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"Why you lookin' at me like that?"

Dri laughed. "Like what? I'm just watching you do your little morning hygiene routine."

"Why you ain't sleep?"

"I don't know. My body is used to getting up at this time, I guess." She shrugged.

I finished washin' my face. "Come to school then."

"I can't, Dre." She whined, callin' me by my middle name. "You know I can't go back until next Monday."

I poked my bottom lip out. "I know, I know."

"Aw, you miss me?"

"Of course. Everybody sayin' so much shit about you as if they know what you got goin' on."

She chuckled. "I heard I was pregnant."

"Mane." I shook my head, laughin' wit' her. "Some people ain't got nothin' betta' to do than sit around and try to piece somebody else life togetha'. Why you can't just be on vacation or somethin'?"

"We're in high school, hun. No one ever worries about themselves in high school. You should know, remember when people thought you-"

I cut her off. "Aye, shut that shit up."

"What?" She snickered, tryna be funny.

Wasn't nothin' funny bout it.

"Babe."

"Wassup, ma?"

"I'm going to go help my mom with breakfast, I'll call you when I finish."

"Aight, tell Kenz to bring me some food."

She gave me a look. "As if Kenz is actually talking to me."

"Y'all still ain't talkin'?"

"She still isn't talking to me. I try to talk to her, but she just basically runs away from me."

I noticed the difference in the way she was talkin' that her attitude went down, so I dropped the subject.

"Aight, ma. Just call me back when you done."

"Okay."

I ain't gon' lie and act like the situation wit' Dri hasn't been botherin' me 'cause it has. It really be all I think about, but I try not to show her that. She been handlin' it alright in a "I want to act like it neva' happened" typa way.

She'on really like to talk 'bout it, but we been tryna see how she really feel when it come to it. She'a get real quiet or she just blow it off, so we end up just leavin' it alone.

I know I ain't really 'posed to say or do nothin' bout it, but I can't help but to want to beat the fuck outta that nigga Cedrick and them bitches Dayna and Nicole every time I see 'em in schoo'.

I'on know who the other two broads or the otha' nigga is that she said was thea', and they betta' not let me find out. Cause if these detectives and police don't do nothin' bout it, I damn sho' will.

"Aye, 'Mere, you ready?" I held the phone between my ear and shoulder while pickin' up my book bag and keys.

I could hear him shufflin' around befo' he finally said somethin'. "Yea, you on the way?"

"Yea, I'm comin'."

"Aight."

I made sure to lock the do' behind me as I left out the house. If I didn't, pops was gon' tear me a new one and I ain't have time for that.

"Good morning, Kenz." Na greeted me as I entered the kitchen. She was setting the plates down for breakfast and Audri was turning off the stove.

I took my usual seat. "Good morning, ma. It's almost Friday."

"I know." She sighed with a smile. "I'm so ready for this vacation."

Ma had been working like crazy since they moved here to Miami and she was finally getting a well deserved vacation. Most of it would be spent with lawyers and detectives, but at least she wouldn't have to go to work.

"Have you heard back from any of the jobs you've applied to?" Ma questioned me, setting the bacon, eggs, and waffles in the middle of the table.

I nodded as I sipped my orange juice. "I heard back from Twin Peaks, Champs, and McDonald's."

"Oh yea? That's great. Which one are you leaning more towards?"

"I honestly don't know. Probably Champs because I can be more flexible with my hours there. With school and all, I need to be able to have a easy schedule until summer."

Audri brought the cinnamon rolls to the table. "Yea, and you can buy us shoes with your employee discount."

I chuckled slightly, but didn't say anything in reply. Instead, I began placing my food on my plate so I could eat, and me and ma could leave.

She cleared her throat. "How about you, Dri? How's things going at the groomers?"

"Good so far." Dri pursed her lips. "Oh, I actually don't need a ride to work later. Angel said he'll come pick me up and take me."

Ma nodded. "Okay, that'll do. I won't have to try to rush home in traffic. We should probably get going soon." Ma looked at her watch. "I have to stop at the bank before I head to work. Wanna bring that bacon along with you?"

"Yea, I'll bring it."

Standing up from the table, I grabbed my bag from off the chair behind me and wrapped my bacon up in a paper towel.

"I'll wash the dishes." Dri offered, not looking up at me from her plate. "Can you take these two cinnamon rolls for Angel and Amere, please?"

I nodded as she handed them to me, still not looking up at me.

"Thank you. Have a nice day at school."

"Thanks."

Ma came back through the dining room with her purse on her shoulder and her briefcase held tightly in her hand. "Ready?"

"Ready." I smiled.

"Okay, come on." She headed towards the door before turning around to Audri. "Keep the door locked, don't open it for anyone."

