The Sanders

13

Derick
I stood there. Sweating, hands shaking, blood cooling. I had chills all through my body. He just stood there glaring at me. I was scared for my life at this moment. "Um hello? You can't hear or something." He said as he moved closer to me. "Daddy stop it." Aaliyah said. "He didn't know." She told him. "He didn't know who his father really was? How? Explain that to me. How could you possibly now know that your father was a evil ass person." Jay said. "I.....I." I said. "I, I, I, get it out." He said. I looked at Aaliyah and hung my head low. "I'm talking to you not her. Your parents ain't teach you about respect?" Jay said as he pushed me back.

"I never met him!" I blurted. At that moment everything froze. Time stopped, everyone was looking at me. "I never met him, or my mom, or no family members for that matter. I was placed into a foster home with my 2 sisters at birth. One had dealt with sexual abuse there and it ended with her suicide. The other, we had got separated. They moved her to a different home." I said. "Derick-" "Wait, I'm not finished." I said cutting Liyah off. "At the age of 11 I broke out the foster home, and an elderly lady took me in. She passed away when I was 13 and I just stayed there in the house to this day." I said. I took a deep breath and continued. "All I knew about my dad was that his name was Michael and I had a picture of him and my mom? I had a picture of her but lost it. I don't know if she's still living or not." I said. "So that story you told me about your brother was a lie?" Liyah asked. "Yeah. I was ashamed to tell you the truth." I said.

"Well, what is her name, your mom." Liyah asked. "Erica Jones." I said. "Wait what?" Vanessa said as she looked at me. "Her name is Erica Jones." I repeated. "No I heard you. It's just." She stopped talking and reached into her purse. She pulled out a picture and showed it to me. "The name on the back is Erica Jones." She said. "This....this is her. This is my mom." I said. "Okay we are getting off topic here." Jay said. "Come on Jay man. Dude clearly doesn't know a thing about Michael, cut him some slack." The other guy said. "No man. We need to know why Liyah's teacher is telling her this shit." Jay said.

"Look, I can take the kids while you and Dee-" "No. Asia you're coming with us, I'm gonna call Carter to see if he can watch them. But until then, go upstairs." Jay said. Just as we got ready to go upstairs, he grabbed me by the arm. "Not you lil man, we gotta talk." He said. I took a deep breath and followed him out to his car.

________________________________

Jay
I was just riding around with Derick in the car. I could tell he was nervous the whole ride. "Look man, I ain't finna hurt you. I just wanna talk to you." I told him. "My intentions with Liyah is to treat her like a Princess until she develops into the Queen she's gonna become. I don't wanna hurt her nor do I plan to. I can't say I love her yet because I don't know if I do or don't. I just know I really like her." He said. "I wasn't finna ask the traditional intentions question. I was gonna ask you about yourself." I said. "What about me?" He asked. "Well I was listening to you today and you said that you were always on your own since the age of 12. That's when the lady who took you in passed." I said. "By the sounds of it, you've been a man since you were little." I said.

"I didn't have the childhood I wanted. I had to teach myself basically everything." He said. "Want me to tell you a secret? I was a rape baby. My dad raped my mom and she didn't wanna raise me because it would've reminded her of how I got here. So she gave me to my grandma who, once I turned 16, lost everything. Her house, her job, her husband, and her daughter." I said. "Your mom passed?" Derick asked. "No. She cut my grandma off all because she raised me." I said. "Sorry to hear." He said. "It's no reason to be sorry. Everything happens for a reason." I said as I pulled up in a driveway. "Where are we?" He asked. "We're at my grandma's house. Her name is Rose. Come on." I said turn the car off and got out.

We walked into the house and the smell of food hit us. "Woah." Derick said. "Get use to it." I said as I walked in the kitchen. "Knock knock." I said. She turned and looked at me. "Jamal? That's you?" She said as she smiled and hugged me. "Who is this handsome young fella?" She asked looking at Derick. "This is Derick, he is my daughter's boyfriend." I said. "Well nice to meet you Derick. You're just in time for dinner." She said as she grabbed the plates. "I got it." Derick said as he grabbed the plates for her. "He's helpful too? Aaliyah has a good one." She said. "Yea she does." I said. "What's wrong? You don't seem like yourself today." Grammy said. "It's this whole Selena thing." I said. "She's still not talking to you?" She asked. "I'm gonna go sit in the living room if that's okay." Derick said. I gave him a nod letting him know it's okay to do so.

"I had intentions on marrying her. I still do. But she won't even glance at me." I said as I sat at the table. "Well now Jamal you were wrong. You hurt her and broke her heart. You think she's gonna come crawling back just like that?" Grammy asked. I didn't say anything. I just looked and played with my fork. "Look, I tell you what you should do. Her birthday is coming up right? I say surprise her with a date." She said. "There's a fancy restaurant that just opened up down the street called Ollies. Take her there and get a fresh start with her." She said. "What's if she decline?" I asked. "What have I always told you? You can't base life off what if. Just do it. Go to her job tomorrow, bring her some flowers and lunch, and ask her." Grammy said. I shook my head and nodded.

"Also, I see the way Derek is looking at you. Stop scaring him. Let him date your daughter." She said. "It's not that Grammy." I said. "Then what is it?" She asked. I couldn't hold it in any longer. I spilled everything out to her. And to my surprise, she gave me the best yet risky advice she could give.