▍𝗀𝖾𝗈𝗋𝗀𝗂𝖺, 𝗄𝗈𝗇𝖺𝗁𝖺 𝗁𝗂𝗀𝗁
COLOR ! n. u
001.    爱   ᠈  𝖾𝗏𝖺𝖽𝖾 . ❫

"THIS SHIT IS FUCKING RIDICULOUS," Ino complained from beside you as she sat on the locker room bench, tying her shoelaces.

Sakura let out a sigh as her head rested on your lap, her pink of her hair sprawled over your shorts and thighs as your back slumped against the wall. You were waiting for Ino to finish getting ready for practice, using it as an excuse to avoid beginning the stretches.

"They wait until our last fucking year to order new uniforms," Ino continued her rant. "It's fucking March! Who the fuck was working her ass off to get the school to accept them for three years? Me bitch!"

"Man, fuck it. We leaving this funky ass school soon anyways," you muttered and watched as she finished tying her shoe and stood to her foot, turning to the full-body mirror on the wall.

"Georgia Tech has pretty good uniforms," Sakura added. She held her manicured nails above her as she toyed with them.

A scoff left Ino's lips as she primed and preened her hair, her eyes rolling. "Bitch, please. All that yellow is not cute."

You threw your head back slightly, laughing while Sakura frowned.

"Ino, hurry up before coach comes in here and starts with her nagging," she said.

Ino sucked her teeth while Sakura lifted herself from your lap and turned towards you. "On a less bitchy note," the pink-haired girl started with a smile and grabbed your wrist, causing you to side-eye her. "Eat out with us after Wednesday's semi-finals?"

"..."

Her lip poked out into a fake pout as she said it, and you silently grimaced at her, though mainly at the thought. You let your attention travel to the ceiling and a drawn-out grunt escaped your lips.

"Oh, come onnnnnn!" she nearly begged, tugging on your arm. "You never go, and this is a special occasion!"

And I'm still never gonna go.

Ino had already spun around, a hand still in her hair. "Yea, [Y/n]! If you just come, we won't have to drop you off first."

So that's why they wanted you to come so bad.

Your long grunting didn't waver as they both continued whining. Eventually, they also groaned and turned away from you, Sakura kissing her teeth in annoyance.

Despite having a driver's license, you had no car. Only a bike you bought three months ago. Usually, your boyfriend would drive you around, but because he wasn't on the basketball team, he rarely went to away games. So, after games when the bus dropped all the cheerleaders off at school, either Sakura or Ino would agree to take you home. Other times, more recently, you'd just use your bike to ride home, not wanting to be a bother.

You'd probably be doing that again next time.

"Tuh, this better not be about Naruto's stupid ass," Ino said.

Your grimace remained.

"[Y/n]!"

"It's awkward," you explained, "I hate awkward situations."

"Okay, but you said you were over it!" Sakura argued.

You only groaned again, your eyes rolling upward. "I ammmm."

"Then come with usssss!" Sakura picked up her begging.

"Uh, nah, it's fine," you waved your hand dismissively. "I'll ride my bike."

Ino's lips slipped open as she was about to counter, but she paused, picking up faint footsteps, as did all three of you.

Your coach's round face popped through the locker room door, her tail of long blonde locks weighing her down. "What are you guys doing?!"

You quickly picked up on her deep frown. The short woman was as loud as thunder, yet you still didn't hear her footsteps approaching until too late. Now you all did whatever you could to look busy, tying your cheer shoes or fixing your shorts.

"Hurry up, everyone's ready but you three!" she scolded before backing away from the door and retreating into the gym, lectures continuing to spur from her loud mouth. "I swear, it's always you three! The oldest should be setting an example!"

You simultaneously stared at each other before mocking her and bursting into hushed giggles.

¤¤¤

You bit your bottom lip as your hands rummaged through the fridge, searching for ingredients for homemade ice cream. A smile crept onto your lips once you pushed a container of leftovers aside to reveal a half-empty carton of heavy whipping cream.

"Yesss," you whispered to yourself, grabbing hold of it.

You weren't by yourself, however. Spread around the kitchen were your three friends, all separately occupied on their phones as they each snacked on something different.

Natalia stood near you by the counter, strawberry in one hand, phone in the other, as she leaned against the edge.

You sat the heavy cream next to all other ingredients, and Nat straightened up suddenly, her face scrunching up.