"I know, mom."

"Okay. I love you and call me if you need anything, okay?"

Dri nodded. "I will. I love you guys too. Drive safe and have a good day."

As she closed the door behind us, ma and I made our way to her Benz. It didn't take long for us to be in Miami morning traffic listening to the Miami news on the radio.

"So." Ma started. "How have you been holding up?"

"With what?"

She glanced at me. "This whole situation going on with your sister. You guys have been really distant."

"Oh. I've been okay with it."

"You sure?"

"I'm positive."

She dropped it for a little, but I knew she would bring it back up. Ma was never really the type to let things go that easily.

Especially if it had anything to do with Audri and I.

"She needs you right now, Kenz." She said in a soothing tone. "I know it might be hard for you to deal with, but it's even harder for her right now. She needs all the support she can get from us."

I gulped. "I just... I don't know. I don't want to do or say the wrong thing."

"I'm not going to nag you about it because I think it's best if you and her talk it out yourselves, but I do know that she needs you. She needs all of us right now. And, as hard as it is on us, it's ten times harder on her. For now, we have to put our emotions aside and be there for her because that's all we can do until we get this figured out. Until this investigation is closed, we have to be there for her."

Not saying anything, I took in everything ma was saying. I know everything she was saying was true, but it was just so hard for me to see my best friend- my sister- in a situation like that.

And it kills me even more because I couldn't be there to protect her. I hate that it happened to her but I hate myself even more for not stopping it from happening to her.

Drowning in my thoughts, I didn't realize that we had pulled up in front of the school.

"Have a good day, okay? I love you."

"I love you too, ma. Drive safe."

She blew me a kiss making me laugh. "I know you said Angel and Amere can take you home, but if you need a ride let me know before twelve."

"I will."

After showing my ID card, I went over by the lockers to wait for Amere and Angel to get here like I usually do in the mornings without Audriana. Pulling out my phone, I did something I should have done days ago.

🍯💖

Finishing up with my breakfast, all alone, I grabbed my mom's and Kenz's dishes and took them to the sink along with my dishes.

This was my usual routine since I haven't been able to go to school. I wake up in the morning, help my mom with breakfast, eat in an awkward silence with them, clean the kitchen and wash the dishes, and then sleep until I have to go to work.

Boring, I know. But, this is my life for now.

Until I could go back to school, I was living like a stay-at-home mom. Until this investigation was over, I was living like an introvert. The detectives didn't really want me on social media, and only wanted me at home, work, and school.

Obviously, they can't stop me from doing those things, but it's what they recommended. So far I've been doing okay with this whole thing, or at least I like to think I am.

My mom pointed out to me that I like to sleep with my door locked now. I've always kept it closed, but never locked. I used to sleep with my window open, I don't do that anymore.

Sometimes I have nightmares about weird things, but I try not to harp on it too much. I'm a big girl, I'll be okay.

My phone vibrating against the counter pulled me from my thoughts.

👯‍♀️💛

I felt some kind of relief wash over me after seeing she even texted me let alone wanting to talk.

She still hasn't said much to me since the incident. I tried not to worry about it anymore, but it still bothered me at times. I would speak to her, and all she would do was give me a fake smile or the most I could get from her was "yea".

It sucked, but maybe her reaching out to talk to me was going to fix all of this.

👯‍♀️💛

Making sure the door was locked and all of the downstairs windows were locked and closed, I turned on the alarm before going upstairs to my room.

Time for a nap.

Settling in bed, I turned on Hulu to watch Star for the third time. I groaned when my phone vibrated loudly against my dresser.

🧸🖤

😘

🧸🖤

🧸🖤

🧸🖤

🧸🖤

😘

🧸🖤

💛

Flipping my side switch up on my phone, I turned on the ringer. Starting in the middle of season two, I gave Star all of my attention as if I'd never seen it before.

I was all caught up, waiting for the season three mid-episode to come out.

Damn. Quincy is fine as hell.

Sitting on the couch, I watched as they carried on through their game of spin-the-bottle.

"What? Why are you staring at me like that?" I asked her for the fifth time since their game started.

I don't know what was up with her, but ever since I came back from my talk with him in the kitchen, she'd been watching me like a hawk.

She quickly shook her head. "Nothing, nothing."

Blinking away the blur from my vision, I felt myself starting to get really really tired. I laid myself backwards on the couch, hoping to get in a little nap so by the time I woke up, everyone else would be tired and I could go up to the room that my actual friends were in.

I felt the couch sink in next to me, quiet snickering from around the living room filled my ears.

"How you feelin'?" He asked me, leaning in close to my ear.

Close enough that the smell of Hennessy from his mouth traveled through my nostrils causing me to scrunch up my nose.

