33. pretty little fears

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These characters are my babies and the fact that they're about to graduate makes me feel like a proud mother.

Also, I kinda wanna write a screenplay for Oakland. When I write I have really vivid images of the environment and camerawork if it was a show/movie.

If you wanted to know all the dirty details that went down in the last chapter, here you go: (It's a comment)

"Beautiful black child, come and shed your black cloud."

***

Graduation week is one of the most stressful times of the year. There's always the people struggling to decide which college to go to, the people struggling to ace their final exams, and the people struggling to meet the graduation requirements. 

To top it all off, Principal Diaz has been acting like a dictator during these last few graduation rehearsals. The senior class has had to spend every Saturday of this last week of school going over what the day is supposed to look like. The staff wants it to be perfect since they have "important people" coming to watch. There's supposed to be like five different performances from the art department and a bunch of speeches given by valedictorian and the other scholars of the school. 

I'm just glad my name is at the beginning of the alphabet. After I get called up I can chill and play games on my phone until they call the final name, Lily Zhou. It must be tiring always being called last. Amour, Drake, Reese, and I are all pretty close together in last names. Amour gets called first, then Drake, then me, and finally Reese. 

"Jay Kinder." Mr. Rusell, the assistant principal, calls from the stage. 

I look to my left to see Jay nodding his head to the music playing through his headphones. I nudge him, causing him to look up with wide eyes. 

"You're up bro," I whisper. 

He quickly removes his headphones and stands up before walking onto the stage to shake everyone's hands. He looks unamused as he receives his fake diploma, this is like our tenth time going over this, everyone is tired of it. 

"Isaiah King." Mr. Russell says into the microphone. 

I stand up lazily and begin to walk in between the row of chairs to get to the stage. Reese is the only one to clap as I receive a blank piece of paper, the rest of my class is occupied with their own side conversations or scrolling through their phone. I quickly scan the sea of students to find Amour. His eyes are focused on his phone until Brandon Aragon taps him on the shoulder and points to me. Amour takes one of his headphones out and waves at me with a bright smile. I send him a wink as I begin to step down the stairs. 

"Isaiah!" A voice whispers from behind the curtains. 

I stop and look back to find Principal Diaz motioning for me to come over. I mentally roll my eyes before walking backstage to meet her. Today she wore dark red lipstick and had her hair neatly placed in a ponytail. Even though she had on black pumps that made her slightly taller, I still had to look down to make eye contact with her as she pushed up her glasses. 

"Listen," she started, fluttering her eyelashes. "I know this is last minute but I need you to do me a big favor." 

I furrow my brows. "Mrs. Diaz," I sigh.  "Just because I turned eighteen doesn't make this any less weird."

"I'm not talking about that kind of favor, Isaiah," she defends. "You know Elena Nelson right?"

I nod. "Yeah, she's one of the valedictorians this year," I noted. 

"She was supposed to give a speech at graduation this week but I just found out that she has social anxiety and doesn't work well in front of a crowd," Principal Diaz explains. "It would be great if you could deliver a speech in place of her." 

A speech? In front of the whole senior class and their relatives? Nah, I'm good. 

What would I even talk about? The basic valedictorian speech is about how we're all moving on and how much we're going to miss high school. If I'm being honest, I'm not gonna miss shit. This dusty school and all of the bitches in it can kiss my ass. Especially bitches like Quincy. 

"Sorry Mrs. Diaz, I don't think I can," I tell her. "Graduation is in two days and I wouldn't know what to write about."

"Isaiah please," she pouts, placing a small hand on my arm. "This is a great opportunity for you to speak up and tell everyone what has happened to you this year." 

I move her hand from my arm. "I know it's a big deal but it's asking a lot. I can't write an entire speech in a day." 

"You can talk about whatever you want! Your basketball scholarship, your grades, your experience," she pauses to grimace before finishing her sentence. "Your boyfriend."

Now that's a topic I'd talk about. 

