Rashir was about to pass out.

It was the morning after the game and he was beyond exhausted. They won the game the night before, but with a close score of 108-101 and to celebrate, he and the boys went partying at one of the frat houses on campus. Nico coaxed him into taking one too many shots and before he knew it, he was pretty drunk.

Now he was hungover and Coach Hill was not giving him a break. He had called an early morning practice as a punishment for the fights that had erupted at the game and the entire team was feeling his wrath. They had been running suicides for the past half hour and he was close to collapsing.

"Come on! Pick up the damn pace!" Coach Hill yelled at them when some of the freshmen on the team stopped to catch their breath. "Y'all had all this energy picking fights last night, what happened?" He mocked them as they continued running up and down the court.

Rashir's legs were burning as he pushed himself to run, Coach would grill him in front of the entire team if he stopped since he was the captain and was expected to 'set an example' for everyone.

"I ain't ever seen coach so mad bruh, look what you did," Nico grunted out from next to him.

"I ain't do nothing nigga," Rashir snapped and picked up his pace, trying to get away from him.

"Nobody told yo' stupid ass to pick a fight with Giovanni," Nico said, catching up.

"Perez! Martin! Less chatting, more running!" Coach yelled from the bleachers and they both rolled their eyes, grumbling curse words under their breath. They continued running in silence, refusing to stop until Coach blew his whistle, yelling that they were done. Rashir silently thanked god and bent over, putting his hands on his knees to try and control his breathing. Nico took a seat next to him when Coach turned his back but Mateo hit him in the back of the head and he quickly scrambled up.

"Alright, I'm letting y'all go but let this be a lesson. Don't ever pull the shit y'all did last night ever again. You embarrassed me, and this school. That shit was broadcasted on national TV, I have people questioning if I have my damn team in check. We are here to play basketball, not fight with people, is that understood?" He looked around and the team nodded. "I can't fucking hear you," He raised his voice.

"Yes Coach," They mumbled, sounding like children that were being punished.

"Good, you're dismissed." The team collectively shared a sigh of relief and began gathering their belongings to go to the locker rooms. "Not you Martin, be in my office in 5 minutes." Coach said over his shoulder as he walked to his office that was on the other side of the gym. Rashir winced, he knew he wasn't going to get off the hook that easy but one could hope.

"We'll wait for you in the car," Mateo told him as they passed him to walk to the locker rooms.

"Good luck." Nico snickered and slapped his back. Rashir sat down on the bleachers and greedily drank from his water bottle, pulling out his phone to check the time and see if he had any new texts.

He hadn't talked to Lourdes since the game and he honestly didn't know what to say to her. Right after she practically ran off of the court before he got the chance to say anything to her, they continued playing the game as if the fight had never happened. After they won, he looked for her in the stands but she had disappeared without saying goodbye. He wanted to text, or even call her to make sure that they were okay because it seemed like to him, that she was angry with him but he couldn't figure out why.

He checked ESPN and wasn't shocked to see they were talking about the fight and labeling Rashir as a 'cocky hot head' who couldn't keep his act together. He angrily turned off his phone and got up, jogging to the coach's office. He knocked on the door and entered when he heard a "Come in,". Softly closing the door behind him and turning around to face Coach.

"Sit down boy," Coach gestured to the chair facing his desk and Rashir hesitantly sat down. He rarely had to see coach after practice unless it was something important, so he was a little scared at the moment. "I'm upset with you, you know that the media already thinks you're a hot head Rashir, you can't do shit that proves them right." Coach shook his head at him. Rashir began to speak but Coach cut him off, holding up his hand, "I don't want to hear it. I'm letting you off with a warning, but don't let this happen again or there will be serious consequences and I won't be in control of them. You know the rules." He gave him a pointed look and Rashir just nodded. Rashir knew one day his anger issues would get him in serious trouble, but that day wasn't today so he wasn't concerned."Alright, you can leave,"

Rashir didn't have to be told twice, he bolted out of his seat and out of the office, eager to go home. Practice had started at 6 in the morning and he had gotten home at 1 AM, he was exhausted, hungry, and starting to form a headache.

He grabbed his things from the bleachers, heading to the locker rooms so he could change and go home with the boys. He quickly changed and headed out of the building towards the parking lot where Mateo said they would be waiting. Not many people were on campus, it was 10 in the morning on a Saturday. Most students were still peacefully sleeping in their dorms and Rashir wished he was one of them. He spotted Mateo's G Wagon and jogged towards it, knocking on the window so he could unlock it. He hopped in the backseat, throwing his duffel bag to the side, and put on his seatbelt

"What coach say to you?" Nico turned around from the passenger seat to look at him.

"Nothing, what we waiting for? I'm tryna go home," He stared at Mateo who was on his phone in the driver's seat. "Who you texting?" He asked Mateo when he began smiling at his screen. Mateo turned his phone off quickly and threw it in the cup holder suspiciously and shrugged.

