Grace

17

Dominic walked towards the living room, fixing his work uniform shirt. He was exhausted from staying up all night with a crying Grace. Looking into the hallway mirror, he sighed heavily. Dominic entered the living room to see Grace packing her books into her bag. He looked down at her.

"Morning," she mumbled, "A friend is coming to get me."

"OK... I guess I'll see you when we get back home. I get off at 4, need anything?" he asked, grabbing a water from the cabinet. Grace shook her head while walking out of the door. He followed out behind her to see a tall boy leaning against his car. He immediately knew who it was. Seeing Sammy made his blood boil, but he had to remember they didn't discuss their current situation. She just cried on his shoulder all night long.

Sammy gave her a brief hug before walking around to the driver's side. Dominic watched in disbelief as they sped off. Their body language confirmed it was friendly. He knew Grace wasn't seeing the boy anymore through Michigan. He passed it off as a friendly ride although it bothered him.

Grace ran her fingers through her hair, staring at the difficult money management question. She took a deep breath then looked around at the other students. They were working diligently. She seemed to be alone on this problem. Normally she would have answered it quickly, but today it appeared harder than any other.

"Eyes on your own paper," the teacher reminded, her words directed to Grace.

After her class, Grace headed to lunch. Sammy met her at the double doors. He attempted to kiss her but she dodged it. She forced a smile, leaning against the walls. He placed his hand beside her head simultaneously leaning into her. "Why you act so distant around me? I just want to work it out with you."

"We can't," she lied, "I just think we're better off as friends. I'm going through something. I don't want to confuse you, Sam."

"Cool." He angrily walked inside of the cafeteria. Grace sighed heavily. He didn't understand her. She was only trying to stay away from love. She always seemed to get the bad end. Right now a relationship was the last thing on her mind. Dominic had her at his place but that didn't mean they were a couple. Sam had to understand just because they spoke didn't mean they were hopping right back into a relationship.

Grace walked through the house door. She looked around the neat apartment. It was so organised. Dropping her bags beside the sofa, she walked over to the couch then sat down. It was awfully quiet throughout the home. It gave her time to think and just relax.

She had found alot of things out. Destinny wasn't really her aunt which didn't shock her much. The delivery was much harsh than the news. She never really understood Destinny either way. She got a forced, fake vibe from her all the time but pushed it aside. It was more of the fact that all these years Destinny lied and didn't care about her like she promised to, plus she talked down on her mother.

Just an hour later, Dominic walked through the door. Grace was clad in her yoga pants and an old T-shirt trying to make Hamburger Helper. He was surprised to see her standing over the stove. She turned to him and smiled. "I figured you would be hungry, found this in the cabinets then tried it out."

"Thank you, I'm going to hop in the shower. I'll be back." He disappeared out of the kitchen.

Grace grabbed two plates from the kitchen cabinet then sat them on the counter top. The shower water started running as she grabbed the spatula, scooping up the food. She slapped it onto the plate then added a glass of punch to it, sitting it on the island counter. She could get used to this routine.

Destinny stared at Jeremy, chewing on her gum obnoxiously. "It took you long enough. I bet fifty you was with that bitch Mya, wasn't you?"

Jeremy glared at her. "I don't know you where the hell you getting this mouth, but you better cut that shit out. I just put in some work and I got more to do. The last thing I want to do is hear you complaining about me being with Mya. It's business between us, quit acting insecure."

Destinny rolled her eyes. Mya and her disliked one another much. Mya thought Des was a retired stripper hoe that was immature, and Des thought Jeremy was seeing Mya. Between them, Jeremy had to keep the two ladies apart. If not, he could risk losing out on major deals due to Destinny.

Destinny got comfortable in the car. She began to mess with the ring on her finger. It was an old gift to her from Grace. It was the first thing the little girl ever gave her. They had went to the pier and Grace saved up enough dollars to buy her a mood ring. They had matching ones but Grace lost hers while at the beach.

Destinny felt worse than anything in the world. She allowed her bitterness to drive away another person. She didn't want to send Grace away like that, but Grace tempted her. Then, Jeremy only added fuel to the fire by putting Grace down as they rode home. Still, Destinny hoped that Grace never went searching for her real identity, her grandfather, or got involved with the wrong people.

She truly did love her. All of those things said were out of pure anger and jealousy.

Michigan spilled the contents of her food into the toilet while crying her eyes out. She looked back at her mother, who was staring back at her with a cold look on her face. Michigan already knew it was true before she even took a pregnancy test. At first, she was putting on a front as if she didn't care but now it was surreal as her mother stared at her, a sinister look in her eyes.

A baby scared her! She thought she was safe from any of the consequences of sex. She was on birth control, took Plan B pills, and even went to the clinic for monthly check ups. Still, she was impregnated and now her mother knew.

"Can't believe this here," her mother said, You then went and got pregnant by some little boy. Now, you goin' raise some baby in my house, under my roof?! You are dumb, I never knew how dumb you were."

Michigan flushed her vomit while snatching tissue from the roll. She wiped her face. This made her feel worse than worse. How was she going to bring a baby into the world? She didn't have a job or any of that. Malik was avoiding her any way possible and she knew he was going to continue to dodge her until she tried harder to catch him.

Michigan had spoke to his mother, hinting at a pregnancy. His mother made it clear that she had already raised all of her kids. She wasn't going to play the mother role to her grandchildren as well. That confirmed for Michigan that she was all alone. She wanted nothing more than to have Grace by her side at the moment.