THE BET.

IIII.

September 1, 2002
Houston, Texas
11:38 AM
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles

Our last period, Arts and Entertainment was a breeze. It was one of my favorite subjects, honestly. I made sure to take a class that related to music every year. All of my friends did, actually. We all shared that special talent. Our dream was to make it big.

Our music teacher Ms. Carey was so entertaining. She was extra as hell, and we loved her for it. She was kind of like Nicki in a sense. Both of 'em were overly dramatic which is why I wasn't surprised at how well they hit off as soon as we got into the room.

Robyn was in our class. Or should I say green eyes? I don't know. Anyway, I finally found out what her name was during attendance.

Kehlani, Normani, Jhené, and Sean were in there too. Jhené has been Sean's crush since sophomore year. I don't know when he'll tell her, but I've been waiting.

Ms. Carey promised to let us show off our skills next class, which was next week. Today was Friday, and I couldn't be happier. I'm still not sure why school started a day before the weekend, but school has always been on some type of bullshit. It's expected.

Our schedules would alternate every other day, but since we reached the requirement amount of credits early, we only take these four classes for extra credit. We all could've graduated early, but Nicki's mom decided against it. She believed that getting the full four years of knowledge was safer.

I understood, but Nic refused to. She cried all day. She didn't even sleep at her house that night. She camped out at mine-which was usual, but when she was sad she preferred being under her parents.

I asked her why she was so upset about the decision her mom made. She said it was because she didn't want us—Kehlani and I—to leave her. When she said that, I laughed. I'm her best friend, I wouldn't leave her if someone payed me to. And evidently, Kehlani was on the same page.

"Well, well, well. If it ain't the three stooges." Sean said as Nicki, Kehlani, and I approached the car. Normani ended up bailing out on us because she forgot that she already made plans with Dinah, a friend of hers. "Let me drive, sis."

"How did you even get in?" I furrowed my eyebrows, genuinely puzzled.

A sly grin introduced itself onto his face. "Dad gave me an extra key to your car until mine gets fixed." Wow.

Men.

I wanted to say no and tell him to bring his ass to the backseat because I don't like anyone else driving my car but me, but when I saw Jhené sitting on the passenger side, my face softened. She was an absolute sweetheart and I knew Sean wanted her bad. The last thing he needed was embarrassment.

"Sure, go ahead. We'll be okay in the back." I smiled, waving at the woman seated next to him. "Hey, Jhené."

"Hi, Beyoncé." She nicely greeted while the three of us hopped in the back seat.

Soon, the car was started and we made our way to the taco restaurant. Once we got in, a waitress instantly lead us to a booth big enough to fit us all. On one side, Sean and Jhené sat next to each other. On the opposite side, I was sandwiched between Nika and Lani.

"Hello, my name is Jorja and I'll be your sever this morning." She looked directly at me, already biting her lip. She was pretty and all, but I wasn't interested. The whole "flirtatious waitress" thing was annoying. I just wanted to eat.