1
“Diamond, give me those few dollars your daddy gave you. I’ll give it back.”
Sherry, her mother, stood in the doorway looking like skin and bones. She used to be the most beautiful woman in the world until she was introduced to the glass dick. Crack had been her choice of drug for the last few years and the last few years had been hell.
They lived in a house that looked like it should’ve been torn down years ago. Cracked walls, floors that creaked even when you stood still, and not to mention the rodents and roaches that they adopted. The house was passed down to her mother from her late grandmother and it was the only thing her mother hadn’t sold.
“I spent it,” she lied. She was saving those dollars to get her sisters some chips and juice from the store.
Though their father was present and clean, he worked like a dog to keep the bills paid. Love was something he never lost for their mother, no matter what she did, he stayed with her and tried his best to help her get clean. She would do so well for aweek or so and then the rock called her name, and she answered. Unlike most kids whose parent was an addict, the Hayes girls loved and respected their mother. The problem was the people in the neighborhood didn’t, they saw a crackhead and that was an issue, especially if Diamond was around.
Her father built his girls to be Ford tough, they were taught his boxing skills thoroughly. With Diamond being sixteen and the oldest of the three, her lessons and punches were harder. Kayla and Mia were dogs with their hands, too, and most found out when it was too late.
“Please, baby.”
She hated to hear her mother beg and the last thing she wanted was for her to be outside begging anyone for anything. Diamond had more than three dollars, she had saved up thirty. She went in her small bra and pulled a ten dollar bill out, and Sherry’s eyes lit up as she grabbed the money and took off out the door.
Diamond learned early how to survive. She wasn’t the type to cry, she was the type go get it, whatever “it” was. Her father tried his best to keep them happy, but she knew the bills were draining him dry, so she tried not to bother him. She had a hustler spirit, but she hadn’t found her niche yet, so she settled for begging at the gas stations outside the neighborhood. But she was still sixteen. A girl trying to grow in a place that tried to break her before she had a chance to do anything else. The west side of Chicago was no walk in the park, but it washome, where she was born and raised. She was far from the “good girl” type, she skipped class sometimes, she stole when she had to and has a reputation for fighting when someone plays with her family.
“Diamond, can you put my hair in a ponytail right quick?” her youngest sister, Mia, asked, she was in the eighth grade while Kayla was a freshman at North Lawndale College Prep with her.
“I got you, and make sure you iron your uniform shirt. Just because we’re…”
“Poor, we don’t have to look it,” Mia giggled and finished Diamond’s sentence.
Appearance and hygiene were something Diamond never played about and neither did her mother, even in addiction. They kept a pretty clean house; it was just raggedy as hell.
“That’s right. Where’s Kayla?”
“She left already with her friends.”
Kayla was the wildcard, the rebel, the loud sister, while Mia was shy, and Diamond was a reserved crash out. At thirteen, fifteen, and sixteen, they were thick as thieves, truly best friends.
“Them girls don’t even like her for real.”
“I said the same thing! Especially Jatara!”
“Girlllll, I can’t stand her, but Kayla loves her.”
Diamond was very protective of her sisters, and she saw right through Jatara. It wasn’t her call to make, but she was watching when Kayla wasn’t.
In less than thirty minutes, her and Mia were stepping out into the scorching June weather. It was almost summer break, and she couldn’t wait, she was old enough to get a summer job somewhere and that was all she wanted. She didn’t give a fuck about being outside, that was Kayla’s thing, Diamond wanted the money.
“See you after school, have a good day,” she walked Mia to Kipp Elementary before heading down the street to her school.
By the time she made it to school, Diamond felt like she was going to fall out from heat exhaustion. She couldn’t wait to get under the air, she made it through her first three periods with ease, but she was ready for lunch. It was pizza and burgers, and she planned on taking food home for dinner.
She made her way through the passing crowd; the halls were always packed even when class was in session. Diamond stood inline, her stomach was in her back, she couldn’t wait to eat, but when she heard Kayla’s name echo through the hall and noticed a crowd moving toward the doors, she looked back.
“Bitch, you been wearing those same old ass Mike’s since the first day of school. You dirty as hell, Kayla, and got the nerve be smiling in my nigga’s face.”
“Man, Tiana, gon’ head on about your business,” Kayla tried to avoid the smoke.
Diamond got out of line and headed in their direction, she wasn’t going to jump, but she wanted Kayla to know she was right there.
“Oh shitttt, here come Diamond,” she heard one of the guys in the crowd warned.
She walked up and stood front and center as the two girls who were with Tiana thought twice about their participation.
