AMIL's ANECDOTE

AA31

It'd been a while since dawn greeted Amil from her room at her grandmother's house, but this morning killed that streak. Once her eyes fully opened, she stared at the sunshine seeping blinds for a moment as she gathered her thoughts. The joy that came with a new morning was rashly wiped away as yesterday's events came storming to her mind one by one. A faint groan fell from her lips as she rolled over and grabbed her phone.

Zion
You ready for me to come pick you up?

Amil eyed the message for what felt like forever, before placing her phone back on the bedside table and sliding out of the bed. Oddly, her failed attempt to slide her feet into a pair of slippers made her sad, as it was a reminder that she wasn't at Zion's house as a result of what ensued yesterday. Truthfully, she was still trying to process everything. Her mind couldn't fathom a civil conversation escalating because of someone who wasn't even in the conversation. On top of everything, Tray lying to both her and Zion's faces was very distasteful to her. She wasn't upset with him before, but now she was singing a very different tune. Amil no longer cared about having concrete evidence, she was sure that Tray stole her money.

After dazing from the edge of her bed, Amil got up and headed to her bedroom door. The sound of commotion from the other side let her know that her family was up and starting their day's. To Amil's surprise, there was no aroma of hot breakfast hitting her nose, which was out of the norm for her grandparents. Upon opening her bedroom door, she found that the commotion wasn't coming from her entire family, but only Bri, who was maneuvering around the kitchen. She looked up from her swift back and forth movements and knit her arched brows together, assumingely because she didn't expect her sister.

"Hey." Bri greeted, grabbing the open sharpie from the countertop and marked the date on the small plastic bag that held her breast milk. "Hey." Amil hailed back, heightening herself up onto the middle leather barstool.

"I'm trynna do all I can do before Tootie wakes up." Bri announced, calling her infant by the new sobriquet that the family gifted her. Though there was no verbal apologies given, Amil knew her sister well enough to know that her random conversation was her way of apologizing. They were sisters, this wouldn't be the first or last time that they made up this way. "I heard her crying a lil' bit last night." Amil voiced.

Brianna's eyebrows raised, "You slept over here last night?" She wondered, Amil shook her head yes. "Why?" Bri questioned.

"Cause even though yo' mouth been getting a little smart, I ain't gon' let nobody play with you." Amil replied, proud that she never once wondered if her little sister took her money. The difference between Brianna and Tray were their characters. Amil knew her sister, and despite her hormonal outrage, she knew that her sister wasn't a problem child and most importantly not a thief.

"Play with me?" Brianna confused, sealing the thick plastic bag. "I been out the way, it ain't no reason for anybody to be playing with me." She added. Which was true, she'd always been an out the way type girl. Brianna had a small group of friends that she'd been friends with since 7th grade, but once they began to ostracize her from their group due to her pregnancy, she had no problem fully removing herself and keeping her own company.

"That's good." Amil replied, not bothering to work her sister up with an explanation of why she said what she said. Long as Brianna knew that her sister believed in her character, Amil was fine. "Can you help me get into the program that lets me graduate early?" Brianna asked, slightly shocking Amil.

"If I get in the program and do everything right, I can graduate when I'm 16." She announced.

"Of course...what you need from me?" Amil questioned back. "I just need you to come to a couple of the meetings and sign the papers for me." Bri explained. It wasn't too taxing, so Amil agreed.