Aaliyah's P.O.V
I met Cameron when we were around 3 years old, our parents were best friends. You're probably asking.. how'd they meet?
Well, back in college when my parents first got together my mom and Libby were studying the same major (Social Work) and they were roommates and just naturally became best friends. Libby introduced my mom and dad to her boyfriend Victor and him and my dad naturally became the best of friends. Libby got pregnant with a baby boy during their 3rd year of college and about 7 months after she got pregnant my mom did too.
You're probably thinking "WOW what are the odds? These best friends get pregnant around the same time!" The downfall of it all is Libby comes from a very supportive and privileged background so she was well taken care of throughout her pregnancy and didn't have to drop out of college.
Well... My mom didn't come from that kind of privilege. Her dad died when she was really young from ALS and it came quickly. He was diagnosed when she was 5 and passed by the time she was 6. And her mom never got her high school diploma so her dad was the one who was making all the good money that was able to be put to actual use but when he died everything just went to shit and my mom had to grind and she promised herself she will make a better life for her mom, her, and her future family.
But when she got pregnant with me she didn't have the financial support or the moral support that she needed to make it through school and also take care of her own neo-natal responsibilities since her mom is now suffering from schizophrenia. Libby tried to help but her family wasn't willing. So my mom had to drop out of school just months before she was finished because it got too hard and she could no longer afford it and moved into a 1 bedroom apartment with my Dad. A while after I was born my dad started spiraling and going on these rampages and he blamed everything on my mom and eventually after a year of arguing and blame he just up and left in the midst of the night. The only thing he left was a note...
Dear Alysia,
I'm sorry to leave like this because I knew if I told you to your face in the morning I wouldn't be able to leave. I'm not doing this solely because I want to but it's simply because I need to. I love you Alysia but this is the best choice for both me AND you. The arguing was constant and I was always blaming you for the birth of our daughter and for our lives just abruptly stopping. One day we were living the life and hanging with our friends and the next you tell me you're PREGNANT and you have to drop out of school and you know I wasn't gonna let you do that on your own. But I'm leaving and I think you'll be much better for Aaliyah than I'll ever be.
Love,
James
Ha. Total bitch right? But anyways he left and my mom had a complete mental breakdown. She didn't know what to do but she had to stay strong for me. She had nobody her and Lib never really even spoke anymore at this point.
But about 2 years goes by and my mom gets a knock on the door of our apartment. She was super confused cause she never gets any guest. But when she opens it to her surprise she sees Libby, Victor, Cameron, and an infant baby girl in an carrier.
"L-L-Libby?" My mom croaks.
"Hey.. Alysia" Libby says softly. "Can we come in and talk?"
"Yeah sure I guess. The place is kinda a mess I didn't expect anyone." She says and moves to the side and they begin to shuffle in.
"Well I tried calling your number but I guess you got it changed" Libby says setting down the carrier and sitting aside her Husband and son.
"Yeah I had to get a cheaper plan at a different carrier so I had to get a new number about a year ago or so" she says standing and crossing her arms
My mom is not the happiest to see Libby after these past 2 and half years. My mom reached out after my dad left but Libby never reached back so she pretty much said 'sayonara!' to their friendship.
"So what are you here for Lib?" My mom says cutting to the chase.
"I just wanted to see you and speak to you, it's been years." Libby says defensively.
"Yeah sure. Maybe if you stayed in contact you would have had my new number and I reached out to you letting you know about James a couple years ago and you never sent me a simple word back" my mom snaps.
Libby stands up quickly.
"Look! Alysia, when you reached out I was a year out of college and I was working on getting my own clinic. I was meaning to but-"
"You forgot about me?" My mom cuts her off. "Don't get to lying Lib, you simply forgot."
"Yes I forgot Alysia. But I didn't forget about you I forgot about that particular situation" she says. "And it wasn't intentional you know it. My life went from 0 to 100 real quick and it got out of hand." She walks over to my mom and lands a hand on her shoulder. "You're my best friend Alysia and all I want is for you to be okay" she continues and then her and my mom embrace. A few tears were shed but it was happy tears.
"Cameron, say hi to your Auntie Alysia!" Libby says and the little boy looks up from his game boy toy.
"Hi" he simply says and looks back down.
"Where's Aaliyah? I haven't met her!"
"Oh yeah she's currently napping but she's been sleep for a while so let me go wake her" my mom says and goes into the bedroom of the apartment and shakes me awake. I roll awake and wine a little but I eventually get up.
"Hey baby girl" my mom smiles at me. "There's some people I want you to meet" my mom says.
"Oohkay" I say and waddle our to the living room and see strangers I've never met but I see a little boy around my age so I immediately think someone new to play with.
My mom comes in behind me and picks me up.
"Aaliyah baby, this is Auntie Libby, Uncle Victor, their son Cameron he's your age, and I didn't get your new baby girl's name" my mom says the first part to me and asks Libby the last part.
"Maya Elan Boyce" Libby says.
"And Maya" my mom says looking back at me.
"Hi" I wave. And I wiggle out of my moms arms and immediately walk to Cameron.
"Wanna play with dollies?" I ask him.
"No!" He snaps his head up from his gameboy. "Dollies are for girls!" He continues glaring at me. "But if you have race cars I'll play" he finishes.
"I have legos and hot wheels" I respond.
"Oh yes! Let's go!" He exclaims and closes his game boy and slips it in his moms purse.
"Dad is it ok if I go play with Aaliyah?" Cameron asks
"Of course go ahead" victor answers.
I go to my mom talking to Libby and ask her if me and Cam can go play and she says yes and shoos me off.
Me and Cameron go into the room and I pull out my toy chest and pull out my LEGO's and hot wheels. Me and Cameron started building LEGO houses and I kept knocking his down on purpose to make him mad.
He finally got up and yelled at me.
"CAN YOU PLEASE STOP DOODOO HEAD!" Cameron yells and I get up infuriated and push him down and we ended up rolling around on the ground 'fighting'.
After about 5 minutes rolling around, Libby comes in.
"Cam, come on it time to- OH MY GOD STOP!" She exclaimed surprised and pulls Cameron off of me and spanked him.
"Cameron! You don't hit girls!" She yells at him and Cameron starts whining.
"B-b-but MAA she kept destroying my towers!" He whines.
"So!!?? That isn't a reason to get violent!"
And that's how I met my best friend Cameron Boyce...
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So Cameron was a huge part of my childhood and I just wanted to let all my emotions and write this story about him. I loved Cameron but I faded away from the fan base once I got older. So when I learned he past I dove into some research just to learn and see how he turned out and what he had grown into to, I fell in love all over again.
R.i.p Cameron.
P.s this book is co written. My friend Alex will be writing the next part!
