The Sanders

29

Days later...
Aaliyah
"Liyah get up, you got school." My mama said as she flicked on the lights. "Ma come on it's 5:30." I groaned. "Yes and it takes you a good 30 minutes to an hour to get ready." She said as she walked in my room. "How you feeling?" She asked. "I feel fine." I told her. "Even about the idea of moving?" She asked. "Yes. Anything to get away from here." I told her. "I convinced Asia into letting Vanessa move with us. Are you excited?" She asked. "Yeah." I said looking away. "What's wrong?" She asked. "What about Derek? We can't just leave him behind." I said. "Liyah I understand that you're just as concerned about Derek like he is about you but right now you have to focus on yourself." My mom said.

"But mom our child." I said. She took a deep breath and nodded her head. "Okay. I'll see if I can find him an apartment." She said. I nodded and smiled some. "Come on, hurry and get dressed so I can drop you off." She said before walking out. I got out my bed, stretched, and patted my stomach playfully. "I am so not ready to lose my figure." I laughed.

Jay
"This one looks good enough." I said showing Carter and Seth the houses I found. "He must not know who he's getting married to?" Seth asked looking at Carter. "Apparently not." Carter said. "What?" I asked. "Jay these houses look like trap houses. You know Selena is not going for it." Seth said. "Plus these houses are cheap. You and I both know you can up these prices." Carter said. "I've been meaning to ask. How do you get all that money with no job?" Seth asked. Instantly Carter started snickering. "Tell him what you do." He said laughing. "I'm a writer and publisher." I said under my breath. "Whattttt? You're a book worm?" Seth laughed. "Hahaha, this book worm is making money I bet you that." I said.

"There's nothing wrong with that but I wouldn't expect it from you." Seth said. "Neither did I when he said it." Carter added on. "Can we get back to what we were doing?" I said pulling up more houses. "Wait go back." Seth said scrolling. "This one. It's nice on the outside and on the inside." He said. "That one does look nice bro. Indoor and outdoor pool? 2 story house? Dude call dibs on it now." Carter said. "Alright. I'll call the owners and see if I can place a down payment tonight." I said. "Y'all getting married down there too?" Carter asked. "Yeah, I was thinking I could send you guys a plane ticket and have y'all come attend you know?" I said. They looked at me and started laughing. "What's funny?" I asked.

"You out yo rabbit ass mind if you think for one second you gon leave us here while you living in luxury." Carter said. "Well y'all didn't say anything." I said. "Did we have to?" Seth said. "What about Kelly?" I asked Carter. "She's coming with us. Look I know you told Lena to make Kelly the manager but you and I both know whenever Lena goes, her number one assistant follows." Carter said. "Well true that." I said. We continued looking at other houses and schools for the kids to go to.

Lena
"I was thinking cocktails. What you think?" Stacy asked. "Do you ever go a day without drinking?" I asked joking. "Never!" Stacy laughed. "Hey hey." We looked up to see Asia standing there. "Hey." I said. "I won't stay long, I just wanted to say thank you." She said. "For what?" I asked. "Well I can't say much here out loud but I can say that I wasn't ready to be a parent for real. I was getting ready to lose it, thank you for taking Vanessa in. You saved me and her. Congrats on the engagement and have a safe moving. I'll see you ladies on the flip side." She said before walking off. "Is that the Asia you was telling me about?" Kelly asked. "She seemed nice." She said. Stacy bust out laughing.

"Girl you just don't know the half of it." I said laughing. "But really, I need some ideas for a bachelorette party." I said. "I'm telling you, cocktails and strippers." Stacy said. "Do you know my fiancé?" I asked laughing. "What he don't know won't hurt." Kelly said. "You say that now until Carter shows up and airs everything out." Stacy said laughing. Her laugh quickly went away. "You okay?" I asked her. "Sorry, I just miss Dee." She said. I grabbed one of her hands while Kelly grabbed the other. "Hey it's okay, we understand. But you're not going through this alone, we're here to help you get through this hurt okay?" I told her. She smiled and looked at me. "You do have a positive side don't you?" She asked making us laugh. "Okay I take my hand back now." I said. We all laughed and continued to talk about a bachelorette party that, let Stacy tell it, will have more than 5 strippers for he three of us.

Aaliyah
"Uno!" I yelled out. "Man you been cheating since the game started." Derek said. "Nah cause I'm finna get her ass. Pluck them two!" Nessie yelled. "Man you gave those to me!" Derek said making me and Nessie both laugh. "Wait can we take our cards back?" She asked. "No girl." I told her. "I'm getting hungry, y'all wanna go see what they got to each on the west wing?" I asked. "When are you not hungry? Plus school finna let out anyway. You can wait those 15 minutes." Nessie said. "I can't." I told her making her laugh. "Here, I packed some snacks cause I knew you were gonna be hungry." Derek said pulling out a bag of chips. "Can y'all believe we really finna move to Atlanta?" I asked eating a few chips.

"Yeah but ima miss my mom. She's going to Chicago but promised to visit whenever she could." Nessie said. "I'm ready. It's pass due for a new environment." Derek said. "Well, we might can't toast drinks but we can toast chips." I said handing out a chip to both. "To a new life." I said. "To a new life."