^She's gorgeous

Laugh my friend, for laughter ignites a fire within the pit of your belly and awakens your being. —Stella & Blake

• • •

Since everyone's exams are over, school passes by pretty quickly and before I know it, we've reached the end of our last day.

Just like every year, we have an assembly that basically involves the droning on and on about how well we all did this year and to have a good summer. Surely a goodbye assembly shouldn't take that long but it always manages to last about 40 minutes. I hate it and every time, I almost fall asleep; that is if Ana didn't elbow me throughout.

"Wake up." She hisses as she digs her elbow into my ribs.

I open my eyes and jolt awake from the pressure before tuning to glare at my offender.

She shrugs her shoulders and faces the stage once more.

"This year has been both successful and busy while filled with several changes. Despite it all, every one of you have adapted and I want to congratulate you all on the improvements you have made and continue to make. Especially to the year 7 students who made it though their first year-"

I zone out of the speech Mrs King is currently prattling I'm about and my mind immediately focuses on Abel's  strange behaviour recently.

More and more, he's been talking quietly to his parents but stopping as soon as I walk into the room. As if that's not enough, he's been a lot more busy than usual, meaning I get to spend less time with him. And even though he's still his cheery self mostly, he constantly looks more tired and stressed everyday.

I'm beginning to get extremely worried for him but every time I bring it up, he shuts me down. If it wasn't for the fact I was so concerned, I definitely would have snapped at him by now. But I know something has to be bad for Abel to be acting like this.

I sigh out loud drawing the attention of Ana who shoots me a perturbed look. I shake my head at her and smile in reassurance. I haven't told anyone about Abel except Rolo and not just because I don't want him feeling left out but also because he's always been there for me when I need it.

I shake my head free of these thoughts and zone back into the speech that's still going on.

"-to wish you all a wonderful summer and come back feeling refreshed and ready for an even greater year."

Everyone in the auditorium claps before standing up and eagerly leaving with boisterous shouts an a excited laughs.

I leave the room with Ana by my side babbling about how much fun this summer is going to be.

"I have so much planned for us to do!" She exclaims as we skip out of school.

"How fun is it going to be with our boyfriends with us?" I ask.

"I know! Raphael and I have been getting so close and he told me he loves me yesterday!"

"No way really! You guys are so cute and you fit so well."

"So do you and Abel. I swear I've never seen two people more in love than you guys."

I think back to how it feels like Abel's been pulling away from me. "Yeah, me too." I sigh out.

All of a sudden, I'm lifted up into Rolos arms and I quickly lock my hands together around his neck to keep myself up.

"School's over people!" He yells.

I look to the side and find that Raphael has done the same with Ana and Evelyn is holding hands with Israel.

We bust through the school crowds and outside all the while cheering with joy.

"Where's Abel?" I look around and strain my neck past all these people to try and see if I can find him.

"He's right here." Rolo responds.

I turn my head to the side when Rolo launches me into the air. I let out a loud shriek and flail my hands in the air before I land in Abel's arms with an oomph.

I swipe my hair out of my face and look up at him in irritation.

"Hey Brown Eyes."

I slap him on the chest, "How could you let Rolo throw me like that!"

I turn and pin Rolo with a glare while he shoots me a cheeky smile, "And you! I could have died!"

"Do you have no faith in me?" Abel smirks at me.

"Not when I'm being thrown 50 metres into the air!"

Rolo scoffs and rolls his eyes, "You're being dramatic."

"Frankly," Rani starts. "You should be congratulating Abel on that catch. He made it look so easy and we both know you're not the lightest person ever." She jokes.

"Shut up Rani."

Abel keeps me in his arms while we all talk about our summer plans. I'm surprised he hasn't dropped me yet, it's probably tiring holding me up for so long. But then again, he loves that sort of thing.

"What are we all still standing here for! Let's get this summer started!" Rolo hoots and speeds off while we all follow closely behind with just as much eagerness.

• • •

It's become tradition that Rolos family holds an end of school bbq every year in his garden. Usually,  it would be Rani, mine, Anas and his family but since we've all gained more friends this year, there's going to be a lot more this time.

It's crazy how much things can change in only a year. The people you meet, the things you experience; it's all part of the unknown. You can never be fully sure what's going to happen next but I think it's important that you embrace whatever it is. Change can be good but only if we allow ourselves to accept it.

For the bbq, each family has to bring some sort of dish along with them, preferably something cultural so that everyone can try something new.

So as me and my family are doing the short walk to Rolos, I'm carrying a container of Jolof rice with Marcel holding the plantain that everyone loves.

