Salted Wound

Chapter 73 Anastacia- May 12, 2018

What if Estrella never got pregnant? What if Luis never got involved with the gang shit? What if I'd gotten another student that wasn't Zamari? Questions like these have been in my head recently, but then I remember that they did happen and I can't change anything. Somehow I'm glad that's possible because it actually led me to my happiness.

    I'm laying on one of the edges of Estrella's bed and she's laying on the other side. Bella is spread out on the bed like a pancake taking a nap. We've been laying there for a while now and just staring at her like idiots. Shoot, we even brought popcorn just to watch her sleep. We are all somewhat dressed up because we're going out to eat with our Tia Gloria for Mother's Day. I'm in some jeans and a loose tan button-down shirt and have some army green platform block heels. Strella has a loose grey dress and some black leggings. Even though she just popped a baby out she still has a swollen belly. It takes time for the body to go back to the way it was so we're still going to see Strella walking around with a bloated stomach.

    "I just want to take a nap with her," Strella says, touching Bella's hand.

    She's wearing a pink long sleeve onesie with a white tutu shirt and pink hand mittens. Her white socks are a bit too big, but they cover her tiny toes.

    "Same," I say, continuing to stare. "But hey, she made it on time for your first Mother's Day."

    She chuckles. "She did." We watch Bella twitch and move her arms a bit before falling back asleep. "This year has been crazy. I don't know how either of us did it." She looks back up to me.

    "Honestly! I mean to start off you got pregnant,"

    "I still remember the conversation we had at the beginning of the year about me being safe with Adrian," She says and I chuckle.

    "That was the day I started my application for the Wishbone Scholarship. Luis and I were still together and I was waiting to get my assigned student to tutor,"

    "And you got Zamari and he made your life hell. I still remember you coming home every day and complain about him,"

    "Then you found out you were pregnant and I went to Zamari the next day and accidentally spilled it out. Then he started telling me about what he was going through and we became friends after that,"

    "And you were going crazy not knowing if I was going to keep the baby or not,"

    "And we are all glad you did," I say looking down at Bella.

    "Definitely,"

    "But after you did decide you were going to keep her, life started to turn happy again. Well, until the end of the year when Jade and Zamari got in the accident and they had to go to the hospital and the whole thing with Luis happened,"

"The breakup or Zamari getting involved with him?" She asks.

    "Both," I answer and she laughs.

    "Yeah, both the things were fucked up. But you made it through. You went to Florida, you somewhat went to prom,"

    "Prom lasted for like an hour and a half before the police dragged Zamari by the hair and into the police car," I say and she chuckles.

    "But you experienced it. Then I popped and you ended up with a boyfriend. And to top it off you get to leave the hellhole in a week. You're a lucky bitch," she teases and I burst into laughter.

"You have a point there," I laugh.

"Exactly! And you're going to university on a full-ride. You're pretty much living every broke high school student's dream!"

"Wow!" I say and we burst into laughter, making the baby jerk around. "Because I'm sure every student wants their younger sister to end up pregnant."

"Hey, if they do, I give them props now if they keep the baby because I know that this whole thing was a struggle. Motherhood changes you," she shrugs.

"It's like the ocean," I move my eyes back to Bella.

"Exactly. So is high school,"

"That works, too," I smile and we chuckle and continue to stare at Bella.

Just one more week, I think. Just one more week.