Nirvana — Miss Candice

Maia Smith is the head of her family, despite being the middle child. With a terminally ill mother, and a deceased father, most of the weight falls on her instead of her other two siblings. She works hard to keep the lights on, while her big sister Aria and her baby brother Juvie run the streets. However, things weren't always that way. Two years ago, the Smith family had high hopes and plans of finally leaving the dangerous, murderous small town, Kingston Heights but when Jerard, Maia's father, is gunned down, things take a traumatic turn for the worst. Sadly, in Kingston, Jerard's murder is just another added tally to the steady rising murder rate. For the Smith family, it was much, much more than that. The tragedy causes what seems to be a domino effect. When life gets a little too heavy for her to bare alone, Maia's best friend Kadeem is there as a constant reminder to her that she doesn't have to. Kadeem has always been there for her. Their fathers were best friends, which, naturally made them best friends too. However, Maia was hit with the biggest curveball when she started to fall in love with him at the tender age of fifteen. Unbeknownst to Maia, Kadeem has known since the moment she fell in love because he ended up falling too. He keeps his feelings at bay for selfless reasons. Maia has dreams. He does notKadeem Jackson breathe's and bleeds Kingston Heights. Despite the gritty town taking some of his closest loved ones, he couldn't imagine living anywhere but it. The darkness of Kingston had indeed swallowed the young, troubled Kadeem whole. Maia's always had high hopes and dreams of someday leaving. And because Kadeem believes that Maia is too beautiful to be trapped inside the ugliness of Kingston, he refuses to cross that line of friendship with her because he knows, that if they did, Maia would never leave. But things start to shift when residents from a neighboring town, Crowne Heights, moves on the block. Kadeem finds himself not only territorial of his hood, but over his Maia too. When tragedy strikes and he isn't the first one on Maia's side like he usually is, Kadeem really starts to feel threatened. Feelings he vowed to keep hidden begin to unravel. Sadly, he couldn't have come to terms with his true feelings at a worst time. A heartbreaking secret he's been keeping from Maia comes to light, revealing the role he played in one of the most traumatic moments in her life. Kadeem is faced with the sad reality that he might just end up losing the only person he had left. And in losing her, he'd surely lose every bit of sanity and will to live he had left.Find out how Kadeem and Maia's story unfold in this gripping friends to lovers tale.