Hate Is A Strong Word

4

I just got home from school and I'm exhausted. I head straight up to my room and throw my things down on the floor. I sit on my bed, tryna decide if I should just go to sleep now, or if I should do homework first and sleep later. "Fuck it." I say, reaching for my pjs.

Just as I'm about to change out of my clothes, my phone starts ringing. I look at it and see it's my mom. "Hey mama. Wassup?" I answer, putting the phone on speaker. "Hey sweetie. I completely forgot to tell you earlier but we're having dinner at Tasha's tonight." I sigh. I was so ready to go to sleep.

Tasha is my mom's best friend since they were in high school. They ended up having kids about the same time so me and my sister grew up with Tasha's kids. Her son is my age and her daughter is a year younger than my sister, who's 14. Oh yea, almost left out the most important part; Tasha is Cameron's mom.

So we've known each other since we were youngins, and we used to be best friends. But then came middle school where Cam joined the football team and thought he was too good to be friends with me, since I took my grades more seriously than being popular.

So that's where my hatred for him started. Our moms don't know that we hate each other like we do, they know we're not close anymore, but they have no clue. So they still do things like this — dinners and hanging out. Woo hoo 🙄

"I was just about to lay down." I groan to my mom. "Well you can get a nap in. We're going there at 7, that way we'll give Cam time to freshen up from practice." She responds. I roll my eyes and sigh. "Huh okay. Am I meeting you there?" I ask. "I have some errands to run so yea I'll meet you there at 7. Please tell your sister for me, I forgot to let her know too." She responds. I agree, we say our byes and get off the phone.

I really wish she didn't spring this on me, especially cause I don't wanna go. My sister, Ava, and Cam's sister, Kiana, absolutely love each other and are best friends. They remind me of Shay and I, it's so cute. But because they're so close like that, our parents always want us all to hang out together, rather than it being just them and the girls or something like that. I'm gonna have to slide that idea in their minds.

6:50pm

"Aight let's go Ava." I say to my sister from the doorway of her room. She says okay and we head out to my car. "You excited to see Cam?" She asks me as I pull off. I give her a look. "We go to school together. I see the kid everyday." I say. She nods.

I haven't told my sister about me and Cam's relationship because she talks too damn much. She doesn't try to snitch, but because she talks a lot, she slips up and tells shit. If I tell her about us, she might slip up and tell our moms then they'll try to make us be friends and it'll be a whole thing. No thank you. I pull up to Ms. T's and see my mom's car outside. Let's get this shit over with.

We get out the car and go to the door. We ring the doorbell and wait a second before Kiana opens the door for us. Her and Ava scream and hug each other, I don't know why they do that but it's kinda cute. I say hi to Ki and give her a hug as we come in. "They're in the kitchen. Come on Ava!" Ki says to me while running off to her room with my sister.

I head to the kitchen to see what they're up to. "Hey sweetie!" My mom says as we give hugs and kisses. Me and Ms. T say hi to each other and give hugs. "What are you all up to?" I ask them. "We're cooking spaghetti for dinner. It should be ready in about 10." Ms. T answers. "Cam's in his room if you wanna go up there." She adds. "Okay cool, thanks." I say, walking off. I guess I'll go bother him, why the fuck not.

As I head to Cam's room I walk past Ki and Ava in her room. I stop and check on them. "Hey ladies. What y'all doing?" I ask. They point to the tv and I see they're playing games on it. I nod and tell them about the food being ready soon.

I walk off and go to Cam's room. I knock and wait for him to say come in. "Yo." I say, walking in. He turns to me, giving a head nod. "Wassup?" He asks, turning back to his game. We tend to get along better when we're not at school, especially being around our families. It's nice I guess, arguing can get very tiring. "Didn't wanna awkwardly walk around your house. Seeing what you're up to." I respond, sitting in his bean bag chair. "Playing 2k, nothing new." He says, focused on the game.

I chuckle and shake my head. Guys put their heart and soul into playing these games, I don't get it. "Imma let you know now, don't even try it." He said, glancing at me. I laugh. "I don't have the energy." I respond. I know he's telling me not to fuck with his game, which I do sometimes. It just be payback really, but I'm tired today lucky for him.

"So why do you play the basketball game when you're the whole captain of the football team?" I ask him. He makes a face at me. "I can only play football games?" I shrug. "Shit I don't know. I'd just expect that you'd play Madden more than anything." I say. "I have it, I just play different games. Plus I play basketball too, you know that." He says, not breaking contact from his screen. I forgot he was on the basketball team too. "Oh yea." I respond. I decide to just scroll through my phone until food's ready.