Chapter 5: Chapter 5

: Queen

→Narrator: Asa

"So, you're saying that you found nudes of some random bitch on his phone. And said bitch offered him a blowjob and he didn't cut her off? Did I get that right?" She asked, shouldering her pretty pink bag as she cracked her knuckles like a champ.

"Yeah." I sighed. "I mean, I know I over reacted about the whole thing but-"

"No buts, Asa. You shouldn't feel sorry about that. I mean, I know you own Kam. You've got your little witchy hands wrapped around his head. And I'm talking about the one sitting on his neck and the one, snuggling in his pants."

"Kosi!" I gasped.

She waved me off. "Yeah, yeah. I'm serious, Asa, that guy would cut off his dick for you and offer it up to you as a burnt offering or something."

My eyes bulged.

"What? It's true!" She cried, indignantly. "Heck, he looks at you like you're Beyonce, Michelle Obama and that porn star... Uh... What's her name? The famous one. Aha!" She brightened up, snapping her fingers. "Mia Khalifa. He looks at you like you're all three of those women wrapped in one body."

I rolled my eyes at her.

"What I'm saying is, Kam loves you and that's fact. But that doesn't mean you should condone shit like that. It's good you showed him how angry you were, Asa."

"I still think I overreacted, though."

Kosi rolled her eyes and smacked my forehead.

"Ow!" I groaned.

"Fucking think, Asa. Imagine some dude sends you a dick pic. Kam will go berserk on that dude and fucking castrate him, you feel me? He'll burst a ball sack for sure."

I shook my head, wondering if I'd ever get used to Kosi's blunt way of talking.

"You just need to pull up your big girl panties and-" she stopped abruptly and I looked at her. She was glaring at someone behind me. "Oh, ho ho ho. If it isn't the queen of hoes."

"Don't look now!" She hissed, when I turned around to see who it is. "Maybe if we ignore the devil, she'll go away."

No such luck.

Haliya was upon us in a flurry of classy perfume scent, high heels and beautiful full afro. Flanked by her sides were two of her best friends, Caro and Somma. Her cousin, Zain, was missing from the clique.

Caro was as bad as Haliya when it came to bullying and forcing her power on the juniors. And everyone said she gossiped about Haliya behind her back.

It used to be just Haliya, Zain and Caro, but Somma got admitted into the school last year, around the same time I did. Somma was sweet and nice and lovely and I knew her a bit, because she lives across the street from Jemi and we've talked before. I have no idea why Haliya took her under her wing and tried to teach her the ways of the proud and heinous.

Somma was cute and beautiful in a vulnerable type of way, like those classic damsels in distress, storybooks talk about. The kind every man wants to save. With a child-like face that evoked protection and care and big round eyes that made you want to coo at her but a thicc body that contrasted beautifully with her child-like face. She was honestly good and quiet and nice and I wondered why she hung out with a girl like Haliya.

"Witch." Haliya greeted me calmly, a malicious smile on her lips. "Slut," She said, looking at Kosi.

"Satan," Kosi said, immediately. "Satan worshippers." She acknowledged Haliya's sidekicks.

Haliya growled. "I swear, if you provoke me-"

"Geez, Asa, do you feel that energy? That poisonous, choking energy that makes you want to rip your hair out." She closed her eyes and wrinkled her nose, pointing a perfectly manicured finger, nails, painted a bright pink colour, at Haliya and co. "I think it's coming from that direction. Quick, Asa! Call an exorcist."

Haliya narrowed her eyes. "I don't have time for you peasants right now. Where's Jemi?"

"What do you want from him?" Kosi folded her hands and adopted a sassy stance.

"None of your business."

"Uh, Jemi is my best friend, princess bitchface. It's technically my business to protect him from leeches and evil entities like you."

"Fuck you, Kosi."

"Kiss my fat ass while you're at it." She blew a kiss at her.

"You bitch!" Caro suddenly bristled. "I suggest you keep your mouth shut, you shouldn't be opening your mouth to dish out crap you can't take."

"First of all, ask me if I give a flying fuck about any of your suggestions." She tilted her head to think. "Nope, not a single fuck is given, so why don't you carry your little wicked asses and go find a nice busy highway to play on."

Haliya narrowed her cold, calculating eyes on Kosi, her lips twisted into a scowl, before her eyes brightened with an almost manic glint in them. "You're one to talk, especially when you let your body be your boyfriend's punching bag. Tell me, where did all that sass go to while he... Uh... Pummeled you?"

The air suddenly got thicker... Heavier.

Kosi froze, her eyes, wide in shock like she just got doused in cold water. "How did you know that?"

Kosi hid the fact that she had been physically abused very well. Makeup was her strong suit and she used it to her advantage, covering up most of the aftermath of Trev's assault on her. No one, except the rest of the gang, knew that Kosi was beaten up by her ex.

"Oh, I make it my business to know a lot of things, slut. It's the only way I keep my enemies where they belong. Under my feet."

"How did you fucking know that, Haliya?!" Kosi shrieked. She was hyperventilating now.

Her lips curved into a wicked smile. "Let's just say I have a spy, who feeds me the juicy deets on what goes on in your little band of mates."

