𝟏. 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐁𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭
"𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐮𝐩?"
◈
The FaceTime rings twice before it's answered and Zamir's face pops up on the other side.
"Yo,"
"Wassup," He places his phone down on the bathroom counter and turns on his sink, ready to brush his teeth. "You goin to school today?"
"Got to," Zamir replies, "First day back and shit."
He smacks his lips, "Damn nigga, now I really gotta go."
"You need to. Ain't you fail all your classes last year?"
"It was only one, shut the fuck up,"
"Nigga, how do you fail general music?"
"Fuck that class."
Zamir laughs over the phone, the whites of his teeth showing through the screen. "You ain't shit, JJ,"
"Still making money though,"
"Purrrrr,"
Kori flat faces Zamir through the screen. "Don't you ever in your life do that shit again."
He laughs, "Aight, aight, chill,"
Kori shakes his head in disgust and begins brushing his teeth. On the FaceTime call, he sees Zamir doing the same.
"You still using that toothbrush?" He asks, spitting into the sink.
"Ye,"
"You supposed to switch every six months."
"Lay off me,"
If there was one thing Kori didn't play about, it was teeth. He didn't give a fuck if you had braces, dentures, or just one tooth; you better fucking brush that bitch correctly. Ain't nobody want to be smelling stank breath or seeing yellow ass teeth. He was one of those people that brushed their teeth twice a day religiously, even three times if he wanted to be extra. This pet peeve never failed to annoy Zamir, who only brushed once in the morning and would skip a day or two simply because he forgets.
"I'm just sayin'. Bitches don't want nobody with bad teeth,"
"Yo, JJ, respectfully, shut the fuck up."
"Aight," Kori shrugs, as if to say it's your funeral.
They go through their morning routine on FaceTime together. (They do this everyday except for when one of them is out of town and are too busy to talk— usually this happens because of family reunions. Even then, they manage to sneak a two minute call in.) Zamir asks him for an opinion on his fit and he clowns him for a bit, before finally saying "you look good bro".
"You taking the bus today or you want me to pick you up?" He asks as he grabs his bag and leaves his room.
"Uh, I'm prolly taking the bus,"
He gets a weird feeling in his chest that he decides to brush off. "Aight. I gotta go get CiCi, I'll call you back."
"Alright. Bye, bro."
"Bye Mir."
The call ends just as he reaches his sister's door. He knocks, "Ay, CiCi, let's go!"
His baby sister, Cierra, opens the door, mugging him. "You gotta knock that hard?"
"Bruh, let's go, damn. Always complaining about something,"
She smacks her lips and walks past him, her locs bouncing with every movement. He rolls his eyes and follows after her. As they pass their mom's door, he peaks in and says a quick, "Love you, Ma."
"I love you too, baby," is the soft reply he gets.
"You feel good today?"
"Better than yesterday."
"Aight. You want me to pick up your medicine?"
"Nah, your daddy's getting it."
He nods, then rushes down the steps, knowing Cierra didn't like to wait and had zero patience. Sure enough, when he gets outside, she's standing at the passenger seat, arms crossed and looking irritable.
"What took you so long?"
" 'talking to Ma," he mumbles, unlocking the doors.
"Shit, I didn't say nothing to her,"
"Chill out with allat cussing," he says, voice sharp.
"You cuss!"
"Yea, because I'm a grown ass man."
"Boy, you're 18."
"And you're a freshman, pipe down," he slides into the driver's seat and puts his keys in the ignition. "You hungry?"
"No," she huffs, still miffed, "I ate a granola bar."
"When that stomach start rumbling in second, don't be mad at me,"
"...can you get me a bagel from Chic-Fil-A?"
◈
"You know where your classes at?"
Cierra nods, "Yea,"
"Aight," he pulls her into a quick one-armed hug, "Love you."
"Love you too," she begins to walk away and just before she's about to turn the corner, he shouts, "AND DON'T BE ENTERTAINING THESE NIGGAS EITHER! STAY PURE!"
Everyone in the hallway stops and stares. Cierra turns around, face horrified. He quickly jogs away, snickering to himself.
"KORIII!!"
He hears her scream. He makes a quick turn and goes up the steps to the second floor; she was a freshman, she probably didn't even know there were two floors. He's proven right two minutes later when he gets a text.
lil sis🐰
fuck u :(
Kori
love u too
read at 8:17am
Still smiling, he swipes to the left and clicks on Mir's name, choosing the FT option. It only rings once.
"Where you at?"
"Nah, why you cheesing like that bro?"
