The second Lily's eyes laid on Abel, her heart skipped three beats. She placed the CD down as Abel stormed over to her, snatching it away. He glanced at the cover, looking at Asha on it. It was the album that had her nominated for a Grammy at the future awards.
"So you went to that damn pop artists thing after I told you not to, huh?" Abel growled.
"It was the only time that she was going to be here, dad!" Lily plead. "She never comes to Saudi Arabia. Ever!"
Abel clenched his jaw, glancing down at the carpet.
"So you snuck out of this house, without permission?"
Lily didn't say anything. In a blink of an eye, Abel stormed over to her and grabbed the plug of her unplugged lamp, beating her backside with it. Lily's bloodcurdling cries couldn't stop Abel from beating her as bad as he felt that he needed to. With the fresh wounds and bruises on her arms and face, Abel grabbed her by her arm and started tugging her downstairs.
"What are you doing?!" Lily wailed out as Iyana and Kayson went by the stairs, watching what was going on.
"If you wanna sneak out this house like a dog, you sleep out of this home like a dog!" Abel barked as he threw her out of the home. "You sleep out here for the night and think about what you've done!"
As Abel slammed the door, Lily lay crying on the front porch of the home. She huddled up under there as a storm started to breach in. In a blink of an eye, heavy rainfall started to pour across the valley. That wasn't like it was anything new where they lived. So Lily covered her hair with her jacket and walked into the farmhouse to sleep there for the night.
The next day, I went over Isaiah's to visit. He still lived in the same home he used to have with Tyler. But before I could start driving over there, Isaiah told me that he was over Aunt Shay's house with the kids. All the more reason to bring JJ right along with me. Heh. Anyway, when I arrived at Schaefer 15 minutes later, JJ was more than happy to see his cousins Jalen and Maurice playing with their toys out on the front porch.
"Raaawwwrrrrr!" JJ growled as the greeting.
"Raaaaaaaaawwwwwrrrrr!"
"Y'all kids STAY on the porch!" Isaiah said. "Don't leave them steps!"
I stepped inside, giving Aunt Shay a hug and kiss on the cheek as always.
"How are you, Auntie?" I asked.
"I'm fine." Aunt Shay smiled. "How are you, Josh? I heard you've gotten back on ya' feet!"
"Yeah, I had no choice." I sighed as I glanced out at the door, looking right at JJ. "Once I found out that JJ was coming, I had to make ends meet."
"What up, cus?" Isaiah smiled, giving me a handshake. "Nice to see you since you done forgot about us."
"Nigga, please." I growled. "When do you call?"
"Every other day, foo."
"Lemme see." I snickered as I looked at his phone.
But before Isaiah could show me, I could hear someone outside of the home.
"Iiiissssaaaaaiiiaaaaahhhhh!"
Isaiah scrunched his eyebrows, glancing out of the window. He sighed, shaking his head and telling out on the porch.
"Come on, y'all." Isaiah said as he rushed the kids inside of the house. "Y'all come inside."
As Isaiah shut the door, Aunt Shay stepped out of the kitchen and looked at him.
"Who is it?" Aunt Shay asked.
"Noah, ma...."
"Come on, Isaiah." Aunt Shay groaned as she walked near the front door. "We can at least talk to him through the cracked door."
Aunt Shay cracked her door, keeping the lock on top.
"Hi Noah." Aunt Shay mumbled.
"I need a place to stay, mama." Noah slurred, still drunk as he gulped some of his beer down.
"Excuse me?"
"J-just until I get on my feet...." Noah stuttered.
"I'm sorry Noah, but you can't stay here." Aunt Shay said, shaking her head. "Not until you get better."
"Oh come ooonnnnn, ma." Noah sighed, stumbling a little. "It ain't that bad."
"Look she said no, Noah!" Isaiah scowled at him, peeking through the crack of the door. "Now leave her alone!"
"Let me talk to him, Isaiah." Aunt Shay mumbled.
She slowly turned her head back out of the crack as Noah peeked inside.
"My room should s-still be here, riiiight?" Noah asked.
