Today was decision day for the seniors; so many students were walking around with their college colors on and just overall cheerful. Flaire felt like she was in a non-ending tampon commercial where they wouldn't stay still and smiled too much.

She wasn't in the mood today, but to avoid killing everyone else's mood, she just stopped talking. Everyone knew when Flaire wasn't in the mood to steer clear, so they didn't bother talking to her either.

It was now the end of the day, and they were having an assembly for the seniors to announce their plans once they graduated. Flaire didn't want to participate, but she would because her family was there for her.

"Tyke!" The principal called his name as everyone stood to their feet yelling while he danced to the mic, making a few people laugh.

"Y'all gon miss me?" He asked as everyone cheered. "Imma miss y'all too, man; it makes me wanna be like them niggas who graduated five years ago but still come around to sneak y'all alcohol and shit."

"Tyke." The principal warned.

"My bad, I'm getting off topic." He chuckled. "I'm going to Franklin to major in sports marketing and minor in sports management while still playing for the D1 football team, and y'all know I'm taking them to the champs cause that's the shit I'm on. YEAHHH!"

"This nigga aggy." Ezra laughed as he danced his way down.

"He got his baby momma here?" Keygan asked, seeing Sage cheering for him.

This got Maicee's attention, and her smile dropped; she looked at Sage, swearing she could see her baby bump. Her eyes started watering, but she quickly turned around, closing her eyes so nobody could see her about to cry.

"Flaire." The principal called out, making her sigh as she walked to the stage.

"I'm going to Franklin, where I'll be majoring in physics and minoring in fashion, where I received two scholarships."

"Okay, sister!" Indigo yelled as everyone slowly clapped.

"She always fucking mad." Devon chuckled, watching her walk off the stage with a pout.

"We have to stay for the rest?" Indigo asked.

"For Ezra and Key," Genesis said.

"We already know Ezra is going to Franklin, and Key is going to MIT." Indigo rolled her eyes.

"Oh, girl, you have nothing to do," Genesis said.

"Shut up, Ezra's going up there," Aziel said, pressing the record on his phone.

"Calm down y'all, y'all finna break the bleachers. How y'all doing?" He smiled, licking his lips, making the girls scream as Haven looked around.

"Alright now, Ezra." She warned, making Key and Tyke laugh.

"I know this all about decision day, and y'all already know where I'm going." He chuckled. "I just wanna give my props to Ms.Washington. She was my freshman teacher, but she has been a mentor to me my whole four years. She knew when to be hard or when I just needed a nice talk; she was why I started thinking further than football. Of course, thank you to my coach, although he should be thanking us 'cause we made his ass look good for four years, we the best team you ever had!"

"And did!" Tyke yelled.

"Y'all young niggas better keep up next season!" Bison yelled out, making the coach and the football players laugh.

"Because my coach is the best in the game, I was granted a four-year football scholarship from multiple top schools and chose Franklin. I will major in public health and minor in criminal justice while working with my brother to make Franklin the best football team as we did here."

"And is!" Tyke yelled, making them bust out laughing.

"They are fucking characters." Aziel laughed along with the other people.

"School is going to be so boring for the next two years." A girl spoke.

"I should've gone after Ezra when I first saw him; now he got a girlfriend."

"Girl, it doesn't even matter. Everyone knows couples always break up during college. I don't even think they are together now."

"Dumb and dumber, that's your answer right there." Indigo pointed at Ezra and Haven hugging rocking back and forth. 

"Stop being so mean." Genesis popped her, chuckling.

"Our last senior to present has been accepted to every eight Ivy League schools, as well as top private schools such as Duke, Stanford, MIT, etc. He has even been accepted to colleges outside the US, including the University of Oxford, Cambridge, and Melbourne. He has been the only student ever since 1948 to maintain a 4.0 GPA; since his freshmen year, his GPA is now at 5.2. Keygan has been in multiple clubs, such as mentoring youth at juvenile facilities all over the city, club UN, and debate, and helped take our school to the football state championship four years in a row. Keygan?"