He chuckles, "I'll tell you later. Where are you?"
"Gym."
"Damn,"
"Wassup?"
"Nuthin'," he shakes his head and makes a U-turn, heading for the stairs again. As he walks down them, his knee twinges uncomfortably with each step and he winces, realizing he should've gone around and taken the ramp on the other side of the school.
"Is it your knee?" Zamir asks, seeing his face change through the screen.
"Yea," he sighs, reaching the bottom step. "You in the South gym or the North?"
"South," he replies, "I woulda came to you if you would've said something, bro,"
"I'm good,"
"No you not," Zamir smacks his lips, "So stop acting like you is."
"Are."
"Huh?"
He puts on his best white boy voice, "The correct phrasing would be like stop acting like you are, not stop acting like—"
"Shut up, brah,"
He laughs and walks into the gym. He looks around for a second, squinting, then says, "I'm here nigga, where you at?"
"Behind you." The voice echoes oddly, coming from his phone and the back of him. He doesn't have time to turn around before arms wrap around his waist and lift him from the ground.
He yelps, legs flailing and hands clawing into Zamir's arms, trying not to fall. He was 6"3 and already had a bad knee, he didn't want two. He can hear Zamir laughing behind him, enjoying his embarrassment.
"Let go of me, nigga!" He yells, still panicking.
"I gotchu, bro,"
"Let go!"
"Nah,"
He struggles for a few more moments before finally ceasing when he realized that Zamir's arms weren't even budging. He had been struggling and panicking for nothing. His legs dangle awkwardly as Zamir continues to hold him like a little kid and after a few moments of complete silence, his face heats up. He lowers his hands to his friend's arms again and pulls, to no avail.
"Mir..." he mumbles, still tugging at his hands.
"Yea?"
"Put- Put me down bro..."
His arms tighten around his waist, "Nah. Maybe if I hold you long enough, you'll stop fucking yo knee up,"
"I get it, nigga, put me down,"
"Do you?"
"C'mon Mir, please..."
There's a long beat of silence before he's gently being lowered to his feet. He takes a second to breathe and be grateful that he was brownskin, because if he was lighter then his blush would surely be visible. He turns, stares at Zamir, then punches him in the shoulder as hard as he can.
He doesn't even flinch.
"Don't do that shit again, Mir. I'm deadass,"
"Stop messing with your knee and I won't have to. You know those stairs'll fuck your ass up."
"Bruh, I've been going to therapy—"
"And de' told yo ass to avoid stairs. Don't even try that shit."
"Nigga, I have to take the stairs! They'll expel me if I get anymore tardies,"
Zamir shoots him down again. "The school told yo mama they'd be cool with the tardies because they know you disabl—"
"Don't call me that."
They share a stare, Zamir's eyes cold and Kori's nearly on fire.
"Take it back, Mir."
"Am I wrong? You can barely walk without limping because you won't fucking lay off. I bet you ran down them steps at yo house too." At Kori's silence, he rolls his eyes, "Yeah, I know. Matta a fact, didn't your knee buckle last week when you was playing basketball? Why the fuck are you doing this to yourself, B? Why ain't you using your cane? They give it to you for a reason—"
"Do you ever shut the fuck up?"
"Watch yo mouth."
"It don't matter if I been up and down a couple of stairs, aight? My knee still healing!"
"It'd heal faster if you would let it rest. And where the fuck is yo cane at?"
"At the house." He practically grits out.
"Why ain't you bring it?"
"Nigga, I am not walking around the school with that grandaddy ass cane—"
"Why is you so worried about looking coo? Just focus on yo self, J. I'm right and you know it."
Before Kori can respond, the bell rings and their six-minute passing period starts. Not saying anything to Zamir, he goes around him and storms out the gym, the doors creating a loud slam as he charges into them. People stare and watch as he walks away, some no doubt recognizing him from earlier.
"AND YOU BETTER TAKE THAT RAMP TOO! DON'T GO UP EM STAIRS!" Zamir shouts at his back.
Without looking back, he flips him off with both hands.
◈
To be petty, he takes the stairs again. Halfway through, his leg buckles and he nearly falls down. By the time he reaches his first block class, he's two minutes late. He walks in and the teacher squints at his face before saying, "Go sit down. Second to back row, window seat."
He doesn't miss her sympathetic glance towards his right knee.
Seething, he sits down and remains there for the rest of class: angry and in pain with an odd, heavy feeling in his heart.
ᴀɢᴀᴘᴇ ♡