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African American Black High School

Raindrops pattered against the window, and the sun hid behind grey clouds. The street lights flickered, lighting up the dark road. People scurried along the sidewalk, armed with umbrellas. Amongst all the footsteps and raindrops, was a small coffee shop, the LED lights like stars shining in the night sky.

The fairy lights glimmered against the jagged brick wall, the fragrance of cinnamon and coffee enveloped the room. Baristas rushed around like bees, buzzing to get their work done. Customers chattered in their stools, faced parallel to one another. 

"Welcome to MarBucks!" Paris sighed as he watched the customer scan the menu, wiping the sweat from his hands with a dirty rag.

The customer slouched her leather bag down from her shoulder, struggling to take out a brown wallet because her hair was tangled in between the zipper. She spoke in short breaths. "A pumpkin spice latte, please."

Paris turned around, repeating the order in a voice lower than a shout to his half brother and sister, who were behind him awaiting their next order.

His head spun like a blender, mixing in with the nausea and sweat. But he didn't care, working was much better than going home. The wonderful smells of the coffee shop wavered around his nose, and he put the dirty rag down. 

"Your order will arrive soon.’’ he tapped his finger against the smooth marble counter, running his other hand through his coarse, dark brown hair.

Soon it would be 9:00, and MarBucks would close.

He lived in MarBucks. It was a family business. He wasn't born into it, but it was a foster home.

He had to work. He had to keep working, he had a job to do. But he couldn't stop thinking about how his life was fine one day, then not the next. It was like trying to solve a puzzle with the wrong puzzle board. He kept trying to fit the pieces of his life into others. All he did was mess it up. And he only broke his puzzle pieces more, to the point they were useless

Paris froze. He told Inaya and Zahir that he was going to take a break, and ordered a coffee for himself before sitting down on one of the polished barstools. He sat there, and all of the laughing, talking, and drinking drowned out. He remembered, or at least tried to remember, what went wrong. 

The sounds of people talking seemed to drown out as he waded through his ocean of memories. He wasn't in the coffee shop anymore. He was back in his old foster home, walking through the busy halls of Conway High.

“Hey Paris!” A squeaky voice said, loud enough for everybody to crane their necks for a second.

Paris walked throughout a busy hall of high schoolers, him blending in perfectly with his black hoodie and denim jeans. The lockers faced across to each other, a busy crowd of teens filling in the hallway. Similar to MarBucks, but also entirely different. He opened his locker and ignored the squeaky voice.

Her name was Varicella, and she was always bothering everyone, mostly him. 

Paris had been in his Conway Springs foster home for most of his life. He arrived there when he was only 7, because his parents were 'unfit' for him. His best friend was Varicella, but as he grew up, people formed “groups”. Each group had its own stereotype to follow, and there wasn’t any bullying between each other, just an awkward separation between them. 

Varicella didn’t have a group. She believed in having her own group. 

He always tried to avoid her, because she was always attracting attention, and not the good type of attention. 

What he didn’t know was every time he treated her like he didn't know her, a little part of her broke.

It wasn't bullying.

It had been nothing more than an awkward separation.

Again.

Again.

And again.

Shut up.

“Go away!” Paris moved his hand out of instinct, pushing her to the floor. She had a look of shock plastered to her face. 

Varicella said nothing. Before she got up and walked away, she turned around, in hopes of a “sorry”, but he said nothing. She deserved it.

Plus, he could always say sorry the next day.

Right?

But there was no next day for Varicella. That day she walked through an isolated route instead of taking the usual bus or subway. She wasn’t in the mood to.

 An ostracized person like her was a perfect victim. It was so easy to just drown her in chloroform, to just take her away. 

She wasn’t at school the next day.

Or the next.

Or the next.

He could’ve said sorry. Maybe she would’ve taken the bus, or the subway, instead of walking down the alley. Maybe she would’ve still been here. Maybe they would have their own group. 

If he said sorry, she wouldn’t feel lonely. She wouldn’t have gone down a lonely route.  

Maybe she would get kidnapped anyways.

It wasn’t his fault, maybe she still would have gone down the alley route either ways.

It wasn’t his fault.

It wasn’t.

There was nothing he could do about it.

Nothing at all.

An enthusiastic voice broke through his web of thought. “Breaks over pal, you gotta go to bed!"

That's the thing. He couldn't go to bed. His family treated him like a wounded puppy. They acted like they were best friends when Varicella got abducted. They hid it from everyone, pretended that he was their child. They made it seem like he didn't run away from his old foster home, and that time would heal his wounds. He was a secret. He couldn't ruin their reputation. They acted like he cared.

