fast

by Millie Belizaire

I missed the rest of the first week of school, and the entire second week.

then that meant the last day of August was soon.

A long time ago, I had a dad, too, but when he died, I became the man of the house.

Awww, Shaun.

My mistake was that while telling her how worried I was, I slipped up and called Caprice pretty.

This!

I don’t know why, but I didn’t believe her.

❤️

Mom was a big believer in talking to kids like grown folks.

She was pretty like an angel. It kinda made you want to check for wings.

LMAO

sometimes I scored points just to get her to look up.

❤️

So thoughtful and giving. 🫶🏾

There was a little more pep to her step now, and her voice was alive again.

He had a really bad kind of cancer.

Caprice didn’t know it yet, but she had just won Miss Sylvia’s love without even trying.

Caprice screamed like someone was trying to kill her. She covered her ears and dropped to the ground, curling up into a little ball, just screaming and screaming.

she cried like someone she loved had died,

like she’d been holding this inside for a really long time.

Before I knew it, I was crying, too.

I cried was on account my skin being as yellow as a pistachio shell.

I wanted to ask her what happened to her. Something had to have happened to her for her to just break like that out of nowhere.

Parked in front of Caprice’s pink house were three police cars,

The first one held two big jars of this green stuff that I knew was called weed.

☮️

Sometimes you can fool yourself into thinking you’re “over” something. Then you catch yourself saying things, doing things, avoiding things, realizing you never truly got over anything. You just set new boundaries so that the same thing couldn’t happen to you twice. Time doesn’t heal most wounds. If you’re lucky, time distracts you long enough so that you can forget.

🎯

she called the police on him, thinking they might help her kick him out.

What he got was a twelve-year prison sentence and a felony drug charge.

Serves his ass right!

What a disgrace of a woman!

I went from being a welcomed guest in her home, to constantly being reminded that had to be out by eighteen.

Marcel getting locked up was the thing that finally made Gracie get a car.

She’d just get home from those visits and look for things to go off on me for.

Karma🫶🏾

Kind hearted

I would’ve done it, too, if I had new clothes, shoes, or hair. But I didn’t.

Smart smart gal!

Trash ass parent.

Mischa Gaines was my second best friend, after Shaun.

Nostalgia

She wants Shaun but he’s yours. 🤞🏾

Big honors courses💪🏾

The sooner I could get out of Gracie’s house, the better.

She’ll graduate with Shaun. 🫶🏾

I think she knew my grandma wasn’t taking care of me like she should’ve been.

I saved almost eight thousand dollars on my own.

I was saving up for when I moved out of Gracie’s house and went to college.

A bully with brains? Crazy work!

but I’d gotten so many high school credits while I was in middle school, I practically started my freshman year as a junior.

if I feel dirty, I get really stressed.

Shower in the morning. Shower after school, before work. Shower before bed.