MONDAY

Lola woke up to her alarm and groaned in frustration. She was really tired and didn't want to go to school.

She stood up and tip toed towards her cupboards to grab what she would wear today, then went into the bathroom so she wouldn't wake up Shamika.

***

As Lola was walking to school, her phone rang and she picked it up.

"Hello?" She said impatiently.

"Hey" a tired yet familiar voice said.

"Junior?" She said getting slightly happier.

"Yeah it's me"

"You're Okay" she sighed in relief.

"My Mama told me you showed up at the hospital" he said.

"Yeah, I wanted to see if you were okay" she replied twisting a curl in her hair.

"Well I'm feeling better now" he smiled.

After a brief pause Lola asked "why did you protect me?" 

"You're really gonna act like you don't know I like you?" He chuckled.

"I thought I made it clear I don't like you like that" she laughed.

"Doesn't mean my feelings changed. You're still fine and you ain't like these thirsty hoes from school"

"Nice to know" she said awkwardly.

"Aren't you supposed to be in school now?" He asked.

"I'm outside"

"Go get your education then" he said hurrying her up.

"Bye then"

"See ya later"

She cut the phone and walked into school. She passed a lot of stares and got to her locker quickly. She grabbed her books and headed to her first lesson.

Lola sat in the back by the window and saved a seat for Haley.

"Yo can you move your leg please?" Jared asked.

"I'm saving it for Haley" she said not budging.

"Well it's gonna take a while since she's tonguing Luke outside" he said.

"Yo for real?" She laughed moving her foot.

"Yeah, my homeboy got a thing for your girl" he lied.

"I thought she was lyin" she giggled.

"Are you okay after what happened on Saturday?" He asked trying to be careful around the subject.

"Kind of" she smiled.

"What about Mika?" He asked playing with his fingers.

"They just shot her toe" she said trying not to laugh.

"Seriously?" He said his eyes getting wider.

"Yup. The bullet kinda scraped her skin off. But the wound is a little deep."

"Damn. She was howling when I came out the diner"

"Everyone was" Lola said looking down at her desk.

"Are you guys going to let me teach or what?" The teacher said directly to us.

"Sorry" I said facing forwards.

After a few minutes, Jared leaned in towards Lola.

"Is Junior Okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, he called me this morning-"

"Either be quiet or get out" the teacher said looking at them frustratedly.

They looked at each other then grabbed their bags to leave.

"That teacher was getting mad for no reason. Ain't like anyone was listening anyways" Jared said swinging his bag onto his back.

"Where are you going?" Lola said trying to catch up with him.

"Imma try and see Junior. Last time I went, they told me I wasn't allowed in. I'm guessing it's because he was still unconscious." He said heading for the door.

"It wasn't that" Lola said "his mum thinks you guys are a bad influence and doesn't want you near him"

Jared stopped in his tracks and looked back at her "he's my best friend, I need to be there for him" he said. The door shut behind him leaving Lola alone in the corridor.

***
EARLIER

Haley found herself in complete darkness when large hands covered her eyes.

"Who's there? Lola? Your hands are quite big you know" Haley said.

"Guess again" a deep voice said.

"Luke" she smiled turning around to see his pretty face.

"I didn't think my hands were that feminine" he chuckled looking down at his hands.

"I wasn't expecting it to be you that's all" she said sliding her hand into his. "And don't worry, your hands are manly enough for me" She laughed.

"So I came here to ask you something. Something important" he said looking at her.

"Okayyy. What is it?" She smiled.

"Can I copy your homework?"

"Boy quit playing" she said shoving him and turning to grab her stuff from her locker.

"Haley" he laughed taking both of her hands. "Imma be serious now" he smiled. "Would you like to go on a date with me?"

Haley looked down at her feet and grinned.

"Are you being serious?" She whispered.

"Yeah of course. Don't leave me hanging" he said looking at her. "Pretty please" he kissed the back of her hand.

"Yes, I'll go on a date with you" she smiled.

"Good" he grinned bringing her arms around his neck "because I really like you"

He pulled her in by the waist and kissed her on the lips. Haley kissed back and began to relax more, she felt a slight buzz within her and smiled into the kiss.

Suddenly, he broke the kiss.

"I do need that homework though" he said.

"Luke!" Haley said "do your own homework" she started to walk away from him to class.

"I ain't never said you could leave" he said chasing her and picking her up from behind.

***

Lola stood in the hallway confused on what to do so she decided to leave. She thought if anyone asked she would say she was too emotional from Saturday.

She took her phone out and called King.

"Hi"

"Hey Lola" he smiled. "Why you ain't at school for?"

"I couldn't be bothered" she replied honestly sitting at a bench outside of school. "Can we go out or something? I just wanna relax and have fun or something"

"Where you at? I'll pick you up" he said. She heard him shuffling about and his keys jingle.

"I'm outside of school"

"Imma be there in 5 minutes, 10 minutes tops" he said hanging up.

Lola put her phone down and scrolled through her snapchat and saw that more people had added her from school. She rolled her eyes and switched her phone off and waited for King.

Lola smiled when she saw his car pull up on the curb and hopped up off the bench.

"Heyyy" she said as he stepped out of his car.

"Hey beautiful" he said giving her a hug.

She inhaled his gorgeous scent and moaned internally.

"I was thinking we could go to the arcade" he said letting her go and returning to his car.

"I've not been to the arcade since I was a kid."

"Let's be kids again for the day then" he smiled encouragingly.

***

AT THE ARCADE

"I bet I'll win more games then you" Lola said cockily.

"You literally just said you've not been here since you were a kid" he said raising his eyebrow.