"Dude," she said, eyes still on her screen.

Faye and Jordan sat on separate chairs, arms resting on the table that stood in the middle of the kitchen. They both looked away from their phones and at Nat while you simply hummed, searching for a container of the proper size.

"This bitch—" She cut herself off with a bitter chuckle. "She copied my fucking tattoo, you guys."

Jordan looked to the side, then back to her. "... Who?"

"Who do you think?"

"Diamond?" Faye asked, referring to her ex. When Nat gave her nod, lips forming into a thin line, you all let out laughs.

Jordan flew out of her seat almost immediately. "Omg, Let me see!" she exclaimed, already standing beside the pale girl and staring at her phone.
   
You stretched your neck from beside her to get a look as well. Indeed, her screen showed an arm with the same design tatted as Natalia's.

"Damnnn," you blinked, "Line for line."

"I mean... Maybe she saw it on Pinterest?" Jordan questioned, though she doubted it.

Nat doubted it, too, as she scoffed and tapped the right of the screen to see the next of the story. The following picture revealed the shop's sign as the girl held her arm at a different angle. You and Jordan gasped dramatically. "Man, she went to our shop, too, [y/n]!"

"Damn, I see Shino's shoe in the corner and everything."

"No way—My boyfriend did my ex's tattoo," Nat shivered, face retorting in fear. "How awkward."

"She probably wanted to see you but you weren't in," Faye suggested from her spot. She remained on her phone, an AirPod stuffed in her ear.

"You don't think they talked about anything, right?" Nat muttered as Jordan returned to her seat, and you returned to your ingredients.

"Nah, they definitely talked about you," you said, knowing it wouldn't reassure her. You grinned evilly to yourself after hearing Nat mumble more curses.

Faye threw a few skittles in her mouth, eyes sliding to Nat's worrying figure. "I thought you blocked her," she slurred, mouth full of candy.

Again, Nat responded with a mumble. "I did. Then someone saw the tattoo on her story."

"Tough," you muttered and returned focus to the counter. Everything you assumed you needed was out, so you pulled your phone from your sweatpants' pockets. As you opened up YouTube, footsteps entered the kitchen.

"Yo," your younger brother, Laurent, started before he paused at the door. "Fuck y'all niggas doin'?"

Your eyes rolled almost immediately. "Minding our business. Fuck you want?"

"Rude," he muttered and walked past your friends, stopping by your side. "Anyways, can I-"

"No."

He smacked his teeth. "Man, I ain't even say it yet."

"Fuck. No."

"Lemmeuseyobiketogotoaparty."

"Come again?"

"You sound dumb as shit," Nat muttered with an attitude, still assessing her ex's picture with a pout.

"[Y/n], let me use your bikeee," he whined, throwing his head back, now shaking your shoulders. "I need to go to this party, man."

You kissed your teeth and slapped his hand away, causing him to tumble back a few inches. "Man, get yo own bike."

"Bro, I'm serious."

Nat looked away from her phone for once and laughed, "Didn't you crash her last one?"

"Who party?" Jordan asked curiously, drumming her fingers against her cheek.

"Jacob's," he answered.

"Ahh, helllllll nah," all three of you girls muttered in unison.

"The same place you crashed her bike," Nat shook her head.

He sucked his teeth, a mug making its way to his face. "Man, y'all some haters? What's the problem?"

"Didn't some guy get shot over there last time?" Faye questioned.

"Sure did," Laurent chuckled. "That's how you know it was jumpin' over there."

"Jumpin' where?" a voice boomed.

You all turned to see your grandma walking in, your baby brother wrapped in her arms.

"Shit," Laurent mumbled.

Nat's face immediately brightened up. "Hey, Mami! I thought you were still sleeping."

"Don't 'hey Mami' me now," she mugged the four of you, her thick Haitian accent seeping through her speech. "Laurent, what is jumping, hm?"

Faye immediately looked back at her phone, whistling to herself, assuming the boy was about to get in trouble.

Laurent rolled his eyes. "This party. [Y/n] won't share her bike."

"Boy, keep my name out yo mouth."

"Mmmm. Do what you want. Men, m'pa vle tande vwa manman'w nan zòrèy mwen," she muttered and made her way to the fridge.
      ( Translation: But I don't wanna hear your mom's voice in my ear. )
 
Your baby brother slipped a thumb inside his mouth as your grandmother opened the fridge to grab a bottle you assumed she planned to microwave.

