Holding Onto You

Chapter 17 - "Expensive is for the Best"

Aliyah and Zoel left with me at around 4, after we had said goodbye to our favorite teachers and took pictures with them. (I also made Stephon promise me he wouldn't go disappearing again before he could tell me why he left the first time) All our parents were at my house when we got there.

We went straight upstairs to prepare for this evening. We were dedicated to make Isaiah, Calvin, and Stephon's mouth drop when they saw us.

About 20 minutes later all the women (our moms) came up to my room while Aliyah was in the shower to give us what they called their "most special gift". "Aliyah," I called to her "your mom said get out the shower. Their trying to give us something. " she said okay and turned the water off. I closed the door behind me when I left.

"Okay." Aliyah's mom started "So we as you guys moms are so proud of you. We wanted you guys to know that although were pretty sure you already do. But anyway we have found our own way to show you guys that we will always be with you." Aliyah came out the bathroom in some sweatpants and a shirt on. She was brushing her long wet hair. The bathroom gave off mist when she came out. "What's going on?" She asked. I patted the bed so she could sit with me and Zoel.

"Well let's just give it to them. " my mom said. They all pulled out different sized little bags with our name in cute little fonts. I got mine, then Aliyah, then Zoel. (Hers said Yemanja which I thought was cute) All our moms were smiling and giving us wide, happy eyes telling us to open them.

Aliyah pulled the ribbon string and the little brown bag opened. She reached in and pulled out a light pink authentic Polaroid camera with filmstrips. She almost started crying. I remember her telling us about it around 3 Christmas ago (I didn't even know she still wanted it). She told us how she thought that it was what she was getting because she had been studying photography so much and she had a love for vintage cameras. Turned out she didn't get it because her parents couldn't afford it (I can see why, the camera alone was about £9,000 which is like $11,500+ in American money) so she kept a happy grateful face for them but cried later on. Aliyah stood up and gave her mom a really big hug as she was tearing up.

I made Zoel go next, so she slowly pulled her blue ribbon until the bag popped open. She reached in and pulled out a gold Rolex watch. Her eyes widened and teared. I remember looking thru Zoel's phone and seeing pictures of one of them a few years ago. It only stood out because it had diamonds on it also.

Lastly it was my turn I was trying to think about what it could be because their was nothing I was really desiring to own. I already had a car and nice shoes, clothes, electronics, etc so what could it be? My string was purple with green polka dots and as I pulled it I kind of got nervous because I didn't want it to be something over the top (like a car) and make my friends feel bad. It popped open and I looked into the bag to pull out a mini scrap book. I opened it as Aliyah and Zoel rushed to my side to look at the pictures. It was like a timeline of my life. I was quite proud of it, I thought it was the fittest thing ever.

After we hugged and said our thank yous, my mom looked up and of course said "Expensive is for the best." I hope she wasn't intending to be cocky ...