Perfect

𝟎𝟐𝟎

𝐊𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐢 𝐀𝐥𝐲𝐜𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐲 | 𝐊𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐢 | 𝟏𝟗

𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵 𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿...

Shae entered Kenori's room, as she was on her bed watching Instagram reels.

"You coming to the park with us?" Shae asked as she walked around the bed trying to see Kenori's face.

"Who is us?" Kenori raised an eyebrow. "Us. Me, Dani, Meechie, Nino, Mek—"

"No." Kenori cut her off and Shae frowned smacking  her lips and put her hand on her hip. "Kenori how long you gon' keep up this damn facade?" Shae asked shaking her head slightly.

"Facade? This ain't no facade. I don't want to be associated with them, period." Kenori said firmly sitting up so that her back was against the head board and she sat up straight.

"Kenori that shit was a month ago." Shae reminded her.

"And? I don't want anything to do with them. They're still drug dealers, god knows what they doing when they aren't around us." Kenori shook her head as she spoke. "Hanging around them is like setting yourself up. I learned my lesson, thank you though." Kenori finished.

"Kenni, come on." Shae persisted, "Get over it. You survived!"

"What if I didn't? Shae, it was bullets flying past my head, not yours." Kenori stated dryly pausing between each word. "The police came looking for me almost as if I did something wrong." Kenori continued, "I don't want to feel like that again, I won't feel like that again." Kenori confirmed.

"Really?" Shae asked, "I understand, Kenori trust me I do." Shae raised her hand to lay on her chest. "But you avoiding them causing rifts in a friendship that was so good!" Shae called out.

"Well, everything good don't last." Kenori argued back looking up at her best friend who only looked at her with disappointment in her eye.

"Kenori you push away everything good that comes your way, I want to realize that but you so damn stubborn." Shae called out in slight disbelief. "One small thing you dislike—"

"So me almost losing my life was a small thing?" Kenori cut her off asked tilting her head scrunching her face in confusion.

Shae raised her tone getting frustrated, "Kenni, you are always focused on the worst of everything. Always. And I noticed how since you and Mekhi cut eachother off you been back to the Kenori I met in that camp for troubled teens!" Shae reminisced, looking at Kenori's whose expression went flat.

She began again, "Kenori you lived. Imagine if you had died." Shae looked at her best friend, "You would have died with at least a bit of interest in life or happiness because of Mekhi, and Meech, and Nino, and Dani." Shae said softly her voice cracking. "Kenori not even I could pull a smile from you like Mekhi could." Shae stated with a small breathless chuckle. "You say that they were good friends to me, but not only were they good for me overall, Kenori they were good for you too."

Kenori watched as Shae's body language shifted from frustration and it was slowly melting off of her as she spoke.

"Shae I don't know what you want me to do." Kenori stated softly looking at her and Shae looked at her, "I want you to understand that life ain't over, and you can have happiness. You grew up feeling that even the word love means nothing because you had a dad that beat on you every time you voiced your opinion and a momma who ain't do shit about it but tell you she sorry because she couldn't let him go. You grew up with people not believing in you. But I do. And so does Danielle, and Messiah, and Nasir, and Mekhi." Shae spoke genuinely.