Chapter Text
“Hey Shanice, didn’t you say that you had family in Westchester?”
Surprise shakes me, almost making me drop my vegetarian burrito, as I whip my head towards Mikey who had situated himself on the head of his Tesla Roadster while the rest of us had sat in the seats of his car to enjoy our lunch.
It wasn’t really common for us to talk about family within our group, besides when one of us had to vent about our parents not letting us attend a concert or when one of their younger siblings had taken something of theirs without permission, so it was surprising that Mikey had brought up the topic out of nowhere.
“Yeah, in Bridgeton, my cousin Missy and her parents live there. I think you met them at the funeral, she was the one with the white mom.” I answered before taking another bite of my burrito, watching as Mikey tried to squint and try to recall whether he even got a look at her. I wouldn’t put it past him if he didn’t though, everyone was in tears that no one was really focused on meeting new people.
“Oh, I think I remember seeing her. She was the little shortie with the puffy afro, right?” I turned my head from the passenger seat and nodded at Damien who had finally pulled himself off Mandy’s neck to join the conversation.
Another surprise, Mandy and Damien were practically joined at the hip since the seventh grade. So wrapped up in their own little world that you practically had to get them five feet apart from one another to have a coherent conversation with them.
Mandy propped herself on her elbows, a new purple hickey surfacing on her collarbone, as she turned her head towards Mikey. “Is this about what you were talking about on the phone the other day?”
I raised my eyebrow at this. “What are you talking about?”
This was met with an eye roll curtesy of Mikey as I resisted the urge to throw the rest of my burrito at his green-tinted hair, if I did that to my grandmother, she would’ve smacked the eyes out of eye sockets. “Seriously Shan, it’s like you never listen to us when we talk on the phone.”
“Well sorry for actually doing my homework. I hope you all remember that I’m the only reason that any of you are passing statistics.”
He waves off my snarky remark and slides off the car front, making his way into the driver’s seat of the car before handing me his half-drunken Green Matcha Latte which I take a slip of before wincing. How does anyone like this crap?
“You know that Exchange program the school was talking about? We had an assembly about how they were going to send like five lucky students to Bridgeton High in NYC so that they would be able to understand the difference of education between states or some shit like that.”
For half of that Assembly, I was on my phone but I vaguely remember how excited the principal was on stage.
“So I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to get a free vacation to New York for five months!” Mikey said to mostly me, Daniel and Mandy had finally decided that they had been “apart” for long enough and went back to sucking faces, now featuring some hip grinding.
I never got how they were so comfortable with PDA. Yes, while I had known them for most of their lives, I don’t think that was any reason to get to third base (or was it second base?) inches away from me. I shake off my distaste and focus on Mikey who was practically bouncing in his seat at the thought of New York.
“Okay but it wouldn’t be a vacation, we still have to go to school, and didn’t the principal say that we had to write an essay to be chosen and another when we get back describing the experience?” Though the thought was nice there were so many things to consider, not to mention that all of their parents had to approve first.
“Oh please, Shan. Anyone can write an essay and we practically have it in the bag, with your smarts and my dad’s money, they have no reason to say no to our applications!”
I grunted, contemplating whether I should agree. Mikey, seeing me in my moment of weakness, went in for the kill by gently placing his hands on my shoulder and turning me to face him fully.
“Please Shan, it’s about to be our senior year. I want to make some fun moments with you before you go off to whatever ivy league college you’ll surely get into.”
I stared at his face and sighed in resignation as he pulled me into a hug. I really hated that he knew just how to make me give in.
Thinking positively, this might be a good opportunity to break the news gently to them while we live it up in Bridgeton.