Loving Knight: Book One of the Cresswell Series (COMPLETED)

29. ALIYAH

My alarm rang at 6:30 on the dot Monday morning, the regret of choosing an 8 AM class now hitting me as my eyes opened. I sit up and groan, rubbing the sleep from my eyes before getting out of bed, lightly stretching. I walk tiredly over to the door, turning on the light switch next to it. 

Suddenly, the door opens, making me jump. 

“Oh, hey. You’re awake.” 

I place a hand on my chest as Kira comes into the room. “God, Kira. You almost scared me to death.” 

“Sorry,” she says, taking her airpods out of her ears. “I thought you’d still be in bed right now.” 

“You know I have an early class every Monday right? I couldn’t sleep in even if I wanted to.” I go over to my drawer, taking out some clothes. “And now that homecoming has started, I know that I’m gonna be stuck in practice until almost midnight.” 

Kira sits down on her bed. “Are you sure you’re gonna be alright with going to practice?” 

“Yeah, I’ll be alright.” 

“Aliyah.” 

I look over at her. “Hm?” 

“Just in general, are you gonna be okay? You know, with everything that’s happened?” 

I hesitate at her question. I didn’t want to lie to her and tell her that I was okay, but I also didn’t want to tell her the truth and just worry her even more. 

“I’ll be okay eventually,” I tell her. “It’s just a lot to get over quickly, but I’ll be okay. I promise.” 

“Are you sure?” she asks. 

“I’m sure, Kira. Don’t worry about me.” 

“Don’t tell me that,” Kira says. “You’re practically like a sister to me. Of course I’m gonna worry about you.” 

“But you don’t have to. I’ll be okay,” I reassure her. “We’re done. It’s over. All I want is for this situation to just be water under the bridge and to just focus on homecoming.” 

“If you say so,” she says. “But just promise me that if you’re not feeling great, tell me.” 

“I promise, Kira,” I tell her. I change into my clothes then grab some of my toiletries along with my makeup bag, heading towards the door before Kira suddenly asks me something that made me stop in my tracks. 

“Are you gonna talk to him? That is, if you see him?”  

I bite my lip a little but shrug, reaching for the door handle. “I don’t know. To be honest, it might be a while before I actually have something to say to him.” 

Kira just nods, not saying anything else. 

I exit the room, walking past other girls decked out in Cresswell merch. The bulletin boards were filled with rules and regulations about safety during the homecoming week. I soon make it to the bathroom, heading inside. There were two other girls already at the sinks, but I ignored them as I went over to the third sink. 

“Hey. Isn’t that the girl from the pre-homecoming party?” One of the girls asks. 

I glance over at them, starting to brush my teeth. 

“Yeah, that is her,” the other girl says in a whisper. “The one that Deion toyed with.” 

“I heard that he never really wanted to date her. Is that true?” 

“I think so, yeah. She broke up with him in front of everyone at the party. Someone posted a video of it online.” 

”No way. Really? That’s embarrassing. I don’t think I’d be able to show my face again if that ever happened to me.”