DOGS

Chapter 8

Lighting the lavender scented candle on her dresser, Kenya grabs the yoga mats in her closet and lays them out beside her bed. She slips off her shoes and steps on to the blue one. She waits for a moment before looking over her shoulders. "Get over here,"

"This is not going to help me, Kenya." Camille replies with her arms folded over her chest.

"It will help momentarily. You've been walking around school with a scowl on your face all day and if you keep scrunching up your eyebrows like that you're going to get premature wrinkles." Kenya tells her, "Now come here."

Letting out an annoyed sigh, Camille stomps over to the purple mat. "What is turning myself into a pretzel going to do?"

"Relieve stress and built up tension in your body. My mother always does yoga when she's stressing about something, she says it's the secret to staying young. Now be quiet and do what I do." She stares at the wall and takes a deep, soothing breath. Ever since she was born, she's watched her mother do yoga at least once a week in the middle of the living room. She would push all the furniture against the wall to provide more space, before putting on some calming instrumental music. Kenya would watch her do all types of poses and would often try to imitate her. She was more than excited when her mom gave her a yoga mat for her birthday, along with a yoga DVD. Now, when ever she's stressed about something, she does yoga to relax. Something Camille thinks is dumb and usually has to be forced into.

Placing one foot a few inches behind the other, Kenya spreads her arms apart and takes another breath. The smell of lavender adds a fresh scent to her room, giving her a sense of peace and tranquility as she moves through the familiar yoga poses. Each stretch feels amazing and she feels as though her chest has opened up and removed all toxins from her body.

"I'm not feeling any better," Camille says after a moment.

"Because you're talking," Kenya snaps, "Shut up for like two seconds and let the yoga work its magic." She bends over, touching her toes and slowly counting to ten in her head. Beside her, she can hear Camille shuffling around and letting out noises of frustration.

If anyone should be frustrated, it's Kenya. Ever since they got together last year, she's watched Camille and Justin endure the rollercoaster ride of their relationship. One minute they're perfect together, the next minute they're fighting like archenemies. One day they're walking around like Jay and Beyoncé, the next day they're fighting like Ike and Tina. Kenya has told Camille that she can do so much better and there's someone out there that won't give her such a headache like Justin does. and sometimes Camille even agrees. Yet, she always runs back to him. Camille is very headstrong and she doesn't take crap from anyone...except Justin. There's just something about that boy that makes her act a fool.

Kenya has asked Camille numerous times if he's abusing her verbally or physically, and she always gives Kenya her signature 'bitch please' look. Camille is smart enough not to let a boy beat on her and get away with it, but for some reason she's not smart enough to dump the worthless punk. It kills Kenya to see her best friend being dragged threw such a rough whirlwind with Justin, but there's nothing she can do. Every time she makes a suggestion, Camille accuses her of just being bitter towards Justin because he's friends with Eli, and she's right to make that assumption. You are the company you keep, and if Justin is friends with Eli, it means there's something similar between the two of them. Both of them have a sad case of fuckboy, but Camille plays dumb to the fact.

"Ok, you know what?" Kenya's eyes pop open at the sound of Camille's voice. She looks over to see her standing with her hands on her hips. "I'm not dressed for yoga and I'm not feeling any better. The only thing I feel, is pain in my back from stretching like this."