After coming from Westfield Zaire parted ways with her friends, Blessing and Elizabeth who had come back from their universities in other cities for the Easter holidays. It was so nice to spend time with them considering all the madness that had gone on, she loved the friendship that they shared, she could go without speaking to them for months but once they'd saw each other again and caught up on each other's lives it was like they'd never been apart. Elizabeth had gone ballistic after seeing Zaire's stab wound, she had had the stitches finally taken out a month ago and it didn't hurt much anymore but the scar remained. She never did like Cory. News travelled fast in the hood and before she had reached London, Blessing already knew what had went down she frantically called Zaire's phone but couldn't get in touch as her phone had been disposed of.
'You guys are going to eventually get together, get married and have babies.' Blessing said casually. 'That's what always happens with boy and girl best friends. Its inevitable.' Zaire too used to believe in that fairytale.
Zaire had already explained the current situation to the girls, but Blessing was ignoring it all, adament that she was correct.
As she made her way home, Zaire took the time to call Ryan, remembering how she'd promised to get in touch.
'Big head.'
'Zai!' She could hear a lot of noise in the background.
'What's going down? What you up to eh?'
'Paddy out! We're celebrating yo!'
'What? When? Oh my days!' She would cry if she could. Paddy, BJ's older brother who she and the girls had renamed Paddy Tatum was the ultimate mastermind behind the team. Like the others she loved him like a brother. They'd run a major scam last summer which had made them a ridiculous amount of money however things got sticky, Paddy had taken one for the team and it had cost him 6 months of his freedom.
'He came out yesterday, penthouse party tonight ima text you the address!' His voice trailed off a little as he was speaking to someone else in the background. Zaire just smiled. 'Bring the girls, Pris told me they're all back in town, I better see your faces! Ciao!' She laughed as he locked off, Ryan and Church were bait individuals and when they did something they did it big, she shook her head imagining what they had planned and sent all the girls a text. She put in her earphones and got on a bus.
In the past she could never enjoy such simple pleasures. She hated that she had to be away from her family to be able to live her life. That she chose a life of crime just to feel free. That she was happier with this life, drama with Cory and run ins with the law, all the craziness of living this way was better than what her life used to be. She didn't regret anything but she couldn't keep away from her sisters for much longer, she just wanted to be at the stage in her life where she had everything going for so her parents wouldn't be able to say 'I told you so.'
Zaire strongly believed that the lessons she'd learnt from this life were building blocks to her becoming a better person and the transformation was already starting to take place.
'Excuse me?' Zaire hadn't noticed that as soon as she'd got off the bus in Camberwell, a guy had followed her. He'd been watching her as soon as he'd noticed her sitting across from him slightly ahead, bopping her head to the music that she was listening to. He chuckled to himself as he watched her get into the song, moving her hands and shoulders in a way that reminded him of Big Sean. A little gangster lady, he thought to himself. She stood up to get off the bus, his eyes dropped to her bum, then to her firm thick thighs, she walked down the stairs so he finally got a good look at her face, he loved the way she was dressed. Immediately he wanted to know her. He got up and headed downstairs too even though it wasn't his stop yet. If it wasn't for her listening to music Zaire would have felt a heavy gaze on her but she was in a completely different zone, it was things like this that Cory had warned her about. If the boy had been a threat to her she would have slipped up and become vulnerable. Like Cory always told her - being a victim wasn't an option.
