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Amara groggily reached for her buzzing phone, an involuntary sigh escaping her lips. The familiar screen lit up with a group chat notification from the core four – Jenna, Caleb, JD, and herself. The group had formed at Vogue Magazine's annual brunch, an event her mom insisted she attend, where the four young adults found an unexpected connection. Amara already knew all four of them separately but she put them all in a group chat and named it 'The Core Four'. Which wasn't self proclaimed, the general public had seen the pictures of them on the red carpet and named the group of young adults that themselves and it just stuck. How she met them individually? Now that's an interesting story for later.
Today, however, the messages were anything but lighthearted. Caleb was freaking out about Amara hanging out with Cench, whom he deemed a "criminal," and he didn't hold back in expressing his disapproval. Jude also fell under his critical gaze, being labeled as a "douchebag."
"Yo, Amara, you can't be hanging out with a fucking criminal like him. And Jude, he's just an egotistical douchebag. What in the world are you thinking?" Caleb's text read, brimming with concern.
Amara, confused by the sudden outburst, fired back, "Criminal? How is he a criminal, Caleb?" But Caleb didn't immediately respond to her inquiry.
It didn't take long for Amara to realize the source of Caleb's outrage – Cench had posted her on his story singing. Jenna, not realizing the potential fallout, spilled the beans about the knuckle-kissing incident. Amara couldn't help but scold her friend for sharing that detail.
As the group chat descended into chaos, Amara felt like a referee in a verbal wrestling match between her friends. Caleb continued to express his concerns, labeling Cench as a criminal without offering any substantial evidence. Jenna and JD tried to calm Caleb down, pointing out that everyone deserved a fair chance.
Jenna jumped into the fray, typing rapidly, "Caleb, you're jumping to conclusions. You don't even know him. Amara can make her own choices." JD, being the voice of reason, added, "Let's not judge someone without all the facts. You wouldn't like anyone doing that to you trust me. You don't make the best life choices."
"What? What does that mean dickhead? my life choices?" Caleb disputed. "Yea man, your life choices? they suck." JD said. Even though they were texting Amara could almost hear the venom in his tone.
"I know you're not talking, JD." Caleb provoked. "You're worried about the wrong shit. Instead of worrying about me and my possible shitty life choices, you need to worry about the twenty random bodies that you catch every month" Caleb said trying to escalate the situation.
"Holy fuck, Caleb. Would you shut the fuck up?" Jenna retorted. They've argued like this many times before but this one is getting heated. Amara stepped away from her phone and took a deep breath. She gathered her things and went down the stairs to sit on the couch and she looked back at her phone.