"He extra as fuck, ain't even do allat for me." Tyke smacked his teeth as people cheered. "I was on the debate club, too."

"Don't be a hater." Haven chuckled. "Let's go, Key!"

Flaire looked up from her phone as she gently clapped; she was so proud of Keygan. One thing Keygan never played with was school; he took it very seriously.

"I don't like public speaking, y'all know that." He chuckled nervously as he looked around, stopping at his mother crying. "Then my mother crying, not making it any better."

Ezra and Tyke stood up, going to stand behind him to give him some motivation. Tyke touched his shoulder, telling him to keep going on.

"I-I'm not up here to do no speech or nothing, but I'm very, uh, very thankful for all the opportunities that have been provided. Imma just get down to it." He nervously smiled as his voice was shaky.

"Aww, he's so nervous," Haven mumbled to Flaire.

Flaire wanted to go on the stage and talk for him; he looked like he would have a panic attack. She sat up, trying to decide if she was going to the stage or not.

"I- I decided I'm going to major in English literature and minor in co-communication and philosophy." He stuttered nervously.

"You got this," Ezra told him.

"Fuck them, bro. Look down if you getting too nervous," Tyke told him.

"Out of the fifty-six schools I've b-been accepted to, I've chosen the University of Sterling." He said, making people look at him confused as Flaire's eyes got big. "I've chosen a school that can offer me the education I want and the girl I need. There's no such thing as perfect, but Aziel, you made the perfect girl for me."

Flaire covered her mouth, and tears welled in her eyes. He made direct eye contact with her, making everybody else look at her. He walked down from the stage as she stood up, meeting him halfway; she jumped into his arms, holding him tightly as he did the same.

"Keygan." She whined into his shoulder, hiding her ugly crying face.

"I will never have you thinking you're single again."

"Keygan." She sobbed into his shoulder.

He walked her out of the gym because they obviously needed privacy.

"Congratulations to all of my seniors." The principal spoke. "There's a senior who's no longer here, and we've all grieved him and will continue grieving him."

Indigo head shot up from her phone as multiple people started to look at her.

"Sevyn's life was taken short, and it hurt everyone who knew him; I hope he knows how much we loved him." The coach spoke. "A few weeks after Sevyn passed, he got a scholarship for his dream school. Sevyn's dream was to go to Ohio State and play for their football team until he was drafted into the NFL, which would have come true. We believed in you, Sevyn, and miss you daily."

"We would just like to take a moment for Sevyn."

Indigo finally released the breath she didn't know she was holding; she couldn't stop the tears from falling as they took their moment.

Everything Sevyn worked for would come true, and he wasn't here to bask in it.

She hated his killer.

~

Mai, her brothers, and her mother waited outside the jailhouse for Mackenzie to leave. They'd already been there for twenty minutes and were starting to become impatient. They waited another twelve minutes before the gates opened, allowing a few girls to walk out, Mackenzie being one of them. 

Mai yelled, running towards her sister as she jumped on her. Mac laughed, holding Mai in her arms; she smiled, holding onto her sister tight. Her mother and brothers walked over to them to get some hugs. 

"Momma, I'm so hungry," Mac said, making them chuckle. 

"Let's go then. I have your father watching the food." She smiled as they all got into the car.

They drove forty-five minutes, catching up on things they didn't tell her; Maicee was so excited she couldn't wait to get out of the car. She was overstimulated. 

When they entered the house, the living room had been decorated, and the platters of food were placed out buffet style. Mac smiled, not bothering to say anything to anyone; she wanted to eat and then make it to all of her appointments. 

"What do you have planned for yourself now?" Their father, Matthew, asked. 

"Well, I was able to keep up with my grades, so I will be in the correct grade. I want to do field hockey, whatever school I can attend, and get a job." 

"Hm, what kind of job were you looking to get? 

"Nothing fast food, maybe Ross or something. I don't know, I'm going to look tonight." 

"Have you been able to make amends?" 

