Jordan POV

Manny's parents were interesting. Nothing like him at all. Sure, his father asked him if he was Baptized, and when he said no, he asked if could he baptize him. The last time he was in church was around age eleven or twelve when his mother couldn't force him anymore and he decided not to go.

He believe in God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and  Black Baby Jesus, but organized religion was not his thing. Going to church every Sunday, to hear the choir jam, the preacher yell, give away all your money, and have a monthly fish fry had nothing to do with God blessing him. He read the bible... at least most of it, and he knew right from wrong. That was enough for him.

Did he want to get Baptized? No.

He would stay unholy or a heathen. He knew many people that were baptized, didn't mean they were a better person because of it. They drank, smoked, lied, stole, and every other sin. Mr. Thomas spent an hour while they were in their room lecturing them about what God wanted for him.

"I feel you're blessed, son."

"Okay, sure." How was he blessed when he was poor as hell, struggling to afford to stay in college, and had nothing to go home to if he did drop out of college. That was not the plan, he was going to earn his degree no matter what.

"Don't block your blessing son, it's coming for you."

His blessing. Maybe he meant they were going to win the Talent Show. The grand prize was fifteen hundred dollars and split in half that was seven hundred and fifty dollars that he needed. That would get him straight the rest of the semester if he spent it wisely. Or invest in his plan to become a social media influencer. He needed to buy lighting and other equipment to make better quality videos.

Right now there was no traffic coming through the big three accounts: Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Facebook too, but he was not focused on that right now.

"You can see the future?" he asked the old man. They were way older than his mother who had him at eighteen. They were old enough to be his grandparents. "Can you see if me and Manny gonna win this talent show?"

Manny quickly elbowed him in the side while they were standing there in the middle of church.

"Dude!" He pushed him away. "Are we going to win?"

"Excuse me, what is this talent show thing?" Mrs. Thomas asked.

"Manny didn't tell you? We're performing in this big talent show tonight. In fact," he stopped to check his phone. "We should go grab a bite to eat or something before we have to get ready for tonight."

"A talent show." Mr. Thomas looked at Manny. "For the Gospel Choir?"

"No Dad, it's just a regular talent show we're doing, nothing big."

"Nothing big?" he started. "It's huge! All the old heads come back and watch the show. A good portion of the campus was there last year, it was jam-packed. My girl and Manny's girlfriend will be there."

"Girlfriend?" his mother asked.

He could see Manny told his parents nothing. His bad for saying too much, but it was what it was. He wasn't doing anything wrong or illegal. Hell, he told his mother when he was slanging and all she said was don't get caught. Manny went to Riverview, which was basically the hood, so to make it out and be in college with parents that gave him whatever he wanted, that meant they were doing something right. They had to trust him and let him make decisions about his own life.

"You know what? How about we take you two to dinner and Manny can tell us all about this talent show...and the girlfriend, invite her."

"I want to meet her," Mrs. Thomas said.

"Oh cool, free dinner!" He was already texting with Marketta. They didn't invite her, but wherever Laila went, Marketta went. "They will meet us down in the lobby."

As they left the room, Manny pulled him aside.

"Why are you doing this to me? You know my parents are...well, you see how they are!"

"Relax! If Preacher Man wants to lay hands on me for a free meal, it's all good. I need Jesus," he said with a chuckle.

Soon as they made it to the lobby, the girls were walking in. Marketta looked like sunshine, her hair styled fresh, face made up perfectly, wearing jeans and an ISU t-shirt. He wanted to give her a big kiss, but that would be rude in front of Manny's parents, so he simply put an arm around her.

"Hey yo, Mrs. and Mr. Thomas this is my girl Marketta."

"Hi!" Marketta went to shake Mrs. Thomas' hand but she pulled her in for a hug.

"Mom, Dad, this is Laila Flynn. My girlfriend."

"Hi, it's so nice to meet you," Laila said, also getting a hug from Mom. Well, hopefully, that meant they liked her.

"You two are so pretty!" Mrs. Thomas said, "Sisters, right?"

"Yes!" they both said then laughed.

"Good thing I have that third row in the Escalade," Mr. Thomas said.

