DrugLove

3

Tuesday| School

Amari's walking through the halls, trying to get to her next class.

She skipped her first period and was lowkey planning to skip her second period as well.

She was almost to the back doors of the school when she bumped into Saint.

"Yoo, Mari." he smiled, giving her a bear hug.

"Hey." she smiled back.

He handed her a flyer with his picture on it.

"What's this?" she asked as she examined the paper.

"I'm having a party." Saint pointed to the top of the paper where it read Party in bold print.

Saint told her he would appreciate it if she came.

"Thanks." she folded up the flyer, stuffing it in her jacket pocket.

He also lets her know that football season would be starting soon, she would make a great cheerleader.

She kept that in the back of her mind.

Once she and Saint parted, Amari hurried out the back doors of the school.

She walked to a diner that wasn't too far from the school.

If you were driving.

The walk itself took about 20 minutes.

Classes were about 1 hour and 20 minutes, give or take.

If her math was correct, she had about 40 minutes to chill at the diner before she made her way back to school.

When she got in the diner there was nobody there.

Nobody except those who worked there.

She sat at a booth, setting her backpack on the right side of her.

She waited for someone to come over so she could order herself something to eat.

While Amari waited, she pulled out her phone to scroll through TikTok.

The rest of the diner was silent.

The bell from the entrance of the diner rang which caused Amari to look up from her phone for a split second.

There, she saw Miko and the two dudes from yesterday with him.

She waved.

"Go make sure everything back there straight." Miko told the men then went over to sit with Amari.

Amari put her phone away to be polite and asks him does he work there.

Miko didn't work there, they worked for him.

"Something like that." he says, "Why you ain't in school?" he asks her.

Amari laughed "Skipping." she says.

Miko tells her that isn't good.

"You should be in school, getting yo education."

"How you even get here?" he asked.

He knew the school she went to, the only high school in their town, was a long walk from the diner.

He hoped she didn't walk, but she did.

"The walk was nothing honestly." Amari shrugged.

"I'm taking you back." Miko grabbed her arm, but she pulled away from him.

"I'm not going." Amari crossed her arms "I'm fine here."

Miko looked off to the side then back at Amari.