Jayden's POV
Music was next. Finally. The one subject that always felt like mine. I slid my earpods in, Davido and Chris Brown filling my ears with Blow My Mind. Music always had a way of fixing me Mum said I'd been that way since I was a baby, soothed only when she sang.
My phone buzzed. A notification. A video clip from school. Curiosity made me click.
Kendrick. On the bus.
I frowned. Why was the almighty Kendrick even riding the school bus? The video played on, and I saw him shove a girl. She stumbled, almost fell. My jaw tightened. Everyone laughed, except her friend who pulled out ketchup and dumped it all over Kendrick.
I snorted. "Savage." But then...
Her.
The girl Kendrick had messed with stood up, her back straight, her chin high. She spat in his face. Gross, yeah. But God, the fire in her eyes.
Something twisted in my chest.
The video cut off, but my eyes lingered on the memory of her. That same face. That same girl.
Adira.
Ten years ago.
I'd been six, sweaty from football, when I kicked the ball too hard and it flew over the wall into the next compound. I knocked nervously, and the guard let me in.
That's when I saw her.
A tiny girl with dreads, sitting under a hut with a Barbie doll in her hands. She looked up and smiled at me not just a smile. It was the kind that lit you up from the inside.
For the first time in my short life, I felt something... more. Like my chest had been filled with sunlight.
"Are you hungry?" she asked me in this sweet British accent, gentle and kind.
I stammered, shook my head. "No. I just came for my ball."
Before she could reply, another little girl stormed out. Her mirror image but darker, colder.
"A beggar?" she sneered. "Why do you always let people like him in here?"
The guard shifted uncomfortably, but it was Adira who spoke. "Ashley, don't be rude. You don't talk to people like"
The slap rang through the compound.
I froze, stunned, as Ashley snarled at her sister. "Shut up! You don't correct me. And you" she glared at me, "get out of here before I let the dogs loose."
Adira, red-faced, whispered, "I'm sorry," as I turned and ran, my broken teeth gritted together, clutching my ball.
That was the first and last time I saw her. But I never forgot.
Now.
Adira pulled against my grip in the classroom, eyes wide, voice trembling. "Let go of me."
I loosened my hold but didn't step back. I didn't even know why I'd grabbed her so fast. Only that seeing Ashley and Kendrick circle her like vultures made something snap inside me.
"I'm sorry," I said, softer this time. "I just... couldn't bear to watch them mess with you. You're too" I stopped myself. "Too good for all that."
She stared at me, searching. "Sorry, but... have we met before? No, we couldn't have. Right?"
Her eyes were trying to unlock me, and I couldn't hide anymore.
"Yes," I said quietly. "We've met before. Ten years ago. You might not remember, but I do. I remember everything."