"No one,"

"He texting his new girl," Nico teased.

"Who?" Rashir was curious.

"Ion have a new girl, shut up,"

"If you don't go smack at Aaliyah bruh, we all know you like her ass," Nico sucked his teeth and changed the song that was playing to a something Rashir didn't recognize.

"Ayo? He likes Aaliyah?"

"Stamp bruh, I peeped them talking at Top Golf and he was texting her the other day,"

"Why are you looking at who I'm texting?" Mateo glanced at him with annoyance as he drove.

"That's not important," Nico dismissed him, "The point is, I got Nala's fine ass, Rashir's got Lourdes-"

"Ion have-" Rashir butt in.

"Yea aight," Nico gave him a blank look, "Anyways Rashir's got Lourdes, so it's time you start talkin' to someone," He nudged Mateo and Mateo swatted his hands away.

"I'm not talking to Aaliyah, leave me alone bruh,"

"Aight bro, if you say so," Nico backed off.

"Hol' up, I ain't talking to Lourdes, who the fuck told you that?" Rashir hit Nico on the arm, still confused as to where he got the idea that he and Lourdes were together.

"Uh Ion know, y'all were practically eye-fucking each other on the court yesterday," Nico said with a 'Duh' tone. "She was all like, "Rashir, he's not worth it, Rashir just listen to me," and you ate that shit right up, I ain't ever seen someone calm you down so fast." Nico mocked him.

"That didn't happen," Rashir scoffed.

"Yeah it did," Nico and Mateo said simultaneously.

"Yeah okay, just drive bruh, we're done talking about this." Rashir ended the conversation by putting his headphones in and laying his head against the headrest.

"He wanna not like that girl so bad," Nico shook his head at him, "Sad,"

Days had passed and Rashir still hadn't spoken to Lourdes. She came over the night before to work on her project with Mateo, but she left without saying a word to him. He thought it was strange, so he texted her asking if everything was okay but she had given him a short, cold response which had confirmed something was wrong. He was waiting until tomorrow for when she came over to work on the project with Mateo again so he could try and talk to her before she ran out again.

He zoned back into the lecture as his English professor droned on about some book they were reading. Rashir wasn't paying much attention, looking at his phone occasionally and trying to speed up time. He scrolled on his Instagram feed, liking some pictures and checking stories, but nothing interesting had happened. He checked on the shade room for any new posts and luckily, none were about him. Rashir was always being posted on the shade room and other tea pages, but he had learned to ignore it. He refused to read the comments on the posts about him because they were almost always toxic and he didn't like inviting that kind of negative energy into his life.

"All right class, you're dismissed. Don't forget about the reading I assigned, I want that done by next class," His professor dismissed him and he breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly packed up his things and made his way out of the lecture hall. He didn't have any other classes for the rest of the day and he was hungry. He decided he would stop and get some sort of food on the way home because he wouldn't make it without getting something in his stomach.

He shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked through campus and put his hood up. He didn't feel like talking to anyone at the moment and he knew he was bound to get stopped to talk about basketball if people could see his face. He walked across campus and was nearing the parking lot when he saw the back of a figure he recognized. He squinted his eyes, trying to confirm whether or not it was who he thought he was looking at and when they finally turned to the side he was sure.

Lourdes was talking to someone on the sidewalk near one of the lecture halls. He began walking in her direction, and her friend left. She turned around but when she caught sight of Rashir, her eyes widened and she sucked in a harsh breath. She quickly turned back around and began walking in the opposite direction swiftly.

"Lourdes!" Rashir called out, jogging to catch up with her. When he was within reach, he grabbed her wrist, yanking her back and accidentally pulled her into his chest. She pushed herself away from him, jerking her wrist out of his hold as if he had burned her, and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What?" Pressing her lips together, she shot him an annoyed look and he didn't have a clue as to why she was so angry.

"Why you so mad?"

"I'm not mad," She shrugged.

"Lourdes."

"I said I'm not mad, can I go now?"

"No, tell me why you mad," Rashir stared at her expectantly, waiting for an answer.

"I'm not mad Rashir but I'm running late, so I'm gonna go-" She took a step past him, but he grabbed her upper arm, dragging her back to her original position. She angrily shook him off of her and huffed, annoyed that her escape plan didn't work.

"You cute when you mad," He smirked at her, which seemed to annoy her even more, "But tell me why you mad, did I do something?" She looked away and he knew that he had guessed correctly, "What I do?"

"I don't like violence Rashir," She mumbled.

"Oh", he thought to himself. She had stopped speaking to him after the game, which was when he almost fought Giovanni. "This was why she was so upset?"

"You mad about the game huh?"

