A few years later, Odessa is 12 and Daveed is 13. The girl is in 7th grade and the boy was in 8th but that did little to nothing to stop the two of them from spending nearly every day glued to each other's side.

Currently, it was Odessa's lunch period. She had lunch a period before Daveed, but Daveed came strolling into the lunchroom with his hands shoved in his pockets, smiling when he saw his curly haired friend.

"Yo, Dessa." He said happily as he sat down beside of her, and the curly haired girl with glasses sitting on the bridge of nose smiled back at him.

"Hi, Daveed. Are you skipping history again?" She asked, and Daveed chuckled quietly.

"It's fine, no one is gonna notice me not being there. Plus I'm one of the only one who is passing, so I'm fine. I'd rather be with my best friend anyways." He chuckled quietly as he stole a fry off of the girls plate, laughing when she cringled up her nose at him and narrowed her eyes.

"Touch my food, you die Diggs. You know this." She said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, and Daveed chuckled before taking another fry off her plate. Her eyes only narrowed more as she sent a punch to his upper arm. The male gasped in fake pain, grabbing where she had hit with his other hand.

"How dare you! That hurt! You are an evil, evil girl." He said, and Odessa stuck her tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes slightly, but his attention was dragged from his friend when his name echoed through the lunch room.

"Daveed Diggs! Get back to class!" A teacher called out and Daveed rolled his eyes slightly as he pulled Odessa close to his chest, giving her a large hug before he stood up and put two fingers to his head, saluting them in Odessa direction. She did the same thing back to him before he left.

A small smile continue to tug on her lips even after her best friend left, the happiness of having been around him not leaving her body. She couldn't help it, he was the happiest part of her life at any point in it. He was like her rock, she didn't know how she would survive without him.

The smile on her face soon faded when she saw the two girls that made her life a small bit of hell walking in her direction. One of each of the girls sat on either side of her, small smirks on either one of their faces. "Hello, Dessa." Caitlynn said, reaching forward and twirling one of Odessa's curls around her finger.

"What do you want, Caitlynn?" Odessa mumbled quietly as she twirled her fingers around each other slowly. Caitlynn snickered quietly from beside of her.

"Oh nothing, just to sit with our dear friend."

"I don't like you. You dont like me. Please just tell me what you want." The Clark mumbled quietly. Caitlynn rolled her eyes slightly as she gave the curl around her finger a small tug.

"I just wanted to tell you that your mom is gonna get fired." Caitlynn said happily. Her mother was Odessa's mothers boss, so when she said this, Odessa's body tensed up slightly and she whipped her head towards Caitlynn.

"What?! Why? My mother has done everything for that office!" Odessa said, her eyes narrowing slightly as she looked at Caitlynn. This was more balls that Odessa had ever had with the girl, but she was bringing her mother into this and that wasn't something that Des took lightly.

"So that your ugly ass will have to move back to Kentucky and I can have Daveed all for my self!" Caitlynn said happily, clapping her hands together as she thought about Daveed.

"We are literally 12 years old Caitlynn. We don't need to be fighting over boys. Daveed has been my best friend since I was 5, since I moved here. Newsflash, that isn't changing anytime soon." She said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Exactly." Said a voice from behind them, and Odessa turned around to come face to face with her favorite Diggs. She smiled at him, and he smiled back as he wrapped his arm across her shoulders. Odessa's arm wrapped around his waist, and Caitlynn groaned loudly as she stood up and stormed past them. Odessa watched her leave and a small laugh escaped her lips.

"God, I can't stand her." Odessa said, rolling her eyes. Daveed chuckled and nodded his head.

"Me either, but let me walk with you to class. You're gonna be late." He said chuckled quietly as they started towards Odessa's classroom.

***

Later that same day, Odessa was laying in her bed when a small knock came to her door. Soon after,  her mother entered with a small smile on her face.

"Hi baby, pack your things okay? You're stayin with the Diggs tonight, okay?" She said quietly, and Odessa tilted her head to the side.

"Why? I mean, not that I mind. But, is there any reason?"

"Bill and I are fighting. I just dont want you to be here while we're fighting so I called Daveed's mom. She said it's fine, so pack some stuff for a couple of days. You'll probably be there until monday, because I also have a business trip I'm going on tomorrow. So, killing two birds with one stone having you go over there tonight." She said, and Odessa nodded her head. Her mother shut the door behind her as Odessa got up and started to pack as much as she thought she would need, knowing that she could always borrow Daveed things and that she would have clothes she had left there from previous stays. She sighed quietly as she glanced around to make sure she had everything before walking downstairs and smiling at her mom.

"Are they picking me up or are you taking me?" Odessa asked, and her mother opened her mouth to speak but the door behind them flew open and in stumbled a very drunk man with salt and pepper hair, beer staining down the front of his white shirt as he looked over at Charlie.

"Are you done being a fucking bitch yet?" The man, Bill, asked in a slurred voice. Charlie instinctively pushed her daughter behind of her as Bill came closer to them.

"I have not been being a bitch, Bill. You're being unreasonable, and I'm not fighting with you in front of my daughter. So either you leave, or calm down."

"Tell the brat to leave! We need to finish what we started earlier." Bill said, standing a few feet away from where Charlie was. His hands were balled into fists as he moved closer and closer to the girls.

"You need to leave my house." Charlie said once again, her voice more stern.

"You dont fucking tell me what to do." He said, and Charlie turned towards Odessa for a second and gave her daughter a small smile, placing her hand on her face.

"You're going to walk to Daveed's. It's not far and I trust you. I'll see you in a few days, okay baby? And please don't argue with me, just go."

Odessa glanced back and forth between her mother and Bill before nodding her head slowly, taking her mom's hand in her own. "Call Daveed's phone if you need anything mom." She said quietly before she pushed pass her mother's boyfriend with a hateful look on her face.

The walk to the Diggs household wasn't a long one, but Odessa wasn't completely comfortable walking the streets of Oakland by herself. She fiddled with her fingers and her bag strap as she walked to their house, walking up the hill that their house was located on.

Odessa knocked the door three times before Daveed opened it with a smile on his face. He pulled the girl inside and smiled at her, ruffling her hair slightly before throwing his arm over her shoulder.

"You're with me for almost a whole week, and it's gonna be a blast." Daveed said with a chuckle and Odessa nodded her head but remained quiet. This caused Daveed to turn his head to the side slightly as he tilted her head up with his finger and thumb to make her look him in the eye.

"What's wrong, Des?' He asked quietly. The two of them were standing in the middle of Daveed's living room, but being quiet wasn't something that they actually needed to do due to Daveed's parents both being at work. But Daveed spoke quietly as to not startle the girl.

"Bill and my mom were fighting again. He was calling her a bitch and screaming, he was obviously really drunk." Odessa said softly and Daveed tensed slightly as he looked at her.

"Did he hurt you?" He asked quietly and Odessa shook her head quickly.

"No, not physically. I just really don't like him raising his voice like that.. I just, I dont like it. Not even a little bit." Odessa mumbled and Daveed pulled her into a tight hug, resting his head on top of hers.

"I promise you, Odessa. He'll never hurt you, or I'll kill him."

***

Flashback chapters like these shown some sort of importance in Odessa's life or in Daveed's and Odessa's friendship. If you wanna skip them, then that's totally fine lol.