The Nine

Chapter 8.2: Tara

Cori didn't tell me what she wanted to because EJ was there. Apparently it was something I shouldn't be told with him around. Could it have involved him? My brother? Six rolled around and Ezra came in to get his son.

"Hey Tara, hey Cori. You ready man?" Ezra asked his son. EJ was tying his shoes, or attempting to anyway; he still had trouble fitting the loop through the knot. The three of us watched him struggle for twenty seconds and then start over again until he gave out whimpers of agitation. Cori laughed.

"Aw hell, Cori you really gone do my son like that?" Ezra said with a grin on his face as he bent down and started to help EJ with his laces. Cori nodded her head and continued to smirk.

"There you go, lil man. Now come on here," they started toward the door and I handed Ezra back the keys to his truck. A horn honked outside.

"Simone stop blowing and go yo ass home!" Ezra shouted while covering EJ's ears. "I got my keys!"

Cori and I both smiled as Simone kept blowing while she backed out. Ezra shook his head. "This girl," he huffed. "Imma see y'all later."

"Bye Eazy," Cori mocked. She had been calling him that since we were little, and he used to wanna fight that girl behind it. Now it just earned her a disapproving glance. I waved at him as he shut the door.

I was eager to hear what she had to tell me. "Okay, what'd you have to say to me earlier?"

"So I talked to Wallace earlier."

"And?" I pressed.

She smiled, the corners of her mouth going from one ear to the other. "We got us a gig Thursday bitch!"

I shrieked. This was big! The Nine was finally making moves after six weeks of just gathering YouTube views (which had now broken a quarter of a million). We were finally gonna perform, which of course meant we were gonna have to practice.

"Why so soon? When are we practicing?" I asked, coming off my happy high and getting details.

"Ask Wallace about that, you know him and Cayman make all them decisions." She went to looking at her nails.

I could tell there was more that she needed to tell me. That first bit of news was merely a distraction.

"That's it?" I asked. "There's nothing else you wanna say to me? Or ask me?"

"Ummm..."

Cori thought about how she wanted to say it out in a similar way I had just did with Dillon. That was a bad sign.

"Give me a minute to set up the context of what I'm finna show you." She sat there on the sofa and actually deliberated some.

"Just come out with it, chile. First you got me into a bar fight, then you decided to be petty and told Dill about something I shoulda told him on my own - what other predicament could you possibly be getting me into?"

"I'll tell you, I'm just tryna - wait, petty? Since when?"

"Girlllllll don't even try it. You're the messiest, pettiest person I've met in my entire life."

Cori smirked because she knew she was guilty of all the things I accused her of being.

"Am not!" She cried in a babyfied voice.

"P-E-TT-Y, you ain't got no alibi," I chanted, deciding to be childish with her. I had to put a stop to it when she hopped in my lap and started whining like a baby.

I loved evenings where the two of us could just sit together, chat, and play around like we used to when we were younger. When we got famous, we probably wouldn't get this much time to do so. I was gonna savor kicking it with my sister before our lives became a business.

We had baked cookies, broke out the cinnamon pita chips, and put on a movie - her favorite, Friday. We quoted it the whole way through. I had put the news she was gonna relay to me on the back burner; honestly, I just wanted to have a chill, drama-free evening.

That all ended when Cori got on the phone and I heard Tevin's voice through the speaker.

I didn't pick up much besides one name: Tammy. I groaned internally as I saw Cori's face grow more and more incredulous.

"Imma be over quick baby, tell her ass stay right the fuck where she at." Cori said as the credits started to roll. She was about to handle her business.

"Hand me my purse," she said firmly, and I tossed it to her. It was no use arguing with her; to be honest, I felt what was about to happen next was completely justified. Tammy played too many games, and that would never fly with a girl like Cori. My sister was a girl of action.

Heading out of the door, she turned and asked, "Bitch is you riding with me or what?"

I didn't take much of what was gonna happen into consideration, even though I probably should've.

"Until the wheels fall off," I assured her, grabbing my purse and following her out the door.