Girl Next Door

Girl Next Door (1)

Chapter 1: Keep Ya Head Up

“Ooo child things are gonna get easier,

Ooo child things will get brighter”

         “Eric Johnson.”

         “Here.”

         I’m going to tell you the story of how I fell in love with the girl next door. Not just the typical girl next door but the actual girl next door that you grew up with your whole life, the girl that was your best friend and your worst rival at the same time, the girl you shared your secrets with and had your first argument with, the girl that will always have a special place in your heart no matter what. Now before I continue on with the story I gotta give you the background information. My name is Eric Donovan Johnson but everybody calls me “E”. I’m seventeen years old and im a senior in hig school. I’m six feet four inches, light skinned, green eyes, and a light brown hair that I keep in a fade. I play basketball for George Washington Carver high school. I’m pretty popular at school so I guess you could call me the big man on campus. On the other hand at home I’m just a regular old guy. I got an older brother, Michael Jr., and a younger sister, Layla. My mom, Janice, is a single mother but my father, Michael, still comes around sometimes. As of right now though, the most important person in my life is Persia Donavyn Johnson, my daughter. She came into my life last year. She’ll be one in February. I love my daughter like no other. Her mother, Tracie, and I had been dating for about two months and started fooling around and about three months later we found out she was pregnant. I wouldn’t say Tracie and I were in love but I did care about her. Unfortunately, Tracie couldn’t handle the pressure of being a parent and left Persia with me and moved out of Tuscan to Phoenix. I decided to do the right thing by my daughter and be a father to her. Tracie hasn’t seen Persia since and I’m not going to pressure her to come see Persia. When she wants a relationship with her daughter she knows where I am.

So now I’m going to tell you about my brother, Michael, we call him Junior. He’s my older brother by 2 years –so he’s 19- he’s a freshman at Arizona State University and he’s a football star around the campus but he’s going for a degree in dentistry. Junior hasn’t always been on the right track though. About four years ago he was sent to the Juvenile Detention Center where he served two years for drug possession and distribution. Those two years were pretty hard for me because I looked up to my brother and naturally ended up following in his footsteps, minus juvie. When he got out he was a completely different person. He had cut his back length hair down to a fade, had acquired glasses, and had gained about 10 pounds of pure muscle. And the first thing he did when he got out was get me out of the game. He told me I didn’t want to go where he had been and he would be damned if I put myself in a situation were I could possibly end up there. So now we’re real close and I can say that he’s been a good influence on my life since then. I can also say I couldn’t have asked for a better uncle for Persia.

Now it’s time to talk about baby sis, Layla, she’s 16 years old and a junior at George Washington Carver High. She’s bout 5’8” and a hoop star like me. She has the signature green eyes just like Junior and me. She’s pretty popular to be a freshman especially with the boys, which is something I don’t too much like. I try to tell her bout these guys and tell her not to follow my example or she’ll end up with a Persia too. She keeps telling me that she knows and she’s not going to let that happen. She does have a boyfriend; Daryl, we, Junior and I, have sat down with both of them and laid down the law. No sex, No babies, and No sex! We made sure the no sex was clear and the no babies’ part would follow. I can’t have my little sis going down the path I went. She says that I need to quit sweatin’ her bout all this but I’m not and she’s knows it. Just like she also knows that I do all of this out of love.

Then there’s my mother. She’s done everything she possibly could to make sure my siblings, my daughter, and I have the best life possible. She’s my motivation. She’s the one who’s always telling me that I can make something of myself even though I’m in this current situation of being a teen father. She’s never given me less than her best and never let me give less than my best and I love her for that. She wants all of us to do well in life and is willing to help us out with our mistakes. When I told her about Persia I was surprised when she agreed to help me with her, I told myself that when I make it to wherever I’m supposed to go in life that I was going to make sure that she was living right.

Now I’m ready to talk about Michael. I’ve never called him daddy or even father. Junior, Layla, and I pretty much all have the same opinion of Michael. He’s here whenever he can be but that’s not acceptable for me. If I can go to school, go to basketball practice, do my homework, and take care of Persia then he can bring his sorry ass over here more than once every two months. He moved to Long Beach, California when I was five –Layla 4, Junior 7-. Apparently he had gotten himself a girlfriend and was down there playing family man to her and her kids. At first mama didn’t want us to find out the truth but eventually she figured she had to tell us. When she told us I think Junior was hurt the most, he always had looked up to him and wanted to be just like him. When we were little he use to put on his clothes and walk around the house pretending to be him.  He used to get so excited when Michael would come visit. But when we found out the truth Junior stopped caring, he won’t even look at him when he comes he just goes in his room and closes the door. Now Junior has decided to take on the role as father. He makes sure that mama, Layla, and I are always going strong and don’t ever have any problems. And that just makes me look up to Junior even more.

But anyway I’m pretty sure ya’ll want to go on with the actual story so here we go...