😗sorry for any mistakes

Tuesday

"So what the hell you comin' ta' school for if you have all yo' credits?" Rell scrunched up his face in the passenger seat of Sarai's car as she drove them to school.

Since Sarai and Semaj are the only ones with cars in the group, they split it up. Since JB lives closer to Semaj, that's who Semaj picked up while Sarai picked up Rell since he lived closer to her. She wasn't going to have to take her brother to school until next week since her mom wanted to do it for his first week.

Sarai laughed at him "I still have a 1st, 3rd, and 4th period. Just not 2nd. I was gonna do office Aid for it but I chose to do that next semester" She explained.

Her school was set up differently from others. They didn't have the normal 7 or 8 classes a day. They took all their classes separately. One semester they have a total of 4 classes, 2 hours or 1 hour and 45 minutes long then the semester after that they take 4 different classes. At the end of both semesters, it rounded up to them taking 8 classes in one year and getting their credits faster.

A/N: LMAOOOO that's what we did when I was in high school so I hope that makes sense.

Sarai was already ahead in her credit since she took more of her hardcore classes during her first 3 years of high school. Now she was mainly taking elective classes her senior year with maybe 3 hardcore classes.

"I'm doin' office Aid next semester too. I feel like that's when it's better to do it since it's the last semester." Rell said while he put the coconut butter scent lotion on his face.

"Wait, so if most of yo' classes are electives, what other classes are you taking?" He asked, glancing over at her.

"Pre-calculus and Literature then I take Econ next semester. Why didn't you send your schedule in the chat?" She asked, pulling into the school parking lot. She sighed to herself already seeing a lot of people around and hugging up on each other like they couldn't see each other over the summer.

He sucked his teeth "Y'all kno' I forgot. Why y'all ain' remind me?" He asked while she pulled into the free parking spot next to Semaj's car.

"Because that's not my responsibility sirr" She smiled, putting the car in park.

He dramatically huffed, getting on his phone "What type of lil sister are you?" He grumbled. She just laughed and killed the engine. She forgets that Rell's had the worst memory in the world.

She was startled when someone started knocking on her car window. She relaxed when she saw it was Jamal trying to open her door. She unlocked the doors and opened the door "You ain' get me breakfast? What typa' sister are you?" He straight-faced her.

She squinted her eyes at him then folded her arms across her chest "Does it look like I'm yo' mother? Why you ain' bring me no breakfast" She raised her eyebrow.

"I'm broke. You kno' this sis" He started fake crying. She just shook her head at him before she reached to the back to get powderpuff girls on the run spray ground bookbag. She made sure to grab her water and keys before getting out of the car.

"Sunshine, where is our breakfast?" Semaj furrowed his eyebrows, calling her the personal nickname he gave her years ago once he saw her as he leaned up against his car.

He gave her so many nicknames, she was surprised she could keep up. The made her heart swell up every time though.

Carmen started laughing "Why y'all actin' like she y'all mama?" She asked, going over to hug Sarai. "Exactly" Sarai co-signed.

"Because she is." All the boys said.

Sarai just shook her head, locking her doors and making sure Rell was out first. They all then started to walk to the entrance of the gym since that's where all students had to wait until teachers release them to the first period.

They never went to homeroom unless it was for something important like testing.

"I'm already givin' yall free lunch, why I have to bring y'all breakfast too?" She asked as Semaj threw his arm over her shoulder while they walked.

"Oh, you doin' dat this year?" Semaj asked, fixing her name necklace around her neck. She felt butterflies fill up in her stomach and tried to hide the nervous feeling she got. His strong cologne was filling her nostrils and she loved it. It was her favorite scent he had worn.

She knew he was only doing it because there were a lot of people around and he didn't want her to have an anxiety attack. He knew how bad her social anxiety could get when it was more people around than she expected. She was glad because she forgot to take her anxiety medicine this morning and was starting to regret it.

"Uh- yeah. Mr. Dexter told me I better do it because he wants a plate" She chuckled, moving closer to him the more people they saw as people started dapping him up and the rest of the boys.

"Plate?" Carmen questioned from the other side of her.

"Yeah. I make food and sell them at Lunch for $15 or $20." She kept it short, not knowing what other way to explain it. Since Sarai could remember, she loved to cook, it was her passion and dream to open up her own restaurant one day.

At first, she would only bring her friend's leftovers from the night before when she cooked dinner. One day this girl she saw at lunch every day wasn't eating and she looked so hungry. Sarai felt bad and being the big-hearted person she was, she ended up giving her the lunch she brought.

They had become cool and the girl somehow ended up getting money and started to pay Sarai for the lunches she would bring her after a few months.

A few more months passed, and other people wanted to buy Sarai's food since the girl was bragging about how good it was, even the faculties. That's when the principal started to allow her to sell plates during her lunch and she's been doing it since 10th grade now.

Now that she had 2nd period free, she was able to leave campus to go get the food she made or even finish cooking. She made really good money off of it, $450 or $600 a day depending on how much the plate prices. All 30 plates she makes always goes fast.

