𝑨𝑫𝑹𝑰𝑭𝑻, jj maybank

FIVE - diver down

FIVE —— diver down

Bee's eyes slowly blinked open, but she had to squint in order to see anything due to the daylight illuminating her bedroom through her open curtains. A warm, comforting summer haze filled the room. She sighed and closed her eyes again, hoping to catch at least another hour of sleep.

"Bee," her mother, Ana, hummed from her doorway. She must have been the one to wake Bee, not the daylight as she had first assumed.

Bee's eyes opened again and she peered at her mother from where she lay in bed. She couldn't hold back the confused frown that formed on her face—her mother never ventured into her room. "'Morning."

"It's almost noon, actually. I just came back home to grab a few things and wanted to check in."

Forcing a sleepy smile on her face, Bee propped herself up on her elbows. "I'm good. Tired."

"Oh, shush," Ana sighed, swatting a hand in the air as if to push the complaint away. Then, she surprised Bee by stepping through the doorway and sitting on the foot of her twin sized bed. Bee moved to sit all the way up, and the crease between Ana's eyebrows was making an appearance on her face. "Felix told me about that party you were at last night."

Bee assumed he had just mentioned in passing that she had been at a party, so she said, "Mom, it was a chill thing, just a little get-together with some friends, don't worry. No alcohol."

"You know that stuff doesn't bother me too much, just be responsible, yeah?" Ana waited for Bee to nod in response before continuing, their eyes locked together. "He told me about the fight."

"Oh." Bee's gaze fell to her hands as she remembered the chaos of last night.

"And the gun."

Bee's stomach dropped. "Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh.' You need to be careful, Hailey. If your friends are the type to be so reckless, then maybe it's time to find some new ones." Bee had been grimacing at the use of her actual name, but now, her head whipped up and her lips parted in protest. Ana silenced Bee with just her raised index finger. "Ah, I'm not done. I need you to be safe. And if you can't at least try to do that for me, just know that the academy in Figure Eight is still happy to have you. We have the money now."

"Okay, Mom. It was a one time thing. And I barely know the kid who pulled the gun," Bee lied.

Anger was bubbling up in Bee's chest and lies were falling from her mouth as she tried to downplay the situation and calm her mother. Felix had probably told Ana it was JJ, but Bee didn't care if she was caught in the lie. She couldn't believe her mother would even mention the Kook academy again, especially after Bee had to put up such a fight to stay at school on the Cut. Once upon a time, when their family was still whole, her parents had wanted her to transfer starting freshman year, but Bee refused to leave her friends. Somehow, they gave in to her pleads. Now, though, Bee was worried her mother would change her mind.