"Nah, but I would love to have a conversation with Haven."

"She took off the restraining order so you can come back to school," Maicee informed.

"For real?" Mac smiled. "I didn't think she would. Do you think she is ready to have a conversation with me?" 

"I don't know, you can come with me tonight. We're all supposed to do this activity if your appointments are on time."

"Yeah, I'll think about it." Mac nodded, weary. 

~

Prom was everything Flaire thought it was; she was upset Brat couldn't come, but it was okay because they would be together for the rest of their lives. Flaire woke up, makeup still on her face, butt naked as the day she was born. 

She didn't even remember where she was for the first forty seconds; she was so confused. She was on the bed naked next to Keygan, but she didn't know where she was. She sat up too fast as it felt like her brain took a screenshot. 

"Where the fuck am I?" She mumbled, then pushed Keygan. "Key, where the fuck are we?" 

"Air BNB." He mumbled.

"Who's air bnb?" 

"Ours." 

"Huh?" She asked, confused as he groaned.

"Baby, just go take a shower. Your bag on the floor, leave me alone." 

She pushed him again but stood up to her bag as she tried to put pieces of her night together. The heat of the water soothed her head as she washed her face; she spent twenty minutes in the shower trying to remember. 

She packed some leggings and a big T-shirt, so she put that on, then grabbed the Crocs and walked out of the room. The Air BNB was so big it was like a mansion.

She heard voices, approached them, and a big kitchen met her. Ezra and Tyke were in the kitchen laughing and eating fruit making her squint her eyes.

"I'm the only one who doesn't remember shit after prom?" 

"Probably because you overdid it with the liquor," Ezra said. 

"You were on my type of timing; you got so drunk you were throwing up until you fell asleep." 

"Why the fuck I get so drunk?" Flaire asked.

"I got my man back bitch!" Tyke mocked Flaire since that's what she repeated multiple times yesterday.

"I'm crying." She smiled. "I mean, I do have my man back."

"We know, I ain't seen my brother since y'all got back together, like damn, let him come up for air." 

"Word, they been in their world," Ezra added.

"I'm never letting my man go again, y'all heard him two days ago. I'm never going to be single again." She smiled tilting her head.  

"We married at this point," Keygan said, entering the kitchen. He kissed her on her forehead and then went into the fridge to get water. "Fuck we doing today?" 

"Oh, you wanna do something as a group?" Tyke said, making them laugh.

"I was thinking we go see Brat; today's her prom," Flaire said.

"Oh fuck yeah, I'm in there." 

"She going with Blaire?" Ezra asked, then stopped. "I don't even know why I asked, knowing that man wasn't letting her go with anybody else." 

"Yeah, act like you know." Flaire laughed.

"What time you trying to leave?" Key asked, putting his arm around her waist.

"What time is check out?" 

"An hour ago." Tyke laughed.

"So we can go now?" She questioned to see if everybody was cool. 

"Who car are we taking? And Tyke, don't suggest yo shit." Ezra looked at him before he could say anything. 

"Y'all motherfuckers could never sit in my shit, tuh." 

"We could take my shit, Lil Hay going?" Key asked. "You wanna bring yo baby momma?" 

"Imma ask." Ezra said, pulling out his phone to text Haven, who declined. "Haven said nah." 

"Well, if you ain't bringing Hay, I'm cool on bringing Sage." 

"Did y'all decide what y'all wanna do?" Flaire asked as they all began walking out of the house. 

"We finna keep it. She gon keep going to school, but when she pop she going to take a few classes online, then we gon alternate the baby." 

"When you telling Dukes?" Ezra asked.

"Probably when the baby like two." Tyke said, making all of them stop. 

"What?" 

"I gotta stack some bread before I tell her; she might be on some shit like she finna cut me off." 

"You really think Ava gon come off like that?" Key asked.

"I never know with her bipolar ass, so while she feeling so generous, Imma be stacking." 

"Y'all finna follow me to the crib so I could drop my car off?" Ezra wondered.

"Might as well," Flaire answered.

