nice," Future said, patting Ryland's shoulder. "Good for you, girl. Where to next then?"

Ryland shrugged. She didn't really care. She was just happy.

"Well, I don't know if he will show considering we had a little fight last night," Future said, turning so he could face Ryland. "but I signed Rabbit up for a battle at the Shelter. I gotta go there now to get ready for the battles. If you wanna come and see if he shows, I'm sure it would mean a lot to him for you to watch. If not, you can watch the other battles."

Ryland considered and shrugged in response. Why not? She was hoping she could see Jimmy do some rap battling, but even if she didn't, she'd be content watching just normal battles. That was, as long as Papa Doc's crew didn't corner her or anything.

Future drove Ryland to the Shelter and the two entered together. There wasn't much for Ryland to do, so she sat in what looked like a kitchen area. She grabbed a cup and poured herself a couple of drinks while she waited.

People started to arrive, usually in groups. It was uncommon for someone to come alone. Everyone had a gang. They were all buzzing about the battles that night. Word had gotten out that Jimmy's name was down for the night. A lot of people were making fun of him for choking before and didn't believe that he would actually be coming.

Ryland was starting to give up hope herself when four familiar figures finally entered. Ryland smiled and stood from her seat.

"Hey babe," she said. All attention was drawn to her.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Jimmy asked, approaching her and wrapping his arms around her smaller frame.

"Future told me you were battling and brought me down," Ryland replied. She pulled away from the hug and lowered her voice to add, "Oh, and um, I got some of my inheritance today. Enough that I can pay off the last of my rent at the trailer park. I'm gonna start looking for a house in a nicer neighborhood, if that's possible. If you want in, we could always split rent."

A smile played on Jimmy's lips. "Manny's gonna give me more hours."

Ryland smiled too, before bringing Jimmy for a quick kiss. "Your mom was right, our luck is changing around here."

"Look at that." Big Sol's voice broke Jimmy and Ryland out of their moment. "When am I gonna get some of that sugar, Ry-Dawg?"

Ryland chuckled and pulled away from Jimmy. "Sol, you don't need anymore sugar."

"Because I'm so sweet?" Sol offered with a cheeky grin.

"No, because you need to lose a few," Ryland responded. She grabbed Iz, who was standing nearby, and used him as a shield for Sol's rage. Jimmy laughed as he watched his girl and his boys get along.

**

Waiting for the battle was the longest part. The five sat together in the kitchen area, Iz, Sol and Ryland resorting to eating and playing cards with a deck they found in a drawer. Cheddar Bob and Jimmy were sat away from the three. Jimmy was coming up with a freestyle for Cheddar.

Ryland couldn't help but sneak at peak at Jimmy every now and then. She felt so happy to have him in her life. She felt as though she was thinking about that too much lately, but she couldn't help it. Since meeting Jimmy, Ryland felt as though her life was looking up. She was getting more friends, she was gaining some confidence, and things were just seeming to get better.

Everything was shattered when a chorus of laughter brought Ryland out of her thoughts.

"You again?" scoffed Papa Doc. "Lookin' like a handicap convention up in here. Bunch of crippled motherfuckers."

An angry Cheddar Bob struggled for his crutches and stood. He was about to make his way towards the group when one of the members exclaimed in mock fear.

"Oh hey! Don't shoot!"

The Free World assholes laughed. Ryland felt her anger boil, but she remained seated. What could she do at this point? Absolutely nothing.

Future entered, staring daggers at the Free World crowd. Their laughing had stopped, they almost looked intimidated.

"Hey yo, let's get the fuck outta here," Papa Doc told his gang before they all walked away.

Jimmy turned to look at Future before telling the rest of the group, "Yo, I need some privacy guys."

Jimmy and Future got up and went to the bathroom together. Ryland sighed and placed her hand of cards on the table. She didn't exactly feel up for playing anymore.

"So Ry," Sol said, repeating her actions and folding his hands in front of him. "you and Rabbit fucking now, huh?"

"Well," Ryland said. "it's kinda more than that. We...we might be moving in together."

"Already?" Cheddar Bob asked, pulling out a chair to sit down at the table with them.

Ryland looked around at the room before motioning for the three to move together. They moved in closer and she told then, "Don't say anything, but my mom left me money before she passed away. Enough that I could get out of that trailer park. Jimmy and I were talking, and I want him out of there too. We'll see how it goes, but it's looking good."

The guys congratulated Ryland, Iz, who was closest to her, even gave her a congratulatory pat on the back.

"You know what, Ry?" Sol spoke again. "You're probably my favorite person Rabbit's ever fucked with."

Ryland raised an eyebrow, unsure of how to respond to the statement. Obviously it was a compliment, but she just wasn't sure how to reply to it.

"What he means is," Iz jumped in. "Rabbit has had a rough past with girls, as you've probably noticed with Janeane. You're probably the nicest, most caring - "

"Dopest," Sol added.

"That too," Iz laughed. " - and definitely the most beautiful Rabbit's ever been with. We can get along with you easily, you actually like coming down here to watch this stuff - "

"You can rap," Cheddar added.

"We like you, Ry," Iz said. "We're glad Rabbit met you."

Ryland smiled. She felt as though she was going to cry. Never had anyone said such kind words to her. She was overwhelmed with happiness in these past few hours. She took a deep breath to keep herself from crying.

"I'm glad I met Jimmy," she said. "And you guys, too, obviously."

The guys nodded and smiled as well. Ryland smiled, then clapped her hands together and stood from the table.

"Now, let's watch Rabbit kick some Free World ass."