Sweetener

five | tidal wave

The first thing Imani heard the next morning when she finally woke up was her annoying ringtone blaring throughout her dorm. She was annoyed, wondering who the hell could be calling her so early in the afternoon. Her head was pounding as she blindly looked for her phone. Imani swore right then and there to never even look at another drink.

When she finally found her phone, she groaned before looking at the caller id. It was her mom. She took a deep breath before answering the phone.

"Ma?"

"Nawa oh (Wow!), so Imani, just because you're at school, you can't call me?" Her mom said through the phone.

Imani laughed. "Hi, mommy."

"That's more like it! How are you doing, my daughter?"

Diana Odo was a loud and charismatic woman. Even after being in America for so many years, she still kept her thick Nigerian accent that Imani loved because it reminded her of home. She was a no-nonsense type of mother who was proud of her daughter. She loved that Imani could talk to her about anything. However, because she worked so many hours a week, she always tried to make time for Imani. Weekly phone conversations like these were very important to her.

"It's good. My classes are going great and I love it here."

"That's good! My baby is growing up fast, oh. Just yesterday you were our little girl and even though you still are, you've also grown into a beautiful young woman."

"Aww, thanks mommy."

"Speaking of my little girl, your father and I were cleaning out the attic and we found a class photo from your primary school days! You look so adorable honey! I'll send a picture."

Imani's phone pinged a couple seconds later with a notification from her mom. She was super young in the pictures. Most of them were picture day photos where her face was super glossy due to the amount of Vaseline on her face. She looked happy in those. Her cheeks were round and she had a couple missing teeth in her smile.

When Imani scrolled to the last attachment, she paused. It was a class photo. She recognized her second grade teacher and some of her classmates too. A smile broke out on Imani's face when she finally found herself. She was sitting next to this boy who leaned on her with a smile...

Why did he look so familiar?

"It seems like just yesterday. I remember how sad you were when you had to transfer out of that school. You kept going on about your best friend and how you couldn't leave him. What was his name? Devin? Dante, abi (right)? Derek? No..."

Imani looked back at the picture, her brain working to remember this little boy. And then it finally hit her.

The smile. The dark brown hair. The beautiful green eyes.

Oh my gosh, it's-

"—Drew! Yes! That was his name! You missed him for the longest time even after you left."

Imani felt like she couldn't breathe. Drew was her Andrew Stone.

She looked at the photo again. She was sitting next to him, her hair in small braids with beads at the end that framed her chubby cheeks. She remembered Drew being obsessed with them, always looking for a way to play with them or touch them just to hear the sounds they made. He sat beside her on her right, his arm around her shoulder as he leaned into her with the biggest smile. He had a couple of missing teeth but the smile was the same. It was really her Drew.

"Hello? Imani? Can you hear me?"

Imani's memories from back then washed over her like a wave. She remembered how she and Drew became good friends right after she was assigned to tutor him. She remembered how everyone generally stayed away from him - hell, even she did up until that point. But once she got to know him, she became protective of him. He was great. He made her laugh. He fought her bullies even when most of the fights started because someone was bad mouthing Drew. She remembered how much fun they had together.