Giving a speech like that in front of everyone's old fashioned parents would be a big "fuck you" to all the homophobes in this neighborhood. Plus I can call out Quincy for being a bitch. 

"Are you sure everyone would be comfortable with that?" I ask. 

Principal Diaz sighs. "No, but it's your life. If you choose to make a speech about how you've grown over these four years then it's an important part of your story," she smiles sadly as she pushes up her glasses. "Speak your truth, Isaiah."

I raise a brow. "You mean that?"

"You're a wonderful person, Isaiah," she smiles. "You deserve someone that makes you happy, even if that someone isn't me." 

"Thank you, Principal Diaz. I'm glad you understand." 

She nods before removing her glasses to clean them on the edge of her shirt. "My doors are still open, you know. If you ever change your mind," she whispers, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth.

"Don't you have a husband?" I question.

"We're on a break," she says nonchalantly. 

"Oh." was all I could say. 

Mrs. Diaz winks and runs her hand down my arm before turning to walk away. She sways her hips as her black heels click as they collide with the floor. I stand with a grimace on my face as she looks back at me one last time, attempting to look seductive. 

It didn't work. I don't know why she keeps trying.

Before going to sit back down I notice a table full of roses backstage. Principal Diaz is supposed to give us one once we receive our diploma, I guess they're getting them ready. There were a few staff members back here running around setting things up so everything could go well. They had a sound crew setting up the mics for the choir performance and a few other people making sure the projections were working. None of them seemed to be paying attention to me, so I sneakily made my way over to the table of roses so I could snatch one for Amour. 

I look around one last time before quickly removing a rose from the pile and hiding it behind my back. I begin to make my way towards the back door that leads into the hallway, just so no one sees me with a stolen flower. 

"You're a fucking idiot! I hope you know that!" a familiar voice hisses from the dark hallway. 

I peek around the corner to find Drake yelling at someone over the phone. His eyebrows furrowed as he listened to what the person on the other line was saying, he ran his free hand through his curls before letting out a frustrated sigh. 

"No, don't give me that bullshit. You would've kept working if you wanted to keep me safe," Drake sneers. "Do you realize how much shit you just fucked up? You're so fucking selfish, Hugo."

Shit, Drake was talking to his brother. My mind began to run through all the bad things Hugo could've done to make Drake this mad. Hopefully, it didn't have anything to do with Bobby. 

"I leave for LA in two weeks. Two weeks," he stressed. "You couldn't have waited two weeks?"

There was a pause.

"Aight, you know what? Fuck it. My only job is to keep me and my friends safe, you're out of the picture." 

With that Drake hangs up the phone and angrily shoves it in his pocket. I watch as he turns and walks out of the auditorium without noticing my eavesdropping. Whatever they were talking about sounded serious. Luckily we'll all be gone in a couple of weeks before any shit between Hugo and Bobby go down. I would not wanna be there for that.

***

Amour's POV

Graduation rehearsal has to be one of the most boring things I've ever sat through. I still don't understand why we've had to go over it so much. It's really not that hard to mess up. I'm just happy it's over. Once I get that piece of paper, high school will finally be over for good. I can't wait.

Now that we were free from practicing walking onto a stage, the four of us decided to drive to my house to eat and watch movies. Reese decided to ride with Isaiah and Drake decided to ride with me so I wouldn't have to drive alone. It was a nice gesture, but Drake has been irritated the whole car ride. He hasn't said a word since he got in.

"Are you okay?" I ask, keeping my eyes on the road.

"I'm gonna kill my brother," he says angrily.

"I know that feeling," I recalled. "There was this one time where  Angel put crickets in my bed while I was sleeping. I swear I was about to bash his head in  before my mom stopped me."

Drake nods. "He's just so selfish. He says he's gonna do this job for me and then backs out of it last minute. What kinda brother is that? This job is really fucking important too." he rants. 

"I'm sure it'll turn out okay," I smile at him. "Hugo seems like a pretty decent guy. You know, besides the whole drug dealing gang stuff." 

