Mason Raines hated his little brother.

Alex Raines worshipped his older brother.

Together, they were an unstoppable force against Theo.

Theo, the boy who's always had their mother's love since the beginning.

Theo, who was easily the smartest of the three and most likely going to Harvard.

Theo, who had Katheryn Knight as a best friend but obviously wanted her as something more.

Mason missed their mother everyday. He just didn't have his heart on his sleeve like Theo's wimpy ass did. Instead, he covers up his grief and his pain with sports, being the best baseball player their school's ever seen. But once he realized that channeling his emotions through sports wasn't gonna cut it, he moved on to something else.

Destroying Theo's self-esteem.

The smug fucker always thought that because he was into politics and understood why the Russians were able to get Sputnik to the moon, it automatically made him better than the other two. For a long time, Mason and Alex were their father's favorites. Real boys, his father would agree. Boys that liked to play rough, get dirty, and not cry. Unlike Theo who'd rather run around with a colored girl and read books.

But as soon as Theo started impressing his father with his grades, their father turned on them.

"Where are your grades hm? Why aren't they as impressive as Theo's?" He would ask.

After that, it became clear to Mason that there was one thing left to do to destroy his brother completely. And that was to mess with his girl.

Kathryn was always a girl that he considered his annoying little brother's best friend. He never once cared about her or anything to do with her. But that all changed as soon as she and her brother started high school alongside with them. She then went from an ugly little black girl to looking somewhat foxy. And because of her and his brother's shared love of books, she

Mason has girls come and go in his life, but Theo only had one girl in his, besides his mother. It was another thing Mason had hated. His annoying little brother lucked out and already met the girl that would love him forever.

He wanted that. So he wanted her. And he wanted nothing more than to see the pain in his brother's face when he did take her from him.

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Kathryn and Theo didn't usually walked home from school together for Kathryn's sake. Their town was terrorized by KKK members and although her family loved Theo, they preferred they'd stay away from each other outside of their homes and school. They barely spoke at school too, not wanting to get in trouble with bullies like his brothers.

But Kathryn's been struggling in math recently and needed his help because he was great in math. So they walked side by side for the first time in two years. They didn't look at each other, they didn't speak to each other. They just walked. But Kathryn sped up, trying to put distance between Theo and herself. She was afraid, that's why.

Theo reaches out to grab her hand, only to have her pull away and keep walking. Theo sighed but didn't attempt to hold her hand anymore. When they got to his house, he opened the door and let her in. They had the house to themselves for at least three hours. His dad was at work, Mason was at baseball and Alex was probably out with some girl, desperately trying to get in her pants. He was so elated that nobody was around to bother them.

"Do you want anything?" He asked as she walked in. "Water? Juice?" He walked into the kitchen to get himself a glass of water. When she didn't answer right away, Theo looked back to see her looking at a couple of pictures hanging on the wall. "Kathryn?" He called out, making her look up at him in alarm.

"Sorry," she walked over to him. "It's just been a while since I've been here..." she looked around again. "There aren't any pictures of your mom on the wall anymore," she notices.

Theo looked down before meeting her eyes. "Yeah, my pops took them all down. I️ guess it was too hard on him. Not that he's ever said anything," he shrugged. "But enough of that," he changes the subject, "let's get to work."

"Right, cause I️ need a passing grade," she giggles. Theo leads her over to his room and in her opinion, it looked exactly the same. Just add more books, and that's what Theo's room looks like.

Kathryn could see he was reading a lot of classic novels. Dante's Inferno, Shakespeare. Stuff that makes people question how Alex and Mason were related to him and vice versa. Even most teachers that had the brothers in the past were surprised at Theo's quiet and studious nature. After two Raines' brothers they must've thought the third was just as equally obnoxious as the first two. But every parent teacher conference they had nothing to say except positive things.

So why wasn't that enough?

Theo puts his bag down near the door while Kathryn puts her bag near the foot of the bed. They dug out their math books for their bed and settled on the carpeted floor of his room and got started. They were learning geometry, and although she said it was slightly better than algebra, it didn't mean she understood it all the way through.

Kathryn put her pencil down and sighed, rolling over on the carpet till she was lying on her back. "Kat..." Theo's voice has a warning tone to it.

