A Baby For The Bad Boy Next Door

“Jason, it’s 9 remember?”

“Of course babe, I’ll remember. I’ll be there before you know it. Chill out.”

I glared at Jason, my boyfriend of six months, my longest relationship ever. Actually, my first relationship ever since I turned seventeen last year. He brown eyes were glued to his phone and he was texting rapidly. Is he even listening to me?

“Jason,” I said again, craning my neck to see what had him so engrossed in his phone. He finally looked up, placing his phone on his chest, and smiled. Even after six months I still get butterflies in my belly when he smiles like that. Jason is top ten in our class and I can’t believe how lucky I am to be his girlfriend. “I hope that’s my birthday present you’re picking.”

“You’ll see. I’ll be there babe,” he drawled and leaned across the gear to press a kiss to my lips. I grinned foolishly and returned the kiss before getting my bag to leave the car. My friends Lurane and Sophie waited at the entrance of school in front of Lurane’s car. She’s the only one among us with a car. She and Sophie had ridden to school today with me because Jason offered to pick me up.

“Hey bitch,” Sophie called out. Sophie Wilson is the wildest in the group. She got a fake ID first, got high on her fifteenth birthday, had sex the same day, got suspended twice, and brought alcohol to school once. I still haven’t gotten the chance to drink alcohol because grandma would have my tongue if I did. Sophie once convinced us to get our hair dyed blue, it took weeks to get the color off my thick curls. Lurane’s mother had been aghast by the sight of her precious daughter’s blue hair that she almost had a heart attack.

Lurane Grant on the other hand is the wise owl in our friend group. She has a wild side that she keeps under wraps because of her parents’ reputation. They are stinky rich! I’m the odd one in the group. Let’s just leave it at that.

Anyways, Sophie, Lurane and I have been friends since forever and believe me it’s hard being friends with such attractive girls especially when you always have to play the third wheel.

Sophie looked past me to Jason who waved at us. “Hey hottie,” she screamed drawing the attention of half the school population towards us. She blew a kiss at him and winked while flipping her dyed red hair. She glanced at me mischievously and wagged her brows. “Did you guys do it?” she whispered.

I rolled my eyes and groaned. “In the car on the way to school?! No, we did not have sex, Sophie. I thought we talked about not talking about this topic.”

She sniffed and rolled her eyes. “I bet Jason must be starving to get between your legs Mary Poppins. You know boys, they need sex or they die, right Lurane?”

Lurane who had been typing on her phone looked up. “Sometimes,” she said in her gentle tone. You gotta understand that Lurane was born and bred as a princess so she’s way more refined than Sophie and I can ever be. “Jason doesn’t look like he’s in a rush to get under your skirts though, Coco.”

Chantelle is my name. It’s a nice name I guess but I go by Coco because that was the first thing I could say as a baby none of that generic mama and dada for me.

“Oh my gosh you guys are so boring,” Sophie yawned. “Okay, whatever Coco. But take my word for it Jason is getting some elsewhere if he’s not pestering you for sex and believe me I wish I was that person.” She smacked her lips.

I rolled my eyes and laughed. Lurane laughed too. Trust me we have been around Sophie long enough to be used to her bullshit.

The bell rang suddenly and we left the entrance and headed to class. Our schedules are the same so we attend every class together.

As we slid into the three empty seats we found Lurane leaned over. “Your birthday dinner is still happening, right?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I replied. I turn eighteen today. Baby bird is becoming a grownup.

“I’m so excited to eat your mom’s delicious cooking. My mom got back yesterday and she has done nothing but yell all day. I can’t believe I’m about to say this,” Sophie said with her lips curled in disgust. “School is a million times better than a day with that screeching banshee.”

I laughed. Ms. Wilson is not exactly a model mother. “It’s only a few months now and you’ll be out of that house for good.”

“God I can’t wait.”

“Good morning class.”

That ended our conversation for the next hour. All three of us are smart. That’s one of the reasons grandma approves of our friendship. She’s not Sophie’s biggest fan but she admires Sophie’s brains. She’s the best in our science classes, Lurane is better at languages and art subjects while I like my dad excel at calculus, mathematics, geometry…anything that has formulas and calculations is my turf, anything except physics.

And so our classes continued until two in the afternoon when we had lunch and talked about boys and the bitchy girls in our class. We have one common enemy. Ciara Turner. She’s a total hoe and she has been the topic of our discussions too many times to count. Today we talked about the rumor going around about Ciara and a backup dancer at some club. Apparently, Ciara’s mother heard the news and was threatening to send her off to a convent or something. Believe me, Ciara needs the prayers of the faithful to cleanse her soul.

After lunch, we had more classes until school let out at 5 in the evening. All three of us piled into Lurane’s car and headed home with Zara Larsson’s Falling For a Friend (FFF) blasting from the speakers. Sophie was the first to drop off.

“Don’t forget,” I reminded her as she sashayed up the steps to her door which flew open to reveal Ms. Wilson with her hands on her waist and the ugliest scowl on her face. “9 okay? Good evening Ms. Wilson.”

“Good evening, ma’am,” Lurane echoed.

She ignored us and turned to berate Sophie who slipped past her and waved at us.

“Okay bitches, I’ll be there dressed as a stripper,” Sophie shouted over the music.

We drove off leaving Ms. Wilson screaming so loudly her voice echoed over the music. Lurane dropped me off with the promise to be right on time for my birthday dinner. I waved until she drove away and ran up the stairs to my house. Mom was hanging up the last of the balloons even though I clearly told her I was too old for them.