Burn, p.1
Burn, page 1
BURN
Naomi Charles
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Burn
Copyright © 2022 by Naomi Charles
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
First paperback edition November 2022
Cover art and design by Okay Creations
ISBN 978-1-7352292-5-6
Prologue
Once upon a time, there was a girl who was in love. She was in love with a prince. She was so in love that everyday, she would wait where he walked so that one day, he would finally notice her. He finally did. They walked together in the kingdom and everyone wished they were the girl, or what everyone soon called the lucky girl. Everyone thought she would become a princess.
Then one day, the prince seemed different. He would be late to their walks around their kingdom. He seemed distracted, and the lucky girl became worried. When she would ask the prince what the problem was, he would say that he was fine. Still, the lucky girl knew something was wrong.
It wasn’t until it was too late that the lucky girl found out what had happened to the prince. When she finished her performance with the other noble women of the land, she noticed that no one was paying attention to her at all. Instead, all the people were looking at someone else—another girl who stood beside the prince. The prince had decided to make someone else his princess.
At first, the one lucky girl, now just the girl, wondered why it was not her he had chosen. Why would he embarrass her in this way? Then, she heard the rumors of the land. The girl was not considered beautiful enough. She did not have the loose curls, the fair skin, and the blue eyes that the new princess had. She was deep bronze with hair that would stand up to greet the sun, and while she was beautiful, she, apparently, was not beautiful enough. And what made it worse was that it seemed that most people in the land agreed.
Chapter 1
Rachel
For as long as I can remember, I’ve lived by the philosophy of balance. For every up, there is a down. For all the bad, there is an equal amount of good. For all the ice, there will be fire. You get it. This philosophy had always been foolproof, and I openly swore by it. I didn’t need the fancy religious rules some people were into. I was all about Rachel’s Bad Bitch Book of Balance—copyright around the time I was old enough to think.
I’ll even give you some examples. For all the absolute garbage life has thrown my sister, she was granted with undoubted beauty, a gorgeous man for a boyfriend (yes, I hate him, but I’m not blind), a marriage that ensured that she would be swimming in billions until she died, and power. My father grew up in the system and bounced from house to house when he was a kid, but he got so many scholarships he never had to pay for college, eventually became a doctor, and was married to the love of his life, my mother. Jason almost got killed when he meddled in The Table’s schemes, but he was able to find his brother that he had been looking for for years. Eliza’s life looked
like it sucked too, but at least she looked like a model and was filthy rich. See? Balance.
It seemed like everyone got that nice balance except me. I’m not saying I didn’t have my wins and losses, but they were certainly not balanced. What I got in turn for my grief was very lackluster, and all I wanted were a few wins to make it all worth it. I figured that I would finally find one of those wins once I got to college, but nothing. And when I saw Noah Crawford, my brother-in-law, walking on my campus, the place where I felt free from the baggage each of us accumulated in the previous year, I knew I was probably going to experience another loss instead of a win.
He swaggered in my direction across the football field where the dance team practiced before the football team did. Everyone stopped and looked at him as if he owned the universe. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms when he stopped only a few yards away.
“What is it, Crawford?” I asked loud enough for him to hear me.
“I need to talk to you,” he said in a low voice only I could hear.
“Where’s Nicole?” I asked.
“She’s in New York at a meeting that I should be at, but I need to speak to you,” he said, and I immediately felt my stomach tighten.
“This is my last practice before the game tonight,” I said.
“Then I’ll wait here.” He shrugged.
I sighed and glanced at my friend Ash, who was looking at me curiously. Not the kind of curiosity that she usually gave me around guys, since she knew Nicole and Noah were married, but the type where she knew something was up. I lifted a shoulder, more to show that it’s an annoying manner than anything else, and she finally looked away. Ashlyn and I both made it onto Temple University’s dance team and just like that, our days of dancing on a team together were extended for another four years.
“Twenty minutes. That’s how long you have to wait,” I said before I walked back to the team.
Instead of going back to sit in his car like a normal person, Noah sat on the bleachers nearby. Of course, a lot of the girls were distracted by his presence. As long as no one got hurt before the performance, I didn’t care. We wrapped up, and everyone watched as I walked off the field. I waited for a few seconds before I started asking questions.
“What do you want, Crawford?” I asked.
“There’s an issue with security,” Noah sighed.
“When is there not? Aren’t they looking for Josh? No offense, but what does that have to do with me? Does this pose any extra threat to Nicole?” I asked.
“No… Actually, we don’t know yet,” he said.
“Okay, so why are we having this conversation?” I asked.
“Greg thinks something is coming. I want you to lay low and be careful,” he said.
“Define laying low.”
“Being aware of your surroundings… Not going to large events,” he went on.
