Mas Flow

Every day after school, my best friend Masumi and I went to a little café we had found back in 7th grade. Since we were such “loyal customers”, we got our mocha lattes for half price. Masumi always had the best gossip for me. She was so popular not just with the Asians but with everyone else. The first moment you met her, you loved her. She was s beautiful and cheerful. I don’t believe anyone could truly hate her. I was so fortunate to have a best friend like her. She never got a big head from her popularity or her beauty.
Today was like every other day. Once the bell rang, I grabbed my bag and headed straight for my locker. Masumi would come later to walk with me to our café. I stuffed all the books I didn’t need back into my locker so that I only two notebooks for homework in my bag. Almost like in a movie, I closed my locker and Tim was leaning on the one next to mine just staring at me. It took me a couple seconds to collect myself.
“What are you doing, Tim?” I was finally able to say.
He only smiled and held his arms open. I smiled back and buried myself in his purple hoodie. He gave the best hugs, warm and tight. I stayed there a while, taking in his cologne as much as possible. We let go and he stared down at me with his cute smile.
“What?” I felt a little uneasy.
“You look pretty today.”
I rolled my eyes, “You saw me in two of your classes today. I’m wondering why you waited until now to say something.”
He stuck out his tongue, “I was too…too shocked by your beauty to say anything to you.”
“So it’s shocking to see me looking beautiful? I don’t look beautiful everyday?”
He laughed, “Come on, Zuli, why you gotta be like that? You look more beautiful than usual today. Who’s the boyfriend?”
I looked him dead in the eyes, “I don’t have a boyfriend.”
He smirked, “Then who are you trying to impress?”
“Nobody,” Masumi’s angelic voice came from behind Tim. “Can’t she just look pretty for herself? Stop instigating, Tim. Me and the best friend have plans.”
Masumi linked arms with me and we walked down the hall and out the door. When we were on the other side of the doors, she turned to me very quickly with a brilliant smile on her face. Her eyes were sparkling in a way that made me almost jealous.
“What?” I had to ask.
“Guess who was waiting for me after class?” She whispered.
I thought about it for a moment. Masumi never really had crushes, you see; she liked to stick to studying. Anyway, I knew there was only one boy who had made her sparkle in such a way since the first day of middle school. His name was Alexis and he was the non-official leader of the crew Futuristic. She wasn’t the only girl that had fallen so easily for him, but she was the only one he had liked back.
“Are you serious? Alexis?” I could barely contain my excitement.
“How’d you know?” She pouted. “Anyway, yeah it was him. You should have seen him, Zuli! He looked so good!”
I sighed, “You are so lucky, Su.”
“Yeah,” she sighed with a dazed look on her face. “He was gonna walk me home but I told him that I always have a date with you after school.”
“Oh, Su, you should have gone with him! You know I would have understood. Plus, you could’ve called me later to tell me what happened between you two!”
“Still, friends come first and he knows that,” she smiled. “That’s why he asked me on a date on Friday. We’re gonna go eat at the Cheesecake Factory and then we’re watching a movie.”
I shrieked, “Masumi!”
“I know!” She shrieked back.
We embraced while jumping up and down. It must have been a sight because many students stopped to watch us. Suddenly, Tim walked out from the door we had. He was standing near us because we had stayed in the same spot while talking.
“I thought you two left,” he managed to say after we had quieted down.
“Well, I couldn’t keep something inside long enough to walk to the café,” Masumi turned to him.
He smiled at her, “From what I heard on the other side of the door, I’m sure you let it all out.”
“You were listening!” Masumi went into a punching frenzy on Tim.
Tim let out a little wail. I stopped laughing long enough to pry Masumi off Tim.
“Calm down, Su!” I held her back.
“Yeah, Su, I won’t say anything to Alexis. Pretend I didn’t hear anything,” he held his hands up.
“Fine,” she pouted. “Let’s go, Zuli.”
Masumi liked arms with me and dragged me down the front stairs and onto the street. I looked back once at Tim. He had a strange look on his face, but he wasn’t looking at me; he was looking at Masumi.