Asha Avery #3
As soon as Maggie stepped inside, it was the size of a hallway that led to the kitchen, and living room.
There was a welcome packet titled Legacy Park with Danielle and Maggie’s name on it on the counter and another pair of skeleton keys.
There’s a set of stairs at the front door that leads to the two bedrooms. Everything felt so narrow as we all climbed up the steps one behind the other until we were in the small hallway that was split with a bedroom in the back, dark, and hidden and one in the front towards light.
There was a single bathroom in the middle and as we cut the lights on to take a peek, I found myself becoming irritated.
More at myself than anybody else because what the fuck man… This should have been me.
“Both rooms are nice,” Maggie said as we stepped into the one facing the front with the balcony. “They’re both the same size…soooo…. I think I’m going to take the one in the back. It’s a little darker and cozier like a den so Namir can feel comfortable.”
My shoulders dropped as Ayira walked further into the room, looking at the plain bed before moving the blinds to look out the window.
“It’s a lot smaller than I thought it’d be,” I managed to say with a frown. Souxie cut her eyes at me when her phone suddenly went off.
“Here we go,” she muttered with a sigh as she answered the phone. “Yes, Harvey?”
“Harvey?” Isis mouthed before whispering. Souxie nodded with a sly grin. “Souxie is like the queen expert at having men following behind her… They will chase behind her until they go crazy.”
“Bat shit crazy,” Maggie added with a laugh as Ayira’s mouth fell into a small Oh.
“Yeah, where are you?” He asked, voice deep with little to no accent. He actually sounds like a square in comparison to her usual smooth old head type.
“Didn’t I tell you not to speak to me when we got to the school, Harvey? Why are you calling me? We’re done with each other, remember?”
“Yeah…I’m not really hearing any of that. Uh…yeah put it over there! Right there is fine!” He suddenly said to the voice in the background. “Yeah, we’re moving into our unit in Legacy Park. Do you want your stuff moved in or not?”
Souxie’s tongue slipped to the side of her mouth to keep from smiling but her face burned red. Never thought I’d see her submit and cave in.
“We’re at 208,” Souxie said as she walked out. The man was still on speaker phone when he asked,
“You got your things with you now?”
“We can go get them tomorrow…”
“No, we can get them now. We’re going to have breakfast in the morning, and I don’t want to be bothered with moving things.”
“That’s fine, Harvey.”
The front door opened and closed shut as Isis immediately jumped on the bed, almost causing Maggie to fall.
“What the fuck is Legacy Park?!” I let out.
“I can’t believe Souxie just folded like that!” Isis laughed as she rushed to the window to watch. “She might have met her match.”
“Pulleaseee,” Maggie dragged. “She probably sees a way in Legacy Park–––”
“Again!” Ash barked. "What the hell is that?!”
“You don’t like change,” Maggie accused.
“This! Isn’t change! It’s…” looking around, “I don’t know what this is but it's not what we had planned for this year.”
“Sooooooooo change,” Maggie concluded with a laugh.
Ayira opened the closet to the assortment of uniforms. She was touching everything with her fingers and smelling with her nose.
Everything felt foreign to her like she’s never been outside the damn house, let alone to a school.
“These are mine?” She asked. Maggie shot up with a playful shove towards Isis before going towards the closet to read the note.
“These are actually mine…which means they assumed I would take this room. So let’s swap now and get started with decorating. All the bedding and stuff is in the closet too.”
“You ready?” Isis asked with a look at me. “We need to start this walk back.”
Was I the only one bothered by these major changes?
Why is everyone acting like this is normal?
I only stayed here at Drew Collins because of these girls, and the friendships we formed.
Now I stood in the brick dorms known as the Quads.
It was the lowest rank of housing since it was the cheapest option.
I was their prized siren and suddenly I’m being treated like they weren’t just calling me rare a year ago.
Everyone was still outside arguing and fussing about their housing as the tables and student advisors began to pack it up.
Souxie was supposed to be here in this building but as I watched two men grab her things, she was essentially fucking her way into Legacy Park.
“You’ve changed just as much as this place, Asha,” Souxie said as she leaned against the wall in the hallway.
The lights flickered above as students could be heard screaming and music was playing through the walls.
I felt too old for this shit. It was like they plucked freshly graduated students from high school and dumped them off at their next destination.
Adult daycare with room and board options.
I hated it already. “Maybe you haven’t noticed but you are not the same woman from last year. You’ve calmed down a lot.”
“I know…I know…I just think it's really hitting me how behind I am. I don’t like it.”
Souxie pushed her hair off her shoulders with a siddity attitude and pursed lips.
“Okay so then step it up, Period.”