𝐁𝐀𝐃 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐋𝐔𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 || 𝐒.𝐃

chapter 1

as cynthia walked home from school, her arms crossed as she felt her backpack move with every step she took. she stared ahead as she watched three familiar boys push each other back and forth. she continued to watch as they shouted curse words at each other and laugh, before slowly turning her attention away as she felt she was being stalker-like.

she moved her backpack around to in front of her, searching in her pockets for her air pods. just as her hand reached them her heart rate sped up, hearing het name being yelled out by a certain voice in front of her. "cynthia!"

she grabbed her air pods, zipping up her back pack and throwing up back around her shoulder as she looked up to see who out of the three was calling her. david, a boy she had been close with as a child, but as they grew to be teenagers they grew apart. david got involved in illegal and dangerous activities and cynthia's mom grew more protective and strict, wanting her to not get involved in such things and stay on track with school, she stopped allowing her daughter to see her closest friend as much. even though the two friends had parted and grew apart, cynthia had still kept up with the boy. she knew he had made a lot of knew friends that were also involved in the things he was, and that he had started working on music with his brother and best friend.

cynthia didn't remember the last time she had spoken to any of them, so as they got closer and closer she seemed to get more and more nervous. she played with her hands and they all walked closer to each other, before finally they all stopped and cynthia awkwardly smiled. "hi." she spoke, lowly due to her nervous state but loud enough that she wouldn't have to repeat herself.

"where you been, my heart? i haven't seen you in mad long." david chuckled slightly. he had always been annoyed with cynthia's mother and how she looked at him and his friends as bad influences, making cynthia stay away and all.

"yeah.. i've just been home." she shrugged. it was the truth, she didn't do much due to her only having a few friends that she rarely saw outside of school.

"you been good, though?" ethan spoke up, wondering how the girl he once saw all the time had been lately.

cynthia nodded, "y'all?" she returned the question.

"we been good, cyn." david smiled, wrapping his arm around her as he pulled her in a hug. hearing the nickname come out of his mouth felt like a flash of memories. she smiled to herself, happy that he remembered it.

as she hugged him back, she moved her eyes over to the boy who hadn't spoken the whole time. they made eye contact, letting cynthia know that he had already been looking at her. he had lost weight, grown taller and his curly hair was longer, but put back in a messy ponytail. cynthia thought that he looked good.

"aww." ethan dragged sarcastically, wrapping his arms around both david and cynthia. cynthia chuckled, while david smacked his lips and pulled away from the hug, shoving his brother off of him.

cynthia felt her phone vibrate, she pulled it out of her back pocket to see it was a message from her mother, asking where she was and why she wasn't home yet. she sighed to herself, stuffing the phone back in her pocket and looking up to the three boys. "i have to get home."

david rolled his eyes, knowing the message she had gotten was from her mom. "ight, we'll see you, my heart."

"safety, lil girl." ethan spoke, smiling mockingly.

cynthia smiled, shaking her head as she was secretly glad that he hadn't changed much. her eyes moved over to darrian, who only nodded his head.

she waved to all three, hurrying to walk past. she let out a breath she she felt almost relieved. she hadn't realized how much she missed the three until now, walking home. she thought back to david's words "we'll see you." would they? would they speak again? she knew she would have to keep it from her mom if they did, which made her nervous.

but she didn't know if the three would even hang out again, or if they would just wave when they saw each other, or go back to not even noticing each other.