"Noah, you ain't stayin' here." Aunt Shay said, shaking her head. "You can't stay here while you're like this."
"Oh really?" Noah barked. "So you just gone leave your SON out in the streets like thisssss?"
"YOU chose this life, not me, Noah!" Aunt Shay barked back. "I said no! Now leave!"
Drunk and enraged, Noah reached through the crack of the door and tried to snatch Aunt Shay through the crack of the door.
"I said let me stay in your fucking house!" Noah yelled as his voice echoed through the skies. "I'll bust my way through there, damnit! LET ME IN!"
As Aunt Shay wailed out for help, Isaiah got off of the couch and opened the door, punching Noah in the face. He fiddled with his nose as he stumbled back onto the porch, falling onto the walkway. He scrunched his eyes closed, keeping his fingers onto his bloody nose.
"If you come by here threatenin' mama again Noah, I ain't gone have no choice but to pop one right in ya' ass." Isaiah growled. "Stay. The. Hell. Away. From. Here!"
Isaiah slammed the door, locking and shutting it as Aunt Shay fixed her hair.
"You aight, mama?" Isaiah asked as he placed her hands on her shoulders.
"I'm fine." Aunt Shay whispered lowly.
"ILL BE BACK!" Noah chanted, downing his beer and tossing it in the grass as he stumbled back off into the streets. "Don't worry about it! I'll be back...."
Noah looked so different that him and Isaiah looked more like fraternal twins instead of identical. I glanced out the blinds of the window in confusion, turning to Isaiah.
"What happened to him?" I gasped.
As Aunt Shay stepped into the kitchen to fix herself in the magnet mirror, Isaiah sighed and sat back down onto the couch.
"He just like Tyler, man." Isaiah sighed. "He ain't been right since Lily passed away."
"Damn." I groaned. "He still fucked up because of it, ain't he?"
"Been that way since we left Saudi Arabia." Isaiah said. "But that ain't no excuse, man. I mean, look at me and Asha."
"You right." I nodded.
"I mean I'm doin' just fine, and Asha and Q are some damn millionaires. She was just on Oprah the other day!" Isaiah smiled. "My thing is that Kays, Iyana, or Kays would want any of us down here cryin' all the time, so I filled in the small void and had me two more boys. And that's Maurice and Jalen."
Isaiah glanced down, twiddling his fingers.
"But even though I don't show it, it ain't a day that goes by where I don't think about Kays and what he would've been." Isaiah chuckled. "My boy would've been a star."
A star indeed. Not in America, but somewhere else in fact.
On Monday, Madilyn walked into school a little earlier than she wanted to, but her father had to drop her off 10 minutes early because he had to be at work for a meeting. When Madilyn walked in, there were tons of students grouped together with their friends in the hall. There were so many groups that it was obvious to see Madilyn standing out in the halls alone, so she started making her way to class early. As she made it to the end of the two halls, she saw Kayson walking by with a crowd of people. Aahdi, Barack, and 5 girls that were tagging along with them. Madilyn planned to go with them, but to avoid feeling like an outcast, she chose to go to her photography class and wait there for 10 minutes until class started.
While Madilyn waited inside, a black girl walked into the class. After she spoke with the teacher for 5 minutes, she walked up to Madilyn and smiled at her.
"Are you new here?" She asked.
"Well actually, I've been here since the beginning of the year." Madilyn smiled.
The girl held her hand out as Madilyn shook her hand.
"I'm Tina." The girl smiled. "I work at the school committee."
"Madilyn."
Tina slid into the seat across from her, she grinned and placed her chin under her clenched fingers.
"So, have you saw any boy you think is cute here?" Tina smiled.
Madilyn blushed a little, glancing down.
"Well, I have a small crush on Kayson." Madilyn mumbled.
"Kayson?" Tina said in a surprised tone. "Kayson McCay?"
"Geesh, does everyone in this school know him?" Madilyn said, shaking her head.
"We don't talk, but I had classes with him 9th grade year." Tina chuckled. "I just know that a lot of girls like him because he's stays the honor roll, a farmers boy, athletic, and is Indian. The full package."
