The Rose that Grew from Concrete

Chapter 1 (1985)

     Sixteen year old Rose lay in bed and listened to the laughter drifting in from the other side of her bedroom door. She watched the light spill in from the crack in her door, and tried her best not to inhale the scent of the marijuana that drafted in with it. She knew it wouldn't be long before the laughter ended and the moans began.
        Rose hated when her mother had her "get-togethers." She hated having to lay next door to her mother's room listening to her have sex. It made her feel disgusting.

    "Stop acting so damn uppity girl!" Tangie had chastised her daughter one night while making Rose go to her room. She had a couple of guests coming and she didn't want Rose's self-righteous ass ruining her fun.
"You should be in there taking lessons on how to please a man. It won't be long before some lil thug comes sniffing around here for you. And your lil ass won't even know what to do with him."

"Mmmm..."

Rose covered her face with her pillow and tried to drown out the moans her mother didn't even attempt to stifle. She didn't care that her daughter lay on the other side of the wall. She didn't care that she had, for a while, been exposing her daughter to promiscuity at too young of an age. It didn't bother her that she was psychologically damaging her child. All that Tangie cared about was getting the young drug dealer off so she could get her fix.

"Ohhh...yeah daddy. Tell mama how you like it."

Rose pressed the pillow tighter around her ears. Try as she might, she could not block out the sounds of sex.
"I wish Manny was here," she whispered to herself. Manny was her best friend since second grade. When a couple of her classmates began to tease her about wearing the same clothes twice in one week, it was Manny who had defended her.

"It don't matter if she wear the same clothes four times a week, long as her shit's clean that's all that matters!" He had yelled at the seven year old bullies. Since that day, it had been Manny and Rose against the world.
      Some nights, when Rose couldn't take anymore of her mother's parties, she'd crawl out out of the window and sneak down the fire escape to Manny's window. After tapping the glass twice, Manny would climb out of bed and join Rose on the fire escape. They'd sit and talk for hours about everything from the teachers and kids at their school, to their personal family issues, to how they'd one day strike it rich and escape the hood together. Manny had dreams of being in the NBA, and Rose wanted to be a writer.
     On her darkest days, Manny made Rose's world seem a tad bit brighter. Her life wasn't perfect by far, but as long as she had her best friend, it seemed a little more tolerable.

     Manny wasn't home tonight; his mother had to do an overnight shift at the hospital where she worked as an CNA, so Manny had spent the night by his aunt. Rose suddenly remembered the small Walkman Manny had given her earlier that day. She slid the headphones over her ears and hit play. The sounds of Run DMC's King of Rock filled her ears as Rose lay back and thought about school. Tomorrow was the last day before they would be released for summer break, and Manny's mom was taking them out for a special end of school dinner. Rose lay and thought about all the time she and Manny would have to spend together, and pretty soon, she had drifted off to sleep.