That gets a chuckle out of Drake. Mission accomplished. 

"Does that make me a bad person? Being involved in all that?" he asks.

I think for a minute. "I don't think so. You kinda got dragged into it," I tell him. "It's okay though, you'll be far away from it in a couple of weeks."

"Maybe," Drake says so quietly that I almost didn't hear it.

I decide not to question it as I pull into my garage, Isaiah's truck right behind me. The four of us get out of our cars and head into the house. The moment I entered the door I could smell panikeke, a traditional snack from my moms' side of the family. 

"Hello Amour and friends!" my mother greeted with a smile. "How was the rehearsal?"

"Boring," I respond.

"As always," Reese adds.

Mom chuckles. "Well hopefully this food will be more entertaining, it'll be ready in a couple of minutes."

"Thanks, mom," I say as I go to give her a kiss on the cheek. "We'll be in the backyard." 

I open the sliding door and walk outside with everyone right behind me. Reese and Isaiah both spot the hammock, giving each other a glare before running towards it. Drake and I watch as Reese jumps in it first, kicking at Isaiah who tries to get her out of it.

"Move bitch! I got here first!" she shouts.

"You got it last time!" Isaiah argues. 

"Okay and? I'll get it this time too." Reese sasses. 

"Just share it." Drake pipes in. 

Reese gives him a look. "I don't want his nasty ass feet in my face." 

Isaiah furrows his brows. "You'll miss these feet when they're gone." he shrugs. 

Reese waves him off while the rest of us laugh. Drake and I sit on the ground next to the hammock, leaving Isaiah standing, still glaring at Reese.

"Sit down bro, it ain't worth it," Drake says.

Isaiah huffs and comes to sit down next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. 

"Y'all, graduation rehearsal is officially over," Reese announces. "The real thing is in two days."

"That's crazy, it feels like middle school was just yesterday," Isaiah says.

"Remember the first day we met?" Reese asks Isaiah. "You told me my shoes were ugly and I hit you upside the head."

"You didn't," I say laughing. 

Reese nods. "I sure did, this bitch had the nerve to say something about my Sketchers." 

Drake smiles. "I remember when I first met Zay. We got paired together during basketball tryouts."

"You couldn't hit a three to save your life." Isaiah chuckles at the thought. "Now you got a full-ride to UCLA."

"And you're gonna be my roommate. I ain't livin' in a dorm with no one else." Drake says.

"That's why you get an apartment close to your school." I pipe in. 

"You still have to find a roommate though," Drake adds.

I shrug. "Yeah, but at least I don't have to live in a small space with someone I don't know. If I get an apartment then we can each have our own space." I explain.

"Have you found a roommate yet?" Isaiah questions.

"There's this guy named Finnick that seems pretty cool," I say. "He's a production major who came all the way to California from Scotland."

"Oh you know he has money then." Drake laughs. "You should make him buy a nice ass TV that we can play 2K on." 

I playfully roll my eyes at him. "We're splitting it evenly, he pretty nice. He said I can get the bigger room if I want."

"Y'all!" Reese pouts. "The more you talk about it the sooner y'all will be off in college forgetting about me."

"We're not gonna forget you, Reese," Isaiah comforts. "You're our best friend."

She sighs. "But we won't see each other as much anymore. At least you and Amour are only forty minutes away from each other. While y'all are livin' it up in college I'll be stuck here livin' with my Auntie." 

"Let's make a promise, then" I offered. "No matter what happens, who we meet, or where we go, we'll always find our way back to each other."

"Even though it's cheesy, we'll always be the fantastic four," Drake adds. 

"Always," I say holding out my pinky. "I promise."

"I promise." Isaiah smiles, connecting his pinky with mine.

"I promise too," Drake says, adding his. 

Reese gives us a sad smile. "I promise." 

***


How y'all feeling about this chapter?

How do we feel about the fantastic four going to college (except Reese, she's taking a gap year)? 

Long-distance relationships work, right?

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