On the Come Up: Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

Bri hears Trey's car long before he arrives. He looks straight at Bri and asks why she didn't answer her phone. Bri checks her phone and sees that it's still on Do Not Disturb mode from school. Pooh walks back from her drug deal and gives Trey a hard time about his pizza place uniform. Other Garden Disciples in the courtyard snigger too and suggest that Lawless is ashamed of his son, but Trey drags Bri to his car. Once they're out of the courtyard, Trey sighs and apologizes, but says that he and Jay were worried enough to consider calling Grandma and Granddaddy to help them look for her.

Trey says that Jay told him what happened and asks how Bri's feeling. She thinks that his degree in psychology is a blessing and a curse: he wants to help people, but he uses it to justify being nosy. When Bri says she's tired of being singled out, he tells her to stop giving people a reason to do so, and then says she has oppositional defiant disorder. He lists the reasons why he thinks this as Bri grumpily insists this isn't true. Laughing, Trey congratulates her on her Ring performance and says that Kayla—Ms. Tique, whom he works with—told him about it. Bri thinks that it's sad that someone as talented as Ms. Tique has to make pizzas. Bri says she idolizes Ms. Tique, notices Trey's smile, and asks if he likes her.

Trey changes the subject and asks how Bri feels about Jay being unemployed. Bri admits she's afraid, and Trey says he's been looking for a better job and is considering going to grad school. Grad school would mean that he'd have fewer hours to work, however, so he probably won't go. He assures Bri that they'll be okay, but Bri thinks it's sad he had to come back to Garden Heights anyway. He did everything right—so if he can't make it, Bri thinks, no one can.