📍𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚘𝚝𝚝𝚎,𝚗𝚌
🗓️𝚖𝚊𝚢 𝟸𝟹'
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
𝗸𝗮'𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝗴𝗶𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗶 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗴𝘀
"𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘢"
"can ya'll believe we actually graduated, bro?" tatiana said and smiled at her friends who all radiated success and happiness.
"hell yeah, not all birds flock together but we do. all my bitches destined for greatness!" sekaya boasted and swiped her hand under her chin.
ka'rina smiled in response and soaked up the feeling of breaking her family's generational curse. it was a rough journey of her tackling being a first generation graduate; but it was worth every tear, every late night, and every inch of stress and nerves.
"yo mama ever called you back, rina?" sekaya asked her friend who was in a daze.
shaking her head, ka'rina responded, "no, but it's alright."
"that's fucked up for real, i'm so ready for you leave and show they ass whatchu really bout." sekaya grumbled and tatiana agreed, "honestly."
"can we not talk about it? i just wanna think happy thoughts." ka'rina said with a small smile.
tatiana held up her hands in surrender, "you got it, i'm tryna pregame anyways."
while she went to raid her alcohol stash, ka'rina sat again in her thoughts. graduation night was supposed to be the best night of her life, but her mind constantly ran back to why her mother hadn't shown up.
renae, ka'rina's mother was.. different. or that's what ka'rina had grown up hearing. while in reality renae was just facing issues of her own to which she didn't know how comprehend like everyone else did.
she turned to other things to take her mind off of her own problems and left her two children to raise each other.
zakani, ka'rina's older brother dropped out in the ninth grade so he could make simple ends meet for the small family of three. he made sure his sister had before he did and he gave her what her mother couldn't- someone to see as a father figure and the world.
"rina," she snapped from her thoughts and looked at sekaya who was waving a shot glass in her face.
"cassafreakhoe amigo!" her friend cheered and they downed the shots together.
ka'rina wasn't a drinker, but she took a shot here and there just for the hell of it and she enjoyed the burn.
"what are ya'll wearing?" she asked the two as she rummaged through her bag she'd brought full of clothes and other necessities she'd need for the night.
"i was thinkin a skirt, but i wanna be on my neck tonight so i might just wear this one piece i got from this girl boutique." tatiana answered holding up the black all in one.
"that's cute, i see the vision." sekaya said nodding, "i'm wearing some light wash shorts and this shirt that match my dunks."
"whatchu wearin, rina?" the girl shrugged at the question.
"that's why i asked ya'll, i'm probably just gonna be hugging the wall anyways so it's doesn't matter what i wear." she said.
"that's whatchu think, watch out." sekaya grabbed the duffle and started to look through it herself.
"sisi," ka'rina said with her shoulders dropped.
"come on rina, just let me pick your outfit for tonight and you won't hear none from me for the rest of the night." sekaya pleaded.
"you're lying, but okay." ka'rina left the pair to pick out her outfit while she went and got in the shower.
she took the blunt from behind her ear and lit it as the room became foggy with steam from the shower running.
her phone buzzed in her pocket and she answered after reading the caller id, "hello?"
"wassup lil one, you ight?" zakani asked as his voice came through the phone.
"hi kani, i'm okay. i was about to smoke then hop in the shower though," she said.
"alright, i sent you some money for tonight. call me when you finish gettin dress and shit," he told her.
"okay, thank you but you already gave me so much money earlier. i'm just going to a party not a strip club, zakani." ka'rina joked.
"ian tryna hear allat, smack a bitch wit a stack if she piss you off then." they laughed at his statement and ka'rina shook her head because that's something he'd done before.
"alright kani, be safe."
"always,"
---
"class of 23, ya'll lit baby!" the mc for the night belted out over the music as the crowd of graduates cheered.
"they got this mufucka turnt loose, where the niggas at?!" tati said with her tongue out as the group laughed.
"ya'll i see my mannn, come on!" sekaya dragged the two girls to a section where her boyfriend, cairo sat with his homeboys surrounded by clouds of smoke.