They went to Famous Dave's Barbeque and he pigged out, never mind that he had to perform in a few hours. He didn't get to treat himself or his girl to fancy dinners out, so he enjoyed himself. Manny told them about the show, that he would be singing non-gospel music and they were okay with it. He was worried for nothing.

"You should come to see him perform," Laila said. "He's really good."

"No, I'll leave that for you young folk," Mr. Thomas said. "How's the pledging going?"

Manny hadn't told his parents about his girlfriend or the talent show, but he told them about pledging? That would have been what he did not tell. His mother didn't know, and she probably didn't care either. Meant nothing to her. She made it out of high school and has been working ever since. No college, or even partied like a college kid at that age. She had him and needed to put food on the table.

After his parents dropped them off and said they would see them tomorrow, they got ready for the show. He was not nervous at all, which is what he told himself to not be nervous about. He was sweating bullets. He never performed in front of hundreds of people. Not counting making TikTok videos that got a few views. This was different.

"You good?" he asked Manny as they walked to the Hunter Hall where the talent show would be.

"Yeah, I guess."

They both were nervous, he could tell. They had to do a quick rundown of the order of the show and make sure the staging was right, an hour before the doors opened, so the girls would come later. He texted Taj to see if he and the brothers would be there.

won't miss our lil bruhs do their thing

Great! Now all the fraternity brothers he had yet to meet would be there. After the show, they were all going to the house to hang out before the after-party. This was enough stress to make him lose it.

Once he was backstage with the other acts and saw some of them were nervous as well, he relaxed. When he saw that the cutie dancer girl had a whole squad doing a routine, he knew this was serious competition. She was fly as hell, and he tried macking on her last year, but she looked at him like he was trash.

"Hey Anika," he said to her as if she knew who he was. She was a junior, and he was a sophomore, but as Aaliyah said, age ain't nothing but a number.

"Hey ummm..." She pretended as if she knew his name, but she didn't.

"Jordan." He was not going to remind her that she turned him down cold-blooded last year. "You're not on the dance squad this year?"

"No. Have my dance group now. This is our first performance ever."

"I dance," he said to her. "Me and my roomie, we're performing. He's singing, but Imma do my thing."

"Oh, can't wait to see it!"

Damn, if fly honey gave him some play tonight....no, wait, he had a whole girlfriend and she was more than enough. Anika missed her chance last year, he moved on.

Soon as the doors opened, a bum rush of people came in filling the seat quickly. There were enough Deltas there taking up nearly two whole front rows. All the red and white was intoxicating. They were deep. Far as he could see looking through the backstage curtains, all the Greeks were in the house. The EU's were in the middle section, with about a dozen of them or so.

He ran through names in his head. Another thing he had to worry about tonight.

But once they took the stage singing Chris Brown's Heat it was a wrap. Manny was a natural, having learned enough dance moves to not just stand there but use the stage. Mic in hand, Manny's voice was smooth like butter over the instrumental track.

He never heard so much screaming. It was like Michael Jackson was on stage or something. Girls were screaming trying to run on stage. Over them? Maybe it was for Manny, girls loved singers. He just danced, and did the rap part...he was no Chris Brown.

But no, they were screaming his name.

"Jordan! Jor-dan! JORDAN!"

Maybe they mixed them up. It felt like a high. He loved that feeling of being on stage and hearing his name, that hyped him up more. When they finished, one girl even made it up stage and grabbed Manny and kissed him right on the mouth before some Deltas came to pull her away. Who knew they would need security.

"Yooooo!" Manny said when they made it backstage. "What the heck just happened?"

"I think we just became the men on campus."

Now all they had to do was wait and see the results.

Anika and her dance crew performed last. He thought they brought the heat, but Essence of Soul took it up ten notches. Everyone was on their feet singing and dancing along to a medley of songs they danced to. Hell, he was backstage catching a beat as well. They def were going to win, or at least be top two.

When they announced they win second place, it was enough for him. A thousand dollars to dit with his boy, his new best friend, was enough for him. Things were looking better in his life.

A/N: I love writing Jordan for some reason. He's funny, quirky, so talented and there is something...I can't put my finger on it...but something to love there. I will not destroy his character, I promise!