never forgetting you
The crisp autumn breeze bit at Dre's face as he walked beside Lanique, his best friend. His gaze, usually so full of life, was clouded as he watched her, her belly subtly rounded beneath her loose sweatshirt. The weight of her past, a dark, venomous secret, pressed down on him. He hated the man who had done this to her, the man who had stolen her innocence and forced this impossible reality upon her.
He was lost in the memory of that day, the screams he'd heard from his porch, the horrifying scene he'd burst into, the visceral rage that had consumed him as he'd beaten Melvin to a pulp. It was a memory that still burned.
"Dre, what are you thinking about? You've been in a daze the past five minutes," Nique's voice cut through his thoughts, her hand waving in front of his face.
He blinked, snapping back to the present. "Nothing," he mumbled, his eyes meeting hers briefly before looking away. They walked in silence the rest of the way to school, the unspoken tension a heavy cloak between them. At her locker, he took her books, not wanting her to bear any extra weight. A quick hug, and then he was off, heading towards his friends, leaving Nique to face the day and the whispers that inevitably followed her.
