Drake was struggling to solve some Math exercises that Mr. Smith had recommend to study for the quiz. He was in his study surrounded by worksheets, books and exercise books.
He came across a pile of his old ones and started browsing through them, hoping to find something that may help him. One caught his attention, it wasn't his. He started browsing through it and saw it was Nicki's formula notebook. This was his gold mine and he took it for granted. He studying the whole night with it. Hopefully this will be his saviour.
-
Drake walked in in school feeling confident. He had studied all weekend and was prepared for the most complex exercises. He wanted to give Nicki her book back, but then again, they weren't in speaking terms. At least that's what he thought. As soon as he spotted one of her friends, he called out for her.
"Candice, wait up!" Drake ran up to her and she gave him a smile.
"Hey, Drake." He took the book from his backpack and handed it to her.
"What's this for?" She browsed through the pages and noticed it was Nicki's notebook. "Where did you get this?"
"She forgot it at my place when we were studying. I just found it yesterday."
"Why don't you give it to her personally."
"Nah, she's probably mad at him. I don't want to argue with her this time. She's done what she could to help me. I don't want to hear her brag about how right she was."
"Fair enough. I give it to her right now. She probably needs it. Thanks."
"Your welcome." The bell rang and both went separate ways with a simple 'bye' from each other.
Luckily Candi and Nicki had their first period together - History. As soon as she walked in in class, she immediately spotted Nicki and Safaree stting side by side talking.
"Hey, guys." She greeted them.
"Hey, Candi."
"Hi, I saved you spot."
"Thanks." She said while siting down. She handed Nicki her notebook.
"Where did you find this?"
"Drake gave it to me this morning. And he also said there's no tutoring this."
"Oh, right. Okay." She had to confess she was a little bit sad. After, Math quiz was less than an hour away and he probably was studying with her book this weekend which meant he would probably get at least a B on it. Which meant no more tutoring. On the other hand, she was also happy, because tutoring wasn't an easy task.
"Girls, I almost forgot to tell you. I'm throwing a party at house on Fridays. I want you to come."
"Cool."
"At what time?" Just then their teacher arrived.
"I'll text you the details." Safaree whispered.
They nodded their heads. The lesson began.
-
Three days go by and everyone was anxious to receive their quizzes, even Drake. Mr. Smith had really outdone himself with it.
"Good morning, class."
"Good morning, Mr. Smith." The students seemed less bored than the usual for him, which meant they wanted their grades. But he would only give them at the end of the lesson.
35 minutes of class went by and he stood with a bunch of papers in his hands. He shuffled the quizzes and started giving them away. He was approaching Drake. He started praying silently that he didn't get a bad grade. Mr. Smith smiled at him and handed him his quiz.
"Congratulations, Mr. Graham. Well done." As soon as he saw his quiz, he hissed 'yes' loud enough to the whole class hear it.
"Sorry." He said outloud. The bell rang and everyone emptied the classroom to go to their next lesson. Drake was happily walking through the hallways on his way to his locker to change his set of books. He felt a small and warm hand poking his left shoulder, so he turned around to find a smiling Nicki behind him.
"Hi." She said.
"Umm, hi."
"I just came to congratulate you on your grade on your Math quiz." She held her hand to him which he gladly shook it. "You did great."
"Thank you. I wouldn't have done it without the help of your formulas."
"I see you found my notebook in your study."
"Yeah. How come you did the quiz without it and still had an A like always?"
"I have two of them, in case I lose one or loan it to someone."
"Smart."
"Thank you." The bell rang again. "Bye."
"Bye." With that, Nicki went to the bathroom to change since she had Dance class now. She got changed into some sweatpants, a crop top, some sneakers a put her hair in a bun. After. She quickly went to her Dance class. Today's lesson was choreography. Despite the fact that wasn't a dancer, she loved this class. It improved her strength and flexibility.
-
It was Sunday night and Nicki wasn't feeling sleepy at all. She grabbed her phone from her nightstand. It read 11:34pm. She sighed and got off bed. The pale moonlight was beaming through her pale pink curtains as she make her way to her balcony. As soon as she stepped out, she realised how full the moon was. She sat down on the floor in the corner of it and enjoyed the serenity of the moon and the silence of the night.
"What are you doing here?" She had noticed Drake was doing the same as her, only sitting on a chair.
"I could ask you the same thing." She asked.
"I like come out here just staring at the moon and get lost in my thoughts. How about you?"
"Same."
"Interesting."
"Very..." She raised both eyebrows. They sat in their balcony, so into their own worlds. "Why are we at each other's throat all the time?"
"You know what? I don't even know." He paused. "Do we even have a reason to be mad at each other like this?"
"I guess not."
"I think it's stupid, and we don't even try to get along. I don't want to spend my life holding a grudge that I don't even know what it's about."
"I totally agree. Can we just end with this childishness?"
"Most definitely."
"Friends?"
He smiled at her. "Friends!"
"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah, see you." With that, she got up and before she got in her room she waved him goodbye and he did the same. She closed her balcony door and it's curtains, got under the covers and turned off the nightstand lamp. It was kind of hard to find a good position, but once she found, she drifted right to a good night sleep.