Kosi was breathing hard, her knuckles, clenched at her side. Her entire body was trembling in anger.

"Oh, and what was that news about your mother again? Shagging up with the richest dick in the country. Won't be surprised you turn out to be the same opportunistic slut she is now. You're trash, Kosi. Trash don't talk back to royalty."

"Oh, I'll show you trash, bitchface!" Kosi lunged at Haliya, claws extracted.

Everything happened so fast, I didn't even have the time to react.

Jemi suddenly appeared, his hands, banding around Kosi's waist as he held her back from attacking Haliya.

"Dammit, Jemi! Let me go! I swear, I'll claw her eyes out."

No matter how bad things got at home, Kosi never complained about her mother's questionable reputation. She took it all with a sassy smile and a hair flip. Even if she never admitted it, Kosi loved her mum deeply. She wouldn't let anyone talk bad about her mum. It broke my heart every time I saw her reading news and tabloids about her mother's scandals.

And here was Haliya, rubbing more salt to the wound.

"Haliya, stop this. I'm not cool with any of this." Somma suddenly spoke up and all of us turned to look at her. Even Kosi stopped thrashing wildly in Jemi's arms.

"What did you say?" Haliya's voice was colder than arctic air as she glared angrily at Somma.

Somma rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hip. "I'm saying, these guys didn't do anything to us. You're intentionally provoking and threatening Kosi and I don't like it. It all seems very immature to me."

"Fucking Christ, Somma. What the hell is wrong with you?!" Haliya snapped at Somma. "It's not enough you're ugly and pathetic, you also have to be a traitor too?"

"Liya maybe you should calm down." Caro cautioned Haliya, who seemed to be taken aback by her outburst.

"Shut the fuck up when I'm talking Caro, or you're next."

Caro wisely shut up.

Haliya turned back to Somma.

"You're fucking naive and ugly and you don't even know shit about fashion. You've got hippo hips and sagging breasts that need reconstructive surgery. You're a needy, a spinless pushover and the only reason I put up with you is because I feel pity for your pathetic bulimic ass, so I suggest you suck it up and fucking roll with me or walk the fuck out!"

Somma flinched and took a step back and the hurt expression on her pretty face broke my heart in two. But she masked it easily, flipping her hair and rolling her eyes. "Whatever, Haliya." And walked away.

Haliya frowned at her and I saw something akin to regret in her eyes.

"I'll go after her." Caro said, a worried expression on her face, as she left Haliya's side, running after Somma.

"Fools." Haliya muttered under her breath.

"If that's the way you treat your friends, it's no wonder they talk about you behind your back." Jemi said, taking a protective stance in front Kosi and I, as if trying to shield us from Haliya.

Haliya folded her slim arms stubbornly, bronze bracelets, shimmering in the sun. "Whatever. I don't need them. You're the one I was looking for, anyway. It's good you're here."

She sounded... Tired... Sad. And I suddenly wondered how much of Haliya was a wicked mask. A bitchy persona she adopted on front of people. Was it all a lie? Did she have a reason for being so mean?

"What do you want, Haliya?"

"I'm throwing an end of the year party for the elites in our school and those around the neighbourhood and I want you there."

"Why?"

She shrugged. "Just because. Bring the Witch and the Slut along too."

Kosi bristled vehemently and I held her balled fists and squeezed.

"And what if I refuse?"

As if someone just flipped a switch, the sober expression on her face, twisted back into a malicious one. "Then I'll blow the whistle on the fact you got arrested last night. I'm sure NBA won't take on a crack case now, would they? All that cocaine allegations cannot be good for you. Tsk tsk."

Jemi's voice faltered. "How did you-"

Basketball was everything to Jemi. His dream was to make it big and become an intentional basketballer. He needed a clean reputation to get into the NBA and here was Haliya, threatening to ruin his image.

"Is that a threat?" Jemi's voice reduced to a strained whisper.

Haliya laughed. A wicked, malevolent laugh that twisted my guts. "Oh, pretty boy. It's a promise. Of course, I don't have to make good on my promise if you decide to come in the end."

"Why do you want me there, Haliya? Don't you have enough playthings already?"

"I get bored easily." She pouted. "But I'm not doing this with any evil intent. I'm doing it for Kam."

Kam?

I didn't know I had said it out loud until she sneered at me. "Yes, Kam. You seem to have him wrapped around your hands. He's been walking like he's dead or something and I know there's something going on between you two, I just don't know what."

Kosi scoffed. "What? You didn't pay your spy enough to keep you posted?"

Haliya rolled her eyes. "Anyway, if he sees you, witch, he'll stop beating himself up, trying to get to you. And you'll have no room to avoid him anymore."

She knew that I had been trying to avoid Kam, who was hell bent on chasing after me.

"Wow, Haliya. That almost sounds like you're rooting for Kasa." Kosi grinned.

Haliya scowled. "Everything I'm doing, I'm doing it for Kam. He's my friend and I actually care about him. Personally, I hope it doesn't work out between you two."

"Right." Kosi quipped.

"Anyway, think about it, peasants. Bye for now."

We all watched her walking away from us, tall and confident, an almost seductive sway to her hips, nose in the air.

But to me, she looked tired. Sad... Lonely.

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