"Welcome to the cafe," Noelle said.

My mouth dropped.

"I said the same thing when I first came here" Noelle laughed.

"The lines here be hella long and I'm not tryna wait," Taylor said.

"Yea, we should probably sit" Noelle agreed.

I nodded my head and followed them to a table.

"Whew! My husband is looking fine today" Taylor whispered.

"I can't believe you still up on him." Noelle snorted.

"Who's your husband?" I asked.

"JT Williams. Senior."

"Oh, so you like em older huh?" I chuckled.

"We the same age. My baby's the youngest in his class." She smiled.

"That's cute."

We continued our conversation until the three empty chairs were filled. Leo, Evan, and Eric sat at our table. We were quiet for a couple of seconds.

"Amiyah, how was your first day so far?" Leo asked.

"Good." I nodded.

"I don't mean to be rude, but why the hell are you guys sitting here?" Taylor questioned.

"Tay-Tay, that's not a nice thing to say," Leo put on his baby voice.

"I'm sure there are a group of white girls waiting for you to give them d1 babies." Taylor retorted.

"Noelle, don't worry you the only one I want to have d1 babies with." Eric places his arm over her shoulders.

Noelle removed his arm from her shoulder.

" Who says I want them to have my babies? Besides, I just wanted to check on Amiyah. Make sure you not giving her any false information." Leo smiled at Taylor.

"We're telling Amiyah everything about this fucked up school. No offense Evan" Taylor looked at Evan.

"None taken. This school is fucked up"

"Don't tell her too much before she changes her mind about this school" Leo whispered.

I slapped Leo on the arm.

Taylor, Noelle, and I left the table to get lunch and when we got back there were three more guys at our table.

"Y'all make some space for them. They were sitting here first." Leo told the guys.

Everybody scooted over to make space for us.

"So, you're Leo's sister? I could've sworn you were like 5 last week," One white boy said.

The tone of his voice made it hard to determine whether if he was joking or if he was really that stupid.

"Ignore his corny ass. He thinks he's funny" Leo pushed him

"Hey wassup, I'm Garrett. Welcome to Lexington." He grabbed my hand and shook it gently.

"Amiyah. Nice to meet you" I smiled and took my hand back.

I will say that all of Leo's friends were fine as hell. None of them were "my type". I'm attracted to guys who are tall, dark, funny, and smart. Most of the guys at my old school fit the criteria, but they were disrespectful as hell and I didn't wanna be with a guy who was just gonna hit it and forget all bout me. This is probably why I've never been in a relationship because I didn't want that shit to happen to me.

"I'm JT" He waved at me.

Oh, so that's JT. JT was cute. He was tall and he had waves. Okay Taylor I see you. She was quiet the entire time once we sat down. You could tell she was nervous around him.

"And I'm Antonio" the boy next to JT chimed in

"Nice to meet you both." I smiled.

I was getting tired of smiling my face hurt from grinning so much.

"So wassup with you and Iman?" Leo asked

"To be honest man. I don't even know. Right now we just chillin." JT answered

I glanced at Taylor and she kept playing with her food.

"Oh, so she not your girlfriend?" Leo chuckled.

"She's too crazy to be my girlfriend. Besides man, I gotta focus on playing ball and committing to a school this year. Can't be having no female tie me down this year"

"I fucks with that," Antonio said dapping JT up.

Noelle, Taylor, and I got up from the table to put our lunch away.

"Tay, you okay?" Noelle asked.

"Yea, I mean.... it's not like he's my boyfriend or anything so I ain't have no reason to be pressed" Taylor mumbled.

"Yea, besides he said that Iman isn't his girlfriend" I reassured her.

"Oh yea, he did say that Tay," Noelle agreed.

"I'm not mad that he's messing with her. I'm mad that it will never be me. Of course, he goes for a light skin girl with loose curls like every boy in this damn school. I know all of that, but every time he gets a girlfriend or it's just some girl he's messing with I look at them and I realize I will never have a chance. I just want somebody who wants me like I want them you know? Taylor's eyes began to water.

"Yo Tay, let's go to the bathroom," Noelle whispered.

Taylor nodded her head and we headed for the bathroom. Noelle opened the bathroom and checked to make sure nobody was in the bathroom before we walked in. She gave us a signal that it was clear.

"How long have you had these feelings for him?" I asked.

"Since the 7th grade. He was a year ahead of me, so he never noticed me. Middle school hierarchy is a bitch. " She chuckled.

"Tay, we should get going, class about to start in 2 minutes" Noelle looked at her apple watch.

"You right."

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School ended at 2:10. I was slumped by the end of it. Noelle and Taylor made the whole experience tolerable. They're the type of girls I would hang out with back at home. I felt bad for Taylor with the whole JT thing. She really likes him and feels like she would never have a chance with him. I got a text from Leo that said:

As I headed for door, I heard Noelle and Taylor's voices. I slowed down and turned around in the direction of their voices. Noelle and Taylor walked up to me.

"Damn Amiyah, you couldn't even say bye?" Noelle smiled.

"Yea, you ran fast like Usain Bolt. I hope we didn't run you away."

"No!, I'm just tired that's all. It's been a long day."

"Well, we were wondering if we could get your number? So we could talk more."

"Yea of course,"

"Okay then cool"

We pulled our phones out and exchanged phone numbers and socials.

"Alright, I'll see you guys later." I waved.

"Bye." they waved back.

I left the building and saw Leo pulled up in the front. I walked towards the car and got in.

"How was the first day of school?" he asked

"It was okay dad," I said in a high pitch voice.

"That's cool. At least you made some friends. Noelle and Taylor good people."

"Yea, me and Taylor hit it off real quick"

"She's very upfront and doesn't beat around the bush. I kinda had a feeling you would like her."

"Oh really? why is that?"

"You don't play games. Everything is very black-white with you. Just like Taylor."

"Oh. You and Taylor know a lot about each other"

"I mean going to school all these years you start to pick something up." he smiled.

He plugged his aux cord into his phone and played ATM by J.Cole

Life can cause you much pain

There are many ways to deal with this pain

Choose wiselyWill I fall? Will I fly?

Heal my soul

Fulfill my high

Cross my heart (Count, count count, count it)

And hope to die (Count, count count, count it)

With my slice (Count, count, count, count it)

Of Devil's pieCount it up, count it up, count it up, count it

Count it up, count it up, count it up, count it

Count it up, count it up, count it up, count it

Count it up, count it up, count it up, count it

Count it up, count it up, count it up, count it

Count it up, count it up, count it up, count it

We listened to music for the rest of the car ride back to the house.

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