Kaylie Roberts- Sixteen years old. Her mom lost custody of her when she was six due to her drug addiction and her dad was in prison. She's been a ward of the state ever since. She's bounced around from foster home to foster home and she's been in an...
"Kaylie, could you come down her for a minute!" I hear Stef shout from downstairs
"Coming!" I shout back as I get up from my bed before jogging down the stairs and then down the second set of stairs and into the kitchen where my eyes fall on Lena, Stef, and Mariana
"Have a seat, sweetheart." Lena says before I sit down at the end of the table
"Mariana came to us this morning to ask us permission for something." Stef says
"Permission for what?" I ask before Stef and Lena look over at Mariana
"I was thinking...um...since you never got a quince, I was wondering...I was wondering if you wanted to share mine?" Mariana asks
"You wanna share your quince with me?" I ask
"Yes." Marianna says as she nods her head
"It's a right of passage for every Latina and you deserve it." Mariana says
"But why? What do you want in return?" I ask
"Nothing. Maybe a dance at the quince?" Mariana suggests with a smile
"Mariana, why don't you give us a minute." Stef says before Mariana nods her head and walks out of the kitchen
"Why are you hesitating, love?" Stef asks
"I just wanna know the stipulations." I say
"There are no stipulations. Sometimes people can do things for you without wanting something in return. Sometimes they can just do it out of love." Lena explains
"Love?" I ask
"Yes. Love." Stef says
"We love you, Kaylie. And that's okay. It's okay to let us love you." Lena says as tears form in my eyes and I stand up from my seat
"Do not love me! I don't deserve to be loved!" I shout at them
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Okay? I am broken!" I say as the tears pour from my eyes
"So don't love me because I don't know how to love you back." I say before they both rush over and engulf me in a hug
"That's okay. You just let us love you while you learn how to love us. We can wait, love." Stef says
"You are not broken, Kaylie. You deserve to be loved. And you deserve all the good things life has to offer." Lena says
"Okay, I'll do it." I say with a sniffle
"You'll do the quince?" Stef asks
"Yeah." I say as they release me and I wipe my tears away
"Your dress will have to be off the rack because we only have a few days until the quince. Is that okay?" Lena asks
