Breathe.

11

Toni Braxton

It had been two days since Fessa got into her fight and she would come back tomorrow. I missed her so much. Her mom had her on lockdown half the time and I barely got to see her. She was famous amongst these halls now though. Her and Ryan's video had hit every form of social media there was. Meanwhile, I had gotten to know Zendaya who was best friends with Ryan. She was really cool and seemed to be sweet if not pushed.

We sat at lunch... yes guys, she begged me to sit with her so she wouldn't sit by herself so here I was. In the lunchroom. Around... others.

"So, Ryan and Nafessa's coming back tomorrow and I thought that maybe tonight we could hang at my place. You down?"

I looked at her as I shook my head. "I'm a churches kid. My parents will kill me."

"So sneak out. Duh." Daya told me.

Never had I thought about sneaking out. I'd have to talk myself into this one. "Let me think about it Z. I'm not about that life."

We both laughed as someone came over and sat in front of me. I noticed it was Kelly and got ready to stand up but she spoke. "Wait T, I'm just here to talk."

"You got nerve trying to talk to her right now." Zendaya spoke before I could.

Kelly glanced at her before sighing. "We're on the same side here."

"Who? Us?" Daya motioned between all of us. "No. We aren't. Your girlfriend jumped in on a fight that didn't have anything to do with her. Then it caused my friend to have to jump in. Now everyone's suspended. Yay them."

I chuckled as I spoke. "Chill Z. Kelly's cool."

"Hm. We will see."

Looking back at Kelly, I nodded at her. "What can I do for you Kelly?"

"Look, you and Janet... this has to stop. This beef has been going on for too long. I was thinking that maybe we could all sit down and squash it."

That was all I wanted to hear. Well at least back then. Now, well now I didn't need Janet's friendship to be okay. I had did my own form of healing. Unfortunately, she had left me with no choice.

"I don't think that'll be a good idea Kel." I replied honestly. "Janet's never going to get over the Kenny situation and I don't blame her but fighting Nafessa took it too far. It's nothing for us to talk about."

Kelly nodded softly. "Yeah. I get that. Ever since it happened, Janet's been so angry. With me I see Dunk, I see the girl I'm in love with when we're alone but here? It's a totally different story."

"Well at least you get a break from the anger issues she possesses when you two are solo dolo." Zendaya mumbled.

Kel sighed before looking at her. "What is your problem with me?"

"Birds of a feather flock together. I just don't trust you. I can trust you about as far as I can throw you and I'm pretty strong but you still won't go flying far. You hang with negative and you're probably negative but hey, who am I?" She replied to Kelly.

I hopped in. "Don't mind Zendaya, she's just a little blunt."

"No. No. She's fine. I get it. Everyone says that, but the Janet I know is totally different from the Janet you see. She just harbors a lot and it comes out how it does. I get where you are coming from but my girlfriend does not define me."

Z shook her head. "I'm not saying that. Im saying that if your girlfriend was here right now you wouldn't even have approached Toni. That's what I'm saying. I'm just saying you need to keep your energy consistent and don't switch it up."