ABEL
I took my time getting to class, knowing well I have a principal slip in my hand to excuse myself.
When I step into the classroom, everyone turns their heads away from the computer to look at me.
Every single time.
"Fifteen minuets lat-" Mrs. Meyer cuts herself off as soon as I hand her the slip.
She reads it quickly, and I'm excused.
"Welcome to computer class Abel, you can take any empty seat available." She says with a smile as she quickly hands me a paper.
The students finally turn their attention back to their computer.
I take the paper and dart my eyes around the room for empty seats.
I only see two seats open, and I don't have to think twice.
It was either the seat between two guys or the seat between two girls.
I quickly sit down between the two girls.
The girl on the left takes a quick glance at me and then turns to look at me again.
"Abel?" She says, sounding surprised.
Turning to look at her, I realize who she is.
"Crystal, oh shit!! what's up?" I ask, nodding my head up at her.
"What's up? It's been a minute." She says happily, reaching over for a quick hug.
"You're back?" I ask as I hug her in return with a surprised look on my face.
She pulls away and smiles. "Yeah, I hated that shitty school I was at. I forced my mom to move me back or told her I would drop out."
I chuckle. "That bad huh?"
She nods. "I'm just glad to be back."
"Welcome back." I say with a faint smile.
"Thanks."
Crystal is a friend who moved away to another school in the middle of last year.
She clicked perfect with me and my friends, and we hungout a lot.
Well, that's until she left.
Crystal has been crushing on me since we first met, but I never saw her more than a homie/friend.
We caught up by talking about old times until the end of class time.
When the bell rang, I turned to look at her.
"Come chill with us for lunch, just like the old times." I say to Crystal.
She smiles. "I miss you guys, but I'll have to pass. I have lunch plans already."
"It's cool." I say.
"What about after school? Maybe we could hang out or watch a movie? My place?" She asks.
I nod. "We can meet up when school is over."
We walk out of class together.
KAIRI
I have been distracted the whole time while in computer class. It was the time since Abel walked in and sat on the seat next to me.
I finally know his name.
I had this feeling of wanting to get to know him, and I don't know why.
There's something about him that makes him captivating, especially his singing voice.
I'll admit I was disappointed that the whole class time he didn't even acknowledge me.
That's because he was too busy talking to the girl Crystal on the other side of him.
It was impossible not to overhear his conversation with her.
They know each other pretty well and are hanging out after school.
I felt some type of way about it and don't even know him like that. This is not even like me at all.
As soon as I step out of class, I run into La Mar.
"Hey." He says with a surprised look on his face when he sees me.
"Hey." I say plainly.
"You stalking me?" La Mar asks with a low chuckle.
I let out a stifle laugh. "Stalking you? this is my class and you came here."
He shakes his head from side to side. "I'm actually waiting on my friend."
La Mar drifts his eyes behind me as students walk out of the room.
Derrick pointed out that La Mar is friends with Abel. I assume he is waiting on him, but he is long gone with Crystal.
"So where is your friend?" I ask.
La Mar shrugs. "I don't know."
"I guess you're a little late." I say.
"I'll catch up with him in a minute, but what are you about to do for lunch?" He asks.
I start walking, and La Mar follows beside me.
"Eat food." I say being a smartass.
He laughs. "You got jokes, but I hope you're not gonna eat school food. It's the worst."
"I'll live." I say.
"Forget that nasty cafeteria food, come chill with me and the homies. We're going to this one place where they sell good food. On me."
The sound of homies meant a bunch of guys.
I made up my mind instantly.
"No, but thanks anyways." I say as I start making my way downstairs.
Quickly, but gently, he pulls me back and grabs ahold of my hand. "I wasn't asking." He says.
La Mar got me good there. He actually wasn't asking. I'm not going to fight it.
I had nothing else going on in this new school full of strangers.
Derrick is going to kill me.
Before I could say anything, he began to lead the way. La Mar didn't let my hand go, so I held on with a loose grip.
On the way to wherever we were headed, some girls flashed me a weird look.
I lightly pull my hand away from La Mar because I don't want anyone to think that we're a thing. I just met him.
When we arrive, La Mar holds the door open for me until I walk into the medium-sized restaurant/cafe.
The place is called Milly's cafe.
I thank him as he walks in after me, and I can smell the scent of food and coffee in the air instantly.
"Mar!" I hear someone yell. When I drift my eyes to the voice, I see that it's Abel. He signals La Mar over to where he is at.
Derrick is right, I guess I never paid attention that he is one of his boys.
"Come on, I want you to meet my friends." La Mar says to me.
We quickly make our way to Abel, who is sitting with the other beat boxer friend of theirs.
La Mar daps them both, and I just stand there. I'm nervous.
"What took you so long nigga? We were about to eat without you." Abel says.
"Yeah, you came just in time." James chimes in.
"I'm here now, but let me introduce you to someone real quick. La Mar says as he turns to look over his shoulder, and moves to the side. Kairi this is Abel, and that's James." He says as he quickly introduces them to me.
They drift their eyes to me.
"Hi." I say.
"Hey." Abel says.
"What's up?." James adds.
I'm usually shy with most people until I get to know them better.
"You can sit, my bros don't bite." La Mar says.
"Not unless you want us to." Abel adds with a chuckle.
I lightly laugh not saying anything.
La Mar sits next to James leaving Abel alone on the opposite side.
That left me no choice but to sit next to him, not that I mind at all.
Before anyone else said anything the waiter came over with menus.
