Trinity's eyes never left her mother as she walked around examining every single picture in the house, which she wasn't in any of them. Most of the framed pictures consist of Trinity and Jasmine. She probably doesn't even know what happened to Jasmine, Trinity thought as Maxine picked up a picture of the two.

"So, why are you here again?" Trinity asked with her hands folded across her chest.

"Babe," Chris said catching Trinity's attention.

Trinity cut her eyes at him, "What Chris? You don't understand, I haven't seen or heard from this lady since she emptied out my father's pockets." She gave her mother a hard stare, "We don't have any more money for you to take, so you can go back to where ever the hell you came from." Trinity got up and stormed over to the front door, opening it widely.

China got up from her seat and walked over to Trinity, closing the front door. "Trinity, relax and hear your mother out for a moment, maybe she had a change of heart. She seems cool."

Maxine took her hazel eyes off of her daughter, looking right at Chris, "Did I hear you call her babe, are you her boyfriend?"

"Yes, ma'am," Chris answered nodding his head with a small smile.

Maxine's face lit up, "I've never met any of Trinity's boyfriends, this is exciting!"

Trinity stared at everyone as their undivided attention is fixated on her mother. They just don't understand, and it irritated her. She's manipulating each and every one of them to get them on her side, then she's going to to take advantage of them somehow and then disappear. That's how it always goes.

"Daddy, I really don't want her living with us." Trinity sighed pushing the shopping cart, trailing behind her father.

Trinity felt like she hasn't spent enough one on one time with her father, so she tagged along with him to a ride to Walmart to buy some necessities. Also, she didn't want to be home alone with that witch. She couldn't even bear to look at her for too long or even be in the same room as her.

"Trinity, I know you're frustrated, but at the end of the day, she's still your mother no matter what she did or how you feel," Tristian responded after some moments not really wanting to talk about this current topic.

Trinity rolled her eyes and continued pushing the shopping cart not saying anything. Sometimes she wonders if her father still has feelings for her, she hopes and prays he doesn't. Her mother is the wickedest person ever, and she doesn't deserve her father's love again.

Like all daughters, Trinity wants the best for her father. He didn't deserve the shitty way Maxine treated him. She knows how much her father loved her mother, bipolar or not, what Maxine did to her father was terrible and unacceptable.

Not only did she steal all of his hard earned money, Trinity has a gut feeling she took that money for infidelity reasons. To make matters worse, they're still married! Just thinking about it made her blood boil.

"You know," Tristian started, "Your friends seem really worried about you." He said over his shoulder as they entered the aisle with cleaning products.

Trinity immediately brought the cart to a halt, staring at her father with her hands on her hips. "When did you speak to my friends, and why?"

He sighed looking at her, "Aside from Jasmine, you never really had friends that had your back and truly cared for you. Back in California when you'd always bring your little friends home from school they didn't seem as genuine as China, Michael, Kae and especially Chris. This group of people that you have now truly care about you, Stink."

Trinity furrowed her brows at the vibe she was getting from her father. She didn't like it not one bit, especially because he called her Stink. She hasn't heard that nickname in a very long time, something is definitely up.

"Daddy, where are you going with this?"

Tristian sighed dropping a bottle of Ajax dishwashing liquid into the shopping cart, "Your friends are worried about you being bipolar Trin. I was hoping It wouldn't pass down from your mother to you, that was my biggest fear. Your friends think you need help—"

"I don't need help!" Trinity yelled causing some unwanted attention from nearby customers who are shopping around.

At this point, she didn't give a shit about anything!

She couldn't believe what she was hearing, her "friends" thought she was so crazy that she needed help? Her friends went behind her back and spoke about her to her father. She's far from bipolar and she's nothing like her mother. She'll never step foot into one of those psych wards.

She slowly began to back away from her father, with a hurt look in her eyes. She didn't think her father would turn on her too. He always had her back, but things are different now.

"Trin—"

And with that, Trinity fled out of the cleaning products aisle and ran as far as her legs could take her.

'''

"She's not answering any of my text messages." China cried out running her hands through her hair.

