The New 90210

. 18 .

"Really," she chuckled. "You haven't called me that since we...anyway. Let's see what's on the TV."

Lucy reaches for the remote and clicks through the channels as Nate grins to himself.

. . . . .

"Melvin says he has an idea who it might be," Derek angrily told Nadia.

They were hanging out at his apartment and Nadia dragged Kali along with her. Kali kept her attention on her phone. She joked and said she's only tagging along to make sure Derek doesn't kidnap her and sell her for drug money. But Derek was virtually harmless. His face was still scratched up and he wore a sling to support the gunshot wound on his shoulder. Not to mention he was stoned out of his mind. The apartment was hazy and Kali felt she was about to get contact high.

"Yeah well," Nadia began. "You let Melvin handle it, you need to stay put and heal."

"Just seein' Nate like that," Derek shook his head. "I remember seein' him slumped over in the car. I thought he was gone, Nadia. Do you have any idea how traumatizing that could be?"

Nadia shushed him and hugged him tightly. Just then, there was a knock on the front door. Derek answered and it was Sammy and Stass.

"Yo," Sammy said as he entered the apartment.

"Any news?" Derek asked.

"I saw him yesterday," Sammy answered. "He's getting discharged in 3 days."

Kali squinted at Sammy and Stass, wondering why they showed up together.

"Hey Sam," Kali spoke with a quizzical brow. "Where's Serenity?"

"It's her mom's birthday," Sammy replied sternly. He knew what Kali was implying.

"Uh huh." Kali rolled her eyes.

"What's up with her?" Stass asked quietly.

"Who knows." Sammy took a seat on the couch and grabbed the bong on the coffee table. "Everyone just needs a good smoke."

"I hear that," Derek agrees taking a seat between Kali and Sammy. Kali tries to scoot further away from Derek. Nadia gives her a look that says to 'relax' but Kali just rolls her eyes. 

Kali gets up & moves to the other couch; Stass sits next to her. She couldn't catch a break.

"Why so glum, chum?" Stass asked Kali.

"Nothing you can help with," Kali side-eyed her.

"Try me."

Kali took a deep breath. "Fine. I need a job so I can make money so that I can move out as soon as I graduate. My parents have all this money but unlike most Beverly Hills young people, I don't get a ridiculous amount of it to splurge on expensive cars and shoes I don't need."

Stass doesn't reply, she just smiles while staring deep into Kali's eyes.

"What?"

"Have you had a job before?" Stass finally spoke.

"The Peach Pit last year," Kali shrugged. "And I do some office work for the church sometimes."