Chapter twelve,

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          "Have you finished your speech yet?" Candice asked Luvie, as she retwisted her locs while Luvie sat between her legs.

         "Yes ma'am," Luvie replied, scrolling through her TikTok feed. It was currently Friday and Luvie would be going on a date with Joel later on that night.

         She decided to let her mom retwist her locs for her, feeling a bit lazy to do so herself. After Candice finished, she planned on stopping by Tyra and Faven's house to hang out for a while along with Sacha.

        She hadn't seen them all week since Monday, since she was busy with work. Luvie could admit that it felt a bit weird to be working, but she loved every minute of it.

        Now that she had a job, she would be able to save up much more quickly for a car—as long as she managed her money accordingly.

       "I'm so proud of you, Sioni," Candice smiled, grabbing the bottle of oil and rubbing it through her scalp. "You gone hear me cheering and bragging all day long,"

        Luvie giggled, resting her head on her mother's leg. "I'm serious, my friends on Facebook are like 'she's a smart girl' and 'she's definitely gonna be successful in life'. And I be like duh, I know, that's my daughter," Candice continued to joke, as Luvie laughed harder.

        "I'm honestly surprised you didn't do dual enrollment though, could've graduated college much sooner,"

         "Eh, I want to enjoy all four years. I've done enough to get accepted into the college I wanted, I'll take it easy my freshman year. I've worked my behind off since the start of high school," Luvie replied, Candice humming in response.

        "I know and that's why I've been pushing you to just enjoy this time because you deserve it, Sioni. I don't want to be that person but you don't always see people like us being chosen as valedictorian." Candice said, closing the top of the bottle of oil.

        "When you say people like us, do you mean black people? Or black women?"

        "Take your pick," Candice shrugged, gently picking Luvie's head up off her leg and beginning to massage her fingers through her scalp. "Black women are doing their thing though, busting our asses like we have something to prove,"

        "We do have something to prove—I have something to prove,"

        "And what is that?"

        "That people like me aren't 'dumb' or 'slow'. We can do stuff just like everyone else. My guidance counselor told me that I wouldn't be able to keep up in AP classes because of my condition. He recommended honor classes because the workload wouldn't be too overwhelming for someone like me. Can you believe that? Someone who looks like me was doubting me," Luvie explained, bitterly laughing, Candice coming to pause as she listened.

        "He wanted me to dumb myself down, he made me feel like I was getting too ahead of myself. Me, someone who came out of middle school with three years of principal's honor roll under her belt. Each time that someone told me that I couldn't—I did it. It just feels like, someone like me—a young, black, neurodivergent woman, have to prove themselves ten times harder and it's exhausting sometimes,"

         "Sioni...why didn't you tell us about this? We would've gone to the school and gotten that straightened out," Candice frowned, upset that a school advisor would humiliate her child and make her feel inferior compared to others.

         Despite being diagnosed with autism at a young age, she did exceptionally well in school. Although it took her some time when it came to learning new subjects, once she grasped the concept, she became acutely knowledgeable.

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