The little Duchess

Chapter two

The town that Amina lived in was called Greenwood and it seemed they were obsessed with flora and everything to do with nature for every street was named after a tree. Amina lived on Oakwood drive in a small house, much too small to house all the people who lived in it but they made do. Even the school she went to had a mushroom as a mascot and the school itself was named after a plant, English Ivy academy. It was a very fine upstanding school and therefor wasn't cheap to attend but it was the closest school in the vicinity. The other schools were cheaper but much further and Delanda did not want to make any of her children walk that far just to get to their schooling. She struggled to make ends meet because of the expensive school but somehow, some way they all made it out financially sound.

English Ivy academy required uniforms so there was no sense of individuality and everyone looked the same. There were those that skirted around the rules and tried to express themselves with their hair or jewelry. Delanda knew how important it was to have that piece of yourself that is different so she paid special attention to her daughter's hair, making sure she looked her best. She always placed colorful bobbles in her thickly braided hair or bows, ribbons, and barrettes. Amina went to school that day with her hair separated into two braids decorated by big yellow bows. She touched them with a smile on her face, feeling pretty, then went on her way to school. Now she liked learning but she didn't care for most of her fellow students because they liked to pick on her for being poor. There was one especially who was the queen of bullying people; Gwen Greenwood.

Her father was the mayor of the town and because of that she felt she had authority over everyone. She was also very much full of herself and with all the money she had she would flaunt it and make those before her feel lowly for not being as rich. She thought herself the most beautiful girl in the entire school, if not the world and would always flip her head of golden hair haughtily. She also thought because she was blonde that she was some sort of angel but she was anything but. Amina put up with her as much as she could, ignoring her most of the time. At least, Amina thought to herself, she was brave enough to never cry. Amina rarely cried for anything, even if she got physically hurt. Today was just another day at school, Amina would try and walk with her brothers and sister but they had their own lives and would not pay her any mind.

Her oldest sister Damiyah was an aspiring makeup artist and attended classes for it in school where she met some friends and would hang out with them. They would have sleepovers and do their nails and hair. Amina would want to join but would always get shut out for being too young to understand and too obnoxious to get along with, at least that's what Damiyah said. Damiyah didn't wear her hair natural like her sister but went for perms every so often which would usually cost more money but her mother knew a friend who gave her a discount. Damiyah took good care of her hair and was never ever seen without it being straight and as silky as a ribbon. Damiyah had a few boys that wanted to be with her because they thought she was beautiful and indeed she was but Gwen would scoff and get into arguments with her over who was the most beautiful. If Gwen felt really spiteful she would throw out some unsavory racist words towards Damiyah, because in her twisted mindset only fairer skinned people could be seen as attractive.

Damiyah could not be like her sister and ignore such blasphemous, hateful things said to her that not only blemished her character but her entire race. It made her almost wish she wasn't brown skinned or had a bigger nose or other features that Gwen would point out as being inferior. However she knew in her soul that she was not ugly as Gwen would claim, she had confidence in herself. Amina had two brothers as well, Damarius who was Damiyah's twin, and Caleb. They were on the basketball team and had no trouble finding people to talk to as they were not only great players but, as said by many of their friends, cool people. Caleb was the quieter and more studious of the two but loved his brother, hanging out with him often and getting into trouble sometimes. Damarius was the rambunctious loud mouth and party starter. Wherever there was fun to be had he was there often with his brother and his team mates at his side. He also had a girlfriend, Cynthia. She happened to be a cheerleader and that's how they met, during one of the many football games. Jerome was so proud of them and of Damiyah as well, they all had promising careers ahead of them and a good head on their shoulders. The only child who didn't have her life figured out yet was Amina but that made sense, she was still young.