😗sorry for any mistakes

Wednesday

"Bye! Enjoy the rest of your day" Sarai beamed while handing over the receipt to her last customer of the day. "You too honey" The black lady smiled back at her as she took the recipe and pushed her buggy away.

Sarai sighed happily, turning her light off to her lane. She worked at Walmart and although it paid good for her to just now be a senior in high school, back to school was always stressful for her.

There were a lot of people and due to her social anxiety, she always had to work mornings when there weren't a lot of people. Her manager learned the hard way when she had an anxiety attack from there being a lot of people around.

She was diagnosed with social anxiety when she was 8. It lots of sense to her family why she wasn't able to talk to others or be around other people without her parents around.

It wasn't something she could really control but she always tried to. She has gotten a lot better with it since she was first diagnosed. She could be around more people but when it came to big crowds, she wasn't able to do it yet.

She was still a work in progress.

After 35 minutes of her counting her register and clocking out, she said bye to her coworkers that were nice to her before leaving out the front entrance. She quickly made her way to her White 2019 BMW 330i with black tinted and black rims.

She got it for her 17th birthday from her parents back in February. They honestly only got it so they could stop picking her up and dropping her off places. They were glad she was eager to learn how to drive and get her license.

She honestly wanted to because she hated waiting on others. She likes to go and leave when she is ready.

She unlocked the doors before getting in and sitting on her brown and black interior. She locked the doors before she quickly started the car so she could get the AC blowing. It was 95 degrees and she wasn't having it.

She hated the heat and couldn't wait until Winter rolled back around.

As she sat and waited for the air to get cold, her phone started ringing in the cup holder.

🙄🫶🏾

Would like facetime...

She playfully rolled her eyes before accepting the call. She waited for it to connect before Semaj's naturally mean mugging face popped up on the screen. He sucked his teeth once he saw her in the car "You said you got off at 2. It's 2:45 Khiouri. Why are you still in da' car?" He fussed, calling her by her middle name like he always did.

She couldn't help but smile showing her light green braces that she just got 3 weeks ago. He tried not to smile back at her, already knowing her sweet smile made anyone smile "Semaj my shift is over at 2, not I get off and go home at 2" She giggled, glancing up at people walking past her car.

"If you don't wanna see me, jus' say dat Rayray" He furrowed his eyebrows a little, calling her by the nickname that she developed when they were younger.

She gasped, seeing him in her room. It wasn't anything new to her since that's what they always did. For some reason, her parents gave him, Jamal, and Rell the key code to her house since they were 10. "You talkin' about me but didn't you not wanna see me for a month?" She questioned, putting her phone in her lap as her car finally started to get cool. She started putting her seatbelt on when she heard him suck his teeth.

"I was at basketball camp. You actin' like I didn't come to see you on purpose" He argued, she rolled her eyes. She thought it was funny he made to see his girlfriend but not her.

But she was going to keep it to herself.

"Mhm," She hummed, taking her car out of park and pulling out of the parking spot. "Well, I'm on the way home now. If you're hungry it's some salmon sliders in the refrigerator from last night" She kept her eyes on the road and she heard him shuffling around.

"You ate already?" He asked.

She shook her head "No, I'm not dat hungry" She yawned, covering her mouth with her hand that she wasn't using for the wheel.

"Well, you gon' eat when you get here. Bye," He said and hung up before she could even protest.

She just chuckled and enjoyed her quiet time knowing when she got home she wasn't going to have it anymore.

_________________

"That's so mean? He didn't have to hit him with the trumpet" Sarai frowned, putting on her Nike socks while Jamal told her, Semaj, and Rell about a fight that happened at band camp today.

She never knew how messy it got with band kids until Jamal joined freshman year.

Jamal just laughed even harder "We all told dat nigga he shouldn't have been messin' wit' her in the first place. Now we gotta find a new drum major." He shrugged, and they all stood up from her bed once she was finished getting ready.

She came home and went straight to the shower. She had to wash her morning off or the negative energy that she got was going to stick to her.

"Why do they need two drum majors? Aren't you already one? You've been one since we were freshmen" Sarai asked, jogging downstairs, they all followed her into their game/chill-out room that her mom made for them over the years.

"We always gotta have two or three. Shit one of those damn freshmen might be the new one" Jamal shrugged, turning the Ps4 on and grabbing the remotes that were on the holder and giving one to Rell.

"We are really about to be seniors. Don't forget about me" She pointed at them then noticed Semaj wasn't in the room but brushed it off.

Rell sucked his teeth "You say dat every school year Rayray. We ain' gon' forget about you" He chuckled and Jamal nodded in agreement while turning on 2K.