I stopped walking, and he paused just a few steps ahead of me. He gave me a questioning look, raising a brow. This white man really thought he was going to tell me to not go to public events during my freshman year of college. I laughed.
“What?” he asked.
“That’s not going to work for me. I have things to do,” I said.
“What’s more important than staying alive?”
“Being alive with good memories; memories that you’re not ruining,” I added.
“I’m not here to ruin anything,” Noah sighed.
“Yes, I know, but you do that anyway, Crawford,” I shouted over my shoulder as I walked toward my car in the lot.
“So you’re not going to hear what I have to say? You’re just going to continue as usual?” He called after me as I walked away.
“I want to live life normally for once, especially here. I haven’t done that in months because of your shit. I missed out on my senior year of high school,” I said before I got in my car.
Chapter 2
Rachel
I’d just finished showering when the R&B music playing from my phone was interrupted by an incoming call. I tapped the screen without looking and answered it on speaker. I asked who it was, and I heard a distinct voice on the other end. It was always friendly, no matter the situation, and was smooth. For some reason, I always thought of warm milk chocolate whenever I heard him speak. There was richness. A sweetness. Just slightly mysterious, but mostly straight forward. He always sounded like he was on the verge of laughter—that was the sweet part, but he also always sounded like he had you all figured out already—-that was the mysterious part. It was usually pretty comforting to hear, even if what was being said was often annoying. I mean, how could he not have annoying traits when he was pretty much a combination of Jason Westbrook and Noah Crawford? Poor man had the universe working against him on that one.
“It’s me wondering how college taught you to not use common sense.” Josh chuckled.
“Don’t start, Joshua. I already heard from your brother today,” I said.
“What does that have to do with anything?” he scoffed.
“I can only take so much Crawford crap in one day,” I retorted.
Josh didn’t say anything, but I could pretty much hear him rolling his eyes. I rolled mine back as I rubbed cocoa butter into my skin quickly. I didn’t have much time before I needed to be at the game.
“I know you have a game, so I will only annoy you for ten minutes,” he said.
“Why do you deserve ten whole minutes of my time?” I asked.
“Because we’re team-in-law, Ray. It’s our weekly meeting. Keep up,” he sighed as if I should have known this. We came up with that team name when we decided to step in and make sure Nicole and Noah didn’t get a divorce. Seemed like a monumentally bad idea for the both of them.
“Josh, can this wait? I have to get to the game in less than an hour, and I haven’t done my makeup or hair yet. My whole ass is going to be late right now,” I said, throwing on some fresh undergarments.
“Your whole ass? As opposed to half or one-seventh of it?” he began, and I let out a loud groan, trying not to laugh in frustration.
“This is why I hang up on you!” I yelled.
“Fine, I’m just calling to tell you to be careful. Seriously. Noah is pretty worried about it, and he’s not really sa
“I’ll be fine. I’m always fine.”
I was fine, and the dance team went to Pat’s, a local bar, to celebrate after. Some of the girls were on the dance floor, but Ash and I didn’t feel like it this time. We sat on a couple bar stools and nursed a couple drinks. I was sitting, people-watching, when I noticed my friend gazing at me in my peripheral vision. I turned to her slowly.
“What was up today?” Ash asked, and I already knew what she was referring to without having to ask.
“Just Noah being annoying. It’s nothing.” I shrugged.
“He came all the way to Philadelphia to be annoying?” She was clearly inferring that there was more to the story.
Ashlyn didn’t know much about what had happened in my life over the past year. It was clear she wanted to know, but she respected my boundaries. The only thing she knew was that Noah and Nicole were married. She had drunk the Nicole and Noah kool-aid back when they still went to Jefferson. It was hard not to. They were the perfect couple, until they weren’t. Nicole was a phenomenal cheerleader, student, and everything else. Noah was the mysterious, pretty boy every girl coveted. When she heard that they had tied the knot, she celebrated first and asked questions after… barely.
“No, he was in town and decided to annoy me.” I took a sip of my drink, shifting my focus back to the floor.
Ash shook her head, a sign she was getting tired of not getting the answers she wanted. I was off the hook for now, I thought. She took another sip of her drink before her head snapped back to me again. I sighed deeply in her direction.
“What?” I asked.
“Does that mean his gorgeous brother is in town?” she asked.
“Who? Josh? No, he’s in Queens,” I said dryly.
Ashlyn was the biggest fan of Josh. According to her, he was “top-tier” as far as the good-looking department went. She had seen him a few times during the summer when Noah could convince him to come down to the city, and it was apparent that she had a major crush. Ash’s twin sister, Angelica, actually agreed that he was a top-tier guy, which was shocking since she had said many times that “all men were the scum of the Earth,” and that was the reason why she decided to date girls. To me, Josh was just my annoying extended family member that I played video games with and helped navigate the social aspects of life.
