more life / b.simmons (2)

22

adrian slings his backpack over his shoulder and waits by the door for kyra. they're not speaking and haven't since their birthday. it's now the middle of september.

kyra comes down the stairs, airpods in, blasting lana del reys NFR. she doesn't glance at adrian as she brushes past him and goes outside. she hops in the back of bens car, not feeling like arguing with adrian over the front seat. besides, he grew two more inches, making him officially 6'2–one inch taller than her.

"morning," she says to her dad. he smile at her and then adrian gets in.

"ready?" he asks. they both nod once they're buckled in and he drives them to school. "you two need to start studying for your permit test." ben says.

"im ready," kyra says, looking at ben through the rear view at ben. he nods and looks at adrian, who looks out the window.

"what do you have to say for yourself?" ben asks.

"nothing."

ben laughs and turns down the road to their school. kyra sighs at the thought of entering the school and not hanging out with avery, but she won't. she cannot process the idea of her best friend dating her brother. when they decide to become friends, this was not in the plan.

pulling up to drop off, kyra leans around the front and kisses bens cheek before jumping out. she speed walks past adrian and heads into the school. kyra gives a tight lipped smile to her principle and walks in the direction of where her, jada, and daniel meet every morning.

she finds them sitting at their usual table, but with avery. kyra clenches her jaw and daniel turns around just as kyra spins on her heel.

he's already next to her in record time. "chill out, okay? it's too damn early to be mad," he says. kyra glares at him and looks at the table. jada and avery gawk at them and kyra wants to flip them off.

"what is wrong with all of you? seriously? are you trying to ruin my day?" kyra asks. daniel gives her a sad smile.

"ky. this is your best friend, no matter what you say. you both miss each other—and yeah, maybe having her here this morning was a bad idea and we should've waited until later, but for the sake of the both of you, and everyone else involved, just talk? okay?" daniel asks. kyra looks him in the eye and sighs. other than avery, he can calm her down like no other. she'd marry him if she could.

after a second of thought, kyra flips her fresh braids over her shoulders. "fine," the two of them walk back to the table and just as kyra sits down, adrian walks over and kisses avery on the cheek. kyra squeezes her eyes shut and stands up. "fuck this." she mutters and walks to the library, leaving the four of them at the table.

"if you were here only a second earlier, she would've missed that," jada groans, dropping her head into her hands. adrian sighs and throws his arm around a quiet avery and pulls her into his side. "seriously, you guys need to make an effort to talk to her, too. you live with her." jada adds, pointing at adrian.

"i try! she ignores me," he says. adrian makes minor efforts, but either way he doesn't get a response.

daniel and jada sigh and look at avery. "what's your excuse?"

"i call and text her. i'm afraid to go up to her because what if she rocks my shit?" avery says. adrian sucks his teeth.

"she's not gonna do shit," adrian says. he'd fight his sister before she got to avery.

jada sighs. "whatever. but this "feud" needs to end because it's upsetting me and my homegirls."

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