He didn’t care.

He didn’t care.

he didn't care.

His puzzle was unsolvable.

No, not unsolvable.

Broken.

The noisy chattering died down as people began to leave. The rain pattered just like before, and the store shone just as bright. But without the liveliness of MarBucks, it was just a coffee shop. Paris brushed his fingers along the mahogany chairs, grabbing his coat and his free coffee beans. He pushed the door open, the cold metal leaving his hands moist. 

There was no home for him. He was going to get sent to boarding school soon anyways.

He had to go. He had to get away.

The warm smell of the coffee shop began to fade as he trudged down the sidewalk, gravel crunching under his leather boots. His hoodie didn’t seem to give him the shelter he needed, and the raindrops seeped through the denim, dampening his hair. 

It was cold. And dark. But it was better than going home. 


October 17, 2020 14:54

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140 comments

Raquel Rodriguez
23:57 Oct 30, 2020

I'm gonna do a romance story for these prompts :)

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Raquel Rodriguez
23:58 Oct 30, 2020

:)

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Arham Ishraq
00:00 Oct 31, 2020

OoOoO r o m a n c e s p i c y p a p r i k a s a u c e w i t h b a r b e c u e

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Raquel Rodriguez
00:21 Oct 31, 2020

Yessss, idk how it's gonna be though :P

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Arham Ishraq
00:28 Oct 31, 2020

Do you have any specific ideas?

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Raquel Rodriguez
00:31 Oct 31, 2020

I want something drastic

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Raquel Rodriguez
12:16 Oct 26, 2020

Varicella's character is so well-rounded, good job! :D

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Arham Ishraq
22:16 Oct 27, 2020

Thank you master

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Raquel Rodriguez
23:19 Oct 27, 2020

>:)))) Bow down to me, peasant! Lol, jk ;)

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Arham Ishraq
17:10 Oct 28, 2020

lol

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Raquel Rodriguez
12:16 Oct 26, 2020

Lol, I'm finished, so I'm just gonna comment

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Arham Ishraq
22:16 Oct 27, 2020

Ok-

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Raquel Rodriguez
23:18 Oct 27, 2020

...

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Raquel Rodriguez
12:15 Oct 26, 2020

Hiiii!

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Arham Ishraq
22:16 Oct 27, 2020

Heyyyy

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Raquel Rodriguez
23:18 Oct 27, 2020

Nooooo

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Arham Ishraq
17:11 Oct 28, 2020

Yessssss

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Raquel Rodriguez
17:20 Oct 28, 2020

Nooooo

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Arham Ishraq
15:45 Oct 29, 2020

Yessssss

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Arham Ishraq
14:55 Oct 17, 2020

AHHH this was originally for the coffee shop prompt, but I was too late so I made some adjustments. The family is hiding the secret of his past from everyone, and he is trying to get away. The person they're hiding it from is well, everyone if that makes sense? Also, this is not the last you'll see of Paris!

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Raquel Rodriguez
18:26 Nov 01, 2020

Look out for words like 'just,' 'that,' and 'very,' because there's a chance you could remove them and the sentence would still be great.

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Crazy Tajree
22:40 Oct 29, 2020

didnt read most of it but yayayay good job very nice.

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Arham Ishraq
00:11 Oct 30, 2020

Ok lol

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10:22 Oct 27, 2020

Nice story!! it made me curious to know what his secrets are. [Ps. As a Immigrant South Asian, I got excited when I read the names 'Inaya' and 'Zahir' lol]

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Arham Ishraq
22:20 Oct 27, 2020

Omigosh same! I'm from Bangladesh and I get a little annoyed in stories when all of the characters are "Sarah's" or "Jacks". Also, I will be doing a continuation with Paris, and thanks!

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Raquel Rodriguez
18:20 Nov 01, 2020

Is this aimed at me? Lol, jk :P

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03:28 Oct 28, 2020

Excited to see more of Paris! So true. One way I try to make up for it is by giving my main characters of novels that I haven’t written :"), brown skin and not a typical white name. Super random, but my cousin has the same name as yours and maybe that's what caught my attention lol.

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Arham Ishraq
17:10 Oct 28, 2020

Eeek the biggest problem in writing is diversity, its something that isn't very easy to create. Also thanks for the follow!