"She must've turned her phone off, the iMessage bubble is green," Michael added sitting next to her on Chris' living room couch.

Chris just sat in the wheelchair with his head in his hands. As the room grew quiet with nothing but the television on, he took a deep breath and sat up in the wheelchair.

"It's only been a few hours, she's probably just walking around the neighborhood. We can't just file a missing person report when it hasn't even been a day yet." Chris spoke calmly as his eyes were glued to his phone.

He pressed send as the "I love you. Please be safe." text sent as a green bubble.

"How are you so calm right now Chris?!" China exclaimed.

"I'm not China, I'm stressed the fuck out that my baby girl is somewhere out there in the hood and it's dark as fuck right now!" Chris said not meaning to raise his voice at her. He sighed rubbing her forehead, "But then again, Trinity isn't dumb, she's been around us and she's been in the hood long enough to know what to do if she's in trouble. She's fine, she probably just felt attacked by her father and wanted to be alone for a few hours."

Michael agreed nodding his head, "He's right, let's just keep asking if people have seen her, if we don't hear anything by tomorrow morning, then we'll call the police. Calling them now is going to be useless, and they'll just tell us what we already know and give us the runaround."

"Hey guys, you sleeping over tonight?" Mamma Joyce asked as she walked into the living room with Mia trailing behind her.

Michael and China nodded with their eyes glued to their phones.

Joyce sighed watching the three teens in her living room worried sick, Mia also noticed how anxious the three of them are.

"I just finished cooking dinner, make sure yall eat and don't stay up too late and make sure you guys wake up early for school tomorrow. Tell me if you guys hear anything, love you!"

"Love you too." They murmured.

"Maurice." She called getting Chris' attention.

He looked up giving his mother his undivided attention.

"Don't stress yourself out, I'm sure she's fine. She's a smart girl." Joyce gave her son a reassuring smile then left the living room.

Joyce will definitely pray for Trinity, along with Trinity's father, her son, and his friends.

'''

"Have yall heard anything?" Michael asked sitting down at the lunch table.

"Nah." Chris sighed writing in his beat-up composition notebook.

"I asked Dominic, Khalil, Khalil's cousin, and even some of the bitches from the flag football team. No one has seen her." China added taking a sip of her Fiji water.

"I'm tired of living like this man. I'm ready to graduate and get the fuck out of New York. I've lost too many people here. It's like New York has a curse or some shit." Chris mumbled as he continued jotting down lyrics in his notebook.

"Four more months and then we're out of here. I've been saving since last year for my plane ticket, what about yall?" Michael asked getting excited.

"I spoke to my aunt, she said it's cool if we stay at her guest house. I'm planning to book my flight a week from graduation." China added looking at Chris.

"I still have money saved from when I used to sell, so I'm good as far as buying plane tickets goes. I still haven't told my ma about the plan yet, but If it's for our career she won't mind as much, especially if the four of us are all going together."

Chris is determined to bring Trinity along with him, no matter the situation. He refuses to leave her here. They all grew quiet thinking to themselves.

Breaking the silence, Michael asked the question they all were thinking. "You guys think she's going to be able to graduate with us?"

"It's too early to tell, we don't know how long she'll be away," China answered. "Just think about it though, in four months we're going to be in California! Yall career gonna take off and I don't know, Trinity and I will be yall groupie or something." She chuckled trying to lighten up the mood.

Chris smiled shaking his head, "You and Trinity's hood rat ass is gonna be a problem when we're touring."

"What you mean? Trinity and China gonna beat up the crazy bitches that try to stalk us or some shit." Michael added nudging China with a smirk on his face. "No need for security."

They all chuckled but got quiet again, letting their thoughts get the best of them.

China felt a pair of eyes on her, once she looked up from her phone she saw Mya sitting a few tables away. Mya sat closely next to Kobe who had his arms around her shoulders as he chatted with his teammates.

She regretted it deeply for sleeping with Kobe, it wasn't worth it at all. She hoped and prayed Mya wouldn't try anything funny at this moment, not right now. China let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding when Mya got sidetracked because Kobe said something to her, causing her to look away.

