LDN

Love for my Squad

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the support, I should be revising but I just had to upload this chapter, hope you enjoy!

Jade's point of view

The laughing gas had worn off, the alcohol had ran out and we were all still for a moment. It was as if the electric blast of energy that once surged through the group had disappeared along with the last of the Hennessey. Being in one another's company used to guarantee us a good time but it seemed like it was impossible for us to have any fun now without there being something to create a bit of a buzz. Back in the day I refused to drink or smoke so that I could watch over everyone else. But on Chinasa's seventeenth birthday I watched Angel pour Chinasa 17 vodka shots, one for each year she had been alive and I thought 'fuck it', I couldn't watch over my friends forever and began to indulge.

We finally started to make our way out of the front door when Angel decided it would be the perfect time to change out of her 6 inch stilettos and into something more comfortable. I couldn't help but roll my eyes as we all slowly filed back into the building and watched Angel rush towards her room. My brother rested his head against the front door with a look of impatience smeared across his face, I knew that as the night progressed his mood would only get worse. He and Sam loomed over us girls and seemed to shrink Angel's hallway in a way that was almost comical. My glance turned to Nawal who was apparently fascinated by her nails, she nibbled and picked at them incessantly and I chuckled silently to myself knowing that we were in for an interesting and slightly awkward night. Things always get messy when we go out and I was intrigued to see how Nawal would fit into our organised chaos.

"How are we even getting there, because God knows I'm not taking bus, looking like this," Chinasa twirled around making sure we got a full 360° view of her curly mane and slender legs, which Sam's eyes lingered on a little longer than necessary.

My brother reached into the pocket of his jeans and jiggled a set of car keys in the air, "It's nothing." A sarcastic chorus of 'man like' and 'sorry g' was hurled at James to which he responded with an elegant middle finger. I was happy that he finally had a license, he had been driving illegally for a minute so there was now one less thing for me to worry about where my twin brother was concerned. I was surprised but glad that he was willing to bring us all in tonight. The last time we tried his patience we were left to walk to the bus stop in the pouring rain while he raced off in the warmth of his car. There is nothing worse than having to get on the bus when your hair is laid and your face is beat, which please believe was the case.

I began to scroll down my long list of snapchat contacts to pass the time, I watched boys showcase their cars and girls pout at the camera before checking who exactly had seen my story. The person I was secretly hoping to see hadn't watched it so I shoved my phone back inside my clutch.

"Not gonna lie Angel is taking mad long, I will fully leave her behind," James' eyes settled on me as he spoke as if I was Angel, as if I was the one that had been in my bedroom for the past fifteen minutes. He obviously wanted me to see what she was doing, while the idea of twin telepathy was bullshit to me, I almost always know what my brother is thinking. With him it is all about subtext because what he doesn't say tells me everything.

I flicked my new kinky hair over my shoulder and walked deeper into the flat, the rhythmic sound of my heels clacking against the floorboards echoed through the hallway. Although Angel's brother Damien had only just moved into the building it already felt so familiar. It was like every flat in the area had been built off of the same depressing blueprint, this one didn't have lifts that smelt of piss or arguing neighbours, but it was only a matter of time. Angel had lived with her brother for as long as I could remember. Her mother lived in Manchester and her father who I remembered as an expressive Jamaican man with matted dreads and a coy smile died when we first started secondary school. It's always the same situation no matter how nice of a home Damien tries to establish, it always lacks that welcoming feeling.