Of course, we make it there in no time and are immediately welcomed by Rolo and his family. Our parents immediately jump into conversation while Marcel goes off with Tenaya probably to snog her face off. That's definitely something I never want to see. Rolos dad is by the grill cooking up a storm that I absolutely cannot wait to eat. The smell alone is enough to make my mouth water and my stomach rumble.

While we're waiting for everyone else to arrive, Rolo and I decide to make up a little game that involves Nolan and Temi. You know when you were younger in primary school and you used to do wheelbarrow races? Yeah that's what we're doing. Obviously Nolan and Temi are the wheelbarrows since they're not strong enough to hold us up.

"Okay whoever wins has to do whatever the other persons asks them too for the rest of the summer." Rolo Says.

I pull a face at him, "For the rest of the summer? Not happening."

"Why? You scared you gonna lose?" He smirks at me.

"No, but it's ridiculous to use a wheelbarrow race with our siblings as a deciding factor for who gets to be a slave for the whole summer. I know what kind of things you'd ask me to do and there's no way I'd sign myself up for it."

"Ugh Fine. Whoever wins gets ten pounds and the other persons jerk chicken today."

Rolos mum makes the absolute best Jamaican jerk chicken. If I could eat it everyday I honestly would and that is why I quickly accept his offer.

"Much better." I agree with a nod.

We get Omari and Lamar to video us and see who wins to make it fair. Lamar and Omari haven't been hanging out as much as before since he became friends with Zane. It seems something similar happened with them because it looks kind of tense. I'll definitely have to speak to Omari about it. They've been close since forever and that shouldn't change. In fact, we've all been close and nothing should affect that.

Rolo and I get into position after dragging Nolan and Temi into it.

Just before we start, I hear my and Rolos dad talk about us.

"What are they doing this time?" My dad asks with exasperation.

"Jamal, it's best not to question them anymore." Rolos father replies.

My dad sighs in response, "You're right. I have no idea how we raised that though."

"I'd believe someone swapped out my real child if Rolo wasn't a spitting image of me."

It's true, they look exactly alike.

Lamar takes his phone out to video us while Omari stand to the side and starts the countdown.

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"GO!"

Rolo and I immediately set off with Nolan and Temi going as fast as they can. At one point, Rolo stretches out his arm to try and shove me but I effectively dodge him since I'm an elite human being.

A couple seconds later, we make it to the other end of the garden with me feeling completely sure that I won.

"Me and Nolan won!" I yell while pumping my fists into the air.

"No you didn't!" Exclaims Rolo.

"Yes I did, even when you tried to cheat!" I cross my arms and raise my brows at him.

"Just admit it Kez, I'm better than you." He smirks at me.

I scoff, "Yeah you wish-"

My dad walks up to both of us and shoves us away by putting his hands on our faces, "It was a draw, now move on. Everyone's arriving."

Rolo and I grudgingly concede and head over to Rani and her family who are the first to arrive.

"Rani! Finally you're here! Rolo's being annoying." I roll my eyes just as Rolo pushes me.

"I'm not even surprised." Rani responds.

"Why are you both ganging up on me? I need my guys here." Rolo stalks off away from us.

I say a quickly hello to Ranis brother Bodhi and her slightly glum looking parents when everyone else arrives.

After saying hi to all the parents, all of us younger ones gather together to talk. Music starts blaring out throughout the garden and I watch as Abel's dad drags his mum to the centre to dance. Despite they're  slightly awkward moments, I can tell how in love they are and it's so beautiful.

I nudge Abel's arm to get his attention, "You're parents look so happy together."

"They are." He says with a smile. "It's what I look up to when it comes to love and relationships. When it comes to you."

"What do you mean?"

"I had to learn how to treat you properly from somewhere didn't I?"

"It seems so."

Everyone begins to gather round the long table that's been placed outside and starts to take their seat.

Abel pulls me with him so that he's on one side and Ana is in my other side. Tatiana's on Abel's left while opposite us is Rolo, Rani,  Raph, Evelyn and Israel. All the adults have taken the seats on the other end of the table leaving us to ourselves.

Rolos dad stands up to say grace before we all dig in. "We thank you Lord for the life you've giving us today, for the food we eat, for the love we share and for everyone here. We thank you that our children have it through another year and continue to succeed just as they have been. Amen."

"Amen." We all echo.

Everyone starts piling food onto their plates and I immediately start with the jerk chicken I've been craving so much. Rolo does the same as me and we both bite into it at the same time.

