Blue Eyes

Chapter One

To protect his reputation, Bobby’s family presented Liz, whom she nicknamed Lizzie, to the world as his baby sister. Only DeShawn, her best friend, and her family knew the truth. Feeling torn by the feeling of loyalty for her first serious and intimate relationship, DeShawn resumed dating Bobby and pretended they were still that “Best Couple” voted by their sophomore class. By the time senior year of high school arrived, she realized that Bobby’s decision to not parent his own child had intensified his lack of ambition for determining his future plans. He had no short or long-term goals and was content with working a mundane job with no career advancement. His nonchalant attitude about serious issues concerning his life was disguised as procrastination, but as graduation slowly approached, it became clear that Bobby didn’t want to face reality or the consequences of his actions. For that reason alone, DeShawn decided it was best to continue without him.

Shaking the thoughts of remembrance from her mind, DeShawn resumed her sitting position in front of her laptop. She needed to stay committed to the task at hand. She was about to enter her sophomore year at Cypress Community College, and for the last few years, all her hard work and dedication had been leading up this moment. Attending Stephens Bishop F&M University was her dream but only the best students were accepted. It was considered one of the Fabulous Five Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and their Physical Therapy Program was nationally recognized. She knew being a transfer student would be hard enough but her decision to start community college first, as she wasn’t ready to fully leave home yet, still held no regret.

DeShawn thought about doing some yoga poses to encourage her mind but knew that she was out of shape and wouldn’t be able to concentrate on her breathing for that long. She needed to get into the Physical Therapy Program, also known as the PTP, but if her own self distractions caused her to not be considered as a candidate then she would never forgive herself. With her memories stored away and her cell phone placed on silent mood, DeShawn focused all her attention on writing a well-written essay that embodied her personality, educational accomplishments, and passion for the field that she had chosen as her lifelong career. 

#

The next day, DeShawn decided that it was finally time for her to open a savings account. She was nineteen years old and her mom had been nagging her about saving money since she wasn’t paying any major bills. To shut her mom up, she eventually agreed. As she walked into True Blue State Bank, she loudly groaned at the long lines awaiting the only two available bank tellers. She then immediately felt grateful that she was off from work because there would be no way that she could have waited to be serviced during her thirty-minute lunch break.

As she waited for her turn, her cell phone rang in her purse. She reached down and saw that it was an incoming call from Dawn, her younger sister. DeShawn quickly debated on whether to answer it or not, but in the end, she answered the call.

“Hey. What’s up?” Her sister usually texted her, so she didn’t understand her reasoning for the phone call.

“Guess who just stopped by the house?”

“I don’t know. Who?”

“Bobby!”

“Why?” DeShawn questioned, not even pretending to hide the annoyance in her tone.

“He said that he wanted to take you out, but I told him that you were already out on a date,” Dawn said with a hint of mischief.
“Now why would you tell him that?”

“Because y’all broke up like forever and a day ago. He needs to move on and you definitely need to move on. Plus, you need to stop entertaining him.”