MIXED EMOTIONS

33. CATER TO YOU

"Congratulations, baby! I'm so proud of you, sweetie!" My mom beamed. She was hugging me so tight, I could barely breath.

"Let the girl breathe!" Charles exclaimed. He then hugged me just like my mother did. It feels good to know they're proud of me. We've been through so much these past few months. I feel so much closer to them. I can trust them. Charles is really a great guy. I'm happy my mom snatched up a good one. 

He has a good paying job now. My mom got a promotion. 

I'm so ashamed at how disrespectful to him I was. He never really didn't anything wrong. He never acted like he wanted to be my father or replace him. He understood. I could come to them with anything. I even ended up spilling the whole Jayden and Lexi fiasco to him. 

We all changed. For the better. 

"Good job, kid." He said with a smile. 

I went over to Camille and her family. Chris was already standing by her. 

"Hey guys!" I greeted and hugged them. 

"Good job on your speech. Had me in tears and shit." Camille said. 

"Yeah, You did that, boo." Chris hugged me again and went over to talking to some other people. 

Jason and some other boys I didn't recognize came up to me. Jason smirked. 

"You killed that speech, baby girl." He complimented. 

"Thanks, boo." I could feel the other boys staring at me. "Who are your friends?" I asked Jason. 

"Oh, my bad. These my boys..." He started introducing them to me when I notice how beautiful one of the boys were. He looked somewhat hispanic. I wasn't sure. I smiled at him and he smiled back. 

He kept eyeing me. As cute as he was, I wasn't going to give him any play. I simply didn't have time to be entertaining boys right now. I began to walk away from them when Jason said, "Keep in touch, ma. Make sure you use that number."  I smiled and hugged him. 

I weaved through the crowds of people outside. I stopped when I heard someone calling my name. I looked around to see who it was but I could see anyone. I kept walking towards where my mom taking pictures with my aunt and Kristian's mom. 

I wondered where he was. Not that I really care. He's probably up Adrienne's ass, anyways. 

I kept walking when someone put their hands on my shoulders. I turned and faced my father. 

I stared at him blankly while he smiled at me. He pulled me into a bear hug. At first I wasn't feeling it, but ended up giving in and hugged him back. he pulled away and said. "Congratulation, baby girl. You did great on your speech. I tried looking for you after, but I couldn't find you. There's so many people to try to get around."

I listened to him ramble on and smiled a little to myself. I'm happy he came to see me graduate, but I didn't show it. 

A little girl walked up holding a big balloon in her left hand. The balloon wrote Congrats on it.  She was also holding hands with someone else. I didn't recognize her, but I recognize who's hand she was holding. Melanie's. Her stomach was getting bigger and bigger. She looked like she was ready to pop. 

I still kind of resented Melanie. She was a poor choice for my father and I didn't really see what he saw in her. Yeah, she was a very pretty woman, but her personally was extremely ugly. 

Melanie had a couple gift bags in her hand. Her eyes met mine. She gave me a small smile when she approached me. 

"Congrats, Chanel!" She said. They little girl handed me the balloon. I took it and leaned down to her level.