Jordan POV

He may not have a lot, but he was so happy to be back in college.

Away from the hood life in St. Louis. He did whatever he had to do to make it back to school, and selling a little bit of illegal things was nothing to him. Marijuana was legal in most states now, so he felt like he was just a salesman running a business.

That is what he wanted to major in. If he could hustle his way to college with a mother that could care less, and a father he never knew, with little money only the Minority Student Leader scholarship, Pell grants, and a bunch of student loans, he could do bigger, better things. Last year, he realized he needed more than the basics to get by in college.

Most other students had parents that were sending them cash for necessities and food and snacks not covered by a meal plan. What if a class required a project that needed supplies? What if he had a late-night study cram session, and need caffeine to keep him going? All he had to get by last year was his wits.

He started an on-campus job working the cafeteria in his dorm, but that was barely enough to keep up with everyone else. So he would take some of his earnings, head to St. Louis and meet with the corner dealer, and bring bags of weed to sell on campus. He became everyone's pusher man. Half the school was smoking something, not like he was the only provider.

All he needed was a few trusted customers, and the money came rolling.

He did not pretend to live a high-roller lifestyle, because he only made enough to get by and stack a bit in case of emergencies. Like his mother not affording his train ticket back to school, so he dipped into his stash.

He did not know choir boy well enough to tell him the truth. Some people still looked at a little marijuana as a hardcore drug, when in fact it was medicinal. Calmed him down and helped get him through his depression.

"Cool, you have a TV man, my last roommate was broke as a joke like me, we used our phones and computers to watch movies."

The iPhone and much needed laptop were another perk of his dealing. He seriously had fewer things coming into his first year, so now that he was able to buy the basics, he took care of his things. He sat his laptop on the desk. Also, he pulled out a framed picture of his siblings. He was the oldest of five. Two younger sisters, two younger brothers.

He needed to make it because of them.

"You can watch it any time you want, no problem," Manny said.

He looked over at his roommate and wondered what type of guy he was. Quiet and shy for sure, he never said a word to him last year even though he saw him around the building and in the cafeteria. He heard he could sing, but singing church songs was not his style.

"So, what else do you sing? I know it's just not church songs."

"Uh...yeah."

"Come on man, stop playing."

"I'm not. My father is a pastor, he didn't allow secular music-"

"A PK! A'ight, I get that...but please tell me you snuck and listened to some. No Breezy, no Drake, no Lil Baby. Come on man, help me out."

"I guess I know who they are, but haven't got into their music.

"Oh, then I have to school you, roomie!" He hit the Apple Music app on his phone and played Wild Side by Normani. "This my bae in my head boy, wait till I show you the video."

He talked and watched music videos with Manny for a while. He was kind of quiet, but he could tell he was a cool guy. He made a lot of friends last year, but only guys that wanted something from him. He did not get close enough to anyone so that they knew his whole story.

He did not need anyone feeling sorry for him.

After they bonded over their love of music, and his love for watching half-naked women wriggle around in a sexy way, they were starving and headed to find something to eat.

"So what side of St. Louis are you from? No, let me guess." A Preacher's kid, not exposed to much outside of the church, talked real proper, he was definitely West County St. Louis with the well-to-do families? "Clayton! Or Ladue!"

He laughed and shook his head. "Do I look rich to you? No way! Riverview."

"Oh, that's all the way hood! I'm so St. Louis I grew up on Nelly's street, Labadie. Course he doesn't do much for the hood anymore. Went to Soldan. I would have been valedictorian, but my ass lazy and wasn't trying to be a nerd either, so I slipped. If I could go back in time, man, fuck what err'body else was talkin' about. I should have kept my head in the books."

"I did okay in school."

"I did better last year here at ISU making the honor roll and getting accepted into Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society. I'm on a mission to show err'body this poor little kid from the hood can make it out."

They made it to the Campus Union and it was jumping. Lots of students there and he was happy to be back. College was the change he needed in his life. Most of the boys he grew up with barely made it out of high school, and those that did were not doing much of anything right now.

He and Manny stocked up on supplies they would need for class and some snacks at the bookstore. He figured since his roomie had a car they could hit up Walmart as needed, cheaper than campus bookstore supplies.

They were making it back to their dorm when he spotted two girls loading themselves down with boxes from their car. His radar for hotties always on high alert, he turned to Manny.

"Yo, let's go help them and get the deets."

"Why? They look like they got it."

"Yo, we're gentlemen, that's why."

He made his way over to the girls. They were cute, petite little things.

"Hey, looks like you ladies need some help?"

They both had short hair, but one had naturally curly hair, she looked him over before she spoke.

"No, we got this."

"See, I told you-"

"No, nonsense, the more the merrier! This is heavy!" The one girl with a short, tapered, straightened hairstyle pushed her box toward Manny who fumbled with it before readjusting it in his arms, plus holding the bags he had.

"You ladies just getting in today?" he asked, grabbing a box from their small hatchback car.

"That's what it looks like so that's what it is," again, the curly-haired one said with attitude.

He immediately liked that one. Probably only a little over five feet tall, her short curly hair fit her face perfectly. No make-up and clear butterscotch skin, she wore a bright pink tank top and cutoff denim shorts showing tone, slim legs. All white Jordans on her feet and he was even more intrigued.

"So y'all in the same dorm as us. Good thing it's coed. This is my roomie Manny and I'm Jordan."

"Well that's nice," Ms. Attitude said.

They followed the ladies inside their building which lead right to the elevator. He studied the ladies while they waited for the elevator. The other girl, who seemed to have a better demeanor, had the same frame, similar complexion, and same features.

"Hey, are you two twins?"

Ms. Attitude rolled her eyes. "We are not wins!"

"Sorry, my sister gets annoyed when people assume that," the other one said. "I'm Marketta and this is my sister, older sister Laila."

Sisters! They hit the jackpot with that.

"Damn Ketta, tell them everything!"

"I'm just being nice since we're all going to be living together."

Manny jumped in. "Actually, the girls are on different wings than the guys, and they..."

He stopped Manny from rambling on. "It means we're one big happy family so let's just start things off right. Roomie, we help the ladies with their things and then we see what's up."

They did not have a lot of things, more than he had, but still not a lot. I few heavy boxes and lots of mismatched bags with clothes. At least they had a car, so they were richer than him. With two fine sisters, living in his dorm, he had to get his mack on.

"Yo ladies, I noticed you didn't have a TV, and we do," he said, speaking of Manny's TV, not his. "So ummm, anytime y'all want to Netflix and chill-"

"So lame," Laila said, rolling her eyes as they put things away and he and Manny stood by the door. He was not ready to leave them.

"Thanks, that sounds cool." Marketta walked over to him holding up her phone. "Let's exchange numbers."

Okay, maybe he would take the nice one. Whichever, it didn't matter, they both were cute. He took her number and noted their room number and then he and Manny left.

"Yo! Fly sisters," he said excitedly. "We may have an in, helping them out. Freshmen, they don't know any other guys yet."

"I don't think they were interested in us."

"Then we make them," he said confidently. One thing he knew for sure, he never had a problem getting the ladies.

A/N: Manny or Jordan? Laila or Marketta? If you didn't know, I love writing about sisters...but we won't get their POV, not in this book at least.