"Theo come on. We've been at this for an hour," Kathryn's voice pleaded for a break. "Plus, I️ think we made pretty good progress," she looked up at him with a smile while he looked down back at her from his sitting position. Theo wanted to argue back but her smile made him forget any scolding he had in store for her.

He lets out a defeated sigh and sits back against his bed. "Alright you win," he decided, making her squeal in joy. "But it's a quick break!" He reminded her.

"Yes. A quick, thirty minute break," she joked, making him glare at her. "Alright fine. Twenty five."

"Ten."

"Twenty."

"Fifteen!"

"Thirteen!"

"Alright fine," Kathryn rolled her eyes. "Thirteen, ya poindexter," she giggled. "Just...lie back on the floor and relax, will ya? Stare up at the ceiling and just let your mind relax," She coaxed him. Theo nodded and lied right next to her, looking up at the ceiling and tried to think about nothing.

But he was failing.

Instead he was thinking about Kathryn, and how she smells like vanilla. And now close they were. And now much he wanted to run his hands through her silky hair that he knows her mother works so hard to make silky.

Theo doesn't even remember the last time he saw Kathryn's kinky curls. It must've been junior high.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Theo asks her, eyes still looking up at the wall. He felt her lace her fingers through his hands and he took it with no hesitation.

"I'm thinking about that couple from Virginia," she told him.

"What couple?" He mumbled, his entire being focused on the fact that she was touching him. He wanted more of that.

"Oh Theo," she sucked her teeth. "That mixed couple that were on the news. The ones that got arrested for getting married," she tried to jog his memory.

That's when it hit him. "The Lovings?" He told her. He turned over to see her shake her head "yes". "What about them?"

Kathryn now turned on her side to meet his gaze. "I️ heard they're taking their case all the way up to the Supreme Court," she says, making his eyes go wide. "They fightin' for their right to get married. For anyone to get married really."

"Imagine that," Theo breathed. "That's pretty brave of them," he said in wonder. He then looked her in the eye. "You ever think we'll get married?" He asked. Kathryn scoffed, turning to look back up at the ceiling again. "How long are you gonna make me chase you Kat?"

"Till racism's dead," she answers.

Theo simply grins at this. "Challenge accepted. I'll even chase you when we're in heaven. Now it'll really be forever," he jokes, making her roll her eyes.

"I️ don't want to have this conversation again Theo," she looks up at him through her lashes. "You know what would happen if we got caught together. Especially with everything that's going on right now," she reminds him of the war that's been going on in the streets between African Americans (with some white allies) wanting racial equality and the police brutality alongside the KKK terrorizing folks.

A relationship between them just wasn't possible.

"We could be together in private," he pressed, reaching out for her hand once more. "Just like this," he whispered.

She squeezed his hand back. "Eventually we're gonna suffer because we can't get married or go out on dates," she rationalized. "It's gonna affect us badly," she shook her head.

"No," Theo shook his head, fiddling with her fingers, "as long as I️ have you. I️ don't care about anything else," he tells her. "And hey, looks like we'll save money by not going out on dates or having a fancy wedding at a church," he joked, making her giggle lightly at this as well. Their eyes connected once more. "Can I️ kiss you?" He asked.

She shook her head no. "Kissing leads to other things," she tells him, and he nods, not pushing it. "And once we start, I️ doubt we'll be able to stop."

He nods in agreement. "Good idea," he tells her. "But just know, I️ still remembered when I️ asked you to marry me when we were six," he recalls the time he asked her for his hand in marriage, playing out a movie scene he had seen his mom and dad watch late one night. At the time, it seemed like a good way to show his only female friend how much he liked her. "And you said "no"," he continued, making her laugh as he laced their fingers together once more. "And then shoved me against the dirt and called me a cootie monster," he looked down at her with a humorous grin. "From then on I️ knew you were the one for me."

Mason was on the other side of the door, listening in on their conversation, still wearing his baseball uniform. He had just came back from practice when he heard female laughter coming Theo's bedroom. And he just knew it was Kathryn in there with him. But from the sound of it, they weren't doing anything naughty, just discussing their lives like he pretty much expected a couple like them would do.

Bores.

"I'm a charmer, I️ know," he heard Kathryn smirk.

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