Growing up Black and upper middle class in Bedstuy, Brooklyn is already a privilege amongst those who can't. Adding in relationships and learning to navigate life only adds to the stress. Ketara Greene undergoes a transformation that changes the sco...
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Ketara Greene
"If I would've known the girl next door would be you, I would've been nice to you, a little more kind to you, I would've looked twice at you...I probably would've shared my grub, depending on how close we was, by now we would be so in love."
-Musiq Soulchild; Girl Next Door
My best friend's quiet exclamations washed over me as she stared almost in disbelief. Shakyra might've cursed softly or whistled low. Moments later I wouldn't remember but I'd always remember laughing in embarrassment and telling her softly to shut up.
"I'm sorry, Kiki. Don't take this wrong but you look..."
"Different?" I supplied, taking a look in my full-length mirror myself,
Shakyra was one of the sweetest people I'd met in my life so I knew she meant no harm in her shock. I had been upwards two hundred and fifty pounds the last time she saw me. I'd been almost shapeless. I'd been slow. I'd have to stop to catch my breath if I decided to run to the bus stop sometime back. There was a lot about me physically that was left to be desired but now I stood in front of my best friend an entirely different body than the one she last saw at the beginning of the summer.
I'd been tired of being downplayed and depressed about my weight. I was tired of being bullied and picked on by people who felt superior just because they felt they looked better. There'd been a lot I was tired of but it was my mother who pretty much told me I had to change how I viewed myself. I hadn't thought the best of myself for most of my life. The moment I decided to, it forced me to change my eating habits drastically. It also forced me to start working out harder than I ever had before. Boot camp style working out shaved over one hundred pounds off of me. It also cinched in my waist. My backside was more prominent making one wonder if I'd had work done. I almost couldn't wait to be petty and break the hearts of both insecure women and men.
"That's an understatement. I...you look beautiful, Kiki."
She hugged me from the side and the gesture made me smile hard. Although she'd always given them, a compliment from my best friend meant the world to me. Shakyra felt like I was beautiful before when I hadn't seen it. It was heart-warming that when I was less than she always felt I was. Now that I was looking the best I'd ever looked in years, I believed it now as well. I was believing more for myself now more than I ever had.
Still, some days it was a process.
Quite a few people had seen me since I started showing my face around the neighborhood more often. They didn't know it was me unless they picked up my voice or studied my face a little more. When they had, they'd been shocked into utter silence. I was still waiting on my arch nemesis to see me and I knew to see the shock on his face would satisfy me into ways that were almost too petty to mention.
