The Best Thing ||A Darry Curtis Fanfiction||

Chapter 1

"So how'd you do on your homework last night?"

"Fine, fine... It was fine." A forced response that had been practiced, although it still sounded fake. You could just tell that however the homework went last night, it wasn't fine. And that's when there was silence. An awkward silence that called for a subject change.

"Hey, what do you think about Piper Jones?" Darry Curtis asked Kacie Jones, an acquaintance of his on their way to math class. They'd never been particularly close, but Darry had been good in math, and their teacher had asked if he could tutor Kacie a few times a week.

"Uh... What should I think...? Did she do something to you?" She responded, visibly nervous and quite honestly a bit suspicious. Piper Jones was always up to something, up to trying to ruin her step-sister's life.

"It's nothing bad, Kace. Don't worry. I just wanted to know what you think of her," he said, laughing at her nervousness and patting her shoulder.

"Well, she's my step sister. Um... She's dangerous. I wouldn't go near her if you don't have to," she responded. It had been years since her father had married Piper's mother, and everything was going downhill, even before.

The two girls had met when they were three years old, in a daycare. They immediately became the best of friends, and so did their families, minus Piper's father, who left when she was just a baby. Three year old Kacie, or "Kay-Kay", as Piper, "Pippi", called her friend, thought that your father leaving must be the worst thing in the world, but it was nothing compared to the betrayal her father gave her.

For four years, Kacie's mother let it go on. She knew just as well as anyone that her husband had been seeing Piper's mother. But, divorce was still scandalous at this point. If a black woman and white man who got married right out of high school wasn't different enough, how about being a divorced woman with a young child on the streets of Tulsa, Oklahoma? No one would ever get over it...

One day it just got to be too much. She killed herself and the next day Piper's mother was engaged to Kacie's father.

Not unexpectedly, Kacie grew to resent not only her father, but her new step sister and step mother as well.

"You're hilarious, Kace," Darry said with a laugh, breaking Kacie out of her reoccurring nightmare. She thought about this all the time, her mother's death, her father completely betraying her betraying, her ex-best friend becoming her step sister, and step mother, whom she'd once thought of as another mother, before she could understand what was really happening, and how all of the people she'd once been close to had left her. 

"Anyways Kacie, the reason I'm bringing her up... Since you and her are sisters and you and I are such good friends, I wanted to ask you if it would be okay to ask her out?" Darry asked. A stabbing pain could be felt in Kacie's chest as she sat down at her desk. The bell rang, cutting her off even before she could begin to ponder a response.

"Let me know after class," he said, walking to his desk on the other side of the room as their teacher walked into the room. Kacie nodded politely, but wouldn't let the thought go.

Darry had called her his friend. That was fine, that was what they were, right? But she couldn't help feeling a twinge of jealousy in her heart, feeling green with envy at the fact that he wanted to ask Piper out instead of her.

Piper and Kacie looked like twins, with the same figures and long brown hair, you almost couldn't tell that they weren't related. Kacie had skin a bit tanner, but not very dark, compared to her mother. Especially since the two of them had matching wardrobes, courtesy of Piper's mother, who bought the two girls' their clothes at half off sales at department stores like Macy's. Which killed Kacie. She tried hard to make sure no one knew about their parents, but after Piper got her last name changed, it was hard. The wardrobe things made it even more obvious. Now, to Kacie's embarrassment, everyone in the school was painfully aware.

You could barely tell the two apart, and definitely wouldn't notice that the two weren't twins, that they weren't even related, unless you looked into their eyes, which were completely different. Piper's were an icy cold blue, the kind where you felt daggers if she looked at you for long enough.

Kacie, on the other hand was different. She had soft, muddy hazel-brown eyes that looked like she was smiling at you even when she was angry. Eye contact with her was more like drinking warm hot chocolate than Piper's ice cube eyes.

Kacie couldn't focus today in math class, things just weren't going her way. Especially at the end of class when she tried to run out, but Darry still caught up to her easily.

Damn football, she thought to herself. Must be all of the practicing.

"You never gave me an answer," he told his friend.

"Yeah..." She responded to him.

"Yeah?" He asked, trying not to sound too eager.

"Yeah..." She mumbled, a surprise blush appearing on her cheeks. Where did that come from? She wondered.

"You don't mind if I take her out?" He asked. Kacie just shrugged, speechless. But at the same time, she knew exactly what to say.

She wanted to say, "No, that's not okay at all." She wanted to scream, "This is a bad idea. She's just going to hurt you!" And "No, you and I should be going out instead!" But instead, she faked a smile.

"You sure you don't mind?" He asked. Still faking a smile, Kacie shook her head.

"Not at all. It's not my place to say who Piper dates and doesn't date, anyways," she said to him. He smiled.

"Great. I'll go tell her I'm free for Friday night, then," he said.

Friday night... What do I have going on on Friday night? She asked herself. And then she realized. It was another one of those awful karaoke bonding nights, as Piper's mother called it. The two girls were first forced to do it every week when Piper's mom and Kacie's dad realized how bad their daughter's relationship was. Now, it was pushed back to the third Friday of every month, meaning this week.

"Wait, Friday? As in this Friday night?" Kacie asked, a bit shocked.

"Yeah, she invited me to go to some karaoke club with her," he responded. Kacie felt the green tint on her face, not from envy anymore.

That rotten bitch, was Kacie's first thought.

"That sounds like fun," Kacie played dumb as her heart ripped from inside of her.

"I thought so. Well, I better get going so I can find her," he said. Kacie expected him to rush off, but instead he kissed her cheek, and walked off slowly, looking back at her as she walked.

Kacie's anger and jealousy were replaced with a lust and desire that she couldn't quite figure out.

A/N: So here's chapter one! I think Kacie's the most interesting creation I've ever come up with. I really love her. This is a love story, obviously,but there are going to be a lot of politics and research put into it too... I've been working for moths now, and it's gotten me through some of my hardest times lately. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. -Katy