"Yo Nae," I heard my friend Deon yell.

I slowed down my steps and turned towards him as students began to make their way around me.

"Wassup," I asked.

"Lemme carry 'em books for you, baby," Deon bit his bottom lip trying to flirt.

I rolled my eyes before smiling, "Boy, I'm good."

"You more than good, ma. You fine," he winked causing me to laugh.

"Deon, if you don't get yo' corny ass away from me," I playfully pushed his shoulder.

"Aww," he chuckled, "thats cold, but nah what you and Queen doin' after school?"

"Nothing," I admitted, "why, what you finna be doin'?"

"Shit you know me," he smirked and rubbed his hands together, "I'm always doin' something, but everybody suppose to be linkin' up at the park, you down?"

"I don't know, imma ask Queen and see what she say. I'll let you know by the end of this period."

"Aight. You better run up before you late for yo' last class," he warned while smirking.

"I don't really care," I shrugged and began walking to my last period, which was English class.

When the bell rung, I was literally stepping inside of the room.

"Right on time Lanae," Mrs. Wright smiled as she grabbed a pile of worksheets, "hand these out for me, baby."

"Okay," I said before grabbing the papers and setting my binders on top of my desk.

Mrs. Wright was my favorite teacher at this school, so far. She was the most down to earth adult here and I could talk to her about anything. Well... not anything, but I could hold a conversation about something other than homework or school.

She is a 65 year old black woman, but looks like she's in her early 40's. She is a true example of the term black don't crack. She's dark skin with long jet black hair. She keeps it in either a back ponytail or two long French braids. Her thick frame stood at 5 feet, allowing most students to tower over her.

"Mrs. Wright when we gon' get together," this boy named Chris suddenly yelled from the back of the room.

I held in my laugh and continued passing out papers as the classroom filled with laughter.

"Chris," Mrs. Wright smacked her lips, "if you don't stop talkin' to me. I ain't dealin' wit' your foolishness today."

"I'm serious. You could real life be my chocolate cougar," he said licking his lips causing Mrs. Wright's face to scrunch up with disgust.

"Mr. Daniels," she said in a warning tone.

"Aight, I'll chill out for now," he laughed and glanced at me when I placed his paper on his desk, "aye, yo' name Lanae, right?"

"Yeah," I nodded my head.

"Yeah, I was at yo' party ah few months ago. Had my homie actin' out," he smiled and shook his head.

"Who, Omari?"

"Yeah, that nigga Lucky," he confirmed, "he usually be calm, but you had that nigga ready to murder somebody. What's goin' on wit' y'all?"

Right when I was about to deny anything happening between us, Mrs. Wright appeared out of nowhere.

"Now, Chris why you botherin' Lanae. She don't want you," Mrs. Wright teased.

"That's all Lucky's right there," Chris said putting his hands up in a surrendering way.

"Oh my gosh," I mumbled before I quickly walked off to my desk and sat down.

"Uh, uh, Ms. Roberts," Mrs. Wright said loudly, attracting the class' attention, "you messin' wit' knuckle head Lucky?"

I placed my hand over my face as I felt everybody's curious gaze on me, waiting for my response.

"No, me and Lucky are just close. He has a girlfriend," I explained.

I heard Chris mumble a not anymore or something around those lines causing me to raise an eyebrow at him, but he just ignored me.

"Mmm," Mrs. Wright hummed, "I see, but let's get back on task class, we have a lot to do today."

As she explained the worksheet to us, I pulled out my phone and texted Queen about meeting at the park.

She texted me back immediately since she was in gym class.

👑🤪Yeah, you know I'm down😛

okay. I'll let Deon know

👑🤪: Ouuuu don't make me have to tell Omari you cheating on him🤭😂

ew🤮 Deon ain't got nothing on Omari. There's no competition 💯

👑🤪: Ik that's right Nae👏🏽😜 take up for yo manssss

🤷🏽‍♀️😭

"Ms. Roberts pay attention," Mrs. Wright said.

"Sorry," I apologized and put my phone away before paying attention for the rest of the class.

***

I couldn't believe how packed the park was today. It's still low key cold, since it's February, but nobody seemed to care. People were scattered everywhere. The boys, including Deon and Chris, were playing basketball on the court. Some girls were walking around and some were on the sidelines cheering for the teams they wanted to win. I was sitting on some bleachers with Queen and our friends Felicia and Crystal.

We ended up meeting each other in art class. They asked us where we were from and what our names were, which led to an ongoing conversation. They were mad cool and we instantly clicked with them. When we sat with them at lunch, we ended up getting aquatinted with Deon.

Deon is what you call a flirt. He flirts with every single girl at Linmoore. At first, he constantly flirted with Queen, but lately he's been flirting with me. Don't get me wrong, Deon is handsome. He is 6 foot with light brown skin. He had shoulder length dreads, that were dyed a brownish blonde color. His attire was always on point, wearing designer shit everyday. But, he wasn't my type.

"Ayo," I heard Chris yell, catching my attention, "timeout real quick, I'll be right back."