“That’s a shame. How is he?” she asked.
“He’s fine. I mean, he’s Josh.”
“He should come visit us,” Ash said excitedly.
“I'd rather dip my toe in hot acid,” I deadpanned.
“You’re no fun,” she frowned.
“And neither is he,” I said.
Ash didn’t respond to my comment and instead looked behind me. Her eyes started to widen, and I felt a knot begin to form in my stomach. Like my sister, I wasn’t very fond of surprises—especially lately with how life had decided to be. I slowly turned around to see Kadeem White walking in my direction. He was looking right at me, and my mind began to calculate all the reasons why that would be.
“Rachel,” he said when he got close enough.
“Kadeem,” I greeted him in the same fashion.
“I’m going to run to the lady’s room,” Ashley said, as she slid out of her chair and disappeared into the crowd.
Kadeem pointed to the now vacant chair with questioning eyes. I nodded reluctantly, and he sat. I was trying to appear as unbothered as possible, but I didn’t have much prep time.
“How can I help you?” I asked before sipping my drink.
“I saw you at halftime today. You looked great,” he said.
No shit, of course I did. Try harder, White.
“Thank you,” I said, offering no handouts for the conversation to go any further.
“I’ve also wanted to reach out to you for a while but just didn’t know how to go about it. I feel like we got off on the wrong foot,” he said, putting his finger up for a waiter.
“If that’s what you’d like to call it,” I snorted.
“Two more of whatever she’s having,” he said to the waiter before turning to me.
“Where’s Taylor?” I asked.
“Somewhere… I haven’t seen her much lately,” he shrugged uneasily.
“Interesting, you know, Kadeem, the last time you said that she came back,” I said, not even attempting to feign interest.
“That was high school.”
“That was just seven months ago. You left me dateless for prom. Why the hell should I even talk to you?” I asked, grabbing one of the drinks the waiter brought.
“We were great together. I think Taylor and I just needed some closure. I don’t think you’d want to be in that mix anyway,” he said.
“So what do you want now?”
“Let me take you out somewhere nice.”
***
It was halftime, and the school band was playing as the dance team ran out onto the field. The high school crowd cheered as we assembled into formation for the last time of the year. I looked out into the bleachers to see my parents waving. Nicole, Noah, and Josh stood there too, but something was wrong. Nicole was smiling like everyone else, but her smile seemed strained. Don’t think about it until after, Rach, I told myself. The band’s music was interrupted by a pop remix that started to play from the sound system. I decided to look elsewhere to distract myself from my sister’s expression.
We began to move in unison, and the crowd roared. I smiled— that feeling would never get old. My first flip was coming up. I took a deep breath and stuck the landing. I could hear my parents scream the loudest. I laughed and continued in a few spins. The second row slid forward ahead of mine when the song changed. We did a few illusions. When I looked back out into the crowd, I saw Josh and Noah no longer smiling either. Josh’s gaze was fixed on me, and I looked down quickly to make sure I didn’t have a wardrobe malfunction. I didn’t. What was the problem?
The team was ready for the final move which was a split leap. We did the last complicated steps and stuck the landing after our jump. The crowd cheered. We finally left our positions and started to wave. I looked into the crowd and that’s when I saw Taylor Morris. I saw her making out with Kadeem. My Kadeem. She was sitting in his lap kissing him. I stopped waving and froze immediately.
“What’s wrong?” Ashlyn walked over and put her arm around me.
I didn’t answer. Instead, I walked over to the two without even thinking of what I would do when I got there. Taylor noticed first and started smiling triumphantly. Kadeem noticed second, and he went from smiling to grimacing, afraid.
“Oh, Rachel. Hi,” he said.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Aw, poor thing. Kay, you didn’t tell her yet?” Taylor asked mockingly.
“Tell me what?” I asked.
“We got back together,” Kadeem said nervously.
I was silent and stayed still. If I didn’t, I would’ve killed them both. People started to watch, and I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed. I willed myself not to dare cry in front of them, especially not in front of Taylor. She hated me, though I never knew why. I just knew she always got away with the worst shit because everyone thought she was pretty with her long brown hair and light skin. It wasn’t fair she got to have everything when she quite literally was a complete and utter bitch.
“Let’s go, Rachel,” I heard Nicole’s voice next to me.
“Oh my God, Nicole! Uh, hi! You’re back from NYU,” Taylor gushed.
Nicole rolled her eyes at the obvious fan of hers and pulled me away. She pulled me to the parking lot and only when we got to the car did I let out the scream begging to be let free out of my lungs.
After that night, Khadeem tried to apologize on multiple occasions. He failed each time. The stories about him making a poor judgment in sitting next to Taylor during halftime and still being confused how he felt about her did not do the job of making me feel better. We didn’t speak for the rest of the school year.
***
