Drive Me Crazy

chapter two

    A/N: *This as not Charlotte, as she is a dark skinned black woman but this is a similar outfit to the one I was imagining in my head.

    

     I feel like everyone's got a color. Mine was purple. I was just a purple kind of girl and not just because I'm a dramatic moody teenager. Purple just screams elegance and I liked to pretend I was elegant. So I was purple.

    It was my first day of senior year and my fit needed to be immaculate. And anything that's immaculate has to have a little purple in it. I wore a lavender cropped cardigan on top and my air force ones at the bottom. I was a thrifter like every other teenaged girl and I found the perfect pair of jeans for this outfit at the goodwill downtown. They were vintage Levi's that I was mystified by. Vintage Levi's were a lucky find but vintage Levi's that somehow fit over my ass was a miracle.

     I had unraveled my twist out from two days ago and because I was satisfied with the turnout I fluffed it out and placed butterfly clips around the fringe of my face. I smoothed lip gloss over my lips and grabbed a piece of gum.

     Ollie trotted into my room and released a whine signaling his hunger. I bent down making kissy noises while giving him some scratches. Ollie was a beagle and he was old as hell. He was still my baby though.

     I grabbed my backpack and headed downstairs with Ollie right on my tail. As I stood on the last stair I heard my dad yapping away on the phone. When he caught sight of me he pointed at the phone, pecked me on the cheek and walked out the door all while shrugging his coat on.

     I made my way to the kitchen and stood on my tippy toes to pull Ollie's food down. I sloshed his food into the bowl before stuffing a banana into my bag for later. I couldn't eat right away in the morning because it made me feel sick. I couldn't eat until lunch at the earliest.

     It was 7:30 and I finally heard my mom coming down the stairs with my little brother in tow.

     I sighed, knowing what was coming.

      Carter was all dressed up for his first day of 5th grade. Carter was also a genius so he didn't go to my old elementary school. He went to fancy French immersion school. He was basically fluent and constantly insulted me in French to prove it.

       My mom had to drive him to his school and she usually drove him in her pajamas. She worked part time as a receptionist for the hair salon down the street so she was the only parent who had time to take him that far out of the city. She loved her job and I did too because it meant once a month I got my hair done professionally.

       Carter made a face at me before going for the bananas behind me. Once he was done I tucked him into my side and rubbed his head.

      "Runt." I muttered.

        He slapped my hands away and shot me a glare. And I just smiled.

       "Hey baby," my mom said to me softly, as she took us in. She shot me a muted smile because the sleep was not totally gone.

       I looked to her and smiled full on. "We gonna take this picture or what?"

      Then her smile turned into a grin as she clapped her hands together.

       Me and Carter gave each other a look before shuffling outside.

        Ah, the dreaded first day of school picture. My mom had been taking them every year from kindergarten to senior year and even though I gave her shit for it, deep down, I loved it. I loved seeing our growth.