"Yeah well, there goes my chances..." Madilyn groaned.
"Did you want me to talk to him for you?"
Madilyn's eyes widened at her as she gave her a surprised look.
"You mean like, tell him that I like him?"
"Yeah."
"You'd do that?"
"Only if you want me to?"
Before the end of the conversation, the bell rang and the teacher shut the door to her class.
"Alright, class!" The teacher said as she walked to the front of the classroom. "Let's all get started with our photography lesson of the day."
Tina turned to Madilyn, winking at her.
"I'll talk to him for you." Tina winked.
Madilyn was happy. She made her first friend, and she could possibly be moving onto Kayson. When lunch came and Kayson started walking with a group of people into the cafeteria, Tina walked up to him and tapped his shoulder.
Like Kayson, Tina was also popular as well since she was apart of the school committee.
"Hey Kayson." Tina said.
"Hey Tina." Kayson said as they continued walking. "What's up?"
"Can I talk to you for a second?"
Kayson glanced at his crowd of friends as they kept on walking.
"Save me a spot in the line, guys!" Kayson chanted at them.
"Alright!"
Now, Tina had Kayson's attention.
"You know Madilyn, right?" Tina asked.
"Madilyn with the red curly hair? Of course!" Kayson nodded. "That's my friend."
"Well, what would you say if I told you that she had a crush on you?" Tina winked.
Kayson's face went blank as he scrunched his eyebrows at her.
"How do you know?"
"She told me in 1st hour this morning." Tina smiled. "She wanted me to tell you. Especially since you both have been hanging out for a week. It's just a small crush, though."
Kayson looked to the side as Tina placed her hands out.
"Well?"
"I don't like her, though." Kayson said, shaking his head. "To be honest, she isn't attractive to me."
"Damn..." Tina chuckled.
"Yeah. She's a little too skinny and.....yeah.." Kayson whined lowly as he placed his hand on the back of his head. "I was trying to be a good friend, not no boyfriend or nothing. Plus, I'm looking for a wife right now."
"You should tell her that so that she doesn't think that you guys are more than friends." Tina said. "And that you're not leading her on."
As Madilyn appeared from the far side of the hall, Kayson nodded and walked up to her.
"Madilyn, can I talk to you for a second?" Kayson asked.
"Sure!"
Kayson grabbed her hand, sighing a little.
"Tina told me that you had a small crush on me..." Kayson mumbled.
"She did?" Madilyn gasped in a low tone.
"Yeah but......I like you as a friend. Not in a girlfriend type way." Kayson groaned. "I'm not really trying to go there, plus, I'm already looking for a wife with my father."
Madilyn was stunned. That wasn't the answer that she was expecting. She thought that Kayson liked her a little, so she lied out of embarrassment.
"Why'd she tell you such a thing? I know that we're just friends!" Madilyn laughed. "I told her that someone ELSE had a small crush on you."
Kayson leaned back, laughing at her.
"OH! Okay!" Kayson laughed. "I knew that Tina was tripping. Okay."
"Yeah!"
Kayson chuckled a little more, then made his way to the lunchroom.
"I'll see you later, Maddy!" Kayson smiled.
And that was a big let down. Turned down for the first time and friendless at school, Madilyn made her way back to eating lunch by herself.
After school, Kayson got back to doing what he always did before Abel got home. Farming first, harvesting second, exercising third, homework fourth, and studying fifth. Iyana was the one who made dinner since Lily was on a strict punishment. She had no cell phone, no laptop, no nothing. She was forced to go straight to her room, do homework, and not come out until she ate, took a shower, or went to school. As she sat in her room in irritation and anger, she glanced at the clock to see what time it was. 5:30pm. Abel didn't get home until 8. So what Lily did was turned on the TV.
And what was on?
"And what Asha did, was let me inside of her home." Oprah said, narrating as she stepped inside of Asha's $20 million dollar home.
"Holy shit!" Lily gasped as she glued herself to the TV. "It's back on!"