"Aye, heard that?" Laurent turned back to you. "She don't care. So let me use that shit."

"You didn't tell her shooters be over there."

"Sa pa regade m," she quickly responded, causing you to kiss your teeth.
( Translation: That doesn't concern me. )

"See." He smirked and snatched the whipped cream on the counter from you. "Whatchu usin' this shit for anyway?"

"See, I'm not even answering that cause you sound stupid as fuck."

Laurent stretched his neck to look at your phone from beside you. He kissed his teeth when he saw you click a video titled Homemade Ice Cream in 5 Minutes.

"Those videos fake as shit."

Faye now spoke up again for a long time in a while. "He's right, [y/n.] I doubt it'll work."

"Leave me alone. I still wanna try."

"Ight, whatever," Laurent said with a shrug. "But, for real. I need a ride. You owe me, too."

Your grandma scooted you away from the counter with her hip so she could stand in front of the microwave as you picked up a gallon of milk to begin.

"Nigga, what I owe you?"

The younger male smirked before leaning his body sideways, towards you, cupping his hand by his mouth so your grandma wouldn't hear. "You snuck Antoine in your room and I ain't snitch."

Your heart skipped a beat for a second and you snapped your neck to gape at him. "You wouldn't!"

"Wouldn't what?" your grandmother raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing," Laurent answered, still smirking at you. "Just talkin' 'bout how [n/n] brought Antoine o-"

You slapped him sharply across the cheek, causing him to tumble back and groan, holding the pulsing area. "Stop bein' a fucking snitch!"

"Oh, she snuck Antoine in last week? Yea, I knew that one," she said to herself in monotone as she shut the microwave door with a bit too much force and pressed a button for time.

"Ouuu," Nat side-eyed you.

"Need me to take my belt off?" Faye snickered, tugging on the thick belt wrapped around the waist of her jeans.

"Grandma, what? You knew?!" Your heart dropped even further, blood draining out of your cold body.

"I saw him climb up your window, [y/n]."

"Mami!" you nearly screeched and Laurent howled in laughter.

"Mhmm, I see all." She shrugged, making you even more embarrassed.

You huffed, looking back at the counter and Laurent grinned. "I hate it here. You know I need my bike to get home after the game? Can't you just ask one of your homeboys to pick you up?"

"Everybody gon be at the party drunk by the time we get back to the school." He walked backward until he hit the edge of the counter and leaned on it, crossing his arms expectingly. "Just ride with Sakura and them."

You couldn't do that.

Your furrowed eyebrows reflected your deep thoughts as you nibbled on your bottom lip. "No one on the team is going?"

"Bro, I already exhausted my options. I'll really snitch on yo ass."

You cut your eyes at him. "You better n-"

"Mooooooom!" he shouted, turning towards the kitchen's exit to march out.

"Shit—" you cursed and quickly yanked Laurent back by his hood. He snapped his head around to grin at you, ignoring the dirty look on your face. "You know she's gonna be pissed at you too if you wake her up."

"Maybe," he said and pulled away from your grip, "but, I can handle that."

"I can just tell her you're tryna go to a party."

"Just as long as you suffer more than me, I'm good. Bringing a boy over is way worse than a party. She won't even be thinking about it," he finished with a smirk.

"You're evil, you know that," Jordan shook her head. "I know who you get it from, too."

Chewing your lip, you turned back to the counter and pulled up a large container of sugar.

If he managed to blackmail you into letting him borrow your bike, you'd be forced to ride with Ino and Sakura and therefore encounter Naruto while celebrating. That is unless you asked for a ride from one of the other cheerleaders, but you didn't want to do that.

However, you also couldn't face your mother's wrath. You were already having a hard time getting along with her, an occurrence that happened every few months. The two of you would go through long periods of pleasantry, but it'd always be followed by even longer periods of animosity.

Just yesterday, in fact, she got pissed at some unwashed dishes and threatened to throw you out of the house. When her ear-piercing yells finally woke Laurent from his sleep, he explained it was actually his day to wash, causing her to drop the situation. Without an apology at that.

Something like this would send her off the edge.

But would Laurent really do that?

He never really did understand the severity of things.

You couldn't risk it.

"Fine. I'll just ride with Sakura."

— please ignore
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