"Ride with me." Ezra put his arm over Flaire's shoulder.

"Fuck she gotta ride with you for?" Keygan asked.

"Nigga, you really clingy as fuck. Let her fucking breathe, fuck?" Ezra asked making Tyke laugh. 

"That nigga can't breathe if he is not around her; he wants to replace her clothes so bad so he could be the only one on her." 

"Not too much on my man," Flaire said as Ezra and Tyke laughed. 

She kissed Keygan as he opened Ezra's car door; he closed the door and then went into his car with Tyke following behind him. Ezra yawned as he started his car sitting there for one minute then quickly pulled off making Flaire look at him. 

"Alright, Vin Diesel." 

 "My bad," He chuckled. "You good?" 

"Yeah, everything's going better. Keygan was the only thing stressing me, and now that that's solved, I feel fine. How you doing?" 

"Relationship going better, family good as it ever been, and we all finna be close again. I don't have any complaints right now; I feel like Larry the way I'm living life." 

"Something bothering you." Flaire squinted her eyes. 

"I'm just thinking about this long-distance shit." He told her. "We already be up and down, so I'm not trying to have that push us further back. We going good for right now, and I wanna keep it like this."

"Express your concerns with her before it become reality. You can literally put your worries aside by giving each other reassurance." 

"You're right." Ezra nodded his head. "Relationships be easy but hard as fuck." 

"Tell me about it." Flaire scoffed, scrolling on Instagram as Ezra began playing music. 

~

Indigo walked into the guidance office since they called her from class, she sat in the chair while another student was there. She waited five minutes before the student left, she walked in as the guidance counselor, Ms.Wheaty, was standing up to greet her. 

"Hello, Indigo. Sit down." She smiled. 

"Hey, Ms.Wheaty." 

"How are you feeling today?" 

"Bored, it's boring without the seniors." She said, making Ms.Wheaty chuckle.

"I know you've been through the wringer this year with the death of Sevyn, your father coming home, and you not enjoying cheerleading as much as you used to, but I commend you because your resilience through it all has been inspiring." 

"Thank you Ms.Wheaty." 

"I say all of that to let you know you have an outstanding GPA and enough credits to skip your junior year and go straight until senior year." 

"What?" Indigo pushed her head back. 

"You've been taking AP classes since you were a freshman; the school thinks it would be a waste of time having you do your junior year when you will be ahead of them." 

"Is this a choice, or is it mandatory?" 

"It's a choice, but if you choose to stay with your class, most of your schedule will be electives due to you exceeding the expectations." 

"Can I tell you my answer on Monday? I just want to speak to my dad first." 

"Of course, there's no rush. You can even take the summer to think about it; we just want to be here the best way you allow us, Indigo." 

"Thank you, Ms.Wheaty." Indigo stood up and walked out of the office. 

She walked to her locker as her phone started ringing; she saw Martin was FaceTiming her, so she answered, waiting for it to connect. She disconnected from the school WiFi just as Martin's face popped up. He was lying in bed looking all comfortable. 

"What you on Baby Blue?" He asked.

"Nothing. I just finished talking to my guidance counselor." 

"You in trouble? You beat somebody kid up?" 

"Not yet." She chuckled. "She told me I could skip a year and become a senior if I wanted to." 

"Do you want to?" 

"Kinda, but then again, I don't want to rush me growing up." 

"But educational-wise, which one would be better for you?" 

"Skipping a year. If I continue with the eleventh grade, I will have filler classes because I'm ahead of them." 

"Then why would you settle?" 

"You're right." She nodded. "You look a lil bit too comfy; you off?" 

"Fah sure you right on." He said, making her bust out laughing. 

"I should come over there; I need a nap."

"I'll order us some food." 

"That's all you had to say." She chuckled.

"You want me to come get you, or you want me to send you an Uber?" 

"I'll walk; you're literally ten minutes away." 

"You got yo key?" 

"Umm-" She stopped to go through her bag as she looked at her keyring. "Yeah." 

