The Color Line

New Things

"I know pronounce you husband and wife," Pastor Ron says with a huge grin plastered on his face. "You may kiss the bride."

My mother turns to her new husband, Jessie, with tears of joy rushing down her cheeks. Jessie's ocean blue eyes stare intensely into my mom's chocolate brown ones. After a couple seconds of gazing into each other's eyes, Jessie grabs her by the waist and pulls her into a heartwarming kiss.

I feel my little sister, Eve, tugging on my hand. I look down to see her modeling the cutest little smile. We're both thinking the exact same thing as we smile at each other and run towards my mom and Jessie.

Jessie lifts Eve into the air and kisses my forehead as I hug my mom.

Then we head to the reception and enjoy the rest of the day as a new family.

. . .

*Ring, ring, ring!*

"Harmony get up!" my little sister shouts while jumping up and down on my bed.

"I'm up, I'm up," I say as I push the annoying five year old away from me. She giggles and runs out of the room with her teddy bear held tightly in her arms and curly hair bouncing up and down.

I force myself to get out of bed and walk lazily to my bathroom. When I get there, I groan to myself as I look in the mirror at the mess on top of my head. I knew I should've worn my bonnet to sleep last night. I groan again trying to untangle my hair. I end up giving up and just hopping in the shower.

"You have thirty more minutes until the bus gets here," I hear my mother say sweetly from the other side of the door. I give her a quick okay before proceeding to strip down for a shower. As I pull my purple t-shirt over my head, I notice a mark on my wrist left by my bracelet. I take off the bracelet that Eve made me for my birthday last year and study the red mark on my brown skin. I lay the bracelet on my sink and hop into the shower.

"Just look at the cover girl model," Jessie teases when I walk downstairs. I playfully punch his arm and he chuckles.

"It's Monday, I don't feel like being fabulous."

Today I decided that it would be a lazy day. My hair got frizzy from the shower, so I put it in a tight bun. As for clothes, I just threw on some dark jeans,a pink tank top, and pink and white Adidas.

I grab a piece of bacon from the stove and sit at the table with my mom and Jessie. They're kissing, not exactly a make out session (thank God) but I still wish I didn't see it. They've been together for a year now and I swear they're the perfect couple. It's gross.

"There are children present!" I yell across the table. They both laugh and my mother rolls her eyes.

"Don't act like you don't do it too."

"Mother!" I groan and she laughs again. Then she ruffles Jessie's dirty-blonde hair and kisses me on the cheek before leaving for work.

"Goodbye my chocolate drop," Jessie says to my mom as she leaves. She smiles as I make a face and gagging noises.

After my mom leaves with Eve, Jessie and I leave. We do our little handshake before I get on the bus and he gets in his car, heading to work.

10 Minutes Later

I walk into school, and I'm immediately greeted by my best friend Riley. He's wearing his football jersey for the game today. Riley is extremely muscular. He's tall, around six feet, with dark brown skin and brown eyes to match. He is also sort of a ladies man. I always tell him that his man-whore ways will eventually come to bite him in the butt, but he never listens.