It just sorta happened that way.

Ayoluwa stood at her locker, putting textbooks and notebooks that she didn't need when two of her best friends, Nicholas and Levi walked up to her.

"Hey. Where's Gio and Q?" Ayoluwa questioned as she shut her locker.

"I don't know. Music room?" Nicholas leaned against the side of her adjacent locker, a guitar case in his hands.

"Do you see her guitar?" Levi asked in a boisterous tone.

"There's a piano in there. She doesn't need her guitar, dumb ass." Nicholas replied in the same tone.

"You know she prefers her guit-."

Ayoluwa let out a loud groan, "Can y'all not? You're annoying me. I'm fine without the guitar today. Let's just go."

Nicholas sent Levi a boastful smile as Ayoluwa closed her locker then readjusted the wide headband that held back her locs.

The trio started to walk down the hall at Mayfair High School in an attempt to find the missing two of their group.

Ayoluwa and Nicholas had met in fourth grade, when he had defended her locs from bullies and in return she had helped him with long division.

Ayoluwa had met Levi and Quincy in eighth grade when they were all placed in the same history class.

Giovanni had been the last to join their friend group in tenth grade when he had moved to Los Angeles from Seattle.

The boys loved to act reckless and Ayoluwa was more than happy to be the sole voice of reason that they needed.

And no, she was not having sex or doing sexual things with any of them, nor had any person in the group thought about that.

Gross.

Ayoluwa noted the looks of false knowing that she was receiving from the other seniors who were in the same hall as her and her friends.

"Oop. I'll meet y'all there." Ayoluwa said when she spotted a girl a year under them talking to Quincy and Giovanni.

"Why?" Levi asked.

"I don't want to cockblock. Everyone already thinks I'm dating one of you." Ayoluwa said.

"Fuck that," Nicholas took her wrist and pulled her forward, "Come on."

"You're gonna dislocate my arm." Ayoluwa complained.

Quincy spotted them first and tapped Giovanni and just like that the girl was gone, shooting Ayoluwa a dirty look.

"Where's your guitar?" Giovanni asked her.

"Where's yours?" Ayoluwa shot back.

"I asked first." Giovanni replied as the group began to move towards the music room again.

"It was either the guitar or Lauryn's car seat." Ayoluwa said, gripping the silver handle and then pulling the door open.

The music room at Mayfair had become her sanctuary since she had first enrolled here, four years ago.

The room's interior was designed in a half circle with steps leading to a grand baby piano by the white board.

There were violins, cellos and microphones placed on both sides of the room.

The windows let in plenty of light that almost made the room seem angelic in a sense.

"Understood." Quincy nodded as he closed the door behind her.

Ayoluwa was a little entranced as she grabbed her songbook then sat down at the piano.

She lifted the case with a happy sigh, "I'm gonna miss this place when we graduate."

Levi snorted, "Fuck Mayfair. I can't wait to be out of here."

"That's a fact." Quincy agreed as he leaned himself onto a red velvet chair.

Ayoluwa played a few keys, letting the touch of the ivories calm her, "I need y'all's opinion on this new song."

At once her friend group snapped to attention and Nicholas slid on the piano bench next to her.

"Here's the chorus," Ayoluwa moved her fingers across the piano and began to sing.

"I just wanna make you smile, but I know that'll take awhile cause I'm, I'm tryna find myself," Ayoluwa sang in a clear and strong tone.

The walls soaked up her voice, making her song expand across the room.

"I just wanna make you proud but I think that I'm running out of time, to figure it out. To figure it out, I'm trying to figure this out." Ayoluwa dragged out the last note a little then moved her hands away from the keys.

"What do you think?" Ayoluwa asked her friends.

When she looked at them, they were all giving her wide eyed looks.

"If I had your voice, I would never shut up." Levi shook his head as he walked over to take a look at the lyrics, "When'd you write this?"

"Last week..? I wanna say." Ayoluwa said.

"What's the name of this one?" Giovanni asked.

"Butterfly. For change." Ayoluwa said.

"Always so poetic." Nicholas teased her.

"Yeah, get with the program, Nick." Ayoluwa smiled.

On top of the piano, Ayoluwa's phone began to ring with a phone call from her sister, Imani.

With a deep sigh Ayoluwa answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Hey sisterrr." Imani's words sounded slurred.

"Imani... Are you drunk? You're supposed to be covering my shift." Ayoluwa snapped.

"Don't be mad, Ayo. Jamal called and-."

"Who's at the restaurant?"

"Uh, Anne." Imani listed off one of their grandmother's friends.

"Ugh. Who's getting Lauryn?" Ayoluwa snapped again.

Imani grew quiet at the mention of her three year old daughter.

Ayoluwa shook her head and then stood from the bench, "You two are unbelievable sometimes."

Then she hung up the phone.

"I gotta go. Imani is..." Ayoluwa shook her head again as she packed up her songbook in fury.

"What happened?" Nicholas asked quietly.

"She decided it was okay to be drunk at two o'clock on a Wednesday. I gotta go get Lauryn. I'll see you tomorrow." Ayoluwa said then let the door close behind her.

The walk to the parking lot was speedy and Ayoluwa's rage was clear on her face as got into her car and drove off.

The drive to Lauryn's daycare felt just as short and Ayoluwa paused in the driver's seat to release her temper.

Ayoluwa didn't want to scare or take out her wrath on her niece.

It wasn't her fault, it was her parents.

With that thought, Ayoluwa took in a deep breath before getting out of the car.

The daycare was decorated in bright colors, even the desk was a bright red.

Ayoluwa gave the secretary a half smile, "I'm here to pick up Lauryn Harris."

The secretary smiled back, "Hi, Ayo. Let me get her."

She pressed a button on the desk then spoke Lauryn's name into the intercom.

A minute and a half later, a little girl with coffee colored skin and her hair sectioned into four neat twists complete with barrettes at the ends, came barreling from the back of the daycare.

At the sight of her niece, Ayoluwa's smile grew genuine.

Lauryn jumped into Ayoluwa's waiting arms with her own grin on her face.

"Can we get Donald's?" Lauryn asked as Ayoluwa carried her out of the daycare and to the car, "And where's mommy and daddy?"

Ayoluwa bit her lip, "They... They're waiting at home for us. And of course we can get McDonald's."

Ayoluwa snapped Lauryn into the car seat in the back, tossed her backpack into the passenger seat then drove off to fulfill Lauryn's wishes.

The song I used isn't mine, it's Umi's, she's an amazing r&b singer. If you like Jhené Aiko, you'll like her

✨shameless music rec✨

vote & comment, porfa!