Rhapsody of the Soul

✨Old Man✨

Janova laughed slightly, "Well Miss Tia, I have to live here, can't change that right now." Miss Tia gave Janova an eyebrow raise before saying, "Nope baby...wrong. You're 17 sweetheart. Leave them bastards" She scanned the items still talking, "You just wait and see and glory be the mother fucking God, the day you step out on faith, it's a different ballgame" Janova sighed, "Miss Tia how you gonna use God and a curse word in the same sentence? Plus, I'm waiting to turn 18. I'm simply not ready." Miss Tia slapped the counter, "Well you better be. What you gonna do when you fall in love mmh, you don't want these drunk high dirt bags do you?"

Janova shook her head, slightly amused by the lie, "No sorry to disappoint but there's no love, it's called lust. These people are faking. I just don't believe in it. I doubt someone would even dare love me anyways. I'm black Miss Tia, you are too. Our own black men don't like us unless we're light skinned. No one loves me, my own parents didn't."

Janova stood back from the counter and motioned to her body slapping her sides. "Plus, even if I was considered lovable, this is what they'd get. I'm not light skin, I'm brown skinned, I have stretch marks cause I'm fat..... " Miss Tia countered, her motherly instincts kicking in, "Janova...no you are not a fat girl...please you are beautiful and lovable. You're thick, ALL in the right damn places baby. You are beautiful, and one day someone will see that and want all of your brown skin, stretch marks, and all that cake, you call your BOOTAE!!!!" Miss Tia danced playfully, laughing getting Janova to laugh with her.

"Tia you're crazy" Janova said laughing and shaking her head. "What am I gonna do with you?" Miss Tia laughed even more and stopped scanning items. She pulled out her phone and plugged it in the store's aux speaker. She then quickly went to youtube and started to play "All About that Bass"

"Miss Tia!! First of damn all, that's out of damn pocket and second why are you playing that song? Ma'am are you secretly white? I knew it, I should've known.... " Miss Tia pressed play and said, "Hush up child. It may be a white song but it has a very important message that your ass needs to listen to. Body inpowerment and how to accept yourself for your size" Nova groaned and mumbled, "Play the damn song, Tia"

***Cue the song***

Miss Tia happily scanned the rest of the items, and occasionally had mini dance breaks while scanning. After the song went off, Miss Tia turned her phone off and stopped scanning. "Nova-bun you can't purchase alcohol," the cashier said as she looked at Janova. "Oh honey you don't need this to be happy. I didn't know it was this bad. We need to get you a counselor...ooh no it be better to get you in rehab. But what are they going to say if a 17 year old comes in with a drug addiction and an alcohol addiction and.....and...Lord have mercy......" Miss Tia placed her hand over her chest and shook her head. "Nova I thought you were better than this...."

Janova rolled her eyes and sighed "Are you done?" The teen said blandly, "It's not for me it's for Malcolm's....." Nova added a sarcastic joyful tone to her voice with finger quotes to complement it and said "entourage" Miss Tia exhaled and shook her head once more. "I'm sorry Nova I thought you had went to the other side for a moment. Silly me, I tend to overthink things. You really need to get away from them honey, it's not healthy, it's toxic. You need to find you some good people to be around, to help you build yourself back up. I wish that I could help you, but I can't. Malcolm's powerful and if anything's out of order he will strike and I don't want to risk hurting you. The only way to get you out of this is for you to do this for yourself. One thing I can supply you with is my advice and that is to leave and don't look back. You don't need that in your life honey you've grown up too fast and you're only 17. No child should have to go through that. That's just coming from a mother's point of view."

Though Nova hated to admit it, Miss Tia was right. "Ok I'll think about it" Miss Tia finished and gave Nova the total price. Nova paid and grabbed all of the bags. "Bye Tia, see you later" Nova said with a smile on her face. "Think about what I said child..." Nova walked out and Tia's last words lingered because Janova didn't hear it. "Please leave baby, cuz I don't want you to get hurt like mine did..." Tears filled up in Miss Tia's eyes. She wiped them away and put back on her joyful face as more customers walked in the store. Miss Tia turned her music back on, and began to stock the cigarettes on the back wall.

Okay so I'm just going to leave this here, it's a little jem. 💎 I'm doing celebrity portraits in art 1 right now. This is my first year taking art as a freshman. And from the list of celebrities she gave us I chose Chadwick Boseman.

Here's the photo I have to draw:

Here's what I drew:

It's not done yet but it's a work in progress. This is my first time doing realistic portraits too, so yeah.

*Kasa- a term used for any one of several traditional Japanese hats. These include amigasa and jingasa.

*Kimono- a long, loose robe with wide sleeves and tied with a sash.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter even tho it's short and don't forget to vote and comment on my story. Comments make the story 😁 Drop a follow as well if you'd like. Also check out these author's books for more ninjago content!!! They are amazing, lanathecapricorn and starryhearts. Thank you for reading, God bless you and bye cupcakes ❤️

Imma go ride my bike now ✌🏾😗

**Please comment any mistakes, suggestions or any questions you have, here. Thank you**