Undercover

1. JAMILA

Here I was again, in church, on the same pew as my mother. Listening to my father preach for the billionth time. This was an every Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday thing for us.

Oh sorry, you must be confused. My name is Jamila Simone Smith, I'm a quiet little girl with a bright future. I'm sixteen, ready to turn seventeen next month on August the fifteenth.

I'm a senior at Alverno High School, ready to start my new life as a UCLA freshman next fall. I'm a preacher's daughter if you haven't noticed, which means my whole family's in church.

Literally. Cousins are the ushers, my great-aunt is the choir director, my mom's the first lady and my father's the Bishop, then you have my brother who's a musician. And then there's me.

The outsider. Only one in the church who shows up and does absolutely nothing but sing in the choir. I'm utterly shy and hate being in front of large crowds, hence why I'm content doing nothing.

My whole life has been dedicated to this place and if I'm being completely honest: I hate it.

"Can we have the choir to sing a final selection before we bring up the First Lady for our final remarks."

The church erupted with reassuring amen's and claps as I and the other choir members walked to our rightful spot in the pulpit.

I passed by my brother who found amusement in my irritation as he watched me walk up the stairs.

"Cheer up kid." He chuckled.

I laughed at his smart comment and made my way up to my designated place next to my favorite aunt, my great-aunt Catori and my cousin Carrie. Unlike her mother, she was in fact my least favorite family member.

"Let's remember the lyrics this time shall we," Carrie muttered with a grim look on her face.

I kept my head low as I could feel her burning holes in my neck.

"That was two weeks ago. I screwed up and it was rehearsal so could you let it go?" I whispered.

"You better pull it together Jamila. I don't wanna hear my mom's mouth because you can't keep up with simple things like words. I mean how dumb can you be?"

"Carrie leave this po' child alone. It's hot, I'm hungry, and y'all over here arguing and whatnot. Hell. Shut up and sing for the Lord before I knock you out."

I looked up and saw the crowd smiling at us. My aunt put everybody in their correct positions and the band began playing our last song.

...

I dried my hands off and closed the dishwasher tired from doing all of the dishes, washing clothes, anddddd cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom.

"Kids come in the living room. We need to have a family meeting."

I looked at my brother, Dakota, who was at the kitchen table mixing some music on his laptop and he shrugged, indicating he knew nothing about this so called meeting.

We walked into the living room to see our parents standing up as we sat down on the couch. It wasn't hard to notice their distorted postures and pitiful expressions.

"What's going on?" I asked confused.

Dakota nodded. "Yeah, what's the family meeting for? Mom's not pregnant again is she?"

"Oh you've got jokes," she chuckled though it sounded forced.

"But seriously we do have something very important to discuss. Well- more like I have something serious to tell you two."