She only does it on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays since papa John and Chick-fil-A come to her school on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

"Oouu, I'm glad I got some money. School lunch is disgusting" Carmen curled up her lip and everyone nodded in agreement as they walked into the full and loud Gymnasium.

"Maj!" A female voice was heard. Sarai glanced over seeing Liberty coming over towards them. She sighed to herself, moving Semaj's arm since she already knew he was going to start talking to her.

She didn't want to be around that, it only made her mad and jealous.

"Wassup" Semaj smirked, looking at Liberty up and down with lust-filled eyes. "Hey, you look good" Liberty showed her beautiful smile, returning the look of lust.

There was no denying that Liberty was beautiful. She was everything that Sarai wasn't. 5'4 with beautiful and clear caramel skin tone. She always dressed her ass off and everyone loved her. She was captain of the cheer team, very outgoing along with popular.

Sarai looked over to her left seeing Rell and JB had already walked off somewhere. She hiked her bookbag up on her shoulder and started to walk away but stopped once she felt a strong grip on her wrist. She looked back in confusion when she saw it was Semaj that grabbed her then raised her eyebrow "You gon' be straight?" He asked, eyeing her.

She gave the fakest smile she could come up with and nodded "I'll see you at Lunch" She said lowly while Liberty smiled at her. "You are really pretty, I love your hair" She complimented.

Sarai blushed a bit and wiggled her wrist from Semaj "T-thank you. You're really pretty too" She slightly smiled then waved at Maj one last time to walk away so she didn't have to be around them.

They just looked like a cute couple and she couldn't help but feel jealous and hurt.

"Ray, wait" She heard again while she was walking. She stopped in her tracks, turning around to see Carmen mugging her "How you gon' leave me. I don't kno' anyone" She huffed, and they started walking again.

"O-oh" She started talking and took a deep breath. She hated how much she stuttered when she was nervous and anxious. She really was regretting not just waiting in her car, it seemed to be more kids than last year. It was honestly nowhere to go with everyone standing around and being all loud.

"I forgot you were new. I'm sorry" She said lowly, walking into her usual corner where she would stand. She looked around and started pinching her arm with her short white acrylic set nails to calm her nerves down. She caught a look at Liberty and Semaj hugged up together with his teammates all already him and some of the cheerleaders.

Carmen looked where she was staring at, rolling her eyes at Liberty and Semaj.

She noticed how nervous and now sad Sarai looked so she grabbed her hand. Sarai looked up as Camren intertwined their fingers together. She gave a reassuring smile, causing a small smile to break out on Sarai's face.

"You don't have any associates?" Carmen questioned. Sarai shrugged "No. It's kinda hard to speak to others for longer than I have to" She explained.

"Good. I don't like sharin' friends." Carmen chuckled, and Sarai did the same. She could tell she and Semaj were related since he was the same way. He had a lot of associates but when it came down to people he calls friends, he didn't like sharing.

"Same. Glad we have all the same classes this semester" Sarai chuckled. She was happy she was finally going to have someone to talk to in class.

Usually, people in class only talked to her when they needed answers to something which was fine with her but she still wanted to have at least one person to talk to.

_________________

"Say, Maj!" Semaj heard over the music playing in her AirPods after he walked out of his very long and annoying Chemistry class.

It was now time for transitioning for 3rd period and he was already annoyed and ready to get in his bed.

Semaj turned around with his natural mug plastered on his face to see who was calling him and being loud for no reason. He raised his eyebrow at JB and Rell walking up to him "You finna go help Rayray bring these plates in?" They asked, he nodded and they started walking to the front office.

"So you and Liberty... y'all a thing now?"Rell asked as they walked past the many people in the main hall. They were either running like this was outside or some were playing too much, others were coupled up like they didn't have to be in class in the next 6 minutes.

"Huggin' up on a sneaky link in public is crazyyy" JB laughed, as they walked through the double doors and out of the building.

Semaj laughed with him, he thought it was crazy too. Liberty just hugged him out of nowhere this morning. He didn't want to embarrass her in front of everyone by telling her to move.

But when they were in private, he told her to never do that again.

"Nah but I think dats what she wants. But I'on want that '' He admitted. It may sound sad and disrespectful but Semaj only saw Liberty as sex. That's what they have always been since the end of junior year.

She was cool but he wouldn't cuff her.

She was kind of an airhead and didn't seem to care about others other than herself. They had nothing in common other than sex. They can barely have a conversation without it turning to sex. They were both on the same page about not wanting a relationship.

He's only been in one relationship but he always told himself if he did ever get in a relationship again then it would be with someone he wants to have his kids. He didn't want a childish high school relationship that was temporary. If he was gonna call someone his then they have to be forever.

"Niggas like you make me sick. Got all these bitches wantin' you but don't want nun of them." JB said they walked in the hot sun, going through the parking lot to Sarai's car.

Semaj stopped walking and looked at him funny "Nigga don't you and Maddison got sumthin' gon' on?" He asked confused, referring to the dance team captain who Jamal has gotten real close to over the summer at band camp.