She just kept quiet and fiddled with her pandora bracelet they got her for her birthday 2 years ago. Sarai honestly felt like she had to tell them to not forget about her out of fear that they will.

They are all well known while Sarai is a nobody.

Rell is known around school for his good looks and best looks in their grade. Jamal has been drum major since they were freshmen and everyone knew him and loved him because of how funny he is. Then it was Semaj for being a star basketball player that was going to make it in the NBA one day along with him being #1 in their class.

Sarai didn't have any other friends, not by choice but by force. Her social anxiety made it hard to make friends sometimes and a lot of girls at the school would try to be her friend just to get close to one of the boys. She had been in so many situations where a girl would befriend her just to get close to one of the boys and then ghost her like they didn't know her when they got to the boy.

It just made her want to stay to herself. She just stopped trying because she was always the one to get hurt in the end.

Them being well known always made her feel like their little shadow or that one day they would forget about her. Especially going off to college.

It was always just her overthinking everything. She sometimes felt like she didn't mean anything to them until they found a better friend.

Which wasn't true. They would die behind Sarai in a heartbeat, all three of them.

She was the glue to keep them all together and in line. Without her in the group, who knows if they would be mixed in with the wrong people. She's always been that since they were all 5. They weren't going to throw 12 or 13 years down the drain for anyone or thing.

Her overthinking mind just got in the way of believing it a lot of times.

"Khiouri!" She heard, snapping her out of her daze. She jumped a bit and looked up to see Semaj mugging her when a plate and bottle of water in his hand and JB and Rell were looking at her, concerned.

"I'm sorry, what happened?" She asked.

"You were zoned out Ray. You good? You have been doin' dat a lot all summer" Rell furrowed his eyebrows while Semaj sat next to her on the black lounge couch. Since Semaj was in camp mostly the whole summer and so was Jamal being in band camp. Rell was the one mostly with her and watching her zoning out and overthinking all the time.

"Yes, I'm okay. Don't forget to get the school supplies I got for y'all. I already separated it wit' yalls name on the bags" She explained, picking up her phone that was in between her thighs.

"Fuck school. I'm ready to drop out and school hasn't even started yet." Jamal complained while they went back to playing the game. None of them were ready for their Senior year to start next Tuesday.

But they'll were ready for it to be over.

"Semaj move" She whined when he was trying to feed her the salmon slider while she scrolled through Pinterest.

"Khiouri eat dis befo' I shove it down yo' throat" He fussed, putting it close to her face again. She rolled her eyes, scooting down some to be away from him only for him to scoot with her.

"Eat li' girl. You haven't eaten all day and you kno' you get bad headaches and shit" He fussed. She lightly sucked her teeth, knowing he was right about the migraines she gets when she doesn't eat for a while.

She leaned over, opening her mouth and he fed her with a slight smile on his face. "Happy?" She questioned then rolled her eyes before she started chewing the food.

He shrugged eating the rest "Maybe if you stop forgetting to eat, I wouldn't have ta' do this" He said, handing over the bottle of water.

She always forgot to eat by accident. It just always slipped her mind honestly until she got a bad migraine from being so dehydrated and having no food.

"Why you actin' like you'n miss me?" He threw his arm over her shoulder. She rolled her eyes again then he pinched her arm. "Roll em' again" He squinted his eyes at her.

She sucked her teeth, trying to get away from him but he pull her back to where she was now laying on his chest.

"Move Zyair. I missed you but you clearly ain' miss me" She tried to push up herself up from his chest but he just kept holding her down.

"I was at camp and workin'. You kno' dis" He reasoned.

"But you made time ta' see yo' girlfriend tho? Oh, okay" She pushed up from his chest, accidentally showing how jealous was but she hoped he brushed it off.

"Stop callin' dat girl, my girlfriend. We jus' be fuckin' from time ta' time" He nonchalantly shrugged.

She scoffed under her breath "Aye, what is Liberty to Semaj?" She asked Rell and JB.

"His girlfriend" They both answered while still looking at the 75-inch screen tv.

She turned to Semaj and raised her eyebrows. She didn't know why he was lying. He knew Liberty was his girlfriend just like they did.

He ran his hands down his face "Me and shawty do not date." He huffed, giving her the other salmon slider.

"Cut da' cap. Nigga you was jus' takin' her on a date last week" JB laughed before Rell and Sarai both looked at him crazily.

"You took her on a date? Where?" Rell paused the game to ask.

Sarai just got on her phone, not wanting to hear about his date. She knew she would get annoyed like always when he talked about any girls. But she was just going to push her feelings to the back burner like she has always been doing for the past 6 years.

