Before The Bell Rings - Spencer White

episode VI

The girls and I were preparing ourselves at Darren's for the Slay Ball. It was only my second time going to this event. I had been two years ago but it was in my old neighborhood and it weren't much fun. Darren was doing Amerie's makeup, Quinni was texting and I was finishing up my hair. I had no choice but to tell Amerie about what I had heard in the locker room. She was so pissed at Malakai. I didn't know if I had done the right thing by telling her. Anyway, a few moment after I gave her the news, Spider joked, in front of everyone, about how Malakai and Amerie had hooked up.

"Malakai needs to learn how to keep his mouth shut." Amerie said.

"To be fair, you did tell us about the hook up." I responded to her.

"I kept it PG. Whose side are you on?"

"Yours, babes." I put the last barrette in my hair and turned to face her. "You know that I'm on your team, we all are." I reassured her while checking my outfit in the mirror. I had put glitter on my cheekbones. I wore a super tight green corset that made my biggest insecurity, my boobs, look so good. Sometimes, I liked dressing a bit more slutty. I felt confident and so hot.

"One-on-one Malakai is so lovely, but when guys get into that group pack mentality, they just turn so feral."

"I'm sorry boo. Straight men are the worst." Darren said, touching up Am's lip gloss.

"Lesbians aren't easy to deal with either." Quinni interrupted, taking Am's glass of her hand and chugging the rest of it.

"Everybody sucks." I exclaimed, pouring more wine into everyone's glasses. Wine therapy it is.

"Except us." Quinni responded.

"You know how I feel about people that aren't us." Darren said, we clinked our glasses and all nodded in agreement, smiling at each other. They really were the best and I was luck to have met them. Somebody knocked on Darren's door.

"I'll check."

While Darren stepped away, Quinni looked disappointed.

"What's up Quin?" I said sitting next to her and putting a hand on her shoulder, consoling her of whatever made her feel that way. I hated seeing the people I love being hurt.

"I knew Sasha wouldn't show up."

"Don't worry, I'm sure she had the best of reasons to not be able to make it."

"She's at Missy's."

"Nevermind, fuck her."

She chuckled to my comment. I knew it would made her laugh. We could hear chatting in the background.

"Darren, who is it?" Amerie shouted, curious.

"Oh. Just those nice boys we weren't totally just talking shit about."

Malakai entered and joined us in Darren's living room. Soon, he was followed by Darren and a beat-up Cash. Outch. Wonder what happened here.

"So you'll be joining us tonight?" Quinni asked to Malakai, suspiciously way too excited for him to come.

I hadn't talk to Malakai since the locker room incident. I didn't had the chance to tell him it was me who told Amerie. Without any shame, I admit that I snitched on him. But when it comes to my friends, my loyalty always rest with them. So, I decided it was time to confront him. To warn him.

"Yeah, it'll be cool. I'm excited." Malakai responded, a bit awkward.

"Bold of you to come." Amerie coldly exclaimed, chugging another glass of white wine.

I went up to Amerie and pour some more wine in her glass. She smiled and started sipping it, rather quickly. To ease up the tension and awkwardness of the room, I spoke up. It was time to have a chat with Malakai.

"Hey, can we have a yarn somewhere in private maybe?" I asked Malakai, he looked surprised and so did Amerie. "We're partnered for the science project." I lied.

We went into Darren's room. He didn't know what to do with himself. He kept pacing, trying to find a comfortable place to sit or to stand. I closed the door, making Malakai jumped a little. He really was nervous.

"What science project?" He asked, confused.

"What you playing at Malakai? Talking shit about how'd you scored with Am."

He frowned and then his face relaxed. He understood that I had somehow witnessed his conversation with the rest of the boys.

"You."

"Yes, I had to told her. How could I not? She's my friend and I had heard every words of your little monologue." I sighed. "She really likes you. The least you could do is apologize."

"Well Quinni made sure of that."

He must have red the question mark on my face because he chuckled at my reaction.

"Earlier, she took me aside and handed me points I should address while apologizing."

I laughed, typical Quinni.

"Well go on. I can't wait to witness this."

"So... there's no science project right?!"

"No there's not, Sherlock." I chuckled.

We both came back to the living room. Quinni's face lit up when she saw Malakai and I entered the room. I gave her a thumbs up wanting her to know that I was also in the coup. She clicked her tongue.

"Anyway, Malakai wants to talk to you and he wants to say..." Quinni said to Amerie making her put down her drink and crossing her arms. Not very open to the idea. At least, she stopped chugging her drinks, it could go his way.

Malakai awkwardly stood before the two girls, Quinni making hand gestures to make him talk. I just stood back and watch.

"I'm really sorry, Amerie." He started. "I messed up. Our business is our business and no one else's."

He paused and looked down at his hand. I snorted. He had the dumb idea of writing his apology in his palm.

"I am... I realized that in my actions, I was contributing to a culture that I don't want any part of."

I snorted again seeing how Quinni was mouthing all of the words that was coming out of Malakai's mouth. Even if he seemed genuine in his excuses, I just couldn't find a way to fully forgive him. I'll always have my guard up when he's around Amerie.

"I didn't take into account how that might make you feel. I'm sorry. I promise I'll do better next time... or at least I'll try to." He finally finished his monologue.

"We're gonna need to get you out of whatever the hell this is." Amerie responded referring to his god awful shirt.

"Do you want something... gay to wear?" Darren asked, flicking their wrist.

"Uh, yes please."

"Yay! Dress up!" Quinni squealed and we all laughed. Amerie smiled while rolling her eyes at Malakai.

We all got up and went into Darren's wardrobe. We dressed up Cash and Malakai and it was so much fun. We made a mess of every room we were in. We couldn't stop screaming and giggling about each other's outfits. We drank. We drank so much. We danced around a little trying to boost our energy for the night. The music was so loud, the neighbors could had definitely call the police on us. Amerie and I were sitting on the couch watching them goofing around, dancing.

"Thank you JJ."

"Anytime Am."

She then got up and went to kiss Malakai, we all cheered for their reconciliation. We took pictures on everyone's phones. We all wanted to have memories of tonight. We looked good and we felt good. When it was time to leave, we all took MDMA except Quinni. Drugs would just take the night to the next level. And I just knew in my tripes that tonight was going to be insanely fun.