The Life I Live.

11.

(Royalty-China-Laneᰔᩚ)

8:15

"Royalty, take your ass to school," my dad barked, giving me a sideways glance as he continued to make his breakfast. "Can I have some of that?" I asked with a grin. He shook his head aggressively. "No lil bald headed ahh girl. Take your behind to school. I made this for me."

"Ight fine, it prolly tastes like ass anyways," I teased as he swung the spatula my way, narrowly missing me. I laughed and scampered back to my room to collect my things. My dad and I had a jokey relationship and did everything together. He was my best friend growing up.

I gathered my purse, keys, phone, wallet and snacks from my basket. I slipped on my black Nike zip-up and black forces, said goodbye to my bed and made my way back downstairs.

My schedule was tight, but I loved goofing off and messing with my dad in the mornings. Being late just meant I could skip my first class, and I usually grabbed food on the way.

"You still ain't gone? Maneee," my dad complained and took a hit from his blunt, before looking up at me. "Why you want me out so bad? You got a woman coming over here?"

"Hell nawl, after ya mami, ion trust no female. You know that. Now get ya lil ahh out and go to school, ion want no more calls from that school," he said sternly. I rolled my eyes and went out the door, shutting it behind me and laughing as I got in my car.

I played "Deep" by Sumer Walker and sang softly as I drove, feeling my emotions bubble up. When the song ended, "Don't Play With It" by Lola Brooke came on and I stopped outside a white two-story house. I texted my bestie, Jaylah, to let her know I was outside and to hurry up.

She came running out 10 minutes later, screaming back into the house at her mom, I guessed. "Why you talking to ma dukes like that?" I asked, amused as she got into the car.

"Shut your ass up, and drive hoe," she replied, rolling her eyes.

Jaylah and I were best friends since we were two years old, and we did everything together. And I mean everything. "So who was that girl Lay fought yesterday?" I asked, bopping my head to the song.

"Oh, the new girl? Ion know her name, but she pretty. Lay ain't get no hits on ha ahh," I informed her. We drove around the school parking lot looking for a spot, but someone had parked in my usual spot. I knew who it was but wasn't going to waste my time on her.

We walked into the office and set our books on the counter. The lady at the counter didn't even look up as she asked, "Hello ladies, what do you need?"

"Tardy passes," I replied as she glanced at her watch before writing on two sticky notes. "Make sure to pass these to your teachers when you walk in," she said before we headed down the freshman hallway for a stroll.

We liked to call ourselves the hall police because we were always telling others to go to class, but never ourselves. We roamed the whole school, ducking every admin we saw, and finally made our way to third period class, skipping first and second.

The door opened, and there was Lay, our former friend from fifth grade who started messing with our opps. Jaylah put her in place once, and she never stepped to us again. She knew better.

"Well hello ladies. Quite frankly you guys missed half of my instruction time, but you guys can just follow along," Lay said, scrunching up her face as we snickered and took our regular seats at the back.

I propped up my laptop and phone against it, then went live on my spam account. "Heyy Jaiden. Why you ain't here today?" I whispered, leaning close to the phone.

@bigjaiii_5: Ion know, Ian feel like coming today.

"Well, I mean, your man is here—" I trailed off, looking over at her man who was snuggling with Leila. Her ran through ass.

@bigjaiii_5: What? What you get quiet fa? What his ass over there doing?! Show me!

I leaned close to the phone, reading the text and showing Jaylah. She scrunched up her face, grabbed my phone and walked over to him, shoving the camera in their face. "Here you go Jaiden." she barked.

@bigjaiii_5: bett, tell him he can stay with her ran through ass.

"Mrs. Brooks! Please take your seat and put the device away." Jaylah laughed apologetically, as she came back and sat down. We had just started some drama for real. One thing about us tho, Is we aren't scared bout nun.

After the class was over we left out with exhausted minds. We did our work, but that class will forever be boring. While walking down the hall, I felt someone tug my arm causing me to turn around.

It was Leila, her face all scrunched up, and red. Her ass looked like a tomato. "Look, I haven't messed with you guys since last year, so I'm gonna need you guys to stay the fuck out of my life." With that she just stomped off down the hall.

I looked over at Jaylah, and we busted out laughing heading out of the side door of the building. "Girl, she is so stupid. Everyone knows she's run through. It's not like we are ruining some type of reputation."

"Maybe I'll dm that girl who whooped her ass, and have her do it again." We laughed as we got in the car, and drove back to my house.

We spent the evening indulging in pizza and hot wings, while watching random movies on Netflix. Jaylah and I were cracking jokes and talking about everything that was happening around us, from the school drama to our personal lives.

As the night wore on, we both started feeling drowsy from the smoke and the food. We decided to get comfortable, and I gave Jaylah some clothes to wear to sleep since she didn't have any with her.

She changed while I got the blankets and pillows ready on the couch. As soon as I laid down next to her, she started snoring lightly. I smiled to myself, feeling grateful for this moment with my best friend.

Even though we were always together, there were times when we didn't really get to just relax and be ourselves. This was one of those moments where we could just be comfortable and not worry about anything.

We fell asleep soon after, and I woke up before Jaylah. It was around like one in the morning, and we took a small nap. I tiptoed around the house to avoid waking her up, while getting myself more wings, there was a knock at the door.

I peeked through the peephole and saw a guy from my school who I didn't really know, but I know his name is Damian. I hesitated for a second, wondering if I should open the door, but my curiosity got the best of me.

"Hey, what's up?" I said, trying to act casual.

"Not much, just wanted to come over and hang out for a bit." He looked at me with a smile, and I felt a flutter in my chest.

"Um, okay. Let me just ask my friend if it's cool." I walked into the living room and nudged Jaylah awake.

"Hey, there's someone at the door. Do you mind if we hang out with him for a bit?"

Jaylah rubbed her eyes, and nodded groggily. I went back to the door and let the guy in.

We sat on the couch, and talked about random things for a while. He seemed nice, and I found myself enjoying his company.

As the morning wore on, Jaylah woke up, and the three of us just hung out and watched movies. It was a lazy day, but it was the kind of day that I needed. I kinda felt myself flocking more towards him.

Eventually, the Damian left, and Jaylah and I were left alone again. We stayed up late, talking about everything that happened that day and laughing at the dumbest things.

As we finally went to bed, I felt content knowing that no matter what life brings, I have my best friend by my side.