"I'm really tired." I yawned, swatting away his hand that began to trail up my thigh. "Don't even. I'm not that type of girl."

He chuckled harshly. "Even with this shit in her system, she's still a stuck-up bitch."

"I think you should leave her alone." I heard a female voice beside me. It had to be either Melani or Taylor because it wasn't Nicole or Dayna's voice.

I tried to lift my eyes, but it felt like a ton of bricks were sitting on top of my eyelids. His hand rubbed my thigh again in which I swatted his hand away.

Again.

"I think I should go." I mumbled, more to myself because I wasn't asking anyone for permission to leave.

It was starting to feel really uncomfortable in here so that was my cue to go.

"You're not goin' anywhere. Sorry, love." Hepulled me back down on the couch, putting his body weight on top of me to keep me down.

"Get off of me."

He began to chuckle harshly again, causing an uneasy feeling to form in the pit of my stomach.

"Get off of me. Seriously, stop! Let me go-"

"Audriana!"

Jumping up from my sleep, I tried to control my heavy breathing as sweat formed on my arms and my forehead.

"Why you cryin', ma? You havin' a bad dream?"

I shook my head. "I- uh, no. I'm fine. Just was having a dream about my dad. When did you get here?"

"I just got hea'. I told you we was droppin' Kenz off and comin' to get you."

"Shit. What time is it?"

Angel looked down at his phone. "Almost three. You gotta be work in a lil'."

"Fuck, I overslept." I quickly climbed out of the bed. If it was any other day and I was running late like this, I would just wait to shower after work.

But, with that dre- nightmare I just had and the way I was sweating, a shower was definitely needed right now. I can be a few minutes late to work if that means keeping my sanity.

"I'm going to shower and get ready. I'll be out in twenty tops."

"Aight. You sure you good?"

I nodded. "I'm fine."

"If you say so."

Shutting the bathroom door, I didn't give Angel a chance to question me any further before I locked it and hopped in the shower.

I shook my head, makin' my way down the stairs of baybeh girl's house. I wasn't surprised to see 'Mere and Kenz cuddled up on the couch.

"Y'all two ugly ass motha'fuckas." I joked, throwin' a pillow at 'em as I took a seat across from them.

Kenz laughed. "And you're supposed to be cute?"

"Accordin' to yo' sista, I'm one of the finest niggas she eva' came across. So to answa' yo' question, hell yea."

"She lied to you." She shrugged, sitting up. "Speaking of her, how is she? I heard her up there having another nightmare."

I cocked my head to the side. "Anotha'? She be havin' 'em a lot?"

"Almost every night. You be on the phone with her every night, you don't hear her crying and screaming like that?"

"Na." I thought about it. "She be mutin' me now. Say she don't want me to hear ha' snorin'."

Kenz pursed ha' lips. "She never used to mute you when she went to sleep, and she doesn't even snore. That didn't start until when?"

"Til that shit happened." I mentally punched myself for not pickin' up on some' like that. "So what y'all do when she have 'em?"

"Ma always goes in there and wakes her up. Most of the time, she's crying and sweating. Says she was just having a dream about her dad."

I scoffed. "Same shit she just told me. I'on know how the fuck to help ha' if she don't wanna be helped."

"Just be there for her." Kenz shrugged.

"Says the one that won't even talk to her." 'Mere butted in, making me nod cause I was just 'bout to say that same exact shit. "Speakin' of that, wasn't you supposed to be talking to her?"

I raised my eyebrow. "Oh word? That's progress."

"I was, but I expected her to be up when we got here. I'll just do it when she gets off."

"I'ma hold you to that."

As if on cue, as soon as we finished our convo, Audri was makin' her way downstairs.

"Okay, come on babe. I have to go now or I'm gonna be extra late."

I got up from the couch. "You the one that overslept. Don't be rushin' me now."

"Come on, Angel!"

"I'm comin', girl."

She grabbed her purse off the table by the do'. "Bye, Mere. Bye, Kenz. I love you guys, be safe."

They yelled the same thing back. I was shocked Kenz even said it back, but I knew she would come around eventually so I wasn't even gon' sweat it.

"You got everything?" I asked Dri as we pulled out of their driveway.

She clicked on her seatbelt. "I do. I left my name tag at work and that was all I was missing so, yes."

"Aight. How was ya shower?"

"It was relaxing. Much needed too."

"I bet." I glanced at ha' then back to the road. "You was sweatin' like crazy."

She chuckled like she was nervous. "Yea. I've been dreaming about my dad a lot lately."

"Yea? What the dream was bout?"

"About my dad..."

"What about 'em though?"

"Why are you asking such a weird question?"

I shrugged. "I was just wonderin' what it was 'bout, that's all."