LDN

Nah they ain't on nuttin

Jade's Pov

My brother deserved an award or a trophy, even a certificate would do. He just needed something that acknowledged his talent. Because this boy was able to shit on the fine line drawn between humour and offence like no other and he did so effortlessly.

I could tell she was nervous from the moment she walked in, with section boyz playing loudly in the background (not my cup of tea but there was no telling Sam), and the weed smoke gliding through the air her innocent doughy eyes and heart shaped face looked completely out of place. Her eyes whizzed around the room and she constantly touched her hair and played with her sleeves. I guess I would feel nervous too having to sit in a room full of people that I didn't know, but I was rarely affected by things like that. People were either going to take me for who I was or they weren't it was simple, I couldn't waste my time trying to tip the predetermined balance. Why would I when I had these guys.

Sam was unique in his indifference to just about everything, he just didn't take anything seriously which could be very dangerous. He and my brother were a volatile mix who fuelled one anothers stupidity. It was recently his 17th and instead of bunking and staying at home to get drunk like everybody else, he decided to bring the party to school. He spent the morning waving his Ciroc bottle in the air rebelliously whenever the teachers heads were turned. And spent the afternoon running and hiding from those very same teachers. He was a fool and although I disagreed with a lot of the things he did mainly how he treated girls( he was already looking at Nawal like he wanted to devour her although she seemed completely oblivious to it) he was there when it counted, loyal to no end.

Chinasa was a beautiful soul, she was one of those friends that elevates you. She was the person I could call to share those intimate thoughts that creep up on you at 3am in the morning. We talked about spirituality, the future or even reevaluated situations that had happened years ago. For that I loved her entirely. She was easily influenced by the boys though which I put down to her fun loving nature, but when she wasn't smoking weed with Sam and James her head was buried in a book or she was doing something random like taking a pottery class or learning belly dancing. She was desperate to find out about the world. She really wanted to live in it, take all it had to offer and share it with the people she loved. The worst thing you could do was compare Chinasa to someone else, because she wanted to be a unique mixture of everyone and everything at once.

Angel and I however had a turbulent relationship, drama clung to her desperately like a leech. She was unpredictable and hard to read which I hated, I liked to get people down to a science, which is why she was so frustrating. She had a good heart but there were times when I just did not know what was going on in her head. To top it all off there was something going on between her and my brother. They had always been close, mostly due to the fact that trouble stuck to them like white on rice, and had upset more people in our area than the shitty local council .  If Angel wasn't fucking around with someone then James was pissing them off. But I noticed that there was a shift in the dynamics of their interactions, I just didn't know what it was exactly.

The worst thing about James was that he was my twin brother. He was supposed to be a reflection of me. But I could never play with people the way he did, he tested rules and boundaries for fun just to see what would happen. There were still places I couldn't go to and people I couldn't speak to because of the things James had done. We shared a womb but could not be more different. I looked at Nawal, deep frown lines had emerged in her golden skin, she was uncomfortable and I could see her contemplating, not knowing how to react to him. He spoke to her like that just because he could. I almost felt sorry for her, because she had no idea what a fucked up group of people she had become involved with.

Nawal POV

James was officially acknowledging me for the first time, was this really what he had to say? His dark and empty eyes focused on me and his mouth was sporting a mischievous grin. I sat my tiny cup down and licked my lips tasting remnants of the bitter vodka. Chinasa was lost in a world of her own gulping down more alcohol and singing along to the music, but Jade, Angel and Samuel watched intently waiting for my reaction.