"We still supposed to go out tonight?" Martin yawned as she closed her locker door and walked out of the school.

"If y'all still want to, I don't mind us staying in and having a sleepover." 

"Knowing Milly and Ron, they gon wanna still step." 

"What we doing anyway?" 

"Going to that combat skills place."

"Oh, Imma dust y'all." Indigo cheesed. "I'm a cheerleader; do you know how strong I am? Y'all finna be embarrassed." 

"I'm a firefighter, I run into burning buildings with 75 pounds of gear on me." 

"And you say that to say nothing because I'mma win." 

"Sounds like betting words to me." 

"And is. I gotta come up with a bet." She chuckled.

"Why did Gina come over here yesterday all drunk?" 

"No way." 

"Talking about she need me and her life been hell since we broke up. She even said she'll apologize to you and never would do anything to you again." Martin chuckled.

"What'd ya do?" 

"I told her you my girlfriend." He said, making her gasp and quickly snap her head to the phone.

"Why would you do that?" 

"Just because." He shrugged with a smile on his face.

"You're so petty; you just wanted to make her mad."

"She got mad as fuck, she started whaling. My neighbor called the police." He chuckled. 

"Now what is she going to do when she sees you out with that girl you talking to?" 

"She probably going to blow my spot up."

"I don't understand why you just didn't tell her you were talking to somebody else; why you put me in it?" 

"Because she hates you." Martin laughed. 

"For absolutely no damn reason." She said using the key to open the door as she hung up the phone. 

She walked into Martin's room throwing her bag on his dresser then taking off her shoes and jacket. She plopped onto his bed sighing out loud taking up all his space making him chuckle as she laid her head on his chest.

"I just wanna sleep." She yawned. 

"Did you make up your mind about LA?" 

"Still undecided; I have a week to give them my final answer before they fill my spot."

"What's the resistance?" 

"I don't have the same love for cheerleading as before Sevyn. I got into cheerleading because of Sevyn; I wanted to be his cheerleader, so without him, I have no reason to enjoy it."

"I call bullshit." Martin said, making her look up. "You still grieving and want to be sad and not try." 

"I'm going always to grieve."

"Exactly, but you gotta stop feeling bad for yourself at some point. Don't stop grieving Sevyn, but stop grieving yourself."

"Grieving myself?" She asked, confused.

"You're grieving about the loss of Sevyn with you, how y'all did this, how he made you feel, how he motivated you. You lost yourself when you lost Sevyn, and I want you to understand your life didn't begin with Sevyn, and it didn't end with him, too. You can love him, you can grieve him, but don't let that interfere with your life." 

Indigo didn't respond but instead snuggled closer into him, making him hold her tighter, following a kiss to her forehead. He knew sometimes she just needed to be held without any more talking, so that's what he did until he felt her body relax into his arms, meaning she was asleep. 

~

Brat was slightly annoyed as she stepped into her dress. She didn't want to prom but was nominated for prom queen, so her mother wanted her to go. When she was done, she walked down the stairs with a fake smile to please her parents and Blair.  

"You look so beautiful." Blair held her hand, kissing it before posing for the many pictures. Then, she told her parents she was done. 

Her stepfather stepped out to take a call as she listened to her mom tell her to be grateful and to cheer up. She nodded her head and smiled to get her mother to shut up; as soon as she stopped talking, she rolled her eyes. 

Brat and Blair walked outside as she stopped with her eyes going wide. In front of her was Tyke, Keygan, Ezra, and Flaire, dressed and ready for prom. She covered her mouth as Leval recorded her reaction; she started fanning her eyes so she wouldn't cry. 

"Hey BFF." Flaire smiled, going to hug her best friend. 

"We bout to crash yo prom," Tyke said, making everybody chuckle.

"Y'all look so handsome." Tameka smiled. "And Flaire, beautiful as always." 

"Thank you ma." She kissed her cheek. "Now let's start this photoshoot cause this is my second prom within forty-eight hours, and I'm ready to turn up." 