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Raquel Rodriguez
20:43 Oct 17, 2020

This is really interesting though! Could I try to rewrite it my own way and show you? :)

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Arham Ishraq
01:29 Oct 18, 2020

Yes please

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Raquel Rodriguez
03:22 Oct 19, 2020

Lol, okay. Thank you! :)

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Raquel Rodriguez
16:56 Oct 17, 2020

Lol, Arham. The beginning is great, good job! I have a few suggestions, though, because I'm not like ISABELLA: 1.) '“Your order will be arriving soon,’’ he tapped his finger against the smooth marble counter, running his other hand through his coarse, dark brown hair.' Maybe you should just put, 'Your order will arrive soon.' (It's for readability enhancement) 2.) 'Amongst all of the footsteps and raindrops, was a small coffee shop, the LED lights like stars shining in the night sky.' Get rid of the 'of' in, 'all of the' bec...

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Arham Ishraq
17:05 Oct 17, 2020

THANK YOU SO MUCHHHHHHHHH! I'll be adding these now my grammar is so bad qwq

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Raquel Rodriguez
17:06 Oct 17, 2020

Lol, it's no problem! :)

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Arham Ishraq
20:35 Oct 17, 2020

Ok I fixed it all :D Well, not fully, but I tried ;-;

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Raquel Rodriguez
20:36 Oct 17, 2020

Okay, lemme see

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Raquel Rodriguez
20:42 Oct 17, 2020

Okay, this is good, but it feels like you're switching from past-tense to present-tense and from third-person to second-person in some parts, such as, 1.) 'It's not bullying. It's an awkward separation. Varicella repeated herself.' Instead, maybe you could put, 'It wasn't bullying. It had been nothing more than an awkward separation. Varicella repeated herself.' 2.) And, here, it feels like it switches from third-person to second-person. 'Varicella didn’t have a group. She believed in having your own group.'

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Raquel Rodriguez
20:54 Nov 05, 2020

I'M AT 3535 KARMA POINTSSS! lmao

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Arham Ishraq
14:12 Nov 06, 2020

Your welcome

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Raquel Rodriguez
16:23 Nov 06, 2020

**You're >:) And thank you so muchhh!

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Arham Ishraq
22:11 Nov 06, 2020

:O R u d e JUST FOR THAT JUUUUUST FOR THAT IM UPVOTING YOU

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Raquel Rodriguez
22:30 Nov 06, 2020

NOOOO, YOU'RE TOOO GOOD! :/

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Arham Ishraq
22:32 Nov 06, 2020

TOO LATE-

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Izzie Chan
14:45 Oct 21, 2020

This was a great story! It seemed very similar to your first one, except its in a different setting, the plot is a bit different and I assume the main characters aren’t good friends, haha. Also, Raquel pointed out a lot of things that I WAS GOING TO POINT OUT, so I don’t really have any tips besides this: 1. “And he only broke his puzzle pieces more, to the point they were useless.” Maybe you could say “to the point WHERE they were useless.” 2. “ He sat there, and all of the laughing, talking, and drinking drowned out. He remembered...

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Arham Ishraq
23:51 Oct 25, 2020

Thanks, me too! Also please post something soon like I'm DYING to see one of your stories

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Izzie Chan
19:29 Oct 28, 2020

I knowwww I’m sorry lol I haven’t had enough time lately because of school, but hopefully I can post a story soon idk :/

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Raquel Rodriguez
18:21 Nov 01, 2020

Ayyyy don't be jelly, Izzie It ain't my fault I got to it firstt >;D *evil laugh*

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Izzie Chan
15:49 Nov 23, 2020

Haha I’m not jellyyyyy (totally)

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Raquel Rodriguez
14:21 Nov 30, 2020

SUREEEEEEE I totally believe you I just give better advice I guess >:) lol jk you give better advice than me

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Izzie Chan
19:41 Nov 30, 2020

lmao ikr my two pieces of advice are so helpful much better than your incredibly long list of tips totally

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Raquel Rodriguez
22:41 Nov 30, 2020

Yeah but that's just because Arham told me about it first, lol I got there many days before you >:) But you actually do give better advice than I do :P

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Wolfy 🐺
00:57 Oct 21, 2020

Hey love the story, but completely random, I read your bio. You don’t play Minecraft? W H A T?!?!

