Kayla couldn’t stop thinking about the woman, even after she got home, the woman was still in her head. She wasn’t loud, she wasn’t flashy, she was polished.
By the next week Kayla didn’t look like herself anymore. She swapped out bright colors for neutral ones. She got rid of her weave and started wearing her hair in a high ponytail justlike the woman. She would never forget her; she unknowingly created a sharp little bitch and that’s what Kayla was. She went and stole the highest designer jeans, tops, and little purses.
“You cool? You look…different. Cute, but different,” Mia said, appearing in the doorway of Kayla’s room, eyeing her from head to toe.
“Well, people grow up,” Kayla shot back, applying a coat of lip gloss to her full lips.
Her body was already slim and curvy, and she was nowhere near done developing, shout out to Sherry for blessing her and her sisters. There was usually one fat sister, one ugly one, and one that was tea, but all three of the Hayes sisters were tea, from face cards to body structures. They were all different, but very much alike. Kayla just had the biggest personality.
“Yeah, but this isn’t you.”
“This is me so get used to it. I’m tired of being invisible.”
That was a lie, Kayla had never been invisible, but when it came to Diamond, she felt clear, like no one laughed at her jokes when she was around, no one told her she was pretty. She loved her sister, but she loved attention more, it was the one thing she wanted more than anything, no matter what she had to do to get it. Her photo album on her phone was piling up with women who looked like money. Women she knew Ace would choose. She practiced in the mirror nonstop.
“Soooo, you’re erasing yourself to become something that you’re not?”
Kayla smacked her lips, “You wouldn’t understand, you sat in the house over the summer reading books and shit for the upcoming school year. You want to be a successful businesswoman, and I want to be a successful badd bitch. I’m becoming exactly who I want to be.”
She knew Ace was too old for her, but she wanted to be chosen, noticed, and acknowledged. She wanted the power shesaw in that woman’s actions; she turned every head when she stepped out and from where Kayla was sitting, the world stopped for her.
19
The hotel room smelled like expensive cologne and bad decisions and that was exactly what Farrah had made. She fell deep for Harlem in such a short period of time. She sat Indian style on the bed watching Harlem bag his work up. She spent her last few carefree days with him before heading to NIU to start her freshman year.
“I swear, I do not want to go to school. I’m going to miss you. You made this the best summer I ever had.”
“Relax, you ain’t nothing but a little drive up the highway.”
Farrah smiled, but something in her chest felt off, that and the fact that she hadn’t seen her period. She was too scared to even tell him, Harlem was still calling her “Diamond,” she was pregnant by a nigga that didn’t even know her real name.
“But…” she froze along with Harlem as he grabbed his gun from the nightstand.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The knocks started off soft then they became hard and angry.
Farrah’s stomach dropped, “Who is that?” she whispered.
Before he could answer, a female’s voice exploded through the door.
“OPEN THIS MUTHAFUCKIN’ DOOR, HARLEM!”
Farrah’s heart slammed straight to her ass as she jumped up and got dressed. She grabbed everything that belonged to her.
“That’s Shika. Hide, now.”
“What?” Farrah murmured.
“Bathroom, closet. Balcony, it don’t matter, but move!”
Farrah didn’t argue, she slipped into the bathroom, barely making it inside, she didn’t even have time to close the door behind her as Harlem let Shika inside. She heard the door hit the wall, that was how hard Shika pushed it open. Shika stormed in like a hurricane; Farrah hoped like hell she didn’t come in there and pull that shower curtain back. She prayed that the girl didn’t find her.
“WHERE THE BITCH AT?!” Shika screamed.
She started tearing the room apart immediately, she was throwing shit, knocking over lamps, checking closets and everything.
“COME THE FUCK OUT, DIAMOND! Yeah, nigga, I know!”
