The New Girl Next Door

•21•

Two weeks later...

Dinah Jane

"Mama!" I yell from my bed.Almost immediately , Mani rushes into the room, half-naked.

"What? What's wrong?" She asks, checking all over me."I'm fine," I say, biting my lip. She must've just got out the shower. Her hair is wet as well as some of her body.

Mani blushes, shaking her head,"well, quit screaming like you're dying, then."I shrug,"my bad. Can ya bring meh some cereal though?"

"Cereal?" She asks, shooting me a funny look.I smile,"yes. Jus' a box of cereal.""You gonna eat it dry?" She asks.

I smack my lips,"nah. Ima eat it wet."I watch as Normani's face blows up in a kinda reddish color. I smirk, just now realizing that I said something dirty without knowing.

Mani walks out of the room, shaking her head. A few seconds later, a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch is flying at me.

"Ow!" I exclaim as the flat of the box hits my cheek.I can hear Mani laughing in the hallway.

I roll out of bed, being sure not to put pressure on my shoulder, and quietly sneak out of the room, a fluffy pillow in my hands.

These last two weeks with her have been amazing. We don't go out though. I refuse to let myself trust someone considering what hell I've been through.

She's staying over at my house because of the fact that Lo's dad was in with a lot of bad people and somehow word got around that Mani snitched and called the cops.

Now this stupid mock gang is after Lo, Mani and I. I'm not complaining about her staying over, but she's complaining about it. She hates that I have to go to therapy every other day with Becky.

I hate it too, but in order to get better, I have to put up with her. Lo's still in the hospital, but she's going good and we come by every other day.

I'm still trying to cope with this medicine that they're giving me. They said that it makes me bipolar, or at least have some traits of it.

I've been seeing it lately, but it's not taking over my body like it was at the hospital. All in all, everything's good.

I'm hoping it stays that way.I spot Mani in the kitchen fixing her a sandwich, only in a oversized white shirt. She's been doing this a lot lately, walking around the house half-naked, teasing me and not giving me anything.

So to be honest, she deserves this.I tiptoe to her and bring the pillow back. As it flies to hit her head, she turns around and a ripping sound goes through the air.

Cotton explodes from the pillow, slowly falling to my floor.My mouth drops open as I drop the pillow and stare at Mani who has a knife in her hand, smiling ever so innocently.

I raise my hands and try to back away, but she catches me, pinning me by my stomach to the island."You was tryna hit me?" Mani asks, running the flat of the knife across my bare stomach.

I tense up, trying to come up with something to say. Her crazy ass, she saw me a mile away and was waiting for me. With a knife. A sharp one at that. She really trying to kill me."Nah," I reply.

"You sure, because it sure as hell looked like it," Mani says, pressing her arm harder against my stomach and staring into my eyes.I smile,"I'm sure. I jus' wan'ed to show ya 'ow soft da pillow was."Mani stares at me with a straight face.

And I stare back at her with the same expression.After a few seconds, we both burst into laughter. Mani pulls away, laughing, and tosses the knife into the sink.