Our Little Secret

Pilot

"Bro, can you hurry the fuck up?" Xavier groans at me from his car window. Everyone's already in the car and they're all waiting on me.

"Alright." I close the door behind me and lock it. I get in the back with Aiden, Marissa, and Michael. I put on my hoops as Xavier gets to driving us to the party. All I wanted to do tonight was stay home and catch up on my shows but majority won and now here I am, being rushed to go somewhere I don't even wanna go.

Marissa pulls out a couple of shot bottles from her bag and starts passing them around. I look at her like she's crazy when she tries to hand me one. "Come on, Zakiyah. One isn't gonna kill you."

"No?" I push her hand away. "Then you drink it for me."

She rolls her eyes at me and goes to hand it to Xavier. "Rissa. I'm driving."

"Whatever. More for me." I watch her throw her head back and down one bottle. She winced as the alcohol hits and grins at me. "You're missing out."

"Why? Cuz my kidneys are healthy?" I lean forward to check my hair in the rearview mirror. Just as I'm tryna tuck a curl back, the car jerks and my head snaps back. "Xavier!" I reach over Michael and smack him on the shoulder.

"What did I say about hitting me?" His light brown eyes glare at me through the black frame of his glasses.

"What did I say about not giving a fuck?" I return his look.

"Just let us get outta this car," he warns. When we get to Dean's, the party is already started. We get out and Xavier forgets about whatever threat he had planned for me.

"Lets go party!" Marissa screams and walks into the crowded house with her arms raised in the air. Michael runs after her.

I grab Aiden's arm and walk into the house with him, Xavier following behind us. "Upstairs is where the real party be at." Aiden leads me upstairs. He knocks on a random door and opens it without waiting for an answer.

There's a bunch of people sitting around in a circle. I woulda been confused about what's going on if it weren't for the empty water bottle in the middle of the room. Spin the Bottle.

"Aiden! Xavier!" Some people cheer. "Y'all made it!" Xavier and Aiden go to shake people up.

"Oh! Zakiyah's here." At least I'm not invisible to everyone.

The three of us join the circle and someone starts playing hip-hop music as the first person spins the bottle. I look around the circle to check out my potential kissers. The boy-to-girl ratio is equal. There isn't anyone horribly hideously here so I think I'll be fine.

The guy who spun the bottle and the girl he landed on go into the closet and start their two minutes. You may be thinking "Oh wow! JUST two minutes?" But a lot can happen in two minutes.

When it's my turn to spin the bottle, I land on Xavier. He makes a gagging noise and walks out the room. I spin again and land on a girl. "Uh... I'm not... I don't like girls."

The guy who spun first shrugs. "I don't like girls either." Oh.

I get up and wait for the girl to follow me into the closet. I notice the chair in there before the girl closes the door. I wonder what people were doing with that. I turn my attention to the girl. She looks up at me.

"Before I kiss you... you gotta name?" I ask her.

"Uh, you can call me Emma," she smiles at me.

"Alright, Emma. Ever kissed a girl before?" She shakes her head no. "Well, I guess there's a first for everything." I return her smile and slowly push her hair from her face. It helps that she's pretty. I start to lean into her and just as I'm aboutta kiss her, she pulls back.

"Wait." She quickly pulls lipgloss outta her pocket and puts it on. Oh. "Ok." She grabs me and gets to kissing. I'm so surprised, it takes me a second to kiss her back. Just as she's getting into it, someone opens the door.

We walk outta the closet, laughing. I make eye contact with Aiden. He smirks at me. I look away and find my spot in the circle.

+++++++++

Everyone but Xavier is in the loud kitchen, getting snacks. I wrench a beer bottle outta Marissa's hand as Aiden whispers something in Michael's ear. "Give it back!" She slurs

"No." I move away from her. Michael comes and puts his arm around me.

"So... What's this I hear about you being into girls?" He asks.

I frown at him confused until I see the smirk on Aiden's face. "It was Spin the Bottle. I'm not into girls." I push Michael away from me.

"Where's Xavier?" Marissa asks, moving to take the bottle back from me.

"So who was the girl?" Michael pops a Nacho Cheese Dorito into his mouth.

"She doesn't go to our school." I don't actually know that but I've never seen her before so...

"It's ok if you liked her, Kiyah." Aiden shrugs at me. "Cuz she was pretty cute."

"I don't even know her."

"So if you knew her--"

I don't let him finish. "Shut up."

Thankfully, Xavier shows up just then. "Ready to go?" Xavier yells over the loud music.

"Zakiyah, give it back!" Marissa lunges at me but I quickly side-step her. Xavier tears the bottle outta my hand ands hands it to some random white dude.

He grabs Marissa's arm and leads her to the front door. "Come on, Rissa. It's time to go home."

Michael links his arm through mine as we walk out the partyhouse. "So do you like girls now?"

"Oh, my God!" I exclaim. "No, I don't."

Xavier looks over his shoulder at us. "We take you to one party and you go off kissing girls." He shakes his head and mock disappointment.

"It was Spin the Bottle!" I repeat for the second time tonight. I roll my eyes in exasperation. "Just take me home." We all climb back into the car we arrived in.

Xavier tosses back a plastic bag. "In case that one throws up." He means Marissa. She's asleep and drooling all over Michael's shoulder. He starts the car and we get on our way.