𝟎𝟎𝟏. to all the days we were together

five years ago

whenever you saw judea you'll see imani and whenever you saw imani nine times outta ten you'll see judea, the girls were inseparable since the first grade.

it's always judea and imani, the tall girl and the short one, the quiet one and the loud one, the girl who balls and the girl who always makes weird clothes. overall they were just two peas in a pod.

the two had just graduated eighth grade excited for the upcoming school year to finally be in high school but more excited for another fun summer they'll be spending together.

juju and imani were currently at the community court where almost all the boys hooped and then it was juju whom was the only girl hooping with the boys while the other girls sat around the picnic tables sharing gossip.

"she wanna be a boy so bad, it's sad", an girl spoke talking about juju amongst her friends. "really like she the only girl playing ball with the boys...that's weird", the other girl agreed.

imani snapped her head towards the girls pausing her actions where she sat at her own picnic table with clothing pins and an old skirt she found in her mothers closet fixing it to her own liking.

"i know yall heffas ain't talm bout my fren", imani spoke her southern accent thick and strong. the girls stopped talking and looked over at imani, they looked around the area and then back at imani before laughing. "lil girl you definitely not talking to us", the girl spoke popping the gum in her mouth.

imani stood up from the picnic table and popped her hip out resting her hand upon the sticked out hip, "i sholl is", she stood her ground because it was whatever about her best friend and it didn't matter that the girls were a little older than her.

the girls rolled their eyes before sucking their teeth, "you standing up like you about to do sum", the older girl said and imani popped her neck out. "we can run it about my friend", was all imani said before she swung on the girl.

sure she had a little body and was a little bit younger than the girl she was fighting but none of that mattered because she didn't care about size or age or any of that when it came to fighting.

imani had a record for fighting, it was all she ever known due to her family always rough housing and fighting in her household which made her believe that violence was the only answer.

that was one and only thing juju didn't like about her friend because unlike her she wasn't raised in a household where violence was allowed. both of her parents were kind and soft hearted and made sure it never came to violence when it came to parenting their kids or when they got in a argument around their kids.

"OH SHIT THEY FIGHTING", a boy yelled stopping the game and dropping the basketball in his hands before running towards the fight.

everybody else followed and judea looked over at the empty picnic table where her friend sat before she went sprinting towards the fight knowing her best friend was most likely in the fight.

"SHE BEATING HER SHITTTT", the boy laughed pulling his phone out of his pocket and started to record. judea pushed through the crowd taking an couple of pushes and licks from the crowd as she made it to the center.

and there was imani on the grass with her hands balled up hitting the older girl mumbling out curse words, "MANI", judea yelled snatching the girl by her shirt.

imani kicked the girl, "bitch", she mumble and judea yanked her friend one more time silencing her. it always judea who got her out of fights and it always judea whom was able to calm her down.

before the older girl could even get up and fix herself, judea walked off with a tight grip still on her friend grabbing both of their belongings and leaving the community park.

"you can let go of me nie ju?", imani asked irritated but juju didn't care because she was just as irritated. "nah", was all juju said was they walked down the street.

"im cool now", imani pleaded and juju scoffed anger filling her bones. "you ain't never cool mani", she said bluntly. imani snapped her neck back a bit slapping judea arm and unleashing herself from the girl. "what's that suppose to mean?", imani asked offended by the tone of her friend voice.

judea kept walking ignoring the girl throwing her nike book bag onto her shoulders, "SPEAK UP JUDEA, what's that supposed to mean?", imani asked once more still standing still in the middle of the road.

"you know exactly what it means imani, you never cool because you always fighting... everywhere we go it's like you gotta fight with somebody", judea explained.

as much as judea was right imani didn't want to hear it because most the times she was fighting for her. "that ain't true", imani said folding her arms. judea turnt around and looked at the girl, "yes it is mani, and you know it is", the tall girl spat.

she was tired quite frankly, she was tired of having to constantly stop what she was doing just to break up imani fights. she was tired that she couldn't even leave her friend alone for five minutes without her getting into with somebody.

she didn't like violence but she had seemed to love imani and she was full with it, "ion get what you saying judea because THAT FIGHT BACK THERE WAS FOR YOU", imani yelled in the empty street.

juju groaned, "THEY ALWAYS ABOUT ME MANI, ION NEED YOU TO FIGHT FOR ME", she yelled back. it had stung a bit to hear that because imani thought she was doing the right thing.

there was a silence as imani stared at the girl, "she said you run around tryna act like a boy ju, i was just tryna defend yew", mani mumbled.

guilt ran through juju, "i get that mani but you don't have to fight all the time, so who cares about what they say", judea shrugged. "i do, I care", mani spoke.

the silence between the girls was uncomfortable something none of them was use to because they were always laughing, talking or just enjoying each other but the silence was thick and filled with unwanted tension.

"im sorry judea but im not sorry for fighting, im sorry for being too much but that's just who i am and if don't like it then we can't be friends", mani spoke.

she wasn't going to sugar herself down to make somebody else feel better, she had learned that the hard way that it only hurts her.

"come on mani don't talk like that i-i-just want you to...", judea trailed and let out an sigh ending her words. "yeah... okay then, we gotta stop being friends", judea said.

and that was that,
there was no longer mani and judea
the tall girl and the short girl
the loud one and the quiet one
the girl who balls and the girl who makes weird clothes

it was just mani and then judea... spilt.