Our Little Secret

First Day of School

I barely wait for Sarinna to put the car in park before I jump out. I go running to where we all planned to meet. I can already see Marissa and Aiden waiting under the school's patio. I throw my arms around them and hug them tightly.

"Kiya, my hair!" Marissa rolls her eyes, smiling. I let them go and look around.

"Where are Xavier and Michael?" I ask.

Aiden shrugs. "Mike just texted me saying they stopped to get snacks." Sounds about Xavier-ish. You'll never catch him without his snacks in school.

"Oh! There they are!" Marissa points as Xavier's black jeep pulls into the school parking lot.

Xavier and Mike get out the car, laughing and come over to where we're waiting. I go to throw my arms around them, but Xavier dodges me. I give him a look and hug Mike, who hugs me back.

"Let's go find our lockers!" Aiden goes. So we walk into the front entrance of the school where we have to step around a group of tan girls screaming with excitement. Guess they're happy to be back.

Looking at our schedules, we find the hall where most of the junior classes are in.

"This one is mine!" Marissa goes. 2016. She starts working on the lock.

"I found mine too," Xavier grins as he gets to opening his locker. 2017.

"Mine's right here too." Mike's locker is 2018.

"Me too!" Aiden high fives Michael. 2019.

I look at my schedule to see if my locker is 2020. It's not. It's 2045. I pout at them. "Mine's not next to y'alls."

"Oh, well." Xavier shrugs. I roll my eyes and turn to walk away to find my locker. It's like WAY down the hall. This is a great start to junior year.

I work open my locker and start decorating it with the mirror and picture I brought. I look down the hall at the others. At least I have at least one class with each of them.

The bell rings and I put the last of the pictures up. I jog back to the group and smile even though I'm bummed out. "Who's ready to go to the first class on the first day of junior year?" Everyone groans except Aiden.

"I am!" He high fives me. Laughing, me and him lead the group down the hall. First period chemistry is the class I have with Aiden.

++++++++++

"You were so happy for school to start, what happened?" Marissa asks Aiden as he sits with a groan.

He rolls his eyes. "Chemistry is gonna fuck me over this year. I can already sense it"

"C'mon." I pat his back. "All you need is happy thoughts," I go, quoting Chance The Rapper. He lays his head on my shoulder. "How was y'all's day?" I ask the rest of them.

Michael grins. "I have a few classes with some hot seniors." He bites a fry as he nods. "This year's already looking up for me."

I look over at Xavier cuz he hasn't said anything. I think back to what he told me yesterday and I swear to God, I don't know how he's been able to put up with it for this long. I just...

"Zakiyah!" Marissa calls my name.

I snap outta it. "Sorry." She rolls her eyes and pulls out her phone. "So... hot tubbing at my house afterschool?"

That makes Marissa look up from her phone. "Yes! I need that right now."

"Yeah, I'm down for it too," Aiden agrees. Michael just nods his head vigorously.