1
“Nevaeh wake up! How many times do I have to come up here and say this!”
“Last time I checked you’re not mom!”
“Last time I checked mom said get your ass out of bed and stop being a lazy bum!” Sighing, I opened my eyes and looked over at the person that refused to quit talking to me. Standing there with her hands on her hips was my little sister Camilla. As much as I loved her, I wasn’t pleased to see her face this early in the morning. She had her long box braids tied up in a bun while wearing a tank top with black shorts.
“There, happy?” I said while sitting up in bed. She rolled her eyes at me and sat on the edge of my bed.
“I don’t know why you do this every Saturday. You know the rules.” Ah yes, the rules of a typical black household. Saturday was chores day, meaning that you have to wake up at a reasonable time to get chores done.
“I can’t wait to go to college. None of this waking up at the crack of dawn bs.”
“And I can’t wait for you to leave. Then I get your room.”
“You do realize that imma come back right?”
“And do you realize that when you come back, you’re still gonna be doing these chores?” I rolled my eyes at Camilla before lightly kicking her off of my bed.
“Get your grimy self off my bed and out of my room.” I threw the covers off me and headed into the bathroom. I quickly brushed my teeth and washed my face before heading back into my room to change. I put on a graphic tee with some light-washed jean shorts. As I was headed downstairs I brought my laundry basket down with me and tossed my lights into the washer first. When I entered the kitchen, I saw mom frying some sausages and dad sitting at the table reading the newspaper.
“Good morning guys,” I said while grabbing a plate from the cabinet and putting some sausages and eggs on it. I sat in the dining room across from dad and started to eat. “Thanks for the food momma.”
“You know you should’ve been up cooking this with me. Not just Cammie.”
“I was tired.”
“From what?”
“She’s tired from talking to her boyfriend all night,” Cammie said butting in. She had her plate in her hand as she took a seat next to me.
“Boyfriend?” Dad said, finally looking up from today’s paper.
“Shut up Cammie! I don’t even know what she’s talking about.”
“So you’re not denying the fact that you have a boyfriend?” She asked with a smirk on her face.
“I’m not dating anyone. Yes, I was talking to someone last night, but they weren’t my boyfriend. So let’s just drop it, okay?”
“Cammie leave your sister alone and eat your food.” Mom said from the kitchen. We continued to eat making senseless conversation when we heard someone open the door. Not too long after, Tyrone walked through the door and into the kitchen greeting mom. Tyrone was my older brother who moved out about two years ago but tries to stop by whenever he can to say hi.
“Hey, momma.” He said while hugging her.
“How’s my baby doing?”
“I’m good, stressed with work, but good.”
“I wasn’t talking about you, I was talking about Mae.” Mom said while playfully rolling her eyes at him. Tyrone gave her a look of shock before going into the cabinet and grabbing himself a plate as well. Mae was his girlfriend whom he’s been dating for the past five years.
“She’s good. She worked a late shift last night at the hospital, so she’s sleeping in right now.”
“Mae needs to come over more, I feel like I haven’t seen her in forever,” Cammie replied as she got up from the table taking her and dad’s plate with her.
“You could always come over to see her if you like.”
“I have no one to take me.”
“Veah can take you.”Mom suggested.
“No, I can’t.”
“And why not? It’s not like you gotta job or sum?”
“Ma, I’m not spending my summer driving Cammie around.”
“I didn’t say take her everywhere, I said to drive her to Mae and Tyrone’s place.”
“Yeah, but that’s exactly how it starts. I have better things to do than be a chauffeur.”
“Like what?” Mom asked placing her hands on her hips. When I didn’t respond, she rolled her eyes at me and plated Ty’s plate. “Exactly, you ain’t got nothing to say. Look, when we got you that car, you knew what it would entail. Besides, it’s not like you wouldn’t enjoy going over to their place.”
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t enjoy it. I just don’t wanna do it.”
“Well, you’re gonna do it. So stop acting like a brat and finish your breakfast and go do your chores.”
“You think I should get a job?”
“It’s about damn time.” It was later that day and I was over at my best friend Vanessa’s house. We were currently rewatching The Vampire Diaries in her room since we both had nothing better to do.
“I’m serious, do you think I should get a job?”
“I mean, why do you wanna get a job in the first place?”
“I don’t know… we’re going off the college in a few months and I feel like I need this experience before we head off.” A few days ago I had recently graduated from high school and would be headed to The University of Columbia to study law, just like Tyrone. Mom and dad didn’t want me working during school since they felt that it would be too much pressure on me.
“You’re right. I’ve been working since junior year and sure imma complain about my job 25/8, but at the same time, it feels good to make money for myself. Where were you thinking of working?”
“I don’t want a hard job. Just something low-key.”
“You could work at a restaurant, a grocery store, a park, I don’t know there are so many positions since it’s summer. Or you could just look for places in the area that are hiring.” I pulled out my phone and started googling places that were looking for workers. After twenty minutes I found one place that looked somewhat interesting and decided to call. “Hi, this is Target how can I help you?”
“Hi, I noticed you guys were hiring and I just wanted to know what the process would be to apply for a job?”
