Honey

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Anika

 My mom was sixteen when she got pregnant with me. My father wanted no parts maybe because he was twenty-three and didn't plan on getting the sixteen year old, he groomed, pregnant. 

Despite my grandparents wanting my mom out of the house so badly, they loved me. They took great care of me while my mom was at work but when she came back home, they wouldn't keep me for a second, I was one hundred and ten percent of her responsibility before work and after. 

My mom worked two jobs, forty hours a week, took care of a kid and still studied for her GED. She finally got an office job as an PA at nineteen. My mom always made sure I had the same determined mindset she had, without being too pushy.

Growing up, watching my mom do everything for me, pushed me to want to be good for her. I was always top of my class and my mom truly never had to correct me or push me to be better and no matter what she was always proud of me.

She quickly became good friends with many of her coworkers and shared her story, shamelessly. Her coworkers became very supportive and many of them welcomed me as their own child and had no problem keeping me for a few hours when my mom needed it. 

By the time I started kindergarten at five, my mom had a village raising me with her. My mom's best friend, who soon became, 'Auntie lay', had a daughter who went to my school, Serenity.

Serenity became my best friend and she was my ride or die growing up. With Serenity, I didn't feel the need to make many other friends but I wasn't ever really a social kid as I got older anyway. Serenity was truly the only person I let get close to me aside from my mom and Auntie Lay.

Serenity was the social one out of the two of us but she always stayed with me or found her way back to me. When we got to high school, we were still stuck to each other's hip for a bit but as 9th grade continued, Serenity quickly got more popular and started to hang out with her different friend groups more during school.

Serenity had become friends with twins and unlike most of her friends, they saw me with Serenity often and made an effort to befriend me as well. 

It took me a while to warm up to Diego and Desiree but slowly but surely and with Serenity constantly trying to convince me they were cool people, I warmed up to them. 

I let them see a side of me that not many people do but never as much as Serenity has. No one has ever gotten that close to me.

As high school went, Serenity, the twins and I were inseparable, my mom treated us like we were all her kids since we were always hanging out at my house, calling us The Cheetah Girls, due to us always being out with each other and on the move, fast like Cheetahs.

After graduating high school, we parted ways as we all went off to college, still the best of friends. I never left the city and got a full ride scholarship to one of the best art schools in the city, after they saw my photography portfolio. 

I majored in Photography and minored in Business and Marketing. I started my own business at twenty-three and started with all types of photography from pets to sports to fashion; everything.

My business was small and local for a few years, just something quick. It was great income but not quite where I wanted to be and I was considering getting a second job when The NYC Catalog, a very popular fashion magazine, reached out to me. 

They told me their photographer had recently quit and they were having trouble finding someone else when they stumbled across my website where they saw a few of my fashion pictures and thought I was a good fit.

I was too excited to respond when I saw the email, so I immediately called my mom, she picked it up before the second ring could even finish.

"Hi nini, what's up?" Her soft, kind voice answered, the sound of her finger smashing against her keyboard with speed seeping through the phone, telling me she was currently working.

"Ma, you won't believe what just happened." I heard the keys come to a sudden stop and it sounded as if she adjusted herself.

"What..?" She asked uneasily, I imagined her leaning back in her office chair bracing herself for bad news; as if she didn't raise me right.

Raising a child in the city always had my mom on her toes with me, she never knew what I could get into when I wasn't around her but she never sugar coated anything for me. 

She had a saying that she told me before I first went out on my own, at the age of eight; and also taught Serenity and the twins; "Use your eyes and ears before your mouth and hands." 

Telling me to always stay aware and don't try anything I don't know or touch anything I shouldn't and it worked. I would go out and be back home by an appropriate time; that I would negotiate with my mom to be later when I wanted more time; always sober and safe.

I rolled my eyes, slightly offended by her tone. "It's about work, Ma."

"Oh! Well then what is it sweetheart!" She asked, sounding more relieved and eager to listen.

"The NYC Catalog reached out to me, they want me to work with me!" I told her, my voice slowly became more high pitched as my body filled with excitement again.

"What?!" Her squeal pierced my ears through the phone's speaker. I chuckled, appreciating my mom's excitement, matching mine.

"Anika, that's incredible! " I nodded like she could see me, taking in my mom's support, as I felt her full attention on me. I was always her top priority and she made sure I knew. "Well what did you say?!"

"I- I'm like losing my mind. I haven't responded yet." I uttered as I stared at the email on my laptop.

"Well girl, what are you waiting for?!" She exclaimed.

I chuckled, nodding knowing she was right. I wasn't waiting for anything other than a missed opportunity, so I quickly replied to the email. I read back the response to my mom before sending it and sent the email after she approved of it.

"I'm so proud of you Nini. You've never proven me wrong, that you'll do big things." Her voice softened and filled with admiration.

I smiled a big smile. "Thank you Ma. Doing this for you."

Currently I still live in New York City and I don't think I'll ever leave the city. Working for The NYC Catalog, got my name into the fashion industry and I no longer needed to work for them as other fashion businesses started to work with me. I was making six figures by twenty-five, now twenty-seven and almost a millionaire.

After high school, Serenity went overseas for college pursuing a modeling and acting career. Diego went to college in Boston for architecture while his sister stayed in NYC, becoming an influencer full time since she had been growing her fame since freshman year.

We all tried to call and talk as much as we could, updating each other on our successful lives anytime we could. Desiree and I, since she still lived in the city, became much closer, as she became my biggest support and I became hers. The group only recently got back together fully, Diego being the last one back home, after his long six years of college. 

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