•••
Nicki has just arrived at school with Candi. They were having a conversation on their way to Candi's locker. When they got there, they saw the basketball team. For a quick second, Nicki and Drake made eye contact.
"Yo, Nic!" She stopped in her tracks nod turned around. "You wanna go out today?" She looked at him weird. "Not as a date or anything... Like a a get-to-know-better, you know?"
"Sure, I would love to! You know where I live, what time should I be ready?"
"Actually I was thinking of going after school, then we'd go together home."
"Fine with me."
"Bye."
"Bye." With that, he walked away back to his friends and she watched him. She turned her attention back to Candi, she had a confused expression on her face. "What?"
"What was that about?"
"Nothing. He was just inviting me out."
"Inviting you out? Since when do You two get along?"
"Since this weekend."
"And you're already going on dates?"
"Ugh, it's not like that."
"What is it then?"
"It's just a friendly get-to-know-better, that's all."
"Hmmm..."
"What?"
"Look, I just don't want you to get hurt, okay."
"I won't. I won't fall for his ass."
"You better not." The bell rang. They hallway sighed and Candi closed her locker. "See you later, Nic."
"Yeah, see you."
-
School was over and Nicki was in the front entrance waiting for Drake. To her, it seemed like everything was in slow motion, she was very distracted.
"Hi!" She jumped and turned around to see Drake.
"Oh, hi. You scared me!"
"Sorry, didn't mean to."
"It's okay. Shall we?"
"Of course." They got out of the school building but Nicki stopped once outside. "Wait, where are we going by the way?"
"To Starbucks down in Columbus Avenue."
"Sounds good." They made their way to his car and in less then five minutes they arrived. Luckily, the place wasn't so full, which made them a bit more comfortable.
"Good afternoon and welcome to Starbucks. How may I help you?" A female worker asked.
"What do you want?" Drake asked Nicki.
"A Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino." She answered him.
"One Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino and Caramel Brûlée Latte, please."
"Coming right up." In about four minutes, she returned with their drinks.
"That'll be $7.70." Drake handed her a ten-dollar bill. When she was about to give him his change, he refused.
"You can keep the change."
"Thank you." The girl happily put it in her tip jar. "Anything else?"
"No, we're good."
"Thank you for your preference, and have a nice day."
"Bye." Nicki and Drake said, then went to sit on a table.
"So, have you heard about the school's musical?"
"Yeah. Are you going to audition?"
"Probably, yes. And you?"
"I don't know. I don't see much I can do there."
"Go for it. After all, it's a musical. You could play something, or even sing."
"Yeah, maybe I will." They got silent as their enjoyed their drinks.
"So, when's your birthday?" Nicki started off a conversation.
"October 24th, yours?"
"December 8th. Favorite color?"
"Brown, yours?"
"Pink!" She sang it.
"Wau..."
"What?"
"Nothing... I just expecting you would like a bolder color."
"Oh... Do you have any siblings?"
"Yeah, a half-sister, but she lives back in Canada."
"Wait, you're Canadian?"
"Yeah... And I'm guessing you aren't American."
"Well, where do you think I am from?" She adjusted herself on her seat.
"You got that exotic vibe, I'm guessing somewhere in the Caribbean."
"Correct. Trinidad to be more exact. And I have two brothers."
As so they carried on talking and getting to know each other there. They had a lot in common and didn't even realised it before, like their passion for singing and rapping. It amused both of them how it felt good being with one another, but they wouldn't admit it, just yet.
-
Nicki tried her best not to make noise as she opened and closed the door to her house. She had spent the whole afternoon with Drake at Starbucks and still talked a bit when they were going back home, so the ride was slow.
"Onika!" Busted, she thought. She made her way to the kitchen to find that her mother has stopped preparing the salad for dinner and was now looking her way. "May I ask you where you were?"
"I'm sorry, I was with Drake then we lost track of time."
"Oh, okay then." She turned around and continued doing what she was.
"That's it? You're not going to yell at me?"
"Why would I yell at you? You were with Drake, which means you were safe. I had nothing to worry about."
"You know what, sometimes I feel like you care more about him than me."
"Oh, don't be silly Onika. And besides, you know very well that I like that boy."
"Okay then... Do you need any help?"
"I'm almost done. You can set the table and then call your father and Jelani for dinner."
"Jelani is here?"
"Yes. He said he misses his family, so he came to spend the week." She heard his footsteps come downstairs. "Oh, and here he comes now."
Nicki was taking the plates off of a cabinet of the island. Jelani entered the kitchen as Nicki grabbed the pile and carried them to the table in the living room so he followed her.
"Nika!"
"Hi, big brother." He kissed her cheek and she giggled.
"Careful, you're gonna me me drop the plates."
"Sorry, let me help you." He took the plates from her and she went back to the kitchen to grabbed the rest rest of the tableware as Carol taking the pots contains to the food for dinner to the table.
"Mom, where's Caiah?"
"He got invited to a sleepover at his friend's house."
"Why do I keep missing him like that?"
"If you weren't so busy with Drake, then you would have known better."
"Mom..." She whined and pouted. Carol laughed at her daughter.
"Haha, sorry." They talked some about their days and catches up with Jelani and his college life.