The sequel to It's Gonna Take A Miracle (based on the song of the same name by Deniece Williams. Well Tammi's a little older but still falling into the same traps Anthony lays for her but will a new guy help her find her way around? This one's based on "Long Way Down" by Keyshia Cole.

Here she was, the beginning of high school, Tammi was all grown up. She was a freshman at a selective enrollment school and she had a few friends that she had known from before she had even met Anthony. There was Arielle, that she had met in sixth grade at school and Nicole, who she had met at summer camp. Tammi was grateful that the two had hit it off quickly and she had two friends to start the school year off with. Then there was Yasmeen, Tammi had met her in eighth grade and she was valedictorian of their class. Walking into the lunchroom, Tammi glanced around looking for any of the three girls she knew. Arielle was there, sitting beside a large girl and Tammi hurried over to her.

"Arielle!" She squealed and her sixth grade friend ran over to hug her.

"Tam, this is my friend Skye." She pointed to the heavy set girl who waved back with a friendly smile.

"Hi, I'm Tammi,"

"Tammi!"

Tammi turned around and saw Yasmeen standing a little way off by the lunchroom kitchen door.

"Hey you!" Tammi hugged her eighth grade friend.

"So have you talked to Anthony recently?" Yasmeen gave her a coy smile.

"Maybe..." She let the words trail off.

Tammi knew she had talked to Anthony almost every chance she got. The result was him asking her to be his girlfriend, pretending that it was his brother, her pointing out that he was lying, him apologizing, and her continuing to speak with him anyway.

"Tammi..."

"I know, I know" Tammi shook her head.

Just then Nicole strolled in with a girl named Dhameera. Tammi went to tackle Nicole and Dhameera started laughing.

"Tammi!" Nicole cried and hugged her back.

"Hey Dhameera," Tammi managed to puff while she attempted to catch her breath.

A boy she had met during Freshman Connections, Prejean was his name, sashayed into the lunchroom.

"Hello love" He bent to hug her then wrinkled his nose.

"Why are you so short?" He flicked his hand as if he were pushing hair out of his face.

"I'm 5 feet tall," Tammi stamped her foot.

He flicked his hand again. "I'm 5'9" He gave her a wide smile, followed by a flamboyant snap before going to talk to another group of freshmen.

Arielle got up to join Tammi, Dhameera, and Nicole.

"Any more news on the douche?" Dhameera inquired, causing a laugh from Arielle.

"Anthony's fine," Tammi forced a smile.

"I'm telling you this now. It'll come to nothing, except a really sad Tam-Bam" Dhameera gave her a warning glance.

Tammi opened her mouth to protest but Dhameera put her finger over her lips. "Nope."

Nicole shook her head. "You know she's right."

"I'll find out for myself," Tammi said tentatively.

"You're only hurting yourself," Dhameera shrugged and pulled a bag of chips out of her bag.

"What's your first period?" Tammi threw the question out.

"I got Human Geo" Dhameera mumbled around the chips.

"Which day? A or B?" Nicole was looking at her schedule, dazed.

Their school was on block scheduling and they had four classes each day. Three different classes each day that alternated and one class that they had everyday for half a period with lunch for the other half.

"A. Duh!" Arielle muffed Nicole.

"I got biology," she whined.

"I have Kuh- Kosteris," Tammi stuttered the unfamiliar name.

Dhameera high-fived her. "Same class!" she squeaked.

"Hold up. There go my nigga," She abruptly went up and hugged a tall, caramel-skinned boy. He was quite thin, yet not frail. He was laughing as Dhameera struck up a conversation with him, revealing bright white, straight teeth. He had many of the same features of Anthony; long, pointed nose, soft doe eyes, and thin, well shaped lips. She had never seen him before but she was sure she wanted to see him again.