He jogged off the court and stopped at a familiar looking car before the window rolled down. I squinted my eyes, trying to think of who's car was parked over in the lot.

"Girl, why you bein' nosey," Deon asked, sitting down beside me.

"Nigga, cause I can," I rolled my eyes.

"Right nigga, mind yo' business," Queen smirked before mushing the back of his head.

"Queen.. don't put yo' hands on me. I know you want my attention now, but damn," he laughed causing Queen to smack her lips.

"Boy, ain't nobody worried 'bout yo' skinny ass," she said.

"That's coo'. As long as I got my Nae Nae boo," he smirked and threw his sweaty arm over my shoulders, "ain't that right?"

"Ew," I scrunched my face up in disgust, "get the fuck off of me, Deon."

When I tried to throw his arm off of me, he began tickling my side causing me to laugh and squirm. The girls just sat there giggling, instead of helping me escape from his childish ass.

"Aye Lanae," a voice from the parking lot called causing everyone to freeze. I glanced towards it and noticed Chris looking at me, "yo' nigga Lucky want you!"

"Ohhh shit," Queen mumbled.

My eyes grew wide as I quickly moved out of Deon's hold and stood up.

"Bitch, you go out wit' Lucky," I heard Felecia ask under her breath.

I spun around and faced her with my heart pumping out of my chest.

"Lucky from Slum Money is your boyfriend," Deon questioned with wide eyes.

"I-I," I was interrupted when Omari beeped his horn.

"Lanae bring yo' ass," I heard his deep voice yell from across the park, gaining everybody's attention.

"Shit... I'll be back," I rushed out before walking towards his car.

I saw Chris smirking as he made his way back to the court. When he was about to past me he said, "Yo' ass in trouble."

"Fuck you," I mumbled and kept walking.

"That's Lucky's job, ma," he shouted over his shoulder causing me to blush.

Why did he have to say that out loud?

I watched Lanae make her way over to me as Chris went back to the basketball court.

I sparked up my spiff as she hopped inside of the car with red cheeks. I looked at her from the corner of my eye and took a hit from the fat ass blunt that was in between my lips. Once I inhaled it, I slowly exhaled the smoke.

"Mar, what are you doin' here," I heard her soft voice ask causing my eyes to drift off to her.

"I was talkin' to my lil' nigga Chris, what you doin' here," I shot back at her.

She shrugged, "Just something to get out of the house."

"Oh yeah," I asked before looking over her shoulder and spotted the little nigga that was all up on her, "whose that nigga wit' the dreads?"

"That's Deon, why?"

"Cause I asked. Don't let that lil' nigga get fucked up ma,"I warned before taking another pull from the joint.

She raised an eyebrow at me and crossed her arms over her chest, "And why would you say that?"

I licked my lips and looked at her with that don't play with me look.

"Don't worry 'bout it, just don't let me have to beat his ass," I said in a serious tone.

"He's not my type" she stated causing me to smirk.

"Mmm," I hummed, "then what's yo' type Nae?"

I took another puff from my blunt as I watched her play with her hands.

"Umm," she paused, "I guess you could say I don't have a type, but someone has my full attention."

"Who is this someone?"

"It's ah secret," she smiled shyly.

I know she ain't lying, but at the same time she was low key holding back the truth and it was getting me salty.

I nodded my head and rolled down my window, "Best friends don't have secrets, ma."

"I know," she sighed, "I promise I'll let you know who it is later."

"Aight bet," I said, "but I wanna talk to you about sum."

She shifted in the passenger seat, facing me, "What's goin' on, Mar?"

"I got into some shit yesterday..." I started off, "and I just wanted to let you know imma be away for ah couple of days."

"What happened Omari? You're scarin' me," she said in a worried tone.

"I can't say nothing right now, but I'll explain everything to you when I get everything under control. And don't scare yo' self aight? Imma be coo'."

"Omari, I can't help, but to think of the worst. You're not tellin' me what's wrong and I know you run ah gang, which is dangerous..."

She stopped talking as she placed her hands over her face and began crying softly. I felt my eyes soften a little bit as I heard her sobs fill the car. After I put out my blunt, I reached out to her and pulled her into a hug. I hate seeing her cry and I hated it even more that I was the reason why.

I began rubbing small circles onto her back, "Lanae... I know you don't like the life I live because of what happened in the past, but I want you to know that I'll always be here for you. You hear me, ma? I'll always be here for you. Wherever. Whenever. I'll always make my way back to you," I promised.

"You better," she said in a hoarse voice before lifting her head and staring at me, "cause if you don't, I'll hurt you."

I licked my lips and smiled, "Damn Nae, how you gon' try to hurt yo' best friend?"

She laughed and tried to pull away from me, but I held onto her tighter with one arm and used my other hand to wipe away her tears.

"I don't want you cryin' about my lifestyle again, okay? That's just something you gon' have to get use to and you gon' have to trust me, ma."

"Okay," she whispered and gazed into my eyes, "I'm here for you. Always."