"I've got confidence that I'm good at these games. They don't seem that hard."

"Why you hatin' on my hobby like that" he chuckled.

"You come here often?" She laughed.

"What you tryna say?" He asked standing up tall.

"Nothing" she laughed.

"Let's do this bet then" he said.

"If I win" Lola said "you take me out to dinner and pay" she smiled.

"You really acting like I wouldn't mind" he chuckled.

She shrugged."I just don't wanna pay"

"Aight. If I win, we doing Netflix and chill. Without the Netflix" he grinned.

"Boii" She said tilting her head.

"I'm kidding. I want to take you out somewhere. A surprise. But you have to come and do whatever we doing no matter what"

"You tryna get me to do some whacky shit?" Lola looked at him funny.

"It's a surprise" he said extending his arms and making a funny face.

"Aight bet" she said sticking her hand out.

They shook on it and entered the arcade.

They played several games together and King was winning.

"Don't get confident I could still win" Lola said approaching the basketball game.

"If you say so girly" he laughed.

She started shooting and missed them all.

"Here let me help you" King said.

"I can do it" she said missing another one. "Okay fine" she said giving up.

He came up behind her and positioned her arms better, and she then made a shot that swished.

She kept shooting and made the rest of the shots.

"Thanks" Lola said as his hands slipped off her arms and stood back "I don't know why you helped me"

"Imma still win" he said starting the game up again.

His shots swished several times quickly.

"No way" Lola said opening her mouth.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and tried to pull backwards.

He laughed as Lola started making him shuffle as he shot.

"Imma still make these shots" King said confidently swishing several times over.

***

"This ain't fair you've got an advantage" she groaned as they started walking towards the exit.

"So I'm taking you out for a surprise" he grinned.

"You lowkey scaring me with this surprise you got. I don't know, you might be setting me up for a heist" she laughed nervously.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Don't worry, it ain't that bad" he laughed.

She stopped in her tracks and turned to face the arcade again and saw a guy holding a gun up to the screen.

Several rounds were firing and her surroundings filtered out until she was back outside of Pop's milkshakes. Junior was leading her back into the diner when the shots started firing.

A piercing scream left her lungs and her eyes went white.

"Loooollllaaaaa" King's voice was slow and blurred.

She collapsed into his arms.

King laid her down onto the floor and she blinked slowly. Her eyelids were going heavy.

"Is she okay?" She heard a female say.

King kneeled down besides her as he called an ambulance.

"It's gonna be fine" he said.

"Don't call them" she groaned.

"Yo are you okay?" Another guy kneeled down and looked at her. His concern was odd and weirdly appreciated.

Then she passed out.

***

"Are you okay?" Haley asked on the phone.

"Yeah. I've just got a headache" Lola said shutting her eyes for a few seconds.

"I'm so sorry I haven't been there for you" Haley apologised.

"Don't worry about it"

"No it's not cool. I'm your friend and I haven't seen you since before the incident"

"Your the only one that's called it an incident. Everyone else acts like it was a casual Saturday." Lola yawned rubbing her eyes.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning then. I can tell your tired. Get your beauty sleep okay?" Haley said.

"Yeah. Goodnight" she said ending the call.

She was going to switch off the lamp on her bedside table when she saw a message from Junior.

You up?
-Junior ❣️👀

Yeh

Why?

Hold on
-Junior❣️👀

Suddenly her face was on the screen as her ringtone played. She slid the bar to accept Junior's FaceTime call.

"Hey Junior" she smiled wrapping herself up in her duvet.

"Damn why yo face look like that?" He exclaimed.

"Quit playing" Lola rolled her eyes "I'm tired and you called me up in the middle of the night"

"I'm just tryna see if shawty is okay after what happened today" he admitted.

"How'd you find out?"
She asked.

"Word gets around that a girl passed out at the arcade, I mean it is a bit weird. And someone I knew was there"

"Who?"

"You wouldn't know him"

Lola could only see above Junior's shoulders and saw that he had circles underneath his eyes.

"You tired too?" She asked.

"I-I can't sleep with all this pain" he stuttered. "They tried to give me meds to sleep better, but my mum doesn't like that shit so I gotta get over it soon"

Lola felt guilty and looked away,she felt a knot in her throat that she couldn't swallow.

"I feel like it's my fault your in that position" Lola said feeling the need to be honest "I feel like if I had listened to you straight away you wouldn't have had to save my life and you wouldn't be in the state you are in now"

"Lola, don't feel bad" he said trying to soothe her "I did it out of my own free will. And it really isn't your fault"

Lola thought about that night again and all these thoughts were rushing through her head, and then one stuck out to her.

"Do you know why they were shooting?"

Junior was still for a moment, Lola thought the screen had froze until he spoke up.

"Drug shit" he said "I'm not going to get you involved, so don't ask questions. Just know it really wasn't your fault"

"It can't just be drug shit if they want you dead"

"But it is. Don't worry about it Lola."

"But you could have died. You nearly fucking died in my arms. Do you know how scary that is. Someone's life draining away in your arms. Blood rushing out their body like I've never seen before. It's unreal. I don't want it to become a reoccurring reality for me Michael " Lola said getting angry. "You better quit this game you playing because I don't think people want to see you dead Michael. Not me or your mum and your friends."

"It isn't that simple" he complained.

"Make it simple, I don't want to see you die" Lola said looking away.

"Oh baby, do you care for me too?" He grinned.

"Shut up Junior"

"Baby girl" he called.

"My name is Lola" she said.

"Baby girl"

"What?" She sighed tiredly.

"I'll do anything for you" he said before cutting the phone.

// Trying to update regularly since it's the holidays.

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