the truth about fire escapes.

Young, Dumb, & Broke

Her eyes squinted in the hot Louisiana sun, scrunching up her face into a cute little mean mug. It was so hot she wondered how the rubber of her shoes wasn't melting into the sidewalk beneath her. She'd lived in Baton Rouge all of her life and she still couldn't stand the heat. It was way too much. No matter how loose her dress was or how short her shorts were, she still seemed to burn to death. It almost made the daily self-respect lectures from her father not worth it.

"I'm going to miss you guys so much when you leave." China looked down at the ground and kicked a pebble with the toe of her hot pink Ked sneaker. "I can't believe how fast these four years have flown by."

"Ugh, stop Chinaaaa. You're going to make me cry." Fivel mumbled through a mouth full of food. "I don't even wanna think about it, really." She frowned a little and ran her fingers through her hair that, by the glory of God, stayed straightened all day long.

"Me neither." Jackson chimed in and threw his arm around Fivel. "I can't believe it's over already."

Jackson, Fivel, and 19 other academically gifted students from different states were accepted to take part in a 4-year program for a private arts high school in Louisiana.

China was the first person Jackson latched himself to upon moving to Baton Rouge from Nebraska. His host family lived next door to her and on the first day of school, she knocked on their door bright-eyed and chubby-cheeked, offering to walk him to campus. She coasted on her skateboard all six blocks and talked his ear off about how excited she was to finally meet people from another state that wasn't Texas.

China too had become attached to Jackson. And when he started dating Fivel, the girls latched onto each other as well. It was hard to catch the three apart. Even when holiday breaks came, and everyone had to go home, they spent the majority of their days FaceTimeing each other.

The trio made their way up the driveway of Jackson's temporary home once they arrived. He grabbed the handle of the garage door and lifted it to see his five best friends laying across the couches in front of a few AC boxes.

"Food!" Cameron was the first to get up and basically snatch the bags from Jackson's hands.

"Hope you guys didn't want your egg rolls," China cut her eyes to Fivel who was stuffing her face with said eggrolls at the moment.

"What?" Fivel shrugged and went about chewing.

"Shit Fiv, 8 egg rolls?" Normani grabbed her food out of one of the plastic bags along with a fork. "You're gonna be big as hell before you even start showing." She joked before ducking because Fivel was already throwing a balled-up napkin at her face.

"Screw you, Normani." Fivel barked.

"Isn't that what got ya pregnant in the first place?" Normani couldn't help it.

China shook her head as the girls bickered and she dug through the bags for her own food. "Let me get that for you." Cameron put down his carton and got her food out of its bag. "When do you get that thing off anyway?" He asked, handing her her Styrofoam box.

"Today at like 6, actually." China waved her plastered forearm in the air. It was neon green and it was cluttered with doodles and autographs by Booboo who'd taken up the whole cast purposely so that no one else could sign it. "That's why I gotta take my food to go."

All of the boys groaned. "Aw, come on Chi. It's only 4:30 and you haven't hung out with us all week." Noah said with his mouth full of rice.

"That's because I'm still grounded. I'm not even supposed to be here now. Sorry."

"Still?" Booboo asked with disappointment in his voice. "So your dad's not gonna let you come to the Bon Fire tonight?"