"This just keeps getting better and better." I moan out.

"Agreed." Rolo says.

"Abel you have to try this." I look over at his plate to see that he's put on practically everything. I give him an incredulous look, "Are you actually planning on finishing that all?"

"Of course. I'm still growing you know."

"That's like the excuse every guy uses when they're eating their own weight." Rani points out.

"It's not an excuse if it's true Rani." Rolo says.

One glance at Raphael and Israel's plate shows that they're telling the truth.

I point to a dish that Israel brought and decide to try it and see how it tastes, "Israel what is this?"

He looks up from his food before responding, "It's called Mahshi. They're bell peppers stuffed with rice, tomato sauce, herbs and beef. Try it."

I fork some into my mouth as the variety of flavour assaults my taste buds. "Oh wow this is amazing!"

As I continue to stuff my face with food, small conversation is made all around the table. I look to the left and see that Abel is helping Tatiana cut some of her food. She thanks him eagerly while he kisses her on her chubby cheeks. My heart is melting.

Obviously feeling my gaze, Abel looks up to stare at me when I notice he has some sauce on the corner of his lips.

With my eyes still locked on his, I wipe it away with my thumb before licking it off. Abel's eyes drop to my lips and I can clearly see his overwhelming desire to kiss me right there and then. But since we're surrounded by our friends and family, he simply leans in to place his mouth behind my ear and gently kisses the area softly.

"I think it's inappropriate to be so turned on while I'm sitting next to my sister don't you think?" He murmurs. "So I think we should get out of here."

A nervous laughs escapes my voice box. "Why? What do you want to do? Make out like some horny teenagers who can't control themselves?" I half smirked at him.

"Actually, I want to do a whole lot more to you," He whispers honestly as he presses more kisses on the side of my neck.

My heartbeat skyrockets at his subtle insinuation so instead of letting him to continue, I gently pull his head back up to look at me, "Down boy. Definitely not the time for that."

I glance towards our friends to find that they're smirking at me with knowing looks. I groan in irritation realising that they're probably gonna tease me about this to no end. However, instead of commenting all they do is laugh.

After we've all eaten, I spot Monroe in the corner away from us all and in her own. I decide to go up to her to try and get her feeling more involved. I can understand how nerve wracking it can be around so many people; maybe not to this extent but still anything I can do to help will be good for her.

I drag Rolo with me knowing he's pretty good at making people feel at ease.

"Where are we going ?" He questions.

"To Abel's sister Monroe. She's kind of shy."

"Say no more." Rolo immediately jogs up to her and starts up a conversation that seems mostly one sided. Eventually, she starts to giggle happily at the funny faces he's pulling and even talks to him.

I brush my hands together feeling successful and I'm about to head straight to Abel when I see Rani arguing with her parents. Unfortunately, I'm too far away to hear what's being said but it's definitely getting heated.

I walk up to the rest of the group who are also staring not so discreetly in Ranis direction, "That looks tense doesn't it?" I ask them.

They all nod back at me but don't say anything else. I don't want to interfere but I also don't want Rani to end the summer on a bad note.

Fortunately, my parents have seemed to catch onto the argument and are making their way over.

"This is either gonna go well or really bad." Rolo Says as he watches them.

My parents have a brief conversation with Ranis and although they look frustrated, they don't react badly.

"Looks like it's all fine." Evelyn points out.

"Except for the fact that Rani looks super pissed." Adds Israel.

He's completely right; Rani is stomping towards us like an outraged bull. But instead of her stopping at us, she trudges straight past before shouting to us over her shoulder, "I'm going home, don't follow me."  And with that, she leaves.

We're all silent for a second until Abel speaks up, "Well then."

After that slightly awkward encounter, everything returns to normal; the dancing, the talking, the laughter. I capture these moments both with my mind and my camera, knowing how important it all is.

Just before we all head out, I take Nolan to the bathroom even though he's now capable of going himself.

"Why do you have to come with me?" He whines.

"Just because." I respond vaguely.

I walk through the hallway and make a left before opening the door in front of us. Sadly, a toilet is not the only thing we see.

"Marcel!" I yell.

Both mine and Nolan's eyes are officially scarred. We just walked into Marcel and Tenaya sucking each other's face off. As if that wasn't enough, there was also wandering hands!

"My eyes!" Screams Nolan.

"Get out!" Marcel and Tenaya shout at us.

I quickly close the door and turn to look at Nolan. We stare at one another for a second before bursting into giggles.

"I bet you're happy I came with you now." I point out.

Please like and comment!