Chapter 1: Backyard.
Aaron's hands were in my panties. He thought he was doing sometimes down there, but he really wasn't. I've been faking my moans for the past five minutes.
"You like that baby?" He asks me and I nod.
"Mhm." I hum.
"Are you close?" He asks and I roll my eyes in disgust.
"Yeah." I lie, feeding his ego. I start moaning really loudly, faking an orgasm. Aaron takes his hands out of my panties and I pull them up.
"You wanna go home?" Aaron asks me, starting the car.
"Yeah." I reply, quietly.
I put on my seatbelt as I watch him back out of the cliff the car is parked on. The red Corvette speeds down the street and we stop at a traffic light.
Our relationship was complicated.
Everyone in school thinks we are a power couple and they love us. But they don't know how abusive our relationship is. Aaron was hot-headed and would hit me most times. But he is the most popular guy in school and the fact that he picked me out of all his options spoke volumes.
Even though he has anger issues and is dangerous to be around, I like the darkness, and I sure as hell love playing with fire.
"Are you good?" Aaron asks me and I nod.
The silence in the car is really uncomfortable and I just want to get home already. I stare out the window as Aaron speeds down the freeway. My house was downtown, so this was going to take a while.
When we get to my house, I give Aaron a goodbye kiss and then I get out of the car. As Aaron drives away I walk away from the porch I am standing on.
This wasn't my house. I just told him it was because I'm so ashamed of where I actually live.
My mother and I live with my aunt, Martha. She is my mother's sister and her house was very tiny. It was a one-bedroom apartment beside this sketchy bar. That's where Martha worked. My mother's a nurse who works all the time and barely comes home. And my dad...well that's a whole other story.
"You're finally back. You had me worried." Martha tells me as I close the front door behind me.
"Yeah. I was working late." I tell her.
I work at a diner, but obviously, you know that's not where I was tonight.
"Okay. Your food's in the kitchen. I made rice and gravy." She tells me and I smile at her.
Again.
This is the third time this week, that I'm having rice and gravy for dinner. I'm tired of it, but I know I can't complain. It's all we have. And Martha's a sucker for Barbadian cuisine.
That's where I'm from; Barbados. But I've never been there.
My mother came into America illegally and then she met my dad and they fell in love. She got pregnant with me and they had their own little family. Until my father decided that he didn't want that anymore. He left us in the middle of the night. He left my mother unwed and undocumented. My mother wasn't working so she couldn't pay the rent and they kicked us out. We were homeless until my aunt offered to take us in. When we started living with her, she got my mom a job at the general hospital. Martha had to forge some papers for her to work there though. She also met a guy who said he could get my mother papers, but it's really expensive.
That happened ten years ago.
Now I'm eighteen and a senior in High School. I attend Lakewood High. It's in the heart of the city. Very posh and prestigious. I could never afford the tuition if it weren't for the scholarship I'm on.
"Thanks, Auntie." I tell her as I head to the kitchen. Grabbing a spoon from the plate rack, I pick up the plate of food and head to the backyard.
This was my own version of a dining room.
I plop my body on the concrete steps that led down to the garden and I place the food on my lap. Pulling my phone out of my backpack, I click on my messages and I see that I have one from Aaron. I don't open it. I can't deal with him right now. I open the message that Aaliyah sent.
"Jackie Johnson is pregnant." The message reads and I bite my tongue as I'm chewing my food.
What?
Jackie Johnson was the school slut. I don't like calling her that, but that was her identifier. She has slept with a lot of people and now she has a bun in the oven. I wonder who the father was.
"How do you know?" I ask Aaliyah, sending the message to her.
She doesn't respond immediately. It's probably because it's late. I better finish this food and get some sleep. I have to be up at four tomorrow. Tucking the phone in my backpack, I continue eating my food as the light above me flickers. It eventually goes off and I hear my aunt calling me from inside the house.
"Yes?!!" I yell back.
"Come in here and light a candle. The power's out again." She yells and I groan. I take my phone out of my backpack and turn on the flashlight. Walking inside the house, I head to the kitchen and I drop my plate in the sink. I reach into the cabinet and pull out two candles. Lighting them with a matchstick before I pick them up. I walk to the living room and I place the candle on the window sill beside Martha.
"What's the other candle for?" Martha asks me.
"For me. I have to do my homework." I tell her and she shakes her head.
"We need to save it. Just use this one." She says, pointing at the candle beside her.
"I'm good. I'll just use the flashlight on my phone instead." I tell her before I head to the kitchen. I grab my phone from the counter and I turn on the flashlight. Blowing the candle in my hand, I place it back in the cabinet before I head to the backyard. I grab my bag from the floor and I walk to the bedroom. Placing my backpack on the table, I pull out two notebooks and I place them on the wooden desk. The twenty percent signal shows up on my phone and I know I have to be fast. I drop my phone on the desk and I open my algebra notebook.
***
"Hurry." Martha yells from the front door.
The bus is about to come and I just got out of the shower. I literally speed to my suitcase across the room in search of an outfit. My phone died when I was doing my homework last night and I fell asleep at the desk and woke up by six thirty. The bus gets here at six forty-five every morning. I had three minutes to get dressed.
"Are you done?" Martha yells again and I start getting annoyed now.
I struggle to put on my black ripped skinny jeans, but I finally succeed. Stuffing my notebooks into my backpack before I sling it over my shoulder. I slip into my black and white converse and I stare at myself in the mirror.
My hair.
Shit.
Aaron hated it when I wore my natural hair to school. He said it was distracting. So, he got me a black wig, which I always wore. I search around the room for the wig and I spot it under the bed. I grab it and brush it before I put it on, clipping it in.
"Jasmine, the bus is here." I hear Martha say.
"Coming." I yell back. I grab my phone from the desk and head for the front door. I see Martha getting on the bus as I get to the living room. I walk out of the house and lock the door. I get on the bus and hand the keys to Martha before I take my seat. The sun hasn't come out yet, so I had some time to sleep. I rest my head against the window and I go to sleep.
Someone is shaking me, I can feel it.
"Jasmine wake up." I hear Marth say and I groan.
"No." I tell her.
"We're here." She tells me and my eyes shoot open.
We were uptown and it was only a matter of time before we reached my school. It was about 7:56 am and classes start at nine. I had homeroom by eight, so I had to be in school by then.
"Do you have money for lunch?" Martha asks me.
She asked me this same question every day and I give her the same reply every time.
"The school lunch is free, Martha." I tell her.
"Just making sure, you have everything you need." She says, touching my hand.
"I do, thanks." I tell her.
"Lakewood." The bus driver calls out.
"Here." I yell. "I'll see you when I get back." I tell Martha before I get off the bus.
The bus always dropped me off by the corner before the school building. I couldn't get off a public bus in front of the school. That'll ruin Aaron's reputation and I didn't want to get hit, so I acted smart and always got off by the corner. I walk slowly and I see the building ahead and I let out a sigh of relief.
It's going to be a great day. I can feel it.