_________________

"Come in" Sarai called out when she heard knocks on her door but kept her eyes on her phone while scrolling through tik tok and cuddled up under her blanket.

The door opened revealing her dad causing her to smile "We're back and your food is downstairs" He smiled back at her. Her eyes lit up before she jumped out of her bed. He laughed, walking out of the room to head to the stairs with her behind him.

She had been craving waffle house for a minute now.

"Whea' yo' boys at?"Justice asked as they walked into the kitchen where her mom and 10-year-old little brother—Ka'jai were.

"Jamal had to get home to babysit his cousins, Rell had to go see his grandmother and Semaj went to see his lil girlfriend," She said, walking over to Ka'jai who sat at the table eating.

"Hi, boogie! You missed meee" She kissed over his face and he started squirming around trying to get away from her.

"Angel, move bruh. I'm tryna eat here!" He started hitting her for her to move away from him. Surprisingly, Sarai was accidentally happy when she found out her mom was pregnant with Ka'jai. She didn't like being the only child because she felt alone.

She always made Ka'jai do things with her wheater it was to the store with her or just going down the street to th gas station.

"Boogie you ain' miss me?" She pouted. He rolled his eyes and went back to his food "No, na' gon' somewhere" He huffed. Her jaw dropped and she slapped him on the back of his neck before quickly running away before he could hit her back.

"One day he gon' be taller than you and beat your ass" Justice teased while she kissed Nicole's cheek and then grabbed her food.

"Well that's not todayyy" She dragged out, opening up the refrigerator.

"Lil girlfriend? That's why he doesn't come over anymore these past few weeks?" Nicole asked with her face scrunched up and took Sarai's food over to the table while Sarai grabbed the cups for everyone along with Turkey hill Lemonade.

Ka'jai started laughing "She only called his girlfriend lil because she was mad. Mad ass" He chuckled. Nicole slapped him upside the head

"Watch yo' mouth Tyrik," She said in a warning tone, calling him by his middle name.

"Sorry" He mumbled, Sarai stuck her tongue out at him while sitting in the seat in front of him.

"But he's right, Angel. You've been in love wit' how many years now?" Nicole raised her eyebrows and Sarai opened her container with her waffle in it.

Justice started choking on his food "In love? She ain' in no damn love" He scrunched up his face, looking at his wife weirdly. He of course knew his daughter had feelings for Semaj but he never thought about her being in love with him.

"Right Angel?" He furrowed his eyebrows at his daughter but she kept her eyes on her waffle, not wanting to look up. It was a long silence at the table and Justice shook his head.

"You gotta tell him dat befo' you get hurt Sarai," Justice said.

She immediately shook her head "N-No. We're okay how we are. It's gonna go away." She spoke lowly, knowing she was lying. She always hoped and said it would go away to make herself feel better.

It never did and it just got worst over the years.

She didn't try to make it happen, it just happened. She thought maybe it was just some simple crush and at first, it was but once getting into high school, it turned into more. She found herself getting happy just to be around him or smiling extra hard. She got butterflies just at the mention of his name or just seeing him.

Nicole shook her head "That's not how it works Angel" She said.

"Boogie, are you ready for 5th grade?" Sarai changed the subject, smiling at Ka'jai. She didn't want to talk about it mainly because she knew she needed to speak up.

The fear of losing him as a best friend is what kept her not doing so.

He shrugged, putting a piece of pork bacon. "I'm jus' ready to be out of elementary school. It's annoying and so are those kids" He huffed, pouring himself and his sister some juice.

Sarai just laughed. She swore her little brother was an old man in a kid's body. He didn't like being around kids his age because he says in his own words that they do too much. He was very laid back, he honestly always has been like this since he was a baby versus Sarai who gets a bit emotional about a lot of things.

He acted more like Justice, very nonchalant about things except when it came to Nicole and Sarai.

Nicole and Justice made eye contact seeing this not going very well for their daughter. What never changed about her is her being so nice to everyone and just having this joyful personality.

But she was very inconsiderate when it came to her own feelings. She always pushed her feelings back to make others happy.

Sarai was sadly a people pleaser. She wanted everyone happy but never thought about her own happiness.

It was always her downfall.

They knew she was only trying to push her feelings back because of how scared she was to lose her friendship with either of the boys. She didn't want to break up the year's worth of friendship.

But who's to say it wouldn't break when one friend is hurting inside?

___________________________________

Heeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyy

Lmao I only thought of this story because I was missing high school 💀💀💀

Thoughts or Opinions?

Sarai?

Should I put it back in the drafts?

BYEEEE UNTIL MY NEXT UPDATEEE🦋