During yet another very dry and bleak holiday season, Simone Evans, a high school English teacher, finds herself in the most unlikely friendship with Jordan Jackson- an ex con. **Mature Content** More mature chapters will be marked with a (⚠︎︎) before the chapter name ********** This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. I do not own any media content in this book. Started: November 13, 2021 Completed: January 6, 2022

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙚. 𝙍𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚, 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚.

"𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘪 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 ,𝘐 𝘢𝘪𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 ..."

Zora Monet Laguerre. She's like a walking Barbie doll. Her hair and nails are always done. Her outfits are always in season with the perfect designer shoes and bag to match. She's perfect. Everything about her from head to toe is just, well- perfect. And working in the beauty industry, she doesn't have much room to be anything but, so perfect is what she forever strives to be. Rebecca "Ritchie" Diaz. She's the complete opposite of Zora. She thinks perfect is absolutely boring. And as a music producer/song writer, boring goes against everything she stands for. So naturally, she's not a huge fan of Zora's very posh, and at times a bit snobby, attitude. And Zora feels as though Ritchie is too care free and has no sort of structure to her seemingly very chaotic and always on the go lifestyle. And in the beginning they clash- a lot. But as cliché as it sounds, sometimes opposites do in fact attract, and sometimes... they don't. Started: January 9, 2022 Completed: July 7, 2022

Diamant Harris, known by her stage name "Iridessa", is on her way to becoming the new hottest thing in female rap. She has the perfect look, she has the perfect flow, she has the perfect life, and the perfect man. Everything is perfect.... until one day it's not. Her relationship ends in one of the worst possible ways, leaving Diamant broken, hurt, and bitter. She swears she'll never love again, that is until she meets Aurora. And this new feeling, this weird attraction she feels for another woman, scares her- but she wants to see just where it might all go. **Mature Content** More mature chapters are marked with a (*) before the chapter name. ********** This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. I do not own any media content in this book. Started on September 19, 2021 Finished on December 15, 2021

I found my homie and my best friend I'mma be there for ya till the very end No matter what, no matter what , no matter what.

𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦

mal·e·dic·tion /ˌmaləˈdikSHən/ a magical word or phrase uttered with the intention of bringing about evil or destruction; a curse.

𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚣𝚎𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚞𝚜

/ˈemˌpī(ə)r/ noun noun: empire; plural noun: empires Building a foundation, a team, a generational wealth, a legacy. An Empire.