Girls

4. Mariah Carey: the Ambitious Church Girl

****Mariah's POV****

I was sitting at the empty dining room table on my laptop typing the handwritten notes from my AP Psychology class into a document with one hand, my other hand being occupied with the baby aimlessly kicking and giggling.

"Ma!" he squealed as he slapped my chest.

"Shh, Joey." I softly said to him. Joseph was the youngest of my siblings, aged 7 months, and he was almost always in my care. This caused him to become more attached to me than anyone else in the family, and he often called me 'ma' or 'mama' because of that.

"Mariah!!" I heard, making me roll my eyes. I turned around to see my brother Andrew, aged 9, behind me playing with a yo-yo. 

"Dad said you need to start on ironing his stuff for tomorrow." Andrew told me, making me frown.

"Why me?" I questioned.

"Billie's helping Mama make dinner, and Raychel is folding the clean laundry." he answered.

"Okay, well I'm doing my homework AND I have the baby so....I guess Daddy will have to wait." I frowned, then I started typing again.

"He wants his stuff ironed now, though."

"Well, I guess he'll iron it himself if he wants it done because I'm busy!" I spat. My family pissed me off for a lot of reasons, but the main one was the double standard in treatment from my parents as it related to me and my siblings. My father wanted me to drop my homework and go iron his things; meanwhile, Andrew was playing with a yo-yo and doing nothing. The same thing happened as it related to our education; Morgan, my older brother, was in college at Rutgers University and was encouraged to be there. However, my older sister Alison was married off straight out of high school and Billie and Raychel were going to follow that same path....all of which was encouraged by my parents. My parents saw me as a disappointment—despite my 4.62 GPA, 1520 SAT score, 34 ACT score; and despite me speaking 3 foreign languages, playing 4 instruments, and being ranked top 10 in the state for ISD debate—because I hadn't found my potential husband yet, or because I didn't like to cook and clean.

"Well, are you almost done with your homework?" Andrew asked.

"I'm almost done with this particular thing, yes. However, I still have AP Biology work to do AND I need to finish drafting my case so it'll be ready for my coaches to read over tomorrow." I explained.

"You do a lot of school work."

"Yes, I do." I responded, typing with my free hand.

"Why?"

"Because I want to get accepted to Columbia for college.....duh." I answered. Andrew was about to say something else, but Joseph started to whine before Andrew could say whatever he wanted to say next.

"Joey, what's wrong babes? You were behaving so well...." I mumbled, standing Joseph up on my lap. He immediately stopped whining and giggled as he grabbed my face, which let me know that he was only whining because he was bored of laying in my arm.

"I really need you to lie back down. I can't hold you up and do my work..." I softly said to Joseph, who responded by placing a slobbery kiss on my mouth.

"Eww." Andrew frowned, making me sigh.

"How about you make yourself useful and get Joey for me." I stated, holding Joseph out towards Andrew.

"What am I supposed to do with him?" Andrew questioned as I placed Joseph in his arms.

"Sit on the floor in the living room and let him climb on you and play. He'll eventually tire himself out." I answered.