Warning: Suggestive themes, drug and alcohol references, and profanity.
A/N: This is me wanting to experiment with different things, themes, etc. All of these writings will be based off songs by SZA, mainly from her "See SZA Run" EP. Only two songs are the exception: "Teen Spirit," which is the prologue, and "Kismet," which is the epilogue.
These drabbles aren't really chronological, but do share the same timeline.
I will probably revise this at a later date and write a better author's note, but for now this will do. Enjoy.
TEEN SPIRIT
The child spirit was easy to please, easy to influence, easy to uplift. As children, the group—only consisting of five at the time—were joyous, free, and eager. Overexcited by the idea of playtime, the playground, and playdates. Actually, just excited to do anything involving the word play. They didn't care about how they appeared in the eyes of their peers, didn't worry about their futures, or the meaning of self (until preadolescence happened).
The prepubescent years—more commonly known as that awkward time between the ages of nine and thirteen—were when so many things changed. How the girls felt about guys. How the guys felt about girls. How they acted and how they would be treated because of it. Being told that middle school mattered so much relative to high school, that being a good student with tons of extracurriculars would impact their futures later. That being yourself would only do you a disservice.
Therefore, the teen spirit was easy to kill, easy to damage, so hard to please. Get a job. Take responsibility. Care about your future. (Don't know and don't give a shit about your identity. Only care about how others perceive you.)
But, of course, the gang didn't care much about all of that. Some of it, but not all of it.
What they wanted, after all these years of being by each other's sides, was to explore. Explore identity. Explore love. Explore self. Explore emotions. Explore the winding path of growing older. (Shedding adolescence and shedding the fucks they gave about it.)
First things first, they had to jump the ever-widening chasm between adolescence and adulthood. Jumping would be the hardest part.
They couldn't out-jump teen spirit without facing it first.