LIGHTS UP ━ JORDAN BAKER

chapter four

   Her house filled with 'guest' people she'd seen once or twice, it had been a difference between her neighborhood block parties in crenshaw and her mothers 'get togethers', both occasions the grill was on but she wasn't the one lighting this one, a 'professional' barbecuer had been cooking the main meat for the night, a lady in their kitchen cooking up the rest—all the adults standing around in the back, talking like it was a formal event just to welcome her father back, weirdly enough this had been a first.

    And even more odd, Grace had been here.

   The two women were still friends, that bond never broke but it was the first time she ever saw the woman in her home meaning it was probably the first time she'd been here, Spencer sat next to her, analyzing her bored expression "nice house" he said, grabbing fruit from the longer tray infront of the two "thanks" she blandly replied.

   "What happened to your bracelet?" he asked, her bare wrist being the most apparent thing in the situation, she rubbed her arm, "someone needed it more than me."

   The silence was loud, her hands fiddling with grape stems she'd been eating before he sat down, "Look, about the other night, I didn't respond because I couldn't bring myself to talk to anyone who really knew me...I wasn't in the best mental space freshman year, my mom was on my case about everything and my dad was starting to leave more, I started partying more to ignore what was happening with Shawn, by the time I remembered to respond too much time had passed" Brielle gave her best explanation.

   She was slowly recovering from her year, the feeling of it all to be exact, the fact she'd lost multiple friends in the process—Spencer nodded, "It's okay Brie, you know I'm here for you though, you could've talked to me about anything and I wouldn't have hesitated to be on the first bus to beverly hills to see you" he said.

    "That won't be a issue anymore since i'm moving to Beverly hills with the Bakers" he threw the news out there, her eyebrows raising to his abrupt sentence, maybe that's why her mother had invited the James family, they'd finally be 'one of them' with a son living in the zip code, just as she opened her mouth to speak the talk of the hour walked in, Jordan being the only child with them, Billy holding a gift basket.

   Jordan gently smiled at the girl as they got further into the house, his hand forming a wave, Nyrema narrowed her eyes, noticing the gesture she walked towards the three "Laura!" she said, hugging the woman and continuing the conversation down the hall.

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ┊

Brielle sat in her english class, the pen in her hand going in circles as she played with it on her desk ignoring every other word Mrs Brine had been saying—her mind was always in a far place, Layla sat next to her, the girl whispering about the argument she had with Asher, "he was like so mad" she said, her words being dragged out, sometimes, Brie couldn't believe how valley girl her best friend turned out to be, she couldn't fathom how she ended up being close with the girls she used to make fun of with her sister.

"Why?" she whispered back.

It looked as if Laylas' mind had exploded within itself when she began to gather her response, "you won't even believe it but he totally blamed Spencer which made no sense, I was just being nice!" Layla sounded almost as if she was trying to convince herself more than the girl, Brielle chuckled, "your definitely lying."

"No im not!" she accidentally got louder, Mrs Brine stopping her sentence "is it something you wanna say to the class Ms keating?" the ginger woman asked.

"No...Sorry Mrs Brine" Layla apologized.

"For the group assignment i'm pairing you all into groups of three" the woman paused, handing out a check list as she walked around the room "you'll be required to read both books and write an comparison essay on the book, I can tell if you watch the movie and skip the hard part, I'm looking at you JJ" Mrs brine instructed causing some of the room to lightly chuckle.