'''

The house phone wrang no more than twice before Tristian quickly picked it up, answering with a frantic "Hello?"

"Good evening, My name is Hellene Waters, is this the parent or Guardian of Ms. Trinity James?"

"Yes, this is her father! Is she with you, is she okay?"

"Yes, sir Trinity is perfectly fine. I'm calling from Greystone Park hospit—"

"Greystone? Greystone in New Jersey!?"

Questions swarmed his mind, but he ignored it, listening to the lady over the phone.

"Yes, Mr. James we have Trinity here who wants to admit herself to Greystone."

'''

"We just need your signature baby," Tristian said lowly staring at the documents that laid on the receptionists' desk.

With sad eyes, Trinity looked at her father and then down at the clipboard and paper, slowly picking up the pen. With tears brimming her eyes, she bit her lip holding the pen to the paper.

She didn't want to do this, but it's what's best, for her and for her loved ones. She didn't want to end up like her mother.

"Ms. Trinity James?"

A tear immediately fell knowing her time of freedom was now up. She looked at the lady who called her name and nodded, acknowledging her. Before she went through the gated door that resembles the ones in prison, she turned to her friends with tears streaming down her face.

This is it, she thought.

She pulled China in a long and tight embrace, showing how much she truly loved and cared for her aside from the bad choices China has made recently regarding Michael. China has always been there for her, even from the very beginning when no one really liked Trinity.

"I love you so much like you were my own sister," China whispered as tears began falling. "You always will be my sister."

Trinity loved China even more, but at that moment she didn't have the energy to say it back so she gave China a little tight squeeze and held her hand. China knows the feeling is mutual.

She let go of China and walked over to Michael who eyes were glued to his sneakers. Trinity smiled a little bit wiping a stray tear. She wrapped her arms around his torso which he immediately responded by wrapping his arms around her shoulders as they rocked back and forth.

Trinity was kind of like his partner in crime and he's definitely going to miss having her around and annoying him. She'll always miss Michael getting her in trouble in math class and his crazy antics. She rubbed his back then broke the hug, giving him one last smile.

Last but not least, Christopher, who stood there with his crutches.

As she made her way over to him, his eyes never left hers. She stood in front of him with her head hanging low. He sighed picking her face up, forcing her to look right at him. It pained him that things had to end like this, with her being locked up in this depressing place, but he'll do anything he could to make sure Trinity gets the help she needs.

He stared deeply into her eyes, causing Trinity to break down. He tried his hardest not to cry as she clutched onto his grey hoodie, soaking it with her tears. He closed his eyes tightly pulling her to his chest.

"I love you so much Trinity, I swear to god. These few weeks of you being my girl were the best time of my life, besides the arguments we had. You make me so happy girl, you just don't understand. It hurts me to have to let you go but it's best for everybody if you get the help you need."

She and Christopher haven't been dating for long at all, it's only been three weeks since he asked her out in the hospital. Three short weeks, unfortunately.

"I'll visit you as much as I can, I promise. I won't leave you in here by yourself. You got me, you got Michael, China, and your pops. You're not alone."

"I love you." She croaked out.

She stood on her tippy toes, giving him a tiny peck on his lips. Chris then pulled her in closer, kissing her with every emotion he felt at the moment. Heartbreak, pain, and love.

After a few seconds, she broke the kiss and walked over to her dad, giving him a tight, long hug.

"I'll see you every weekend baby, don't worry." He said lowly kissing her forehead.

She nodded turning towards her family. China, China's mother, Kae's mother and father, Michael and his grandmother, Chris, Momma Joyce, and his little sister Mia, along with Trinity's mother who stood in the back. Trinity sniffled, giving them a little wave.

They all waved back with sad eyes as Trinity walked over to the women by the gated door. She gave Chris one last look then walked through the door, not looking back.

Trinity knows time is up for her and Chris since she'll be in here for who knows how long, it saddened her that it just processed that Chrinity is over.

It saddened her that she may not be able to walk across the stage with her friends.

It saddened her that her life has officially ended.