Smile

Chapter 12

I told you people I was going to skip a lot of time.

December 18th 1988 (7:45 pm)

"Come on Mariah!" Michael begged her.

Mariah didn't move a muscle. "Michael I'm scared, what if they don't like me or something?" She asked.

"They'll love you." He replied.

Mariah sighed and slowly got out of the car, she made sure to take her time.

With Christmas slowly approaching, it was time for the annual Jackson family dinner. Every year in December 18th no matter what anybody was doing all the children had to come for dinner and stay a few nights.

Michael opened the door and announced his arrival. "Mother I'm here!" He yelled excitedly.

Katharine walked out of one of the bed rooms holding a big pot of something, she was about to put it on the kitchen table. She went and put it on the table an came back to hug Michael.

Katharine glanced at Mariah and smiled. "Hi how are you sweetheart?" She asked and then hugged her.

Well she's welcoming Mariah thought to herself.

"I'm fine how about you?" Mariah asked.

"Oh I'm fine, if you want you can go upstairs and hang out with Janet, Toya, and Rebbie until I'm finished cooking." Katharine told her.

"Okay." Mariah replied and started walking upstairs. She could feel her heart pounding, what if she says something or does something wrong? She couldn't imagine having Michaels family hate her.

Before she could go into the doorless room she heard them talking. "So have you guys heard?" Janet asked and widened her eyes.

"Heard what?" Rebbie asked.

"Michaels got a new girlfriend..." Latoya interjected.

Rebbie rolled her eyes and sighed. "Not another one, I wonder what this one will be using him for."

I'm not using him

Mariah let the conversation play on so she could hear they're misconceptions about her.

"Toya did you hear on the news when her sister came on and said that she was crazy? Shit I'm scared to meet her... and she's only 18." Janet asked.

Really that again?

Latoya took a sip of her water bottle and then put it back down. "Well that's the same sister whi also said Michael kidnapped her, and I'm not trying to be rude but that lady looked like a whole crackhead." She replied.

Rebbie and Janet both chuckled in unison. "Honestly I'm just going to be nice to her, what if Marissa's a sweet girl?" Janet said as she painted one of her toenails with pink nail polish.

Latoyas face lit up. "Thank you for reminding me what her name was I couldn't remember, but your right."

They went quiet and Mariah decided to make her entrance. "Mrs. Jackson told me to come up here." She told them nervously.

Janet smiled widely at the young
girl. "Well come in and sit down next to us."

Mariah sat down next to Janet on the bed. "Your really pretty." Janet complimented her.

"Thanks, so are you...." Mariah replied.

"So tell us about all yourself because we need to know who's dating our brother I mean there's a chance you could become our sister." Rebbie commented.

"My names Mariah and I'm 18." She explained.

Rebbie raised her eyebrow in
confusion. "That's it?" She asked.

Mariah nodded. "Yep that's it."

She was very shy and they could sense that. "So how many kids are you guys going to have?" Latoya asked.

Well shit that's a weird question Mariah thought. "Well I don't want to have any kids any time soon but maybe three at the most." She lied, honestly Mariah had never really thought about having kids. She only wanted to have kids if she found someone that was a suitable father, which Michael obviously was but they were still newly together and she didn't even want to think about kids right now or anytime within the next 10 years.

"ALRIGHT DINNERS READY!" They heard Katharine yell.

"You can sit next to me, Mariah." Janet told her.

I really didn't expect them to like me, but I'm glad they do.

Mariah walked into the dining room and saw the longest dining room table she had ever seen in her life. They really did have a big family.

Mariah sat down next to Janet and then Michael sat down next to her and grabbed her hand. "You might not like what my mother cooks." He warned her.

Mariah shrugged her shoulders as Katharine brought out the rest of the food. "Alright y'all dig in!" She told them all.

Surprisingly to Michael, Mariah actually picked up more then he thought she would.

On her plate she had greens, potatoes and some pork intestines.

After everybody was done gathering there food they all sat back down and everybody started to pray together.

After everybody let out a loud AMEN it was time to begin eating. Mariah immediately dug into her food. "Wow Michael this meat is good what is it?" She asked.

Michael giggled. "It's chitlins."

"Chitlins?" She asked, confused as to what it was.

"Pig intestines." He whispered to her.

Mariah flared her nostrils in disgust and spit out the food into a napkin. "Girl you don't gotta be disgusted, it taste good don't it?" Janet assured her jokingly.