Sinfully Delicious

Chapter 7

Janet sat in the library with her work spread out across the table. She usually spent this time just reading or relaxing, but she decided to get a jump on some of her projects and papers. Her usual class in between her free period and lunch was canceled because the teacher had an emergency and had to leave, so she was able to sit here for the next three and a half hours. It had only been thirty minutes and she already had the outline for one of her papers done, so she moved on to research for a presentation she had coming up for science. "Hey." She looked up and saw Toni with food and drinks.

"Hey."

"They said I could bring you food." She sat down. "Looks like you're busy here."

"Yeah, I have projects and papers due in the next few months and I just want to get the biggest part of them done."

"You're doing it all at once?" Toni started taking out the food.

"Yeah. I have an organizer here that keeps me from getting overwhelmed." Toni shook her head as Janet moved her work to the side and grabbed her food.

"You take this so seriously."

"Of course, I do. I need excellent grades so I can get into my top choice colleges." She took a small bite out of the burger and sighed.

"And what are those?"

"Spelman, Yale, Harvard, Georgetown, and Cambridge."

"Cambridge? As in London?"

"Yeah. They have excellent medical and business programs which I'll need." She wiped her hands.

"You're planning to be a doctor?"

"Yep. Nurse, nurse practitioner, doctor, chief of surgery, and then CEO. Hopefully, I can start my own pharmaceutical company." Toni listened in fascination. You would never guess this from her. Janet seemed like such a quiet and small person but she had a lot to say. "Do you know how expensive some of the most basic medications are? Some people have to choose between medication and food or heat. It's crazy and inhumane and I want to change that. Especially for African Americans. I want us all to have access to what we need to live."

"That's very cool. I would've never known about that."

"Yeah, insulin alone is a few hundred dollars and that's per month."

"Wow."

"If I'm lucky, I can be accepted into a program that can have me get my bachelor's for Pre-Med and Business in two years."

"How you gone do that?"
"Well, I take college classes now, so I should be able to. Fingers crossed."

"You're very excited about this." Janet looked down and scratched her ear.

"Yeah, I don't get to talk about this often, so when I can I just get very excited."

"Why don't you talk about it?" Janet sighed.
"As great as my parents are, they don't really see dreams as real all the time. My father went to school for business and went into ministry. Even though it's paid off, he doesn't see anything beyond that. My mother has always been a housewife and a first lady, so she's always wanted that for me and my sisters. I want more out of my life. I want to make a difference and I feel like there's more ways than just preaching." Toni was slowly learning that Janet was very different from her family. She was quieter than them and sometimes you barely knew she was there, but she had a very big personality. She just didn't know how to bring it out.

"Well, I think you'll do more than you realize." Janet smiled and looked down.
"Thanks."

"No problem." Janet was becoming a lot more comfortable around Toni. It had been almost two months that she's been protecting her and they slowly become closer. At first, Toni came off as cold and mean. Even though she was mean-natured and often acted with violence first, she had good in her and Janet liked that. Toni often made her feel a lot better about herself. She slowly felt herself coming out of a shell. It made her feel good.