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Wolfy 🐺
00:58 Oct 21, 2020

Jk ofc ;P

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Arham Ishraq
20:43 Oct 21, 2020

Yeah I play pocket edition but it still lags a bunch

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Wolfy 🐺
23:07 Oct 21, 2020

Oof 😅

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Arham Ishraq
01:05 Oct 24, 2020

;-;

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Wolfy 🐺
12:32 Oct 20, 2020

I like how human the character is, he doesn't have abilities that most humans don't he's just like any other. Except he's not.

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Arham Ishraq
20:44 Oct 21, 2020

Yeah I usually dont like making a main character more superior than other characters.

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B. W.
00:15 Nov 26, 2020

Hey there, happy birthday :)

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Arham Ishraq
19:28 Nov 28, 2020

Thank you!!

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B. W.
19:58 Nov 28, 2020

No prob ^^

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Wolfy 🐺
12:51 Nov 08, 2020

Lol, you changed ur name to not arham? Now what do I call you? :)

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Arham Ishraq
14:15 Nov 08, 2020

Call me n o t lol

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Wolfy 🐺
21:44 Nov 08, 2020

But now you're a sandwich. lmao

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Arham Ishraq
02:01 Nov 09, 2020

Y e s

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Wolfy 🐺
13:27 Nov 09, 2020

lol :P

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B. W.
10:40 Nov 07, 2020

Hey, ill go and give this story a 10/10 :)

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Arham Ishraq
13:13 Nov 07, 2020

Thank you!

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B. W.
17:02 Nov 07, 2020

no prob, ya deserve it ^^

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00:28 Nov 07, 2020

I loved this, Arham! :) You're a really good writer, and I love Varicella's character, lol I upvoted you! :)

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Arham Ishraq
03:43 Nov 07, 2020

Omg tysm! I don't know how you managed to find me, and I really appreciate this! If you ever want me to upvote you, don't be afraid to ask me.

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14:46 Nov 09, 2020

Oh, I don't have any stories to upvote, so, thank you SO much, but- like- you PHYSICALLY CAN'T, lol :)

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Arham Ishraq
22:36 Nov 09, 2020

Lol well if you do, tell me

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14:52 Nov 10, 2020

Sure, I mean, for now, I think I'm just looking, because I wanna have experience before writing a story, ya know?

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Arham Ishraq
20:17 Nov 11, 2020

Yes! I completely understand what you mean, I only started posting recently but I started practicing writing three years ago, so I'm glad that you're using me as a reference :)

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Sia S
04:02 Nov 27, 2020

Happy Birthday!! Hope you have a good one! Mine's tommorow ;)

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Arham Ishraq
19:27 Nov 28, 2020

Thank you and Happy Bday!!!!

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Arham Ishraq
02:15 Nov 29, 2020

Raquel says Happy Bday from above, she can't go on reedsy because she fell down and broke her leg, but she wants to wish you happy bday!! She also says that you better wish her to be better. And now she's screaming at me so bye~~

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Raquel Rodriguez
16:09 Nov 29, 2020

Lmaooooo Arham I wanna slap youuuu LIESSSSSS BOIIII I was on a call with him and Ash, and I was like- "IT'S SIA'S B-DAY TODAYYYYY BUT I CAN'T GO ON REEDSY ANYMOREEE NOOOOO FRICKKKK" and then I told Arham but he's a bum so he did THIS lolll

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Sia S
17:05 Nov 29, 2020

XD

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Raquel Rodriguez
12:35 Nov 30, 2020

XDDD Oh gosh Arham

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Sia S
04:34 Nov 29, 2020

Ohhh kay, lmao lol I'm praying *starts praying *

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Raquel Rodriguez
16:09 Nov 29, 2020

ohhhh, I will bless you now, wow pray for me mortal *blesses you*

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Sia S
17:05 Nov 29, 2020

Lol *feels godly*

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Sia S
04:34 Nov 29, 2020

:)

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Arham Ishraq
15:07 Nov 29, 2020

:D

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Raquel Rodriguez
12:34 Nov 30, 2020

:D

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Raquel Rodriguez
20:37 Nov 25, 2020

HAPPY FORKING BIRTHDAY ARHAMMMMMMMMM :)

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Arham Ishraq
20:43 Nov 25, 2020

THANK YOUUUUUUUU FOR EXPOSING MY BDAY TO THE PUBLIC :D

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Arham Ishraq
20:44 Nov 25, 2020

lol

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Raquel Rodriguez
21:06 Nov 25, 2020

lollll

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Raquel Rodriguez
21:06 Nov 25, 2020

YOU'RE SO FORKING WELCOMEEEEEEEEEEEEE

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