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Coco walked through the halls on her way to the locker, excitement running through her.

She couldn’t stop smiling because today was a special day.

School was almost done for the year, and prom was happening in two weeks.

Coco just knew she was going with Colin to the prom and would be the envy of all her peers.

Even though they hadn’t come out as official yet, Coco knew it was only a matter of time.

She’d only been going to Ryerson since late last year now that her parents were now US ambassadors for Barbados, but so much had happened.

Her parents being ambassadors had her travelling a lot and going to school in different places.

She loved travelling but hated having to always start over; most people in high school knew each other and had gone to elementary school or began forming friendships as freshmen.

All of Coco’s friendships would solidify, then it was time for her to go.

She was looking forward to graduating this year and going on to college or university and staying put while her parents moved to their next assigned destination.

This year, she promised to hold onto the friendships she made at Ryerson High.

Jackie was the first, asked by the principal to show Coco around the school and she kept her in stitches from that moment until now.

They shared most of their classes together.

She had thought Jackie must be popular at school with her outgoing personality and dry wit, but was saddened when she found out that other than her, Jackie really didn’t have any friends.

Her razor tongue was Jackie’s defence mechanism at school, as she been made fun of because of her weight.

Coco was surprised by this because to her Jackie was a beautiful, light-skinned girl with brown and amber locks, and a small scattering of freckles along her nose.

And Coco noticed that she’d caught the eye of many of the males’ students at the high school.

Just like Coco had noticed one particular boy on her first day at Ryerson High whose name she later found out from Jackie.

Coco didn’t even have to ask about the boy, Jackie had caught her up on the hierarchy of the school, with the Norris brothers—Colin and identical twins Abbott and Matt—being at the top of the popular boys for their money, good looks, and athleticism.

Colin was known for breaking hearts and after finally meeting him, she could see why.

She turned the corner and played with her scarf, making sure her neck was covered.

Her smile widened when she saw Zahara there waiting, who smiled in return when Coco approached their row of lockers.

Zahara shifted on her sneakers, wearing her signature overalls and t-shirt, as she pushed her glasses up onto her nose and tossed her curly dark hair behind her.

Zahara was the youngest student in Coco’s chemistry class.

She was highly gifted, fifteen to her eighteen, and was one of her best friends, along with Jackie.

Even though Zahara was young, they let her hang out with them during school hours and sometimes on the weekends when they were having a PJ-and-Pamper night at Coco’s place.

As she approached Zahara, the young girl vibrated with excitement. “Are you ready for our chemistry exam this afternoon?”

Coco showed her the chemistry textbook as she spun the dial on her locker combination.

Both Coco and Zahara loved chemistry, and they had bonded over the fact that they wanted to produce skin care products of their own for women and men.

Coco especially wanted to produce more skin and hair products for people of color especially because there were not that many products out there created by black people for black people.

“So, my mom was at me again yesterday.” Zahara sighed. Her sneakers squeaked against the linoleum floor as she dragged her feet.

“Still wants you to study medicine? Have you told her you want to apply to take chemical engineering when you graduate from here?” Coco shoved her book in her locker and grabbed an extra pen and pencil for her classes.

“I have been trying, but she is not listening.” Zahara’s voice sounded hurt.

Coco glanced at her friend and pulled her into a loose hug. “Keep trying, don’t ever give up on something that you want.” She gave Zahara a squeeze and felt her return the gesture, before pulling away and tugging at the scarf.

“Thanks Coco. I am, but my mom and dad are determined that I become a doctor, I would be the first in the family and I don’t want to let them down.

Maybe if I do what they want, they will let me find my older sister, Selena.

Have you seen the latest picture of her?

I wish I looked more like her; she is so beautiful.

” Zahara took out a picture she’d tucked into the pages of her textbook, waving the torn page of the magazine High Fashion in Coco’s face.

Coco took the torn-out page and studied it.

She regarded the beautiful black model with hazel eyes staring back at her, peeking over the name-brand sunglasses she was wearing while on a deck chair, next to a shimmering pool, a gorgeous male model leaning close to her, offering her a drink in his hand.

Zahara was right, her sister was a stunner, but Coco knew Zahara would be too one day, once she fully developed into the body that Coco could already see was going to be voluptuous. Just like hers, except Coco had a lot of junk in her trunk to go along with a respectable chest.

Zahara grabbed the paper back and sighed again.

As she ran her similar hazel eyes over the picture, she then glanced at Coco, eyeing the outfit she was wearing today: a pressed white-button, long-sleeved top and pressed jeans, with a blue and orange scarf around her neck and orange low-heeled flats.

On her face was pressed dark powder for her skin tone, mascara, and orange lipstick.

The makeup she had put on while taking the bus to school.

Her parents were strict and didn’t think she needed to wear makeup until she was twenty.

“Both you and my sister have impeccable taste and style when dressing. While I always look like I threw on whatever was in my closet.”

Coco smiled. “Because that is exactly what you do.”

Zahara returned the smile, then her eyes widened when they glanced at a spot on Coco’s neck, where her scarf was supposed to be covering.

“What?” Coco moved to the mirror that hung in her locker. Just as she saw what Zahara was seeing, the girl blurted out, “Is that a hickey!”

“Hush-hush.” Coco rushed to move the scarf into a better position to cover the dark mark on her already dark skin.

“Is that from Colin?” Zahara moved closer to her friend. Looking at her like she was a god.

She flushed as she remembered how she got it.

They were supposed to be studying as she was his tutor, but instead of studying science and anatomy for his final exam, Colin had wanted to study her.

As usual, she couldn’t stay focused on their lessons when Colin took off his shirt and his muscles rippled in front of her; her knees would go weak when he flashed his dimples and looked at her longingly with his deep blue eyes.

The curly red hair sweeping across his forehead that she loved to run her hands through, and she loved to dance her fingertips along the freckles on his shoulder blades.

He was tall and thick and played defence for the Ryerson High hockey team, and will also be trying out for his last year in triple A division when school was done, but right now he was getting low marks in his courses, especially science and English.

Everyone thought Colin’s first and only love was hockey, but during their study sessions he opened up to her and said he really wanted to become a chef, that he’d discovered his passion when he’d taken a home economics course at school.

He began to take private cooking lessons in his downtime and loved to bake and try out new recipes on her and his siblings when they were at his grandfather’s home instead of the library.

Colin had baked homemade Cinnabons for their study session and when she took a bite and the moans emanated from her throat, Colin pounced.

Studying had gone out the window as they’d fooled around in the basement where they used for privacy from his older brother who was barely home to the twins that worship their middle brother.

She even met his half-brothers that would come to visit on the weekends.

They were seven sons’ born to Brock Fairchild Norris II, the last three being from different women.

Colin had told her about his father’s broken heart and that when his mother died shortly after giving birth to the twins, it had destroyed his father, and his father had checked out from caring for his older children and seemed to want to forget or find his deceased wife in the bed of others.

His voice sounded bitter as he talked. The hurt in his expression made her want to take all the pain away.

His father was barely at home, and they had a live in-house assistant that took care of them during the school year. They all spent their summers with their grandfather and grandmother at the cottage or in the Hamptons.

On the outside, it looked like the Norris’s had it all, but you never knew what someone was going through at home and she felt lucky that even though her parents could be strict at times, she came from a loving and caring home.

When they would finish working on his homework together, she would just relax in his arms and watch TV with him.

She’d never felt this close to someone and their make-out sessions always made her wet and wanting more, but she’d didn’t want to give up her virginity until she was sure about it and when the time was right for her.

She’d even thought about saving it for marriage.