Revised version? 

#OG

In the neighborhood of Montjoy, you’d fall into one of the four categories:

The 6:50 a.m. soccer moms driving very carefully around the roundabout in minivans, the 6:51-6:56 a.m. kids walking from every angle towards the epicenter, the 6:57 a.m. those fantasizing of becoming the next “DK” (drift king) from the next fast and furious, roar their engines and slam their accelerator to beat the same, sluggish, yellow bus with 179 slapped onto the side as it squeaks its way into the neighborhood or the 6:58 a.m. people calling work to inform them of their tardiness.

We were once those kids at 6:56 a.m. but no longer and never will be again, my friends and I learned our ways around the neighborhood over the past seven years. Now seniors in high school, we’d all had drivers licenses and were too cool for a school bus.

Every morning of our last year was the same routine…

With both hands on the steering wheel she’d yell, “Next time ya’ll wake up late, ya’ll walking yo a**es up to school.”

“LOVE YOU AMANDA!” we’d yell back with huge grins on our faces until we’d hear the first late bell ring and Ranya’s face would freeze.

“Damn it!” she’d say “My mom’s going to kill me if I’m late… again,” as she’d sigh, fogging up the back right window.

“Calm down Ranya! It’s only your second. I already have morning detention L-O-L!” I’d yell back.

I was never a bad student and I’d only get into trouble for two reasons: One, for being tardy. Of course! You would think the school would want their kids to arrive safely, not parked crooked and out of breath. Two, skipping class to have our daily meet ups in the bathroom to talk about our plans after school. Plans usually included the raiding the content of each of our refrigerators because their house was mine and mine was theirs.

Amanda, Daphenie, and I had all met in the fifth grade and always met outside of our neighborhood. We were always home alone because of our hardworking single mothers, but we didn’t mind as much. With our mom’s not being home, we were allowed to drop our backpacks by the door and play outside. As time passed, we had picked up another friend in our growing relationship. Ranya had joined our middle school class in the middle of seventh grade.