Who Knew

30

Since Ranea fulfilled her promise of meeting Malesha, I had to fulfill mine of sitting back at the time. I dragged my feet to the table holding my lunch tray. As usual, both Ranea and Devin were there already. Ranea beamed once she saw me. Devin followed her line of direction. His face changed from anger to satisfied. I was not looking forward to this. But then Ranea didn't look forward to meeting Malesha.

"Hey," I breathed out.

"Well look who finally decided to come back," Devin said.

"Yeah here I am."

"What happened? Did you miss us?" Devin teased.

"I asked her to come sit with us. It's been awhile."

His mouth fell open. "Well that's a surprise. Welcome back."

"Yeah whatever Devin."

Ranea circled her little fingers around Devin's arm and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Baby. I really care about you both. It would mean a lot if you two could get along."

Despite her staring at him, his attention was on me. "I'm not the one causing the trouble. Remember?"

"Miesha?" Ranea called me.

It was difficult for me. With both pair of eyes on waiting for answer, I felt the pressure. I disliked the fact that everything was dependent on me. If I didn't comply, I was the bad person. I already decided that I would keep the peace for now. Soon, Ranea will know the truth and leave Devin.

"Fine. No more drama."

Ranea straightened up her posture clapping her hands. Devin smirked knowing that things would work in his favor.

"Now the only thing to work on is you, Chelsea, and Xavier."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because if Devin can now be cool with them, so can you."

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

"Come on Miesha. You need to get on board. So we can be one big happy group of friends."

Devin was tripping if he thought I could ever be friends with Xavier, Chelsea, or even him. I didn't need someone being fake to me or vice versa. Chelsea and Xavier made it clear to me that they would never be cool with a person like me. They claimed I was too uptight, boring, and lame. If anyone though those things about me, I refused to waste my time trying build a friendship that would eventually crumble.

"I don't think so."

"I need you to," Ranea whined.

"Not happening." I stood by my decision. I will temporarily compromise on Devin but not them.

She poked her lip and crossed her arms. None of it fazed me. I finalized my decision. No matter how much asking she did. It wasn't happening. Chelsea pushed way too buttons that couldn't be undone. Xavier was just her side kick to further escalate the drama. He was pathetic in my eyes. Chelsea dominated their relationship and controlled it.

"Why are you so stubborn Ms. West? Don't you want to be a part of the family?" Devin commented.

"Can we just leave it alone?"

"Alright." Ranea gave up.

We continued to talk about other things. During the conversation, there was a light tap on my shoes. At first, I thought it was Ranea until I saw Devin smile. From any angle, it would have looked like he was smiling at whatever Ranea was saying, but that was not the case. He continued to do it. I moved over after the third time to sit right in front of Ranea. I was lucky she didn't catch on to it.