Tora'Lei Taylor
📍Harlem Prep Highschool
Wednesday, 9:42 a.m.
"Mrs. Paige, could you please report to the front office" The intercom blasted making Tora'Lei pull her attention from the wall she had been staring and look around the classroom. She had already finished her class work plus her homework and was just patiently waiting for the last bell of the day to ring.
She normally would've occupied herself with her phone but because of the class she was in and the teachers rules, she wasn't allowed. She lightly tapped her nails on her desk eyeing the clock that hung up above the smart board.
Looking at her 2 week old acrylics, she made a mental note to schedule her an appointment for a fill in soon as she got out of school. If it was one thing she didn't play about, it was her nails. They always had to be up to parr.
"Ms. Taylor, would you mind running these to Mr. Watkins room" She heard her last name being called making her look up to see her teacher, Mr. Ross, holding up a stack of papers. She slightly nodded as she began to stand from her seat.
"Now Mr.Ross, you know she ain't running nowhere" A voice called from the other side of the classroom making her movements come to a halt. A few snickers could be heard around the classroom making her search for a face to match the voice.
She scanned the classroom until her eyes landed on Crystal, a rude mean girl who deemed herself better than everybody. She'd dated a popular boy that attended their school a while back and it basically made her as popular as him. They were like the Jay-z and Beyoncé of the school, that was until she cheated on him and he publicly embarrassed her in front of the entire school.
So now crystal lived a bitter life knowing she would never have a chance with one of the most popular boys again. Instead, she now bullied those under her status to keep herself relevant and liked.
It was pathetic in Tora'lei's opinion.
"Oh I'm sorry, we're you not the same one who got a train ran on you on live while your boyfriend laughed in the comments" The whole class erupted into chaos as the smirk dropped completely from Crystals face leaving Tora'Lei satisfied.
She walked up to the front of the class making sure not to step on anyone's book-bag. She looked back once more to see if crystal had anything else to say, but she simply sat on her phone with an embarrassed look on her face. She stopped at Mr. Ross's desk and he handed her the papers and then he gave her a fist bump on the low making her chuckle and shake her head.
She left the classroom entering the empty hallway. She knew no one would be out since no one was allowed out of class for the first and last 20 minutes. The walk to Mr. Watkins class would take a minute since it was on the second level of the school and her class was currently on the first.
She walked down the long hallway quietly honestly just enjoying being alone. She enjoyed being alone. She could be her authentic self without having to hear anyone's unwanted opinions.
It was no secret that Tora'Lei was on the larger side and there was nothing wrong with that. They way she saw it, not everyone was made to look or act the same way. She tried to never let people's words affect her, but when you start to hear the same things over and over again it becomes old.
She was plus sized and didn't have not one problem with it. Either you were gonna love her for her, or you weren't. Her logic was very simple.
She made it to Mr.Watkins door. She sighed preparing herself knowing that all eyes would be on her when she entered the classroom. She knocked softly on the door, but hard enough to where they could hear her.
A few seconds went by before the knob on the door could be heard turning. She stepped back a little as the door opened. She was met with a short girl who smiled sweetly at her before opening the door wider. She thanked her as she continued walking into the room.
She spotted Mr.Watkins sitting at his desk so she quickly made her way over feeling the stares of the students that sat in the room. The older man looked up from the papers he sat grading and warmly smiled at the girl.
"Hello, Mr.Ross sent me to give these to you" She passed him the stack of papers she held in her hand as he reached for them.
"Oh yes, Thank you for bringing them" He thanked her making her nod and turn back around getting ready to exit the classroom the same way she entered.
"BESTIE BOOOO" A voice shouted from the back of the class making her snap her head towards the source and her face immediately broke out into a smile.
Waving at her excitedly from the back of the class was her cousin and longtime bestfriend, Lora'lei. It was obvious the girls were related due to their names.
