Ofb Stories

Gen-Z London isn't tea and crumpets and big ben. It's Nike Techs, UK drill, and the mandem. Sharara Ayyappan has never fit neatly into anyone's box. Too Indian for America. Too American for India. And now her family has uprooted everything to London, which - great. Cool. She's not holding her breath. But Sharara didn't come here to fit in. She came here in her Bape and her Cuban chains and her French tips with her toy poodle Lauren and her zero tolerance for the customer service voice that Indian American girls are expected to perform for everyone's comfort. She came here as exactly herself. And if London has a problem with that - London can sort itself out. What she didn't expect was her cousin Oviya pulling her straight into a friend group of UK desi baddies and roadmen who are bold and swaggy and completely unbothered. She also didn't expect how complicated London would get. Because underneath the grey skies and the chippies and the overground and the drip - her new world has edges. Sharp ones. The kind that confidence alone can't protect you from. Turns out some of her new bruvs have history. The kind that doesn't stay in the past. And when that history comes looking - it comes looking for everyone.

ashanti. born and raised in north london by her mother and abusive father.

"i'll be there when you need me most, i'll always be close" the street of london are a dark, dark place for anyone to grow up. filled to the brim with yes-men, pretenders, clout chasers... liars. everyone claimed to be certi, with a blade that's touched blood or a gun that's been busted. yet so many of these claims were nothing but hearsay. deep down the streets weren't as honest as they claimed to be. violence ran rampant in the most impoverished neighborhoods, creating generation upon generations of new gang members killing over petty issues older than themselves. london's streets were a trap. it sucked the youth in with false promises and familiar faces. though, once they were in, there was only one way out- the inner workings of it were well understood, still people thought they'd be the one to escape... they didn't seem to understand how the past would always catch up. the blade they lived by would be the same they died by. twenty-four year old jamilah osei knew how the streets worked all too well; after all, her best friend had fallen for the lies they whispered when they were kids. after that she swore she'd never get involved in that lifestyle, no matter how low she was. even with this being the case, somehow she seemed to attract people with ties too deep to back out: the liars, the fame chasers... the murderers. between dealing with her psychotic boyfriend, the pressure to provide for her family overseas, and trying to earn her degree, jamilah isn't sure she has the strength to pull through. and when her friend, abdul, finds his way into her life once again, everything begins to get even more complicated.