•°®{riːˈɪnstɪtjuːt}®°•| Urban Fiction

°{II}°

Chapter Two : F, For Friends Who Do Things Together

"Can I help you?" I asked slightly agitated at the sight of Mariah standing at my locker, apparently waiting for me. It was either that or she forgot where her's was because as I observed yesterday, unlike mine, her locker was located in the lower part of the hallway and she was standing in front of my locker by herself. Confirming my suspicion, her eyes lit up as she spotted me, "Hey Seraya, I uhh ain't really get to ask yesterday with Yohan and 'em being there but uhh.." she said nervously.

"But?" I probed, eying her, lowkey sizing her up. "I was wondering if you could kinda show me around? the girls from my homeroom ditched me and I didn't really think to ask anybody else?" She said, looking at me hopefully and in honesty, I did not expect her to be this shy, at all. I saw that she wasn't really talking yesterday with Yohan and them, but I just thought it was because they were them and they were overbearing.

"Sure, it ain't a problem" I agreed, softening up a bit, realising that as of right now she really didn't mean any harm. "Thank you!" she almost exclaimed and started cheesing, "lemme see your schedule real quick?" I asked her. She adjusted her bag on her shoulder so she could reach into it and fumbled around a bit before she pulled out a binder and came to stand beside me, pointing to a page.

Just as luck would have it, coincidentally, besides on a Monday and a Friday, we had all the same classes.

" well we mostly got the same classes so I guess we could just meet up at my locker on a morning till you get used to the schedule, you cool with that? " I suggested, looking up from the binder and to her. She nodded in agreement as she put the pink object away, "well I also kinda wanted to know if you wanted to exchange numbers?" She said lowly, as if she were walking on eggshells by asking in the first place. "I mean why not" I shrugged, getting my phone from it's place in my front pocket and handing it to her, while she did the same with hers.

We exchanged numbers and quickly made a detour to her locker on the way to our first class.

I feel like I misjudged her.

.

I took in her side profile whilst deep in thought, Mariah really made me wonder in the span of hours that I've known her. I feel like a hypocrite, judging her personality by means of looking at how she was dressed. Her shy persona is something I wasn't used to in my friend circle, if you could even consider it mine and if I even consider her my friend, it was a huge contrast from the out going characters I had grown used to. Almost refreshing even, to be around someone who could just chill and bask in the ambience of silence.

She had grown on me.

I wondered what her parents were like, if she had any, I wanted to know what her past school and experiences were like, as if I were ready to go to war with anybody who would mess with somebody like her.

She was now on her way to being an acquaintance, that was a lot of progress, considering I haven't known her long.

The teacher not even being along the journey of my train of thoughts as my eyes trailed off to the opposite end of the room to spot Yohan and Andre talking it up with two other girls from Mariah's homeroom, this boy has no chill and no respect I swear. They were goofing around and stuff, laughing and smiling along with what was most likely some dumb joke Yohan made. To my disappointment, instead of calling them out, my teacher chose to put me on blast instead. "Seraya are you here with us this morning?" She asked " In the flesh Miss Parker" I responded smartly, once again fighting the urge to roll my eyes when I heard snickers and giggles from where the school's boyfriend was. I waited till the teacher returned to her lesson before I smacked my teeth at the air, deciding to take the much needed notes for this lesson.

When class was over, Mariah and I found our way to each other in the hallway. Which wouldn't be as hard if Yohan didn't call her to where he was, conveniently, disregarding my existence as I allowed my self to slip out of the classroom, I was glad he still didn't acknowledge me. As we finished packing our previously needed supplies into our lockers and began heading for class, Mariah and I actually engaged in conversation. "So.....Yohan and you?" She asked, once again treading lightly on her topics of conversation, "Yeah" I sighed in response. "I'd never expect you with someone like him" she said almost as if she was disappointed, " and what's that 'posed to mean?" I queried, becoming defensive. "Ion mean it like that" she said, lightly brushing her neatly slicked back bun with her fingers, trying to make it neater, if that was possible. "So what do you mean it like?" I asked " it's just he seem so superficial and narcissistic, y'all just seem like y'all won't, don't and shouldn't fit, but y'all apparently do" she said, detailing the lengths of her observations when it came to my relationship. "We used to fit" I said lowly "long before all this shit, long before girls found him attractive and guys found out how much money he has, when he was the real Yohan, we fit, ion know who this person is". She nodded in response and by her facial expression I could tell she wanted me to go on, "And it's like I'm tryna see if behind all this if the person I know still there and I- I just don't even know why he chose to become like this" I shrugged not saying any more, not having fully trusted her enough to freely over share. "I get that" she empathized, "niggas ain't shit". "I know that's right girl" I co-signed as we giggled a bit before we walked to into class. I dreaded Tuesday's second period with everything in me, back in freshman year, Yohan and I decided that we would sit together during History and unfortunately, our greying teacher decided that it would be easier for her if we kept the same seat always. Originally I had no problem with that, but when I realized that she was going to be our history teacher for the remainder of our time at Frederick Douglas High, I was ready to kick hot lava rocks, barefoot.

(A/n: the school name is completely fictional)

I internally groaned as I sat myself at the back of the classroom, wishing that Yohan had decided for himself and convinced the rest of the trio to skip class today, but to no avail, right before the class began, in strolled the three goons. "Mariahhhh!" Andre said, immediately taking notice to the fact that in order to lighten the force of the blow, I had made Mariah pull up a chair of her own to the round table. Originally, the purpose of the table set up was to encourage interaction, in an otherwise boring class, but silence around this table was my plea. I saw Mariah give them all a head nod as she went back to prepping her note taking materials. " so Seraya it's no love for us? " Andre loud self asked "ion know" I shrugged, also busying my self with a task similar to Mariah's. Thankfully, the teacher walked into the class greeting us and almost in the same speed, starting her lesson.

"Bae?"
Yohan whisper-called and I rolled my eyes, only immersing myself in my activity more.
"Raya"

" Ray"

"RayRay"

"Seraya if youn answer that nigga already" Tjay snapped, getting as annoyed as I was.
"What?" I asked, shortly looking at him before averting my attention, cautious in my attempt to not get caught talking. "Damn fam, it really ain't no love for Han" he said, obnoxiously referring to himself in third person as he tried to make a joke and of course dumb and dumber laugh.

(A/n: funfact, I refer to characters as pieces of their character traits when I can't remember their name, then go back to previous chapters to input the correct thing and ten out of ten times I be real close to calling the female lead y/n)

,