Their mothers were identical twin sisters who did everything together. All the way from sharing birthdays down to having kids at the same time and treating them like twins.
The girls were 2 days apart and had just celebrated their birthday together a few weeks back. They had taken a trip to florida with their mothers and it was some of the most fun they'd ever had.
Tora'Lei quickly looked over to Mr.Watkins seeing him nod his head and wave her off making her nod and walk to the back of the classroom where the other girl sat with three other boys.
"Hey Lolo" She used the nickname she gave her cousin when they were 5. They had nicknamed each other Toto and Lolo and it was just childish nicknames at the time. As they grew up the names stuck and now they were the only ones allowed to call each other the names.
"Hey Toto, what you doing in here" She pulled her cousin into a hug like she did every time she saw her. Lora'lei had a love language of physical touch. She always claimed Tora was very soft and gave the best hugs.
"My teacher asked me to bring Mr.Ross some papers" She kept her eyes on her cousin feeling eyes on her. She hated being stared at, she always thought someone was making fun of her.
"Oh ok, well let me introduce you to my friends, I can never get you to meet anyone else" The statement was true. Lora had tried time and time again to get Tora to expand her friend list and meet some of her friends but Tora never went for it.
"This is Dd, Notti, and Ddot" She pointed to each boy as she said their name making Tora nod.
"Nice to meet y'all, I'm Tora'Lei" She waved as they greeted her back.
"I be seeing you around school, you be looking mad unapproachable" The boy named ddot dapped her up making her chuckle a little.
"I just be in my own world for real, I don't really know anyone here besides Lolo" She shrugged. Tora'Lei was mostly by herself at school. Her and Lora had different lunches and they didn't really have any classes together but 1 which was in the morning time.
That didn't stop Lora'Lei from being with her cousin any chance she got though. She hated that they didn't have many classes together because she wanted to be around her cousin all the time so she could know she had at least one person on her side at this school.
Luckily winter break was coming up and next semester classes would be changing so the girls were excited because they had almost every class together for 2nd semester.
"Well you know us now, we gon get you out of that" Dd exclaimed nodding his head at Tora. Lora sat back smiling, she was happy to say the least.
"She know y'all" The last boy mumbled under his breath. While Dd and Ddot had welcomed her with open arms, he hadn't said much to her or even greeted her back when Lora introduced them.
Tora'Lei wasn't stupid, she could sense when someone didn't like her. The problem was, she didn't care. She didn't even know the boy so she wouldn't waste her breath entertaining his comment.
"Well I have to get back to class, are you coming home with me Lolo" She ignored Notti all together as he sat on his phone.
"You know I am, I know Tete Kyla made something good" She rubbed her hands as her stomach growled. Ddot's ears perked up at the mention of food.
"I'm dead coming with y'all" He stated more than asking making the girls laugh.
"You're more than welcome, my mom always makes too much anyways" Her mom, Kyla, loved cooking. She loved food period. She was the head chef at a nice restaurant so though they weren't rich, they were financially stable.
"Sayless, you drive to school or we taking the bus" He asked making her shake her head.
"I drove my car today, y'all can go find it after school. It's a pink Honda accord" She loved her car. It wasn't a Benz or anything but it was perfect for her. It was her realistic dream car, her actual dream car was a pink Audi.
She talked with the group a little longer before she left the class and entered back into the hallway. She happily walked down the hallway. She was happy that she'd made some new friends today who didn't immediately judge her before knowing her or saying anything rude.
The boys were honestly completely opposite of what she'd thought they'd be. She had of course seen the boys around school before and on social media due to their rap careers, which was going very well for them.
She thought they would be rude and arrogant but they had surprised her.
The end of the day came quickly as the bell rung. She quickly packed her things taking her keys out of her purse. She maneuvered through the crowded hallways trying to reach the student parking lot. She walked to her car seeing Dd and Ddot standing by it talking to Notti and another girl.