Jamal started fake sobbing "She got back wit' ha' boyfriend. I hope that nigga cheats on her so she can realize I'm the one" He childishly smile and they all started laughing at him.

"Nigga you mad foul fa' dat" Rell chuckled.

"Nah, Ima manifest it foreal tho. She thinks he betta' den me 'cause he is in college? Fuck him" JB ranted and they finally made it to Sarai's car.

"Finally. Y'all took forever" Sarai mumbled, getting out of the car along with Carmen getting out of the passenger seat. Semaj looked at Carmen funny "You skippin' already on yo' first day?" He questioned, raising his eyebrow at her.

She chuckled "No, I have office Aid, for this period and my class was close by so I jus' came out here. Y'all school is really different from my old one." She twisted her lip to the side, watching Sarai open up the backseat for them to start grabbing the boxes.

"What's different about it?" JB asked, grabbing the two first boxes.

"Y'all school is more of a high school and it's diverse. My school had maybe 20 black people including me and they were always on some middle school shit. Our teachers had to walk up to class and we had to put our finger over our lip in the hallway when going to the next class" She explained.

Everyone started dying laughing "Not the finger over the lippp '' JB cracked up, securing the box in his arms. Rell and Semaj both followed suit, grabbing two boxes each.

"Yesss, the shit was so childish and we still had a damn silent lunch table. It made no damn sense." She chuckled, closing the door after Sarai grabbed the last bag of food.

"You sure you weren't jus' slow and in middle school?"

Carmen smacked JB upside the head "No dummy. I can't stand dumb bitches like you" She rolled her eyes and they both started to bicker back and forth like that always did when they saw each other.

"Wait," Sarai said lowly, stepping in front of Semaj facing him. She stood on her tippy toes since the height between the two was kinda big. Sarai stood at 5'7 even while Semaj stood at 6'4 ½.

She reached up to pick a piece of lint out of his face then rubbed her thumb over his thick and bushy eyebrows while he stared into her face.

He slightly smiled "I told you, you look pretty today?" He asked. A small smile grew on her face and she moved her hand "Thanks, it's the tap-ins." She giggled, and they started back following everyone back into the school building.

"Nah you can tell you actually took yo' time gettin' ready." He teased making her frown.

"Oh," She mumbled, walking up more from him. He laughed "Khiouri, I was jus' playin' " He chuckled, seeing the sad look on her face.

"Nah, it's cool. You said what you said" She shrugged, holding the door from him to walk inside. "I was jus' playin' tho" He chuckled, walking inside and they followed everyone towards their big cafeteria to help her set up.

"Shut up, get on my damn nerves. This not even y'all lunch" Carmen fussed, mushing JB's head after he set the box down on the long white table. "This is our lunch, all our classes on da' same hall dummy" He bucked at her, she stood there with an unfazed look.

"Can you write $20 a plate on this board for me please?" Sarai asked lowly, handing Semaj a purple expo marker and a new dry-erase board. He nodded, sitting in a seat, opening the marker first then looked up at her "What you make?" He questioned, looking back down at the board and writing the date.

"Umm, you can put loaded chicken and shrimp salads. I don't really have a name for it" She stated, taking the white barley closed container out. He nodded, writing down what she said.

He wrote down her cash app too in case people didn't have cash.

After he was finished, he looked up with his eyes widened once he saw the filled-up plates.

"Hell nah, you better charge $25. That's a lot of food, sunshine" He furrowed his eyebrows, listening to the bell ring for 1st lunch.

She shrugged, sliding a box over towards him "You kno' my highest is $20. We're talking about high school students." She said as the cafeteria started to fill with loud students.

"Y'all food is in there. Leave one in there for me tho." She asked, then smiled at the people coming over to the table. He nodded, reaching into his pocket to pull his phone out. He went into his cash app, sending her $45 for his and Carmen's food.

"Leelee, come getcha' plate" He called out, leaning up to grab a container out of the book before grabbing another one.

He heard someone sucking their teeth, he looked up to see Sarai mugging him "Why would you send me money? I told you, you don't have to do that Zyair" She frowned.

He just shook his head at her, giving Carmen her plate carefully "Khiouri, you tryna run a business. When you get yo' restaurant started up, you can't be doin' that free shit because you close wit' someone. If I'm gon' eat yo' product, I'm gon' buy it too." He expressed, watching her face turn into a slight pout.

"He's right Ray. It's cool to give free stuff every once in a while but if you're serious about your business, you can't do dat" Carmen rubbed her arm up and down to make her feel better.

It wasn't really a problem but Sarai was the definition of too nice of a person. Semaj always felt like he had to keep her close and watch who comes around her. People will be quick to take advantage of someone as big-hearted and sweet as Sarai.

He didn't mean it in a bad way but it was true since she was a person that likes to please everyone.

Even with selling plates, if her mom, dad, and everyone else didn't get on her about charging for what she sells, she would have just given out free food.