Kai Kang. Future rock star in the making. He has been the only true friend I’ve ever had. Other people flock to me as a result of my wealthy family and popularity. Kai isn’t like that; he’s like family to me.
“She’s going to fuck you up one day,” amusement laces his tone, “y’know that right?”
“She wishes.” I scoff at his words.
Did she? Or did I?
Who am I kidding? It’s me. Of course, it’s me. I’m the one who wishes that she will have the courage one day to wrap her fingers around my neck. That she will claw at my hair, bite down on anything she can get her teeth on and just give into that animalistic rage that I know she holds for me.
Then that would mean I’ve gotten to her; I’ve snuck my way so deep inside every singlecrevice of her mind that she has no other choice but to resort to physical violence.
She would never do that though, not because she hates violence or because she respects me. No, it’s because she won’t give me the satisfaction. To her, I’m nothing.
I am not nothing. I’m aKingston.
“Did I tell you I left some more roses for Victoria today?” Kai says excitedly, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Yes. Several times,” I groan and he laughs at my annoyance, which prompts me to continue talking. “She just likes the attention, you know,” I tell him in a stern tone, like I’m talking to my younger brother, even though he’s considerably taller than me at his six-foot-one height, compared to my five-foot-seven.
“I like giving it to her.” He shrugs in response.
He is something else. Kai is the type to ask fifty times before even standing next to a girl, but somehow, a wave of confidence fills him when it comes to Victoria.
“Why are you so enamoured by her?” I question curiously, inching forward when I think he’s ready to start answering.
Seriously, I cannot understand it. Sure, she’s beautiful, but how could you possibly like someone this much? I find it embarrassing, even downright degrading to pine so openly for someone.
“She’s intelligent, hardworking, beautiful—”
I cut him off, almost laughing out loud. “Intelligent? That’s debatable. Are you forgetting that she’s best friends with that deplorable dyke …”
“What have I told you about that word?” He cuts me off angrily, slamming his locker door shut.
I roll my eyes. “That my homophobic language is disgusting.”
Every time I utter anything homophobic, pure unadulterated rage takes over his features. It’s understandable, after all, he was friends with me before I became this way.
One of the main reasons we became close friends was because we came from progressive ways of thinking, unlike most of the other kids at Richmond.
I still vividly remember what Kai said to me when we were twelve and I had just trashed Adaline’s locker for the first time, all while viciously spurting homophobic slurs toward her.
He looked at me and said,“I know why you’re so angry at her, but you don’t yet and that’s okay. I’ll be here for you right now and I’ll be there for you when you figure it out.”
To this day, I don’t know what he meant and he hasn’t elaborated on it any further. All I know is that he knows something within his mind that justifies him staying best friends with someone like me; someone who acts against his beliefs all the time. I just count myself lucky that he has remained friends with me, despite everything.
My attitude doesn’t stop him from lecturing me all the time though. If I had a penny for every time he has lectured me about homophobia, I would be even richer than I already am.
“If the old you heard you talking right now, she would be disgusted!” He runs a hand through his red hair—he gets worked up so easily sometimes. “You can’t keep behaving like this, you can’t keep using your father as an excuse—”
“Don’t,” I warn him in a dangerously low tone.
He furrows his eyebrows in anger and clamps his mouth shut, clearly trying to assemble his next words very carefully.
“Juli—” Kai abruptly stops talking and I quirk my eyebrow up at him questioningly. Until I myself am startled by hands hugging me from behind.
My first instinct is to attack the person, but then I recognize the faint scent of wood and the burly hands around my waist and I relax slightly.Just slightly.
“I missed you baby,” he whispers, his head resting in the crook of my neck. Although his hands feel a little too strong and his scent feels a little too musky, I lean further back into him.