We all settle on the drinks, and then scan the menus for our choice of food.
Once the waiter comes back around our orders are placed.
"So where are you from?" Abel asks me.
All three guys look at me as I speak. "I'm from california."
"Cool, I'm from california too." James says.
"Cali, I'm going there someday. That's my mission." Abel chimes in.
"Our mission." La Mar corrects him.
"That's right." Abel says with a low chuckle.
"The real question is how did you meet La Mar's lame ass anyways?" James asks me changing the subject, and laughing.
That causes Abel to laugh as well, and La Mar to give him a funny look.
"Hater." La Mar says in response to what he said.
I laugh. "Well first of all he's not lame, and secondly he was my partner in photography class for the first project."
"She has potential in photography, but her art in drawing is something." La Mar says with a smile as he looks at me.
I was taken off guard, he really said potential in photography.
Not quite yet.
"Really?" Abel asks as he now looks at me too.
I shrug. "I try."
"Try? yeah right. They haven't even seen your work." La Mar says.
He's hyping me up.
"It's really not that great." I say quickly.
"Can we see?" James asks.
I hesitate, but I still end up pulling out my sketchbook to show them.
I hand it to Abel, and he goes through the pages as James leans closer to take a look.
"These are really good. You do have amazing talent." Abel says as he looks amazed at the drawings.
I love hearing that come from him.
"Told y'all so." La Mar says.
"Damn girl, you can draw." James chimes in.
Abel hands me back the sketchbook, and I take it with a smile.
"Thank you. What are you guys good at? Like a hobby?" I ask as I put it back in my bag.
I already know of Abel's singing talent, but I still asked anyways.
"Nothing special." Abel says in response lying.
"Really?" I ask confused.
"Yeah." He says nonchalant.
"I'm good at beat boxing and I enjoy it as well, but you already knew that." James says with a wink.
When James said this I had a flash back of him catching me looking at Abel the first day.
I'm embarrassed, but La Mar and Abel look clueless.
"You two know each other or something?" Abel asks as he squinted his eyes.
"Let's just say she got to witness our freestyle the first day of school." James said with a smirk.
They were all looking at me now.
"I did witness it, so I'm not sure why Abel said he has no special talents." I say.
"That freestyle was just for fun." Abel says nonchalant.
I know he doesn't mean that.
Sooner or later the food arrived and we all eat. I ask James more about his beat boxing.
He told us how he learned and why he likes it. I got lost in time, and I quickly finished the last of my food.
Glancing at my phone, I realize that lunch is over and has been over ten minutes ago.
I get up quickly from the booth seat.
"I lost track of time." I say collecting my bag.
The guys looked lost for a minute up until they realized what I was talking about.
"Oh shit times been up." Abel says, hopping out of the booth seat.
They pay and head out.
We began to walk about a block and a half back to our school.
Halfway there, I heard someone calling the guys names. We waited until the man who called out to them finally stood in front of us.
He daps up all three of the guys but doesn't notice me.
"What's up?" The man asks them as he drifts his eyes to all three of the guys.
"We were just heading back to school. What's up with you?" La Mar asks.
"Just about to meet with some nigga's. I got some new good shit." The man says.
"Fuck yeah." James says as he swings his arms back and forth as he lightly punches his right fist with his left palm.
La Mar quickly drifts his eyes to me.
He remembers I'm here, and the rest do the same.
"I had no idea this pretty lady was here. Excuse my rudeness. What is your name, gorgeous?" The man asks.
"Kairi." I say dryly.
"I'm Kelo." He says with a smile.
I faintly smile back. "Nice to meet you."
Kelo's accent and the way he talks let me know right away that he isn't from here.
I'm not sure where he's from, though.
He's skinny, about five ten, has a nice dark chocolate skin tone, mustache, and goatee.
The boy has a nice style, and his black puffy afro hair is beautiful.
"Nice to meet you, too." He says.
I nod. "Well, I have to go. Thanks for the invite, La Mar."
There is no way the guys are going back to school now, and I know better than to ditch.
"You don't want me to walk you back?" La Mar asks.
They all look at me as I shake my head no. "It's okay. I'll be fine."
"I'll walk back with you. I'll catch up with you guys later." Abel says to the guys.
"It's oka-"I get cut off.
"I got you." Abel says.
I got a rush of this fluttering feeling in my stomach right now.
I nod. "It was nice to meet you, James and Kelo, see you."
They say their goodbye and turn back around, leaving the opposite direction.
Abel and I start walking back.
"So your friend Kelo, he's not from here, right?" I ask him to start conversation.
"What makes you say that?" Abel asks.
"The accent gives it away." I say.
He laughs."You're right."
We continue walking, and it's silent for a long second.
All I want is to get to know him.
I have the chance to right now, but I don't know how to. Why do I have to be socially awkward? It sucks.
"You know, you didn't have to walk me to class." I say.
He shrugs. "I know, but it's nothing; don't worry about it. What class do you got?" He asks.
"Math, but I'm already late. I would rather not go because I hate being late." I say.
We stopped in front of my class door.
"Only a few minutes, if you don't want to go, you can always come with us." He says.
"No." I say quickly.
He chuckles. "Ok, see you around then?"
"I'll see you around." I say with a smile.
He nods as he starts walking off, but I stop him by calling out his name. "Abel!"
Turning around, he looks directly at me. "Yeah?"
"You don't have to pretend that you have no talent. You sing really really good." I say not wiping the smile off my face.
Abel returns the smile, and before he has the chance to respond, I disappear into my class.
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