"It's not that serious, I just don't like fighting. I know it seems stupid but-"

"Stop doing that," He cut her off. He noticed she kept dismissing her feelings and he didn't like that. If she felt a certain way about something it was valid, even if it was small.

"Doing what?"

"Dismissing yo' feelings, just tell me why you upset and how I can fix it,"

She took a deep breath before speaking, "I don't like fighting, violence, or any of that shit. I didn't like seeing you all mad like that it was scary. I'm asking you to work on controlling your anger because I don't like being in situations like that. It brings up bad memories that I'd rather forget."

He opened his mouth to reply, but closed it when he realized he didn't know what to say. He didn't know that she hated violence this much and he was a little concerned at the fact that she had memories that were triggered by fighting. It made him want to ask what she had gone through but he knew now wasn't the time. If it was any other person asking him to work on his anger, he would have told them to suck his dick but this was Lourdes and he felt a strong urging to be kind to her.

"Okay, I'll work on it," She gave him a smile that made his heartbeat quicken. "Are we good now?"

"Yeah, we're good,"

"Nigga why the fuck is you cheating?" Rashir shoved Nico who was laughing as they played 2k.

"You say that about everything bruh. No matter who, or what you playing, somebody always gotta be cheating." Nico set his controller down and shoved him back.

"Cause everybody always cheating," He shrugged, standing up to get a snack from the fridge. He opened the door and huffed when he saw it was empty. "Where is the food at yo? Nothing to eat in this damn house," He pulled out his phone and went to the Doordash app, looking through some of the restaurants they had available. After he talked to Lourdes on campus, he drove home and completely forgot about his plan to get food. Now that he was home and had changed, he didn't feel like going back out so ordering food seemed like the only option.

He decided on Wingstop, since the app said it would take the shortest amount of time. "Aye, I'm ordering from Wingstop, you want something?" He yelled from the kitchen.

"Nah, Ion wanna have to pay you back, stingy ass," Nico yelled back.

"Fuck up, I ain't stingy," He walked back to the living room and hit him upside the head, making Nico rub his head.

"Always abusing a nigga, damn," He glared at him, "I'm not playing wit' you no more," He exited out of the game and switched the TV back to ESPN.

Rashir ordered his food and threw his phone on the couch, watching Nico surf through channels until he got annoyed. "Can you pick something already?"

"Nothing good is on, you wanna watch sumn' on Netflix? We can watch that new Richard Ramirez shit, Nala said it's good." Nico offered.

"I'm not watching that creepy ass shit,"

"Aight fine, why don't you find something then," Nico threw the remote at him and kicked his feet up on the coffee table.

Rashir scrolled through the options on Netflix and they finally decided on Naruto. They watched an episode and in the middle of the next one, Rashir got a notification that his food had arrived. He told Nico to pause it and went to the front door to pick it up from the Doordasher.

He thanked the nice lady that gave him his food  and went back to the living room while digging in the bag to grab a fry. He set the bag down on the table and pulled out his food, groaning in satisfaction at the smell. He opened the cardboard box and licked his lips, ready to dig in.

"I'm boutta fuck this shit up," He rubbed his hands together and grabbed a wing from the container. He bit into it and licked the sauce off of his fingers, making Nico look at him with disgust.

"Aye, can I get a fry?" Nico held his palm out and Rashir laughed in his face.

"Nah, I'm stingy, remember?"

"Fuck you for real bruh, mean as shit. Lourdes needs to come over so she can get your ass to be nicer," Nico teased him.

"Shut up,"

"You so whipped bruh, just ask her ass out already. Everyone knows y'all like each other,"

"We don't- man I'm not finna talk about this right now, stop ruining the vibes man," He continued eating and Nico unpaused the show. He didn't like Lourdes like that, they were friends and he liked that. He didn't do relationships, too much work and effort that he didn't feel like putting up with. He liked no strings, that came with a lot less drama, or at least he thought it did.

"You going to Field of Screams right?" Nico asked him.

"Yeah, who's car we taking?"

"Mateo's if he says yes, he keeps complaining about being the uber of our friend group or some shit, I wasn't really listening."

"Tell him we can take mine then," Rashir said with a mouthful of food.

"Nigga, close your mouth, that's just nasty," Nico curled his lip up in disgust.

Rashir rolled his eyes and finished his food, and threw the containers away in the kitchen trash can. He washed his hands to get rid of all the dried-up sauce and grabbed his phone from the couch.

"Imma nap, don't wake me up unless it's something important," He warned Nico, pointing his finger at him.

"Aight, try not to dream 'bout yo boo," Nico snickered and turned back around to face the TV.

"Aye Nico,"

"What?"

"Shut up,"

***
hey y'all! we hit #1 in poc today and i just wanna thank y'all SO much for reading and voting for this book. i never would of thought we would almost be at 1k reads and i am sooo grateful. as always, don't forget to vote and comment! hope y'all enjoyed this chapter.