"you good?" tatiana asked ka'rina who was quiet.
ka'rina nodded, "yeah, just lookin is all."
one thing kani had taught her was to ALWAYS watch her surroundings, ensure that she knew where every exit was, and watch whoever watches you. being zakani's little sister made her an easy target, and luckily zakani wasn't one to boast and flaunt so she never had much trouble.
"congratulations on graduatin lil mama," cairo spoke to sekaya as they hugged, he had graduated two years earlier and they've been together since his senior year at that.
"thank you baby, these my girls; tati and rina." sekaya said introducing the girls.
this had been their first time meeting cairo in person, he went to a different high school and as long as they made their friend happy, they didn't really care to meet him or not.
"wassup, how ya'll doin? i'm cairo but everybody call me slim. that's rell, his girl; mili, and mazi," cairo pointed out the three who were close by.
"ya'll are so pretty! i'm mili like he said," rell's girlfriend say introducing herself and giving the trio a compliment with a huge smile plastered onto her face.
"thanks baby, you're pretty too." tati spoke for the group who all agreed with warming-like smiles.
"we ain't never seen ya'll before, ya'll just graduatin too?" rell asked.
"yeah, we lit the whole grad weekend!" tati said and started dancing making the group laugh, she was for sure the life of the party.
"the whole summer fa real." ka'rina added as she looked around trying to find the eyes that burned into her, she could feel them but couldn't see.
"talk ta me," sekaya agreed and held out her hands as they did their handshake.
"yo friend don't talk?" tati asked referring to mazi who eyed ka'rina with his low eyes.
there it was; ka'rina looked at him and they had a small staring contest before she broke it and sat down on the couch.
"when he want to," cairo said answering tati's question.
sekaya smirked and went to sit by ka'rina who was occupied on her phone, "he likes you."
ka'rina looked at her friend with a straight face, "and i hate money, stop it."
sekaya laughed, "i'm serious! i saw how he was eyeing you and all the times i done been around him; he don't do that often. he just graduated too,"
"sekaya," rina said with a straight face before flicking her eyes back over to mazi who was rolling a wood.
"imma put you on before the night is over." sekaya said and left her before she could say anything.
"i need a drink."
---
"see ya'll later," rina said as she hopped out the car.
"see you rina baby! we love you," sekaya yelled out in her drunken state.
"love you scoob! see you tomma," tati grinned as she stuck her head out the car window.
"get my friends home safe, cairo." she said to the boy who looked stressed as sekaya giggled uncontrollably.
"heard ju, be safe lil one." cairo made sure she had gotten inside before pulling off and making his way to tatiana's house to drop her off.
ka'rina made sure to the lock the door behind her before she slipped off her shoes, leaving them by the door.
she walked into the kitchen holding her waffle house bag and feeling a slight buzz from the weed she'd smoked just before she had gotten home.
"rina!" kani called out just to make sure it was his sister who had just walked in.
"it's me!" she called back before washing her hands and listening as zakani's footsteps approached.
"wassup, how was grad night?" he asked his little sister peering into her bag and grabbing his food.
"it was cool." ka'rina shrugged keeping her response simple.
"mmm." kani hummed as he eyed her behavior, "you knew she wasn't gone come right?"
"yeah, but i hoped that she would've." the girl mumbled keeping her eyes on the counter.
"i did too, just cause i knew you wanted ha there. but i was there; you know how we go." kani said trying to cheer her up.
"yeah, i know." ka'rina gave him a smile as he pinched her nose.
"ard i'm finna head back up, imma probably be gone by the time you get up inna mornin." he said and she nodded.
"kay, goodnight kani- love you."
"love you too,"
zakani had left the kitchen and ka'rina ate her food before walking up to her bedroom, she put her hair in a ponytail and tied her silk scarf around it before taking off her outside clothes.
she threw on a big tshirt and fell onto her bed, too tired and high to do anything else really.
her phone dinged and she grabbed it,
𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞
+1 (704) 556-0864
𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝗻, 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗶.
𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘵 3:24𝘢𝘮
𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ'ꜱ ɴᴏᴛᴇ💟
alright, i'm trying something a littleeee bit new. this author's note will be dated for 11.20.23 just to see how long i'll keep ts in my drafts before i publish this book. i'm soooo inconsistent with wattpad and i feel like i always need a change with this damn app🙄.