ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴇʀ ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍ

Dear Micah, it’s your Micah, the one you know and love dearly. I can’t believe you’re getting married today. You were just a little girl playing around on the beaches of Malibu. I have many regrets when it comes to you. I wish I could rewrite the past and make you happy back then. I wish I could defend you when the world wasn’t on your side. I wish I had done more for you, but I didn’t. I looked away when your mother screamed at you, when all you wanted was a strawberry-covered croissant. I didn’t say anything when Sunni accused you of stealing, when it was actually Ryleigh who took it. I didn’t defend you when your father called you a “disgusting monster who doesn’t deserve a family.” I don’t know why I made you go through that. I wouldn’t have looked away. I would have said something. I would have defended you from that son of a bitch. But I did nothing for you. I hope your fine man, can look in your eyes for admiration. I hope your fine man, can speak to you with affection. I hope your fine man will defend you in any type of trouble. Jean or not, I hope he will treat you better than anyone from your family. Micah, I want you to know you are going to be the most beautiful bride in the land. I once saw you in love, a love greater than infinity, and I hope you keep it in your heart. Jean or not, I promise to you, Micah, you will live your life the way it deserves.

Love,

Micah Sunny Jean.

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Finally, it’s summer, after a horrible school year of pain and suffering. I was bullied for the first time in my life. My last year of middle school, who would have thought? This year, I didn’t make any friends. It surprises me because I’m a friendly person, if you get to know me. I might not wear lashes like the other girls, or makeup like the other girls, but I’m still like the other girls. Sometimes I wish I were like my sister, Sunni, a popular cheerleader, a girl who’s friends with everyone, a girl who goes to all the parties and school games.

A girl whom people admire when she’s around them. Sunni is the favorite child; she gets everything she wants. I’m not like her. I was cut from the cheer team because Sunni didn’t want me on it. I’m not allowed to go to parties or school games. People make fun of me or straight-up ignore me. My father, a white man, and my mother, an African woman, met in college. I don’t know their love story, but they have three kids. The eldest being my brother Jaiden, a star football player who’s the quarterback of his team. He has received many offers from many colleges since he was in seventh grade.

He’s my father’s favorite and mine, too. He’s the only one in the family who listens to me. And the only one who I feel truly loves me. Then my older sister, Sunni, a perfect cheerleader who has all the boys wrapped around her finger, they all see no bad in her. To the girls, she’s a goddess who’s incapable of being imperfect; everyone treats her like she’s some type of queen at home and at school. She’s my mom’s favorite child because she looks the most like her. She has everything handed to her, and she doesn’t have to pay a single cent.

Then there’s me, Micah, the youngest, the forgotten, the troubled child, but I have one thing that my siblings don’t have: academic achievement. I’m extremely talented when it comes to academic achievements, from anything from math to English, I can do it all. That’s the only place I can beat them in, but others I can’t. My mother, Esther, treats me like I’m some inconvenience to her life. In my home, I’m the only one who has to do chores. My siblings don’t have to do it because they have sports and parties to attend. I’m basically a maid in my own home without pay.

I once overheard her calling me a mistake over the phone. She screams at me for taking food when I’m hungry. In my household, I’m only allowed three meals a day. While my siblings get unlimited food and meals every single day. Then there’s my father, Matthew. I’m 100% convinced that this man hates me with all his guts. Each time I even try to talk to him, he ignores me or tells me to get out of his sight. He can’t even look at me at most, and even when he does, all I see is hatred in his eyes.

Each summer, I have an escape from reality. Each summer, my family and I travel to Malibu, California, in our vacation home with my mother’s childhood best friend’s family. When I’m in Malibu, I feel like I’m free from reality. When I reach the beach, I swim until I’m tired. In the best part, I get to see my Micah again. Micah is my mom’s best friend, and they’ve been besties since childhood.

They did everything together, and even shared the house in the summer. Micah has four kids: Michael, Connor, Ryleigh, and Kayleigh. Ryleigh and Kayleigh are my age, then Connor is Sunni’s age, and Michael is Jaiden’s age. I’ve always had the biggest crush on Michael, he was the only boy if ever loved. Even if I’m a little delusional, I think he loved me back, too. Last Summer, when I got sent to my room, he brought me Oreos, my favorite, to comfort me. And when I was sad, he was always there for me. I love his smile, I swear he’s the only one who smiles like that for me.

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