Within the next ten minutes, they got hundreds of pictures; they got hyped once the limo Leval paid for pulled up. They hoped in cracking the bottle of champagne and the bottle of Don Julio Tyke bought. They were in for a good time. 

"Cheers to the rest of our life bitches!" Flaire yelled.

"I'm finna act a foolio." Brat yelled, taking a picture with the Don Julio bottle on top of her head.

~

"I dusted y'all!" Haven yelled, putting her hands on her knees out of breath. "Damn, I gotta get back to dancing."

"You barely won to be doing allat." Martin said, pacing with his hands on his head. 

"Barely or not, I won!" She laughed. "What y'all kept saying? "I'm a cop; I'm a firefighter; all I do is run, I have seventy pounds of equipment on me for twenty-four hours." She mocked, laughing harder.

"You might of won, but you fucking out of breath like a motherfucker." Milly said, sweating. "Sounding like you smoke mad cigs, but you tryna brag."

"And ya breath hot as fuck." Ron scrunched up his face.

"Not too much on my sister." Indigo barely said, out of breath. 

This how she knew she needed to get back into cheerleading; she was winded as if she would faint at any given moment. 

"They just mad sissy." Haven chuckled, finally catching her breath. "We here for a few more hours, y'all got all night to lose."

"You talking big shit. Me and you right now, double or nothing." Milly said putting his water down. 

"In what?" 

"Rock climbing." 

"Bet, let's go." 

Indigo watched as they walked towards the rock climbing wall. The rock climbing wall was 85 feet, so they had to be harnessed to get up there; they watched them get harnessed as they began climbing. 

Martin put his arm around Indigo, slightly leaning on her, watching them. Indigo was about to push him off when she spotted Mai walking towards her she slightly smiled but stopped once she saw Mackenzie behind her. 

Ron spotted them so he smiled standing up, as soon as she reached he pulled her into a tight hug as if he hadn't saw her in a while when they just left each other this morning. 

He was about to speak to Mac until he saw Indigo's fist connect to her face multiple times until Mac dropped. As soon as Mac dropped, Indigo foot connected to Mac's nose making her mouth and nose bleed instantly. Martin grabbed Indigo while Ron grabbed a few napkins off the table to help Mackenzie's bleeding nose. 

"Indigo, that was so unnecessary," Maicee said, pissed off seeing her bleeding sister. 

"I don't give a fuck, the fuck you bring this bitch around for? Man, stop talking to me before I punch you in your shit."

"Punch who in who shit? Bitch, thinking you would ever is hilarious." Maicee said, taking her bag off. 

"Stop talking, wassup?" Indigo said, putting her Crocs in sports mode. 

"Man chillout." Martin said, grabbing Indigo to take her outside.

"You seem like you struggling." Milly teased Haven as he was ahead of her. 

"And I'm still going to win." She chuckled as her foot slipped.

"Not with moves like that." He smirked as she jumped higher than him, making him furrow his eyebrows. 

He stopped talking shit and began climbing faster; they were neck and neck when Haven's harness unclipped. Milly jumped over, catching her as her heart was pounding. He held her tightly by her waist as they were face to face, but she was squeezing her eyes shut tightly.

"You good, I got you." He told her.

"I thought I was finna die." She said, making him chuckle.

"Not while I'm right here." 

"My heart feels like it's coming out of my chest." Haven finally opened her eyes, looking into his. 

"I got you." He repeated as her heart began beating for a different reason, and she felt butterflies in her stomach. 

They gravitated towards each other, but before it could escalate, she reached up, rang the bell, and smiled extra hard as he chuckled. 

"You grimey fahsure." He told her as the workers began letting them down. "Grimey and a cheater."

"You're a sore loser; what you say, double or nothing? Oh aight." 

"That shit doesn't count." He chuckled as they began walking towards the table. He was about to say something but she stopped walking and stood there as her mood instantly changed making him furrow his eyebrows. "What's wrong?" 

"Haven." Maicee called out.

"Why is she here?" Haven asked.