The Cliche Gone Wrong

Chapter Forty-nine

I plop down at the lunch table at my usual spot, pretending I don't notice the awkward silence that suddenly descends over the table.

"So...." Michael mumbles, the first to say something in the past five minutes. "Did anyone watch the game last night?"

I roll my eyes at his obvious icebreaker, as everyone else at the table looks back and forth between each other, suspiciously avoiding my eyes.

"Yeah I watched it with my dad," I say, trying to stir the pot. "You're talking about the Seahawks verse the Redskins, right? Pretty close game. I was sure the Seahawks were gonna win, too."

"You watched it with your dad?" My friend, Rhea, smirks from the other end of the table. "You mean, you didn't watch it with your new boyfriend?"

"Oh shit!" Someone grunts quietly. Everyone else looks away, their eyes wide as they pretend they aren't hanging on every word of this conversation.

"So I'm guessing this is what y'all have been talking about all day?" I ask, taking a sip of my juice as I look around the table.

Everyone refuses to meet my fierce gaze, except for Asha, who returns my challenging glare with a blank stare. No one responds, probably unsure of how this conversation is going to go. I let out a loud groan, ripping open the plastic bag with my sandwich and chowing down on it.

"Fuck just let it out!" I murmur around a large bite. "It's not like y'all have ever held your tongues before!"

The table practically explodes with sound, everyone fighting to be heard over everyone else.

"Are you fucking stupid?" I hear someone from the far left of me spit out. "Jude fucking Shills? Really?"

"Are you that desperate for some dick, gurl?" Someone else smirks.

"Yeah, isn't Michael giving you enough?" Femi laughs innocently as she slings an arm over Asha's shoulders.

"Don't drag me into this shit!" Michael explodes, speaking for the first time since I gave everyone the green light.

"Y'all know that nothing is going on between me and Michael." I roll my eyes, although I take special care not to look at him.

"Yeah!" Michael agrees. "We're just...friends."

"Best friends," I elaborate, leaning into his side slightly.

I notice a couple looks pass between some of my friends sitting on the opposite side of the table. But before I have time to ask what that was about Rhea is grabbing my attention.

"No, but really. Why Shills?" Her entire face scrunches up just at the mention of his name. "That asshole has been Lord of the fuccbois since freshman year, and I thought after that whole Frank thing and the 'Killer' thing, he'd be the last person in this school you'd want to get with!"

"It's not like that!" I struggle to explain but my friends aren't having any of that.

"I swear if you start with any of that," Jonathan laughs as he struggle to bring his voice up to a falsetto to mimic mine, "'he's really a sweetie pie once you get to know him' shit, I will drink a bottle of bleach."

"And I'll lick the insides of the empty bottle clean." Michael murmurs almost inaudibly.

"Damn, with all these theatrics y'all should join the drama club." I narrow my eyes at Jonathan's easy smile.

"And with the bad decision you just made, you might as well just go ahead and throw Chris Brown's keys into a wheat field." Tanya smirks as she raises her water bottle to her lips.

"Can y'all just let her live? Damn," Asha finally interrupts, speaking up for the first time since I sat down. "Not only is Ken a grown ass woman, but there are worse guys she could be with and y'all know it."

Everyone's mouth drops open at her sentence. I fumble for something to say, but I can't form a coherent sentence. What the hell? Just this morning Asha was scolding me like I popped out of her vag or something! Why did she suddenly change her tune?

Femi is the one to ask the question. "How did you change from shitting on Shills more than all of us combined to sticking up for him?"

"I changed because I actually fucking talked to him!" She snaps at Femi as she brushes Femi's arm off of her shoulder. "Have any of you actually done that?"

The table is silent as everyone digests her words.

"I didn't think so." Asha huffs as she looks pointedly around the table one more time before she pulls out her phone and starts sliding her perfectly manicured finger along the screen.

I can't stop the smile that takes over my face as I wrap my arm around Asha's waist and lean my head against her bony shoulder as I keep eating quietly. The side conversations around the table gradually start picking up again, my love life momentarily forgotten. Once the table almost feels like this could be any lunch period on any day I lean closer to Asha and whisper in her ear.

"Thanks boo," I murmur quietly so that only she can hear. "I'm surprised out of everyone you were the one to stick up for me and Shills."

"Don't thank me yet." She whispers back, her eyes remaining locked on her phone screen as keeps scrolling through her Instagram feed. "I still don't like that piece of shit."

A/N Well there you have it! 

Apparently Asha has kind of changed her tune and is just wanting her best friend to be happy, even though she still don't like Shills  Do you think the rest of Kenedi's friends are going to follow suit? Because they were going in on her and Shills! Do your friends ever pull punches for you, or do they give that brutal kind of love?

What do you think is going to happen now that Shills and Kenedi are officially together? What do you want to happen?

Let me know! Y'all already know I'm open to suggestions, as long as they're reasonable...

Much Love,

Naomi