C H A P T E R
ONE
"God made me this way so I have to be happy with who I am. And it's a journey. And I embrace my brown skin sisters. I love them and I hope that they embrace me." –Kym Whitley
✨ A R M A N D A
Im twenty years old and I've spent my whole twenty years of life hearing people judge and talk about me just because my skin was more brown; or should I say "darker" than the next female. Or simply "burnt".
It had gotten so bad to the point where I began to question me as a person, who I am and mainly what was my reasoning of being here if every person I pass or known has made fun of or snickered at the sight of my foundation?.
Beats the shit out of me.
I was the darkest, or should I say the most burnt one out of my family. Just being me, my mom and my little sister Armani, who was a year younger than me.
My dad had passed away during an car accident when Armani was only a couple of days old. He was only in my life for that short period of time.
It was hard being related to Armani, especially because she was a lighter color than me. Many people would ask her if she had an adoptive sister, or if I was from Africa.
The shit was fucking annoying, but as the years went by I learned how to not beat myself up, but that doesn't mean I don't take offense to it. I'm still a person at the end of the day.
* * *
The sun came rising through my sheer curtains making me wake up. It was finally Saturday.
This week had been so stressful for me, handling a three and a half hour class and then going straight to work after.
I wasn't the type of female that can just sit around and depend on my parent, I had to get up and get it myself, even if that means traveling all the way to Manhattan just to make some coins. That's just me.
Swinging my legs to the side of my bed, I yawned and got up.
I walked over to the window and looked out of it just to see how active outside was being that it was still early. I saw people standing around talking, kids playing in the communities play ground, old people feeding the birds and of course police officers fucking with the young.
That's the thing about staying in Brooklyn, especially in the projects, some shit was always happening. The people's was always active. Whether it was good or bad cops couldn't just let us live.
Shaking my head, I removed myself from the window and began my morning routine.
"Manny, your friend is here.." my mom said through my door.
"Aight ma."
I unlocked and then opened my door revealing a high vibrant Steph.
She was always up and about this early she could never just keep her ass in the house.
Steph was a gorgeous female. She had mocha caramel skin, dimples, nice thick hair that stopped just about to her shoulders. She wasn't skinny and she wasn't think I'd say she was just right. It complimented her 5'3 height frame just perfectly.
"Heeyyyy." She said coming into my room, closing the door behind her.
"Hey Steph.. what you doing here?."
She gave me the 'bitch you know why' face and sat on my vanity chair.
"You know we have to start planning for this party tonight. It's the first party to kick off the end of the semester."
