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XV

Electric Relaxation -A Tribe Called Quest

SYMERE:

Centennial Olympic Park: Downtown Atlanta, Georgia

I ran outside, where Rakim was sitting in his car. For some reason, he wanted us to go to Atlanta; not really sure why, but I was always down to go to downtown. I always loved the city-type lifestyle, and while we lived in a more ghetto-ish area, it was more closely tied to the suburbs than Atlanta itself, with no real tall buildings or anything like that.

I opened the passenger door, expected to ride shotgun, but was surprised when I saw Miles sitting in the front seat. Fuck, he claimed it before I did, and Rakim's rules were inherently specific: First to claim it, gets it. For some reason, most of our friends rode with Rakim, even though it was kind of ridiculous to. I mean, one: he had the smallest car out of our group (I drove an Acura, Amala drove a 4Runner, Miles drove a Chevrolet, and Sheyaa drove an Infiniti), and two: it got the worst gas mileage out of our group, which meant frequent gas stops, which wasn't inherently bad, but just annoying sometimes. But even though he was a self-proclaimed "speed junkie", he was still the best driver out of all of us, always tryna be economical and environmentally friendly.

"Damn it." I complained once I opened the door. Both Rakim and Miles pointed to the backseat, which was cramped, but me being the smallest, was nowhere near as bad for me to sit in than either of them. I crawled through the small door, and then squeezed onto the small bench seat.

Miles gave me a fist bump, and Rakim announced "We, my child, are going on an adventure." I laughed, "To the park?"

Rakim shot his eyes at me, "Yes, to the park, but we will make it much more than just a trip to the park." I gave him a confused look, as we were just going to Centennial Olympic, which I personally had went to no more than two months ago. Rakim seemed to notice my facial expression, "Come on, Lil' Vert, it'll be fun."

I rolled my eyes at his charm, and huffed, saying, "Fine, let us go on." Rakim looked at Miles and smirked, as his car shot forward. Riding with Rakim was always fun due to his sheer unpredictability when it came to driving; you would never know when he would drift around a corner, or weave in and out of traffic just for his sheer entertainment. While most would think that this would be terrifying for numerous reasons, I somewhat adopted the need for this thrill through being friends with Rakim, and I think our entire group felt the same.

We left my neighborhood, bound for Interstate 20 Eastbound, which would take us straight into downtown. Rakim turned up a song by A Tribe Called Quest, as he sped up, claiming to want to get to the park before it got too dark. Another thing that was special about Rakim was his music taste. Whereas most people at our school were hyper-obsessed with Kanye West, XXXTentacion, Ski Mask the Slump God, NLE Choppa, or Kid Cudi, Rakim's aux was specially dedicated to songs produced prior to the year 2003. His taste ranged from Tupac Shakur to N.W.A to Nas to A Tribe Called Quest, but almost never ventured outside of the category of old school rap, which was always incredibly interesting to me. He could never put me onto his style of rap, I won't lie, watching the sun set behind the rectangular silhouettes that was the Atlanta skyline to Electric Relaxation by ATCQ was mystifying.

We spent most of the relatively short ride talking about our classes and other shit about school. I hadn't mentioned what happened between me Monty earlier in the bathroom, and I wasn't sure that I was ready to. I didn't know why, but I felt that something was just off about the whole situation earlier. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't Monty, he was amazing; it just felt like something didn't go right, or just didn't sit well. Whatever though, I was with my friends and we were going to the city, so that was the last thing I should be focusing on.

We arrived in downtown, which was still a sight to see, even after living in Georgia for so long. We passed the Georgia State Capitol, with its gold dome shimmering in the autumn sunset, and we later passed the Bank of America Tower, with its orange top beginning to illuminate, making it the infamous "Pencil Building". We spent at least ten minutes looking for a parking space, but once we did, it had a one-hour limit. Rakim pointed at the sign as we stepped out, "Someone set a timer, because I don't feel like picking up ASAP from an impound lot."

Miles volunteered his phone, and set the alarm himself. The park wasn't too far away from where we had parked, only a block or so, but once we arrived, we basically had the place to ourselves. Even though we had an entire park to explore, we settled to sit on a concrete wall next  to the water display in the shape of the Olympic Rings. We laid down and stared at the sky as it shifted from an orange color to a vast blue filled with the small specks that were the stars. We continued talking about school, which lead to Miles bringing up how one of Jonathan's "homies", Kentrell was caught selling drugs in the school bathroom. The mention of the school bathroom made me feel the need to tell my friends about what had happened in the bathroom.

"Speaking of the bathroom," I began, "something actually happened in the bathroom today." Miles and Rakim exchanged glances a little too eagerly, and then focused in on me nodding their heads intently. Weird asses.

"So uh, me and Montero sorta uh-" I studdered, "we sorta made out-t in the bathroom earlier during school." Both Rakim and Miles shared the same puzzled expression.

"Bro, don't you think that you're sorta rushing into this a little too early?" Miles asked.

"No, why would you think that?" I replied.

"I mean, you and Jordan sorta stopped ya know, talking only like two weeks ago."

"So?"

"Bruh, you just made out with a dude just like that." Miles said as he snapped his fingers as some sort of demonstration.

"And?"

"Symere, I swear to god if you're gonna become one of those man-whores-" Rakim started.

"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO; THAT'S NOT MY MINDSET!" I shouted.

Both Miles and Rakim sat up and started whispering to one another. I stared at them, "Are y'all dating now or sum?" Miles giggled, glanced back at Rakim, and took off running, with Rakim following behind him.

"Shit," I muttered, pulling myself off the concrete. I was never good at running, because as one would guess: little legs produce little energy. On the other hand, Miles and Rakim both managed to be amazing sprinters. I did my best to follow after them as they sprinted out of the park and back in the direction of the car. I turned the corner just after them, and saw them jumping into the car. I tried my hardest to catch the car, but Rakim started the car just before I reached it, and they sped off, and away from me.

I punched the parking sign, screaming an expletive. I had to be home soon, because I still had homework to do, and I really didn't want to miss dinner with Mama. I tired calling both Rakim and Miles five times to get an answer as to what just happened to no response. I knew I couldn't afford to have an Uber come pick me up, so I began to scroll through my contacts. Both Amala and Summer were at a volleyball tournament in Tennessee, so they weren't an option. Sheyaa had his license revoked for speeding, and he couldn't drive for the next two months, so he wasn't an option either. Montero didn't own a car, but then my eyes landed on Nayvadius, who I tried to call and text at least three times, to no response. I didn't save Caleb or Travis' number, so they weren't an option, and there was no way in hell that I was gonna ask Robin or any of her friends like Jaden and Willow for a ride.

I was left with one contact: Jordan Carter. I facepalmed myself as I hit the "call" button. He answered after two rings, "Symere?"

"Hey, this is really random, but do you think I could get a ride home?"