"Hey, the doors should be unlocked now sorry the hallways were crowded" She pressed the unlock button on her key remote making the locks sound off.
"You good my heart, we was just telling Notti where we going" Ddot motioned to Notti and the girl who clung to his arm staring directly at her.
"This who y'all going with? Nahhh" The girl laughed as Notti tried to hold his back.
"What was said" The group turned around to see Lora moving towards them at a fast pace. She was walking to the group ready to greet her cousin until she caught the end of the conversation.
"Oh hey Lora" The girl smiled at Lora'Lei but she kept the mug plastered on her face.
"Hey my ass, what did you just say to my cousin" If it was one thing the girls didn't play about, it was each other.
"It's good Lora, that bitch better fix her leave out before she fix her mouth to say anything to me" She rolled her eyes walking to to drivers side of her car pulling the door open.
"Yeah Ight, Notti you better put yo dog on a leash" She followed Tora to the car opening the passenger door. Tamara stayed quiet feeling embarrassed.
"I wish you would come with us but imma let you be, be safe my heart" Dd dapped his brother and Ddot followed. They said their goodbyes and slid into the backseat of the car.
The drive to Tora'Lei's house was 20 minutes long. The ride consisted of the four friends singing their heart out as they passed Tora's phone around taking turns playing throwback songs they hadn't heard in a while.
"IM NOT WILDING OUT LIKE I USED TO" Lora shouted to the top of her lungs as dd recorded from the back and Ddot danced in his seat.
"I DON'T DO THE THINGS I USED TO NO MORE" Tora sung after her as Lora held a imaginary mic to her mouth.
"I CHANGED FOR YOUUU" Dd and Ddot screamed making the girls laugh.
They pulled up to her house a while later getting out and grabbing their book bags. They followed her to the front door as she put her keys into the door unlocking it.
"Yo ya house sturdy gang" Dd complimented the house as him and Ddot finished walking through it giving themselves their own house tour.
"Nah word, I'm about to raid ya pantry" Ddot's favorite part of the house quickly became the pantry when he saw it stocked with all his favorite snacks.
"Well my mom said she left food in the over, it should still be warm she left not too long ago" She finished texting her mom replying 'okay' when her mom informed her she had cooked before she left for work.
"Oouhhh that's all I been waiting on" Lora kicked her shoes off placing them onto the shoe rack by the door and dropped her book bag before taking off into the kitchen.
"Can y'all put y'all shoes on the rack by the door, my mama don't like shoes in the house I just let y'all slide because y'all wondered off" She instructed the boys as the complied removing their shoes.
The three walked into the kitchen to find Lora washing her hands in the sink. They copied her actions before opening the oven and pulling out the pan of chicken Alfredo and then another pan of garlic bread.
"Ouuu, mama did her big one" Her stomach growled at the sight and smell of the food. They took turns fixing their plates and drinks and then migrated into the living room to watch a movie while they ate.
"Can we watch a scary movie" Every time it was time to watch a movie Lora'Lei would suggest a horror movie. They were her favorite, which is why Halloween was her favorite time of the year. It was currently the middle of September and she was eagerly counting down the days until Halloween.
"No Lolo, I'm not finna get scared and drop my plate" Tora groaned knowing how easily she got scared.
"Ugh fine, we can watch something funny then" She gave in going on the app Hulu and began searching in the 'comedy' section.
"Yeah I'm jackin than, I'm tryna laugh" Dd and Ddot were already eating their food before they even decided on a movie. Tora knew they would be going back for seconds.
They all finally agreed on 'The house next door:Meet the blacks 2'. The girls had watched number one and wanted to watch the second one.
The rest of the evening consisted of them watching movies and talking about random things or getting to now each other. They ate again before they took the boys home since Lora would be coming back to spend the night.
They exchanged numbers on the way to take the boys home and even made a group chat. When they pulled up to sugar hill they saw a few boys standing on the block including Notti who eyed the car as his brother and bestfriend got out.