Qadira and her friends go on a trip to Miami to celebrate their graduation. Little did she know that the trip would be a lot more than just fun with the girls.
Today was probably one of the worst days of my life. Actually, scratch that. The past 16 years haven't been great anyways. I mean, I always knew I was the ugly sibling and my big brother, Azlan will always be the favorite. He's just always been so perfect and sometimes it's disgusting.
But today was picture day and all I truly wanted was to have a good picture in the yearbook. My glow up is coming, I feel it, I just don't know when it'll arrive; perhaps it got lost in the mail. I woke up and was utterly disgusted at what I saw in the mirror: I had a gigantic pimple above my eyebrow. I'd truly not be in the yearbook at all than look ugly in it. I tried faking sickness, but nothing worked and I still had to go to school.
I thought about how inadequate I was and started tearing up on the bus. But I just put in my headphones and turned on my Reggaeton playlist, a pathetic attempt in drowning out negativity. I hit shuffle, and the first song that came on was "Mamita" by CNCO. I cracked a smile, I've been a fan of these boys ever since they were on that TV show, La Banda. Richard and Chris were my favorite from the show but now I'm solidly in love with RIchard. I'll never forget the first time I showed my mom an episode and told her Richard was my favorite. She looked at me dead in the eye and said, "Didn't that bitch beat up my queen Rihanna?"
They came from the humblest of beginnings, and I'm just so happy to see their success and what they've achieved. I love how their music never fails to cheer me up. For about 3 minutes, I managed to forget about how much I hate myself.
I reach school and I see my two friends near my locker.
"Holy shit....." Dominique whispered under her breath.
"Oh dang," Denise said.
"Girl, I'm so sorry," Kenia said sympathetically.
"It's fine. It's whatever. I'm just ugly," I said as hot tears started rolling down my cheeks. My friends came in for a group hug and I just basked in my own pool of self hate.
Of course, the yearbook photo turned out disgusting and it is, still, something that haunts me to this day.
But remember when I said my glow up was coming? Sure enough, it came.
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*2 years later, at our high school graduation*
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"BITCHES, WE GRADUATED!!" Kenia exclaimed.
"I know! I really thought with my GPA, I would have had to re-do a grade," Denise joked.
"Look at us, we're 3 young, hot, LEGAL, and educated women. I'm so proud of you guys!" I exclaimed.
"It kind of sucks that Dom had to move away in junior year, I wish we could all be graduating together," Kenia said with a sigh.
"Yeah, but hey, we should totally invite her to join us for our graduation trip!" I suggested.
"Oh my god great idea! Where should we go though, it can't be super far like Japan or something cuz a bitch out here BROKE," Denise said with a laugh.
"I want to go somewhere with beaches and sunshine," Kenia said.
"Los Angeles?" I suggested
"Maybe, let's call Dom and ask her." Denise said as she pulled out her phone to call the 4th member of our group.
"Hello?"
"HI DOM!!" we all chanted simultaneously. "We're calling to ask if you'd want to come with us on our graduation trip, are you down like the economy?" I asked.
"Omg bitch WHAT of course I'm down! Where are we going?" she asked, her voice instantly lit up.
"That's the thing, we don't know yet. Kenia wants somewhere with beaches and sun, Qadira suggested LA," Denise explained.
"What about Miami? It has some beautiful beaches and us Latinas know how to party," Dom suggested.
"I'd love to visit Miami too, I heard they have really good food there," I nodded my head in agreement. "but they have healthier options in LA,"
Kenia and Denise laughed at my comment. "Qadira you are WHITE."
"I'm not! I'm just conscious about my body and I don't wanna relive 10th grade fat Q," I pouted.
"Okay I have an idea, why don't we spend 3 days in LA, then another 3 days in Miami? That way you can eat clean for the first half of the trip, and not feel guilty in Miami," Dom replied.
"That's a great idea! We'll have Kenia work out the details, so that'll probably take like a day. We'll call you later," Denise added.
"Alright, have fun tonight and congratulations on getting out of that shithole!" Dom finished.
"I love you guys. Thank y'all for putting up with me and my occasionally crippling self-esteem," I said to all my friends while Dom was still on the line.
After Dom hung up the call, Kenia suddenly looked at Denise and I. "Hey, look I'm not tryna get your hopes up, but maybe we'll bump into a little boyband called CNCO while we're in Miami...."
"OMG KENIA I PRAY." Denise gushed. "But honestly what are the chances of that happening"
"Well I mean, you never know. So we better LOOK like a pack of queens this whole trip just